________________
INTRODUCTION
vii
In the Southern dialect of Asoka's inscriptions we find sa and ra combined with rom. sing. in e.
Asoka’s Eastern dialect has la for ra e.g. läja for "king"; so that we may conclude Ardha-Māgadhi was not the language of Patna in the Mauryan period.
Exactly when and where what we call Ardha-Măgadhi arose remains a question for investigation. It seems probable that its original home was not very far to the West or perhaps to the South West of ancient Magadha.
During the Mauryan empire it is likely that the Eastern language of Patna spread further to the West, at least in palaces and bazars though not in villages. When the Mauryan empire declined, the use of the Eastern idiom probably contracted; when in later times the central power had its centre of gravity further West, the Sauraseni form of speech would press further down the Ganges valley. Such movements of the prevailing literary dialects would make it difficult to locate a particular form of language, even when the exact date was given, a circumstance that occurs but rarely.
According to tradition Mahāvīra taught in Ardha-Māgadhi, and his words are recorded in that language. According to tradition again Gautama Buddha taught in Māgadhi, while his words are recorded not in Māgadhi but in Páli. Yet both are represented as contemporaries, and associated with the same part of the country.
If both Teaohers used the same language, perhaps an old form of language, resembling Ardha-Māgadhī, spoken round Benares, between the Sauraseni and the Māgadhi countries, the literary language of either church must have changed before the extant scriptures were recorded in writing. When such changes took place, and how great they were, it would be hardly possible to determine.
Ardha-Māgadhi, as we have it, is (like Pāli) more archaic than the Dramatic Prākrits. It agrees with Măgadhi in having the Nom. sing. masc. in e; the use of gen. sing. tava; past participles
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
