Dictionary of Prakrit for Jain Literature Vol 01 Fasc 01

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

Page 10

INTRODUCTION
1. THE TITLE
A
The full title of the present lexical work is Comprehensive and Critical Dictionary of the Prakrit Larguages with special reference to Jain literature'. This designation is chosen to indicate the main features of the work. Compared to the available dictionaries of the Prakrits, old and new. this dictionary is intended to cover all the available leximes in the Prakrit languages and as such aims at comprehensiveness as far as the Prakrit literature is concerned It is meant to be critical in the sense that while using the literature for this purpose. a critical : ttitude is consistently followed, and each item is examined and all quotations for it are thoroughly corrected wherever necessary with all the available material, and are fully interpreted. This is essential because most of the Prakrit works which are at present available are not critically edited and properly translated. In the case of editions of the canonical texts, there are too many differences among them, because they are published at different times and are worked with divergent principles. which are often contrary to each other. being based upon different views of their nature Equally chaotic is the method used for the purpose of giving references to passages and many of the entries are based on memory of the dictionarymakers. Sometimes an attempt is made to put a Sanskrit word into Prakrit without any thought being given to its actual occurrence in the Prakrit language. Short of preparing complete critical editions of the works used for this dictionary, an attempt is made to present the words and examples in as critical a form as possible with the available material A consistent and easily verifiable mode of reference is used which will help the reader to trace the passages in different editions. The meanings given are based on a thorough consideration of all the evidence available including the traditional interpretations and for this purpose extracts from the commentarial literature are given in their proper places with references. By the expression Prakrit languages it is intended to take the word in the sense in which it has been used in Indian Classical literature as a whole and more particularly its use as found in the traditional Prakrit grammars, works on rhetorics and dramaturgy. In this sense the word Prakrits is not co-extensive with what the modern linguists c 11 the Middle IndoAryan languages (MIA). Hence we exclude from the
scope of this work the whole of the Pali literature and extra-Indian Prakrit dialects and some of the early inscriptions in MIA like those of Aśoka. This exclusion is based on two considerations: (1) excellent dictioparles are available for Pali literature and an exhaustive one is already in progress. Glossaries for the excluded dialects and inscriptions are also known and meet the needs sufficiently well. (2) Technically the different modes of writing of these dialects make it difficult to include the words in the alphabetical order of the Prakrit Dictionary and their inclusion as separate entries will only increase the bulk of the work without real advantage. However, whenever an etymology of the Prakrit word is attempted, this material is given intended to draw attention to the fact that an extensive due consideration The reference to Jain literature is of the peculiar and technical words from this literature material is available here and that the semantic analysis is expected to yield a rich harvest and is in need of some amount of special explanation to understand them. in the history of Indo-Aryan languages fully justifies The position which the Apabhramśa literature occupies its inclusion in the Dictionary. All the material bearing on the so-called Vibhāṣās' sub-dialects of Prakrits' being scanty will be included in the scope of this work. But the bulk of the Dictionary will be formed by the chief Prakrit languages namely Ardha-Magadhi, Jain Mabaraṣṭrī, Jain-Sauraseni, Mähäräsṭrl, Sauraseni, Magadhi and Apabhrama and illustrations from them will be used throughout. A complete list of books used for this tions used and the mode of reference followed. It Dictionary is given separately along with the abbreviacontains nearly 500 works and thus covers almost all the material available in the Prakrit languages.
II. LEXICAL MATERIAL IN PRAKRIT
For a better understanding of the nature of the present dictionary, it may be useful to give a brief survey of the lexical material available for the Prakrits included in this dictionary. As compared with Sanskrit and Pali, the traditional lexical material for the Prakrits is definitely scanty and not of much significance. It is true that the vast comment rial literature on the AMg. canon and post-canonical works both in JM. and JS. often cite a few passages which appear like bits of Kosas of the traditional type, just as they quote a few