Madhuvidya

SR No.: 006525
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: S D Laddu, T N Dharmadhikari, Madhvi Kolhatkar, Pratibha Pingle
Publisher: L D Indology Ahmedabad
Publication Year: 2001
Total Pages: 762
Language: English
Classification: Book_English, Literature, & Philosophy
File Size: 17 MB

Page 625

REVIEWS
the English languages. Some of the author's important conclusions are summarised on pp. 127-29. He holds the view that the Braj has not undergone any material change, except in some peculiarities of pronunciation and the use of morphological forms (§ 258), during the last three or four centuries. Today the Braj is being greatly influenced by the Khadi boli. With regard to the other modern Indian languages of North India, the author opines that Kanauji is not different from Braj ($75), that Bundeli can be regarded as a southern form of Braj (§ 261), and that among other languages the Rajasthäni is the nearest to the Braj (§ 259).
The value of the book has been enhanced by the addition of two appendices which did not appear in the original French Thesis published by the author in 1935. One of these gives the specimens of the Braj as spoken at various places in the interior and on the borders of the Braj territory. The second appendix gives a list of all the Braj words occurring in the book.
155
While discussing the name of the language (pp. 16-17), apparently it is not the intention of the author to give a detailed account of all the references where the word vraja occurs. However, the following remarks may be made with regard to the observations made by the author. Vraja seems to occur either singly or in composition in the sixth and the twelfth major rock edicts of Asoka. The actual forms that we get are vaca or vraca (VI) and vaca-bhümikya (or bhumika) or vraca-bhumika (XII). In both cases vaca has been equated with Skt. vraja by some scholars and the forms have been translated as 'cowpen' and 'inspectors of cowpens' (HULTZSCH, The Inscriptions of Aśoka, p. 12, f.n. 6 and p. 22, f.n. 5). In my opinion though this interpretation is possible in the latter case, it is very unlikely in the former, as the hardening of jc is not witnessed otherwise in the east (but vaca occurs in the Dhauli and the Jaugada versions as well). Even the context renders the meaning 'cowpen' improbable in the Rock edict VI. I am, therefore, still inclined to side with BUEHLER and others and take vaca in the sixth edict as coming from varcas.
Next it may be noted that the Nighantu (1.10) includes vraja in the list of words meaning 'cloud', and the Nirukta while commenting on this passage (2.21) observes that it may also mean 'mountain'. The Nirukta (6.2) derives vraja from Veraj, and this derivation has been accepted by the author as well (§ 29). BOEHTLINGK-ROTH, (Wörterbuch, s.v.), however, derive it from Vvari, which is also the view of WALDEPOKORNY (Vol. I. 290). According to BOEHTLINGK-ROTH, vraja occurs also as the name of an area in the neighbourhood of Agra and Mathura in a certain inscription which has been published in the Zeitschrift für
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