Bhagavana Mahavira and his Relevance in Modern Times

Author(s): Narendra Bhanavat, Prem Suman Jain, V P Bhatt
Publisher: Akhil Bharat Varshiya Sadhumargi Jain Sangh

Page 30

PRĀKRIT AND HINDI
J. C. Jain
According to Namisädhu, the commentator of Rudrata's Kāvyālamkāra, the basis (Prākriti) of Prakrit dialects is the natural current language of the People ungoverned by the rules of grammar. Prakrit is a common medium of expression and communication, opposed to Sanskrit which has a uniformity like a shower of rain, and peculiarity on account of particular regions and its smooth flow.
R. Pischel, who is in agreement with the above definition, holds that all Prakrits have their origin in popular dialects, and all their essential elements originally developed from the living speeches. But all such dialects, according to him, were raised to the status of literary languages like Sanskrit, and underwent significant alterations.
This view is contrary to the opinion of some ancient grammarians and rhetoricians, who maintain that the basis (Prakriti) of Prakrit languages is in reality Sanskrit, "the language of the Gods', and hence the Prakrit languages are nothing but the lineal descendants of Sanskrit. Pischel, on the other hand, has traced ihe common grammatical and lexical characteristics between Prakrit dialects and the Vedic language thereby supporting the antiquity of Prakrits. Sanskrit influenced by Prakrit :
The Middle Indo-Aryan comprises all the Prakrit languages dating from the 6th century B. C. to the 11th century A. D. which marked the beginning of the New Indo-Aryan stage. These Middle Indian dialects attained at ascendancy as cultural languages for a period of nearly seventeen centuries when they were a medium of communication.
At a later stage, the Middle Indian dialects became so powerful