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INTRODUCTION
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Prakrit ( which is also to be used in drama ). In XVII. 2 he speaks of Prakrit as a corrupt form of language devoid of refinement (saņskāragunavarijita ) and having so many forms or stages ( nānāvasthāntarātmakam ). By the adjective Samskāragunavarjita he definitely means to draw a contrast between Prākrit which is unrefined and Sanskrit which is refined. He further classifies Prakrit under three heads ( XVII. 3 ) i.e., i). Samānasabda ( cf. Tatsama ), ii ) Vibhraşta ( cf. Tadbhava ) and iii) Desīmata (cf. Deśya ). Though there is no attempt at giving an etymological derivation of the word Prākrta in Bharata, the implication of the word is clear from the explanatory line in regard to Prākrit. He clearly means by Prākrit the language which is not governed by grammatical rules, for otherwise the language becomes Samskrta. This shows that what Bharata wants to tell us about Prāksta is that it is an ordinary day-to-day speech of the common folk much different from Sanskrit, ( the characteristics of which he discusses in detail in the line of Pāṇini's grammar in . the 14th chapter ), which is a refined and systematised language, confined to a limited few unlike the former, A language, as we know, can attain a refined stage only after passing through a stage of disorder and disturbance as was the case of classical Sanskrit. It was made static and stereotyped by Pāṇini's grammar after passing through a dynamic stage which is evidenced by the varied and apparently irregular forms found in Vedic literature. The dynamic state of this language still in vogue by the time of Pāṇini is proved by his division of “bhāşā” (i. e., Classical Sanskrit ) as current among the “Prācām” (of Easterners ), “ udicām" ( of Northerners ) etc. Thus Sanskrit, inspite of
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| SR No. | 001369 |
| Book Title | Prakritsarvaswam |
| Original Sutra Author | Markandey |
| Author | Krushnachandra Acharya |
| Publisher | Prakrit Text Society Ahmedabad |
| Publication Year | 1968 |
| Total Pages | 424 |
| Language | Prakrit, Sanskrut, English |
| Classification | Book_Devnagari & Grammar |
| File Size | 20 MB |