Was Sanskrit a spoken language?

Contrary to the recent hindutwavadi propaganda, it is a well established fact that Sanskrit was never a spoken language:
"Let us remember that Sanskrit as its meaning indicates was never a spoken language and that it was only a purified version of the language that was in popular usage such as Prakrit, and that its refinement and the codification of grammar in an unalterable form was the work of grammarians like Panini." [Nair B. N., "The Dynamic Brahmin", p.67]
Even strong protagonists like Pandit Mishra aver that it was a spoken language but the "spoken" means, it was spoken by "shishtas" i.e. elite (meaning Brahmins) alone. Rest of the masses were speaking Prakrit. [Mishra, p.376] Even in late Sanskrit drammas, as is well known, the charectors of higher castes speak Sanskrit, and the others speak Prakrit. So speech depended on the caste.

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