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514
Amrita
form in transliteration. Hence immediately following the Prākrit used in Devanāgarī, there will be at the most three transliterated words in the brackets. In case the Sanskrit and the Prākrit word is the same in all respects, a single transliteration is given for both the Prākrit and the Sanskrit word. If there are phonetic and morphological differences, there will occur two transliterated words, the second being the Sanskrit form, provided it has the same grammatical and morphological structure. If it differs from the first, a third transliterated word will be added which will be a correct Sanskrit form of the Prākrit word as far as the meaning is concerned. This will also be the case if the meaning of the Prākrit word differs from that of Sanskrit, which will also indicate the traditional rendering of the Prākrit word into Sanskrit by the commentators. This arrangement will correspond to the classification of Prākrit words into tatsama and tadbhava types. The third type called Deśī or Desya will have a different treatment as far as its etymology is concerned and,' if known, it will be stated clearly in so many words. 3. Sound Variations
The close relationship between the various Prākrit languages was well established from the very beginning of the tradition of the Prākrit grammarians. This is reflected in the fact that they take Sanskrit as the basis for their description of the Prākrits. In addition they take one Prākrit as a basis for another Prākrit as well. By common consent Māhārāstrī is taken as the basis for a detailed description and this is taken as a new basis for the description of the other Prakrits like Saurasenī, Māgadhī, Paisacī etc. In addition, Māgadhi is described with reference to Sauraseni by noting the differing features of that language. This procedure is quite sufficient to conclude that it is a mere procedural relationship and is in no way connected with the independent nature of the Prākrit languages. That is why Rājasekhara uses the word sadbhāṣākavi to describe himself and Laksmīdhara gives the name sadbhāṣā-candrikā to his Prākrit grammar. Earlier, Rudrata enumerates the six languages as Prākrit, Sanskrit, Māgadhī, Paisacī, Sauraseni and Apabhraṁsa (2. 12). Later writers dropped Sanskrit and added CūlikāPaisacī as an additional Prākrit. Still later the number of Prākrit languages or dialects went on increasing with the result that the features by which one Prākrit was differentiated from the other became fewer and fewer and of less significance.
Even with the major Prākrit languages, in which a fair amount of literature is available, the form of a word shows a varying phonetic shape, which will make it necessary for the dictionary to give each form a separate place in the alphabetical arrangement. These differences, being phonetic in