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in the inner apartment of a king. The dialect of servants, princes, and merchants is the half Mágadhi. The Práchya (eastern i.e. gaudiya is the dialect of the Vidúshaka and others, and the Abanti of the gamesters. Drávidi or the southern dialect is spoken by the soldiers and gamblers. The Sakári should be used by the left-hand brotherin-law of kings, by the Sakas and others. The Vahliki dialect belongs to the people of northern India, and the Chándalí to the Chandals and others. The Abhiri and Sávarí are spoken by workers upon wood and by charcoal makers. The Pais'achi is the tongue of the Pisáchas and also of female attendants (see Sahityadarpan, chapter vi.)
The different dialects of the Pra'krita are so copiously employed in the Sanskrita dramas that it is impossible to go through an ordinary work of this species of composition without a fair acquaintance with the main principles of those dialects. A comprehensive Prakrita grammar is accordingly much in request among Sanskrit Students.
There already exist a good many works on the Prákrita dialects such as the Pịakritaprakás'a of Vararuchi, Prakritalakshmana of Chanda, Prakrita sarvaswa of Márkandeya, Prákritásstadhyáyi of Hemchandra, Prakrita sanjibani of Vizsantraj, Prakrita lankeswara, Irakritakalpalatika &c. Besides we find in the Prakrita sarvaswa of Markandeya names of many former grammarions, such as Sákalya, Sarata, Kahala, Bhamaha &c. whose work:s appear to be however no longer extant.
Of the extant works many still lie buried in manscripts ; a few others which have been published by European scholars are inaccessible to students of moderate means. Moreover the system adopted in these works is so repulsive and unmethodical that even a devoted student can only with great difficulty benefit by them.
With a view to remove these difficulties from the path of the reader of Sanskrit dramas, I have ventured to compile the present prákrita grammar. In it I have adopted an entirely new system, with what success it is for the public to judge.
I beg to mention that the work is mainly a compilation from almost all the extant works on the subject. I lay claim to no originality save the entirely new method of arrangement and treatment of
Aho ! Shrutgyanam
