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INTRODUCTION
SECTION I
ORIGIN OF PRAKRIT AND DEŚI WORDS. Prakrit grammarians regard Prakrit to be derived from Sanskrit. Prākṣta is explained as a language having a Prakrti or source which, in this case, is taken to be Sanskrit.1 Commentators on Poetics also subscribe to this view.? This view, however, is disputed by some Indian writers. Vākpatirāja (8th Century A.D.)states—"All the speeches enter into it (Prakrit) and come out of it just as all waters fall into the Ocean and come out of it." 4 Namisādhu, a Jaina
- प्रकृति: संस्कृतं तव भवं तत आगतं वा प्राकृतम्
Siddha Hemacandra, 8. 1. 1. प्रकृति: संस्कृतं तव भवं प्राकृतमुच्यते
Markandeya-Prakrtasarvasva, p. 1. प्रकृते: संस्कृतायास्तु विकृति: प्राकृती मता
Sabhāṣācandrikā. प्रकृति: संस्कृतं तव भवत्वात् प्राकृतं स्मृतम्
___Prakrtacandrika quoted in Peterson's Third Report 343-7. प्राकृतस्य तु सर्वमेव संस्कृत योनिः
Prakrtasañjivani quoted by Vāsudeva in his Commentary on Karpūramañjari, 9. 11. ed. Bombay. Cf. Pischel's Grammatik der Prakrit-Sprachen, $1. . प्रकृतेरागतं प्राकृतं प्रकृति: संस्कृतम्
Dhvanika on Dasarūpaka, 2. 64. प्रकृते: संस्कवादागर्त प्राकृतम्
Simhadevagni on Vagbhatālankāra, 2. 2. संस्कृतरूपाया: प्रकृतेरुत्पन्नत्वात् प्राकृतम्
Premacandra Tarkavagisa on Kavyadarsa, 1. 18. • Gaudavaho, ed. S. P. Pandit, Introduction, p. 100.
सयलामो इर्म वाया विसंति एत्ती य ऐति वायायो। र'ति समुह चिय गति सायरामो चिय जलाई।
Ibid, sl.98.