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A HISTORICAL OUTLINE OF THE LANGUAGES OF WESTERN INDIA 163
"Though she has only a tattered lobadi (woollen cloth) on her head, and hardly twenty glass-beads round her neck-still the beautiful maiden agitated the young men of the hamlet."
It is not easy always to demarcate the point where Apabhramsa ends and old Gujarati begins. There are, however, some characteristics such as the simplification of conjunct consonants, substitution of post-positions for inflections, and most of all the use of the auxiliary verb achai-chai, the precursor of the modern Gujarati che, which indicate the termination of Apabhramsa and the evolution of Gujarāti.
VI
The earliest literary work in old Gujarati that has come to light so far is the Bharatesvara Bahubali Rasa of Sälibhadra Süri, composed in V.S. 1241 (1185 A.D.). The following quotation will reveal how the new speech has just left the Apabhramsa stage and started on its career towards modern. Gujarātī.
रिसह जिणेसर पय पणमेवी, सरसति सामिणि मनि समरेवी, नमवि निरंतर गुरुचरणा ॥ भरह नरिंदर तणुं चरितो, जं जुगी वसवलय वदीतो,
बार वरस बिहु बंधवहं || हुं हिव पभणिसु रासह छंदिहिं, तं जनमनहर मन आनंदिहिं, भाविहिं भवीयण संभलेउ ॥ .
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(Risaha Jinesara paya panamevi, sarasati sāmiņi mani samarevi, namavi norantara gurucalaṇā// Bharaha narindaha tanurh caritto, jam jugi vasahāṁvalaya vadito, bāra varasa bihum bandhavaham// Hum hiva pabhaṇisu rāsaha chandihim, tam jaņamanahara manaāṇandihim, bhävihim bhaviyana sambhaleu//)
"Having bowed to the feet of Rsabha Jineśvara, having remembered Goddess Sarasvati, and saluting always the feet of the guru;
"The life history of King Bharata, famous in this world from times of yore, (the war between) the two brothers which lasted for twelve years;
"(This) I shall sing in the form of a rasă in verse, so fascinating to the minds of people; may the religious-minded hear it with delight!"
In the century which followed, Gujarati was developed further and became the vehicle of over a dozen works in poetry. The following verse
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