In Search of the Original Ardhamagadhi English Translation

Author(s): K R Chandra, N M Kansara, Nagin J Shah, Ramniklal M Shah
Publisher: Prakrit Text Society Ahmedabad

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THE ARDHAMAGADI LANGUAGE OF THE PRAKRIT GRAMMAR OF HIEMACANDRA sūtras (8.4.260-286). And, for the Apabhramśa language 118 sūtras (329-446 ) are formulated. Even though the Agama literature in the Ardhamāgadhi language is extant to a great extent, he has not given at any single place independent sūtras systematically for the language of the Svetāmbara Jaina Āgamas, the sect to which he belonged.
Was it that he did not inherit any treatise on the grammar of the Ardhamāgadhi language, like that of the other Prakrits, through tradition ? Or, had the language of the Ardhamāgadhī literature undergone changes to such an extent that it was almost perplexing to formulate harmonious sūtras of grammar for it, independently ? From the sūtras of his Prakrit grammar, it seems that the specific characteristics that are noticed in the context of the Prakrits in general also mostly apply in the case of the Ardhamāgadhī, while some more peculiarities are mentioned at some places in due course in the vrtti, i.e., the Auto-commentary. In the very beginning itself, after giving the sūtra -ĀRŞAM' (8.1.3), he has explained in the vrtti, saying 'bahulam bhavati'and ‘ārse hi sarve vidhayo vikalpyante, i.e., in the Arşa there are varieties and all the rules optionally apply in its case. This would only prove that while he took trouble of formulating the grammar of all other Prakrit languages he did not do so for the Ardhamāgadhi, perhaps because he might have faced great difficulties in isolating the antiquarian characteristics from that literature. It was due to such an outlook that Pt. Becardas Doshi was not at all prepared to accept the Ardhamāgadhi as an independent language in his 'Prakrta Vyakarana! Of course, this has been criticized by Seth Hargovindadas', and Pischel has already given the status of an independent language to the Ardhamāgadhī.'
It is not necessary to remind that Bharatamuni in his Nātyaśāstra has specifically referred to the Ardhamāgadhi as one of the seven languages mentioned therein, and he has called it as an independent famous language."
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