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On the Paigäci..
Now comming to Prof. Timmappayya, I would present the following observations on his line of thought: (i) Pampa's statement on the Venigiinandala is beset with a vague purport and its interpretation by the learned author appears as a forced one. We do not understand why Pampa should bring before his mind the ancient vast Vergi country while describing the Vengipalu town of his time. Moreover if the Vengimandala, according to Pampa, had spread over the major part of Bhārata, it would mean that the bulk of the Indian Sub.continent was occupied by Pigācas or the bulk of it was divided into Paišāci speaking provinces, to show which we have no evidence. (ii) Then tlie Vedic bekanāta has been interpreted in different ways. The author himself tells that Apte identified it with Magadhadesa. Besides bel has different meanings in different contexts and in different times, thereby showing its semantic development: bellar-stupid, incivilized beings, daśyus, bhūtas, piśācas etc. The author himself proposes that bellar can be taken to mean brave people. Hence the author's discussion on Vengi and his attempt at establishing its connection with bekanāta standing on very slippery ground, take lis nowhere. (iii) Cülikä Paisāci has nothing to do with Coladeša. The names (ūlikā and Cola represent rather an accidental phonetic phenomenon than hold any linguistic interrelation. It is worth noting in this context that the Culikās, Sülikās or Sūdikās are a northern tribe mentioned along with the Kaikeyas, Bāhlikas, Kāmbojas etc., in the various Purānas. And Dr. P. C. Bagchi, after a thorough study of this problem, has finally estabilished that the Culikās were originally Sogdians living to the north of the Oxus and that they moved into India, from the North-Western side. Hence Cūlika Paišāci should be considered to have been a variety of North-Western Prakrit spoken by the Sogdians. (iv) Connecting be! (pisaca) with Belgaum and Belgola etc. is not only phantastic but also a wild surmise; because Bel-gama(Belgaum) is derived from Veņugrāma (a village with plenty of bamboo trees) and Beļgola cbel-koļa (a place with a white pond). Similarly Bellary, Bangalore etc. may be scrutinized by those who know the history of these names. (v) The statement that Paišācı has less admixture of the Aryan linguistic elements is unauthoritative and contradictory to the accepted linguistic facts. We should not forget the fact that of all the Prakrit dialects Paišācı is most akin to Sanskrit.fo
8. (i) Vide Studies in the Geography of Ancient and Medieval India, Dr. D. C. Sircar,
Delhi 1960, p. 26. (ii) Vide also A Concordance of Purūna Contents (CPC), Yashapal Tandon, V. I,
Series 3, Hoshiyarpur 1952, p. 29. 9 (1) Vide Journal of the Department of Letters, Vol. XXI.
(ii) Vidc Dr. D. C. Sircar, Op. cit., p. 26.
(iii) Vide also Dr. A. N. Upadhye, Loc. cit. 10 Vide Pischel, Op. cit., p. 30.