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18
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
lent descriptions of the grammatical structure of these dialects, it is to be regretted that only a very small portion of their stock of words has become known. Our ignorance of the Prakrit Vocabulary is partly owing to the circumstance that, besides the Prakrit passages of the Sanskrit dramas-if we except the Buddhistic Pâlf writings a portion only of one larger Prakrit work has been edited. Sanskritists are deterred from the task by the paucity and bad condition of the Prakrit MSS. But another equally important obstacle to a fuller exploration of the Prakrits is the entire want of native vocabularies, which could do the same service to the student of the Prakrits as the Amarakosha and kindred works did and still do to the Sanskritist. The method of teaching in the Brahmanical schools, as well as the testimony of various writers, make it certaint that such vocabularies existed and were accessible very recently. But no work of the kind has, to my knowledge, as yet been made known.
I am happy to be able, to a certain extent, to fill this gap in our knowledge of the literature of the Prakrits, as I have recently obtained a copy of a Desisabdasamgraha, written by the famous Jaina Polyhistor of the twelfth century, Hemachandra or Hemácharya, which contains about 4,000 Prakrit words, together with explanations in Sanskrit. The MB, of which I have obtained a loan only for transcription, comprises according to the colophon 3,325 slokas (agglomerations of 32 syllables each) on 74 folios. Its
date is Samvat 1587. It is correct and in
good preservation, except that the upper odges of some leaves have been gnawed by rats, whereby,
in one instance two half lines and on several
pages a few letters have been lost. It is written in Devanagari characters, but presents the archaic forms of letters usual in Jaina MSS. Hence it is frequently very difficult to distinguish between u and o, between tth and chchh, and between jjh and bbh.
Besides the text of the Desisabdasamgraha, which is written in Prakrit Áryâs and gives
I mean Hala's Gathakosha, a part of which was published, together with a German translation by Prof. A. Weber, in the Abhandlungen der D. M. Ges. 1870.
† E. g., of Bhanudikshita, who quotes a Destkosha in his commentary on the Amarakosha, Aufrecht, Oaf. Cat, p. 182a.
[JANUARY, 1873.
the Desi words with Prakrit equivalents, the MS. contains a Sanskrit commentary. The latter explains each Desi word in Sanskrit, and contains also frequently discussions on doubtful forms. At the end of the explanation of each verse, one or two Prakrit sentences have been added, in order to illustrate the use of the Desis explained. Thus each word is repeated three times. The book is divided into eight Vargas, viz.-I. Svaravarga; II. Words beginning with gutturals; III. Words beginning with palatals; IV. Words beginning with linguals; V. Words beginning with dentals; VI. Words beginning with labials; VII. Words beginning with the liquids ra, la, ra; VIII. Words beginning with sa and ha. The words under each letter are arranged according to their length, and according to their meaning. First come those that have only one meaning, in the order of bisyllabics, trisyllabies, tetrasyllabics, and so forth; and the words having more than one meaning make the conclusion.
Both text and commentary are Hemachandra's work as may be seen from the introductory verse:Desi duhsandabha pratyah sandarbhitapi durbodha | A'chartyahemachandrastattam sandribhati vibhajati vai, and from the colophon of the book,-ityachártya s'ri Hemachandravirachita svopajnadhes'isamgraha vrittavaahtamo vargah samaptabl
The first four verses of the text give the definition of the term Deéf, and define the scope of the work. They run as follows:
गमणयपमाणगहिरा सहियपहिययहियंगमरहस्सा । जयइ जिणिदाण असे भासवरिणामिणी वाणी ॥ १ ॥ णीसेसदे सिपरमलपलाविभकु ऊहलाउलत्तेण । विरहज्जर $ देसीसद्वसंगहो वण्णक्कमसुहओ ॥२॥
off a fact herg णय गओलखणासत्तिसंभवा ते इर निनद्वा ॥ ३॥ देसवि से सभसिद्धीइ पण्णमाणा अनंतया हुति ।
तम्हा अणाइपाइयपयट्टभासाविसेसओ देसी |४ ||l
'Glory to the language of the Jinendras, which is difficult on account of the employment of parallel passages not explained by the commentators (gama), Tof categories** and of proofs, the secrets of which got to the hearts of the wise, and which comprises all other languages.††
Viraijjai jai-MS. suhasas may also be read suhau. The metre is Gfti or Udgatha. Tatparyabhedinah sadris'apathah !
Naya vastve kades'agrähipah syadvada virodhinobhipriyavishes'ah |
naigamasamgrahavyavahar ari justtras'abdasamabhirûtdhae vambhatabhidhanah
Apara utkarsho yadaa'eshabhâshart patvena parina
mate
yadaha deva daivim nara narim s'abaras chapi sabarim | Tirtyanchopi tairas'chim menire bhagavadgiram | 'evambhuta jinendrânâm arhatâm vänt jayatiti" samban dhah |
