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INTRODUCTION
xxxix
called scribal errors; even in the verses of Karpūtamañjari36 there are some such cases : na tthāņāki (ii. 1), tłhio (ii. 46, iii. 4). This tendency can be explained on the supposition that the whole sentence or a string of words was first conceived in Sanskrit and then converted into Prākrit. This is manifest in some of the verses of Pravarasena, Vakpati and Rājasekhara. This habit, so far as our author is concerned, is quite strong here as seen from the structure of various verses.
Lastly, our text shows the development of certain conjuncts in the following cases : bhuvana-ppenādāe (ii. 40), pparusa (iii. 47); and they are possibly due to the necessity of metre. PISCHEL has already collected many such cases from Prākrit literature.
To conclude, the above facts indicate that Rāma Pāṇivāda mainly follows Vararuci's Sūtras, especially the first nine chapters, with the commentaries thereon ; his dialect is influenced by the Prākrit prose of the dramas; he shows a small number of words which are further deductions from the known forms ; and, as he conceives the expressions first in Sanskrit, we find that many Sanskrit forms are directly corrupted into Prākrit, that some initial consonants are elided and that some initial duplicates are retained.
B) THE NAME OF THIS PRĀKRIT DIALECT.
The term Prākrit is used with various meanings. If we consider the views of the Prākrit grammarians, we find that it is used as a generic term to designate a number of Middle Indo-Aryan literary languages. In this serise Ardha-Māgadhi
36 I have noted these readings from Dr. KONOW's text of Karpūtamañjarī (Cambridge, Mass 1901), but I find that Dr. GHOSH has adopted some different readings in two places in his edition. of Karpūramañjari (Calcutta 1939) which has just reached my hands.
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