Indian Antiquary Vol 46

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarkar
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 33

FEBRUARY, 1917)
THE DRAVIDIAN ELEMENT IN PRAKRIT
33
THE DRAVIDIAN ELEMENT IN PRAKRIT.
BY K. AMRITA ROW, M. A.; MADRAS. DR. CALDWELL, while discussing in his Comparative Grammar of the Dravidian Langu
ages (vide p. 56. III Ed.) the question of the Dravidian Element in the vernacular languages of Northern India, says "If the non-Sanskritic element contained in the Northern vocabularies had been Dravidian, we might also expect to find in their vocabularies a few primary Dravidian roots, such as the words for head, foot, eye, etc., but I have not been able to discover any reliable analogy in words belonging to this class." He further says "though the matter has been very much discussed in Muir's Sanskrit Texte Vol. II and in Beames's Comparative Grammar of the Modern Aryan Languages of India, few, if any, traces of distinctively Dravidian elements are discernible in the North Indian Vernaculars."
Beames, on the other hand, in his Comparative Grammar (pp. 9-10 *3) says "the Aryans were in possession of a copious language before they came into India; they would therefore not be likely to borrow words of an ordinary, usual description, such as names for their clothing, weapons and utensils, or for their cattle and tools, or for the parts of their bodies, or for the various relations in which they stood to each other. The words they would be likely to borrow would be names for the new plants, animals, and natural objects which they had not seen in their former abodes, and even this necessity would be reduced by the tendency inherent in all races to invent descriptive names for new objects."
With regard to the non-Sanskritic element in the Northern Languages, the theory of Mr. Beames seems to me to be more accurate than that of Dr. Caldwell, I cannot understand why Dr. Caldwell should expect to find in the Northern vocabularies a few Dravidian roots, such as those for head, foot, eye, etc. The occurrence of such words would depend upon the degree of contact between the Aryans and the Dravidians. At the present time, we find in South Canara people speaking Konkari, an Aryan dialect, and living amidst people speaking the Dravidian languages, Canarese and Tuļu. Though they have been living there for a very long time, the only foreign words which are now to be found in the Konkani vacabulary are words of the type mentioned by Mr. Beames. But the Dravidian words borrowed by the Prakrits, which will be given below, tell a different ta'o. We find that the Aryans speaking the Prakrits have borrowed from the Dravidians even words for the various relations in which the Aryans stood to each other, besides words for parts of the body. Though they had several words of their own for the various animals, they borrowed words for them from the Dravidians. Thus, we find 4 words for parrot, karó (Dr), kanaillé, kunto, vdyado; five words for pig, kirah (Dr), kidi (Dr), bhundó, thúlaghónô, bhundiro; six words for tiger, pakkasávað, karada, arialli, rattacchi, pulli (Dr), khaccholla ; four words for snake, kikkindi, sarahad, payalao, pavó (Dr). It is unnecessary to multiply instances.
With regard to deli words in Prakrit, the only source of information we have at our command is Hemachandra's Désinamamala. Though Hemachandra himself mentions the names of other authors such as Padaliptâchârya, Gopala, Devaraja, etc., tło works of these authors have not come down to us.
1 Abbreviations : P. Prakrit; S. Sanskrit ; Dr. Dravidian ; Pors. Persian ; Pehl, Pehlavi.