Prakritsarvaswam

SR No.: 001369
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

Page 96

INTRODUCTION
89
quotes an unknown authority who allows o only in nom. sing. (XIV. 3). The three grammarians agree in declaring this dialect as abounding in colloquial words (grāmyasabdārthapărthavam ). The rules as laid down by them rightly conform to the speech of Cāņdālas in Mr. Mk does not inform us as to who should speak this dialect. Evidently he means that it is a speech of Cāņdālas as the examples cited by him, all of which are from unknown source, indicate. From NŚ and SD we learn that it is a dialect of Pukkasas ( = Pulkasas ) and such other characters who belonging to a despised tribe are almost identical with Cāņdālas.
Cāņdāli was evidently a spoken dialect of a group of people who lived in a degenerated society. As Mk rightly defines, it was a mixture dialect having acquird toth Ś and Mg features in it. However though the Ś features are obvions from the nom., abl. and gen. endings, it is pre-eminently & dialect of Mg domination. Cāņdālī being primarily a caste dialect must have originally derived its features from Mg as the use of l, s and y before palatal testify to. As these low tribes mixed with the people speaking a cultured dialect, that is Ś, some features of this are noticeable in their dialect.84
36. The next Vibhāşā discussed by the three grammarians is Šābari. Mk derives it from Cāņdāli and says that it also at times owes its origin to Ś, Mg and Śākārī. Pu calls it a dialec tof Māgadhi (Māgadhi-viseșuh) while Rt derives it directely from Mg. Its distinctive fea
63. The variant Pāñcāli in NŚ XVII. 53 is evidently wrong.
64. Bhāsa employs pure Mg in the speech of Cāņdālīs in his play Bālacarita. This indicates that in ancient times Cāndālas spoke Mg which later on acquired some peculiarities with the result that the so-called Candālï came to be known as the language of Cāņdālas.