Comprehensive Critical Dictionary of Prakrit Languages Volum 01

Author(s): A M Ghatage
Publisher: Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute

Page 22

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of r in clusters which is given as a feature of the Vracada dialect is actually found in the works like the Mahāpurāṇa of Puspadanta written in the south, while this dialect is assigned to the north. The only region where Apa, works were written without break is Gujarat and Rajasthan i. e. Western India. Here it is not possible to separate the Apa, work from those written in early Gujarati and Western kaj sthai. For this purpose we will have to use a metrical and a structural criterion by which works called Sandhis are assigned to Apa. while those which go by the name of Rasu or Phagu will belong to the earliest NIA, languages. A similar distinction is drawn between Apabhrams and Avahettha works.
uttered by ladics and only the three nas sung by the can be called Giti. In amaz, 2 are uttered by 17. the heroine in disguise, only one of which was sung by her. The dramas of Bhavabhuti show no Prakrit stanz and cr the contrary art sings two stanzas in Sanskrit. Both the Prakrit stanzas in o are uttered by the and Terr. it will be seen that we have to make a distinction between Prakrit stanzas sung in the dramas and ethers used for cther purposes. The songs are very few and can be considered as written in Mah rastri while all other stanzas will be in the language used by the dramatic characters, viz. Sauraseni, Magadh1, Śākārī etc.
As a practical device which will help to avoid the pitfalls in this regard, the quotations taken from the drames are always supplied with the name or status of the speaker. The literature available in other dialects like Paitari and Cilka Paikáci cr the numerous subdialects like Pragya Sabari, Sakari etc is so scanty hat no problem should rise. The available information in their case will be fourd under words peculiar to them according to the statement of the Prakrit Grammarians.
(vi) Apobrania
From 1918 on words a large number of work: in Apabbr: mga have come to light due to the labours of many scholars and to-day we posses a sizable literature in it, mostly in the form of the lives of the Jain prophets or the Jan versions of the two epics, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, which form a par of the lives of the prophets Munisuvrata and Aristan mi. Some books preach Jam religion and others are didactic in nature. In comparison, the Apa. works written by non Jain writers are scanty. We possess the doubtful verses occurring in the fourth Act of Vikramcrvasiya and a few stanzas in the works of Abhinavgupta dealing with Tantra philosophy. A tew stanzas are also quoted in the works on Alar karagastra.
The most striking feature of the Apa. literature is the fact that the wacle of it is written in verse and there
hardly exists any prose in it, except a pas age in the book called Kuvalayamala, writ.en by Uddyotanasuri. But the most valu bie material of this language is found in a large number of starzis quoted by Hemacandra in the fourth Pada of his Prakrit graminar. They show not only traces of their non-Jain organs but also contain purely secular matter and show traces of different dialects.
The traditional distribution of the Apa. language into the three dialects caled Nagar, Un nagara and Vracada is of no great importance. The retention of 7 and
The Apa. grammar is a greatly simplified form of the Prakrit. The final vowels are all shortened except in monosyllabic words Poth the declensions and conjugations are greatly reduced. The multiplicity of form in many grammatical categories is indicative of dialectal origins but they cannot be now sorted out on this basis The available literature is of a purely literary nature and hence we have treated all the Apa works as forming one language for the purpose of this dictionary, which will give only the basic word-form. The language used by the Digambara writers appears to be fairly uniform and constitutes the bulk of Apa. literature. The few works of the Svetambara poets, written in Western led, do show a few peculiar features in grammar but on that account their language need not be set up as a different dialect for the purpose of the lexicon. The use of Desi words and roots shows a perceptible increase in this literature.
For this dictionary, two works Prakṛtapaingala and Sandesarasaka, have been included in the Apabhraniga group, though linguistically speaking they belong to the Avahatthi stage.
IV. ORTHOGRAPHIC CONVENTIONS AND THE PHONETIC FORMS OF THE PRAKRIT WORDS
The books in Prakrit which are used for this dictionary show a number of writing conventions partly based on the manuscript tradition and partly on the views which the editors held about them. Others are based on the teaching of the Prakrit grammarians who teach phonetic changes which a Sanskrit word undergoes when it passes over to the Prakrits, which view the editors
These differences in the may or may not accept. sounds (cr letters) used, affect the alphabetical arrangement of the words a good deal and hence the lexicographer has to look into the problems arising out of them, and take suitable decisions to be followed in the