________________
50
considerthe passage in which he gives, for the sake of lending dramatists, the broad linguistic peculiarities of the different provinces. •
"One who knows should use a language in which the 'e' sound is predominant in the case of the region between the Ganges and the Ocean. He should use a language with a predominant 'na' in the case of the countries heard to be between the Vindhyas and the Ocean. In Surāsýra and Avanti and countries north of the Vetravatī, a language with profuse 'ca' should be used. Those countries which border on the Himālaya and the Sindhus and Sauviras should have a language full of the "u" sound. In countries beyond the Carmaņvati and those round about the Arbuda (mountain) should always have an idiom full of the sound 'ta.'
The "languages abounding in the u sound" in the above is quite mistakable. The ukāra is a recognised peculiarity of the Apabhramśa. Thus without naming it, evidently because it had yet to get that nanie, Bharata refers to what is distinctively called Apabhramsa by later writers and grammarians. Another thing to be noted in the passage is the region where the dialect abounding in the u sound was at home in Bharata's time. Its home is Sindh, Sauvira and Northern Panjab. We shall have to return to this point later. This also seems to be the region where the cowherding, horse and camel-herding nomads were at first settled. At any rate, the camelherds-men could not have found a more suitable place for their ships of the desert than the sandy regions along the banks of the Indus.
Bharata's acquaintance with Apabhramśa in some form is further attested by the illustrations of the metres which he has defined in the 32nd chapter. It was to be wished that a good edition of the Natyaśāstra were avaible to scholars, for the present one is hopeless, especially at places most important from the point of view of Prākrit studies. The chapter under consideration is especially faulty and scrappy; but such as it is, it offers something of use to the present purpose.
10 गङ्गासागरमध्ये तु ये देशाः संप्रकीर्तिताः ।
एकारबहुलां तेषु भाषां तज्ज्ञः प्रयोजयेत् ॥ ५८ ॥ विन्ध्यसागरमध्ये तु ये देशाः श्रुतिमागताः । नकारबहुलां तेषु भाषां तज्ज्ञः प्रयोजयेत् ॥ ५९॥ मुराष्ट्रावन्तिदेशेषु वेत्रत्युत्तरेषु च । ये देशास्तेषु कुर्वीत चकारबहुलामिह ॥ ६०॥ हिमवत्सिधुसौवीरान्ये च देशाः समाश्रिताः । उकारबहुला तज्ज्ञस्तेषु भाषां प्रयोजयेत् ॥ ६१ । चर्मण्वतीनदीपारे ये चाबुदसमाश्रिताः । तकारबहुलां नित्यं तेषु भाषां प्रयोजयेत् ॥ ६२ ॥
