Jain Journal 1999 07

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

Page 58

PRAKRIT IN THE MAURYA EMPIRE
[326 B.C. - 183 B.C]
SATYA RANJAN BANERJEE
It seems quite possible that in the Maurya period from the time of the Maurya Candragupta (326-302 B.C) down to the rise of Pusyamitra, commander of Bșhadratha (183 B.C.), the last recorded king of the Maurya empire, the languages prevalent were mainly Sanskrit, Pali and Prakrit, as can be gleaned from the literature written in these three languages. Though the literature found at that time were not, perhaps, very many, it can still be guessed quite reasonably that there were some literary documents at the time of the Mauryan empire. The Mauryan emperors, perhaps, did not stimulate authors to write books at that time, but yet we cannot imagine that the Mauryan kingdom which was at its height of glory, particularly at the time of Asoka, did not produce any literature. However, my essay is divided in two partsone part devoted to languages available at that time and the other part their literature.
It has been mentioned above that there were three languages prevalent at the time of the Mauryan empire. Sanskrit, being the foremost of them, had many phases. Historically the origin of Sanskrit is normally traced from Indo-European whose date is tentatively fixed as 2500 B.C. When the Indo-European peoples started migrating from their original home (whatever may be the place-some parts of Europe or Asia), they were divided into two courses--one group migrated towards the west in Greece, Rome, Germany and other countries, and the other one made their way towards Iran and India. This group ultimately formed the Indo-Iranian unity sometime between 2000-1750 B.C. of which again the Iranian block remained in Iran, ultimately resulting in Avestan and Old Persian literature sometime in the very late 8th-6th centuries B.C., while the other group came to India and started writing their literature to preserve their thoughts and ideas. The earliest document of this group of people, known as Indo-Aryan, is the Rgveda whose date is reckoned as the 1500 B.C. From 1500 B.C. down to 400 B.C. we have the Vedic period divided into Samhitā, Brāhmana, Āranyaka and Upanişad. It was at the time of Upanişads, we had the first reference to a colloquial language known as Prakrit. In the Samavāyānga and in the Aupapātikadašā-sūtra, we have the