Indological Studies

SR No.: 022756
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: H C Bhayani
Publisher: Parshva Prakashan
Publication Year: 1993
Total Pages: 376
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 25 MB

Page 81

The Dhruvās in Vikramorvasiya
Now NS. XXII 383-384 give the conventions about the languages to be used in the Dhruva songs. As a rule Sauraseni is to be used. But if the metre is Narkuta, the language should be Magadhi. In the case of divine characters, which include gods and kings, Sanskrit could be used. In the case of human characters the language could be Ardha-Sanskrit, which meant mixed Sanskrit, according to one view, but general Prakrit, according to another. The actual illustrations given by NS. are all in Sauraseni. On the other hand the Prakrit of most of the Dhruvās of Vik. is Maharaṣrṭri. This fact combined with the fact that the Dhruvās in Vik. have most of the other characteristics required by NS. indicates that here we have essentially a continuation of the dramatic tradition that served as basis for Bharata's rules, although the use of Mahārāṣṭrī (and even of Apabhramśa in a few cases), instead of Saurasenī, and of Mātrā-vṛttas instead of Varnavṛttas can be looked upon as a change in the earlier conventions about the language and metres of the Dhruvă.
71
As noted previously, the language of Vik. IV 48 is Apabhramsa, and that of Vik. IV 12, 29 and 54 is Prakrit, mixed with Apabhramsa. Hence it seems relevant to inquire about the use of Apabhramśa in songs (or otherwise) in the dramatic and musical traditions.
In the fourth act of Vik. there are twelve Apabhramśa verses which form a part of Pururavas's speech. The fact that Apabhramśa also was used in drama in the subsequent tradition-especially in the Uparūpakas, which are chiefly based on song and dance, is borne out by a few Apabhramśa citations in the Abhinavabhārati from some Uparūpakas of the Dombika and Siḍgaka types.5
The fact is that for songs accompanying dance, whether in drama or elsewhere, popular dialects were usually preferred from the earliest period. Earlier, the languages of such songs were Sauraseni and occasionally Maghadhi. Later on Mahārāṣṭri, Apabhramsa, post-Apabhramsa regional dialects, and the Dravidian languages like Kannada came to be used. In musicological texts