Jain Journal 1996 01

Author(s): Jain Bhawan Publication
Publisher: Jain Bhawan Publication

Page 11

100
JAIN JOURNAL: Vol-XXX, No. 3. January 1996
Syntax: the Conditional Sentences, Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, Vol-12, No. 13, 1900, pp. 549-588 and the Preterite Tenses of the Indicative, JAOS, Vol-21, 1900, pp. 112-145, are the earlist studies of the subject.
But the study of syntax on Middle Indo-Aryan is almost a barren subject. Dr Sen contributed to it for the first time. Historically, though some scholars have done some works on MIA syntax, but they are not worth mentioning in comparison with Dr Sen. Siegfried Goldschmidt has written one article on Prakrit Infinitive (Der Infinitiv des Passivs in Prākṛt, ZDMG, 28, 1874, Leipzig, pp. 491-493). Otto Franke as early as 1890 wrote his Die Casuslehre des Pāņini Vergleichen mit dem Gebrauch des Casus im Pali und in den Aśoka-inscriften, Beiträge zur Kunde der Indogermanischen Sprachen, Göttingen, 1890, where the application of Panini's rules in Pali and Aśokan Inscriptions is found. But in the twentieth century, apart from Dr Sen, A.N. Upadhye and A.M. Ghatage have done some stray works on the subject. Upadhye's Syntactic Position of Preposition, IHQ, IX, 1933, pp. 98788, is an illustration of the subject. In a sense, Ghatage has contributed much more than Upadhye. Ghatage's major contributions areInstrumental and Locative in Ardhamāgadhi (IHQ, XIII, 1937, pp. 5258), Repetition in Prakrit Syntax (NIA. 11, 1939, pp. 47-55) and Concord in Prakrit Syntax (ABORI, XXI, 1940, pp. 73-96). In his Introduction to Ardhamāgadhi, Kolhapur, 1951, he has a chapter on Ardhamāgadhi syntax. But Dr Sen started working on MIA syntax from 1928 onwards. From 1939 (IL, Vol-VII, 1939, pp. 65-86, 180-86; IX, 1944, pp. 10-29) till the appearance of the Historical Syntax of Middle Indo-Aryan in 1953 (IL. XIII, 1953, pp. 1-68 and then as a separate book, 1953), Dr Sen had continuously worked on the subject. But after Dr Sen the subject has not advanced much.
So the Syntactic Studies of Indo-Aryan Languages is a timely reprint for which the Tokyo University of Foreign Studies is to be congratulated. The book is exceptionally well-bound, the paper and printing are both excellent, and overall get-up is attractive. I am sure that the scholars will be much benefited by the reprint of these three syntaxes.
Satya Ranjan Banerjee