________________ THE SOURCE OF PRAKRIT LANGUAGES 151 or cultured class of the consolidated community whereas Prakrits were the vernaculars of the lower or uneducated classes of the community. The Sanskrit and the Prakrit languages thus existed side by side for some centuries and bore the same relation which we notice between high Marathi of the educated and cultured people of Poona and Bombay and the low Marathi of the lower or uneducated classes in these cities. In conclusion, it may be stated that the Prakrits, described by the grammarians, form the group of Middle Indian Languages. They are developed through corruption and many grammatical phenomena from Sanskrit by the then native races of India, who were closely incorporated into the fold of Aryas who had migrated to India with their own Bhasa and that some centuries prior to Bharata's Natyasastra and some centuries after it, these Prakrits were the vernaculars of the lower or uneducated classes who had given up their original tongue, and thus the view of some scholars that Prakrit was the earlier and ancient language and Sanskrit represents its refined form cannot be maintained. Notes and References : 1. Rudrata's Kavyalamkara II. 12, pub. Nirnaya Sagar Press, Mumbai, 1909 edn. 2. Ibid, p. 13. 3. Gaudavaho by Vakpatiraja ed. N. G. Suru, pub. Prakrit Text Society, Ahmedabad-9, 1975, Gatha No. 93. 4. Kavyanusasana of Acarya Hemacandra, ed. by R. C. Parikh and V. M. Kulkarni, pub. Sri Mahavira Jaina Vidyalaya Bombay, 1964, pp. 1-2. Ona Jain Education International For Private & Personal Use Only www.jainelibrary.org
