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INTRODUCTION
91
37. Mk excludəs Audri from the list of Vibhāṣās. on the ground that its peculiarities are to be found in Šābari itself which in turn imitates the language of the Odra country. In this connection we may draw attention to the fact that Sabara is even now spoken by some hill tribes in South Orissa.66 The great Jagannātha cult of Orissa is known to have partly owed its origin to the ancient Sabara civilization that was prevalent in the country once upon a time.
Thus the so-called Sabari which must have been spoken by Sabaras of ancient Orissa included in it the so-called Audri or Odrajā of NS and in all probability was the earlist phase of the modern Oriya language. No other grammarian except Mk illustrates Audrī.68 He defines it as the dialect which comes off by adding local words of the Odra country and of $ etc. to Sabari alone. He illustrates it ( see XV. 9 ) by citing a Dohā which must have come from an unknown dramatic work:
देव जसोआणंदण कर मई करुणालेश।
एत्तिके जमउ अच्छउ इ पिट्टइ सव्वकिलेश ॥ O Lord, son of Yaśudā, have a little pity on me. May (my) birth be this wuch, for all kinds of pains afflict me : 69
Here the words including kara in the first line are in pure S though devoid of endinys, so also savvakilesa
66. For Muņdā lanys, see LSI VOI, IV, pp. 79ff. For Sahara P, 217.
67. See the legend of King Indradyumna in connection with Jagannātha cult in Skanda Purāņa, Utkala-khanda.
68. Even Nś in which the earliest mention of this dialect is found, is silent about it.
69. For its variants and interpretation of GRIERSON see footnote under XV, 9 of the text.
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