Devotional poets and singers during the Bhakti surge tossed aside Sanskrit’s ivory tower, choosing instead the everyday tongue of farmers, weavers and merchants. Tiny hamlets and bustling market towns felt the impact as Kabir spun couplets in Braj Hindi, Namdev breathed life into Marathi, Tukaram’s abhangas rang out in colloquial dialect—and Mirabai’s heartfelt dohas gave Rajasthan a voice that still resonates through temple halls.

By crafting hymns, songs and stories in the local lingo, they turned worship into a neighborhood affair. No more barriers of elite jargon meant that literacy found fresh footing: people jotted down these compositions on palm leaves, copper plates or simply committed them to memory. A byproduct was the gradual shaping of regional grammars and vocabularies—what began as devotional outreach ended up standardizing languages like Hindi, Marathi, Bengali and Odia long before modern grammar books appeared.

Scripts also diversified. Shrines in Bengal saw prayers in Bengali script; Marathi devotees inscribed verses in Modi script. This grassroots push rippled through daily life: village schools picked up local alphabets, markets buzzed with regional pamphlets, and folk theatre wove Bhakti tales into performances. The process wasn’t just linguistic evolution; it became a social revolution, giving ordinary folks a chance to claim authority over their own culture. By speaking directly to hearts, Bhakti pioneers hit the nail on the head—language suddenly belonged to everyone, not just the Sanskrit-savvy elite.

Today, that legacy shines brighter than ever. Streaming platforms curate Marathi thrillers and Tamil dramas for global audiences. Podcasts in Odia or Assamese draw thousands of subscribers. India’s National Education Policy still champions mother-tongue schooling, tracing roots back to that promise of accessible learning. In the same spirit, social media influencers create rousing devotional reels in Kannada or Punjabi, echoing the Bhakti mantra: faith, emotion and language hand in hand. The movement laid a foundation for a nation where every dialect counts, proving that devotion—and communication—flourish best when they’re spoken in the tongue of the people.