Gaudavaho

Author(s): Vakpatiraj, Narhari Govind Suru, P L Vaidya, A N Upadhye, H C Bhayani
Publisher: Prakrit Text Society Ahmedabad

Page 113

(xcvi) each other in the course of their respective developments ........... Historically speaking, a kind of recognition seems to have been given to the Prakrits first in the 6th century B. C. ... ... ... The Buddha had said that his word might be learnt by the monks each in his own dialect.' Another religious leader, Mahāvira (699-527 B. C. ) also preached his doctrines in the dialect of his own region in eastern India.56 It is also significant that the earliest written records in any Indian language, which have become available, are the Prakrit inscriptions of Asoka ( 3rd century B. C.) and of Khāravela (2nd century B. C.)”.
“ The literary Prakrits57 make their appearance with the BỊhatkathā, circa first century A. C. if not earlier. Vararuci's grammar, the Prakṣita-Prakāśa, presupposes the previous existence of the Prakrits at least in a spoken form. Vararuci belongs to the first century B. C. so that we shall have to date the beginning of the Prakrits from that epoch. The lower limit would be about the eleventh century A. C. after which the modern vernaculars begin to appear on inscriptions or in literature. The period of the Prakrits, then, would roughly fall between the first and the tenth centuries of the Christan era. The last Sanskrit line on an inscription of the Cālukya king Vijayāditya Satyāśraya at Badami, Saka 621 i. e. A. C. 699 or nearly the beginning of the eighth century, clearly indicates the existence of Prakrit in some form at that time. The line runs thus : अतःपरं प्राकृतभाषया पद्यान्येतानि
a. Unfortunately the further lines which would have shown us the actual form of the Prakrit, are obliterated. So much is, however, certain that a Prakrit in some form
56. Known as ' Addha-māgahā Bhāsā' 57. P. D. Gune, ' Comparative Philology', P. 222