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(xcvii) was used on inscriptions between the close and the beginning of the 7th and the 8th centuries respectively ”.
Among the four Prakrits mentioned by Vararuci viz. Mahārāştri, Sauraseni, Māgadhi and Paišācī, Mahārāștri was recognised as the Prakrit par excellence 58 and earlier works like Hāla's Gāhāsattasai and Pravarasena's Setubandha came to be written in this language. “It59 must have become a literary language sometime before the first known dramatist wrote his work, as in all dramas Prakrit poetry is written in HIETTISET only. The heroines, for instance, speak the ithat, but when they speak in verse, they exclusively use the AIEITIZI”. Speaking about the language from the point of view of literature, Rājasekhara, describing his Kāvya-Purusa“, observes: “Sanskrit is your mouth, Prakrit the arms, Apabhramsa the buttocks, Paišācī the feet and a mixture of these the chest.” When the king holds his durbar, he says,61 “The Sanskrit poets should be seated to the north (of his regal seat ), the Prakrit poets to the east, the Apabhramśa poets to the west, the Paisāca poets to the south.” An ambidexterous poet like Vākpatirāja, well-versed both in Sanskrit and Prakrit, might have had his berths reserved in both the classes !
"Mahāraştri is also the language of artificial epics, of which up till now two have been published, the Rāvanavaho and the Gaüdavaho ... They are very strongly
58. HEITTSETSTTTT 1190 gin fag: 1
___ सागरः सूक्तिरत्नानां सेतुबन्धादि यन्मयम् ॥ काव्यादर्श. I. 59. Dr. Gune, 'Comparative Philology, 'Pp 192–193. 60. $15471HİAT III. 61. argi 751927 Iatu alaca: bat: 6921 falastra I..
पूर्वेण प्राकृताः कवयः...पश्चिमेनापभ्रंशिनः कवयः ॥ काव्यमीमांसा X S. 7
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