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NATURE OF DESVA ELEMENT
'Many people don't like Sanskrit (because it is difficult), nobody appreciates the sentiment or inner meaning of Prakrit. The Dest expressions are palatable to all people, therefore I am composing in Avahaṭṭa (which is also a local spoken dialect)'.
(2) Passages in which Dest means a type of Prakrit
(i) From Natyasastra of Bharata (400-750 A. D.)
etad eva viparyastaṁ samskaraguṇavarjitam
vijñeyam prakṛtaṁ pāṭhyam nānāvasthāntarātmakam || 17.2 ||
'The former (literally this) (when) changed and devoid of the quality of polish, is called the Prakritic Recitation, and it is of various types due to different conditions'.
trividham tac ca vijñeyam naṭyaprayoge samasataḥ |
samānasabdam vibhraṣṭam desīgatam athapi ca || 17. 3 ||
'In connection with the dramatic representation, it (the Prakrit Recitation) is of three kinds, viz., that with the same words (as in Sanskrit), that with corrupt words and that with words of indigenous origin'.
It appears that the later Prakrit grammarians called the above three classes of words Tatsama, Tadbhava and Desi respectively.
ata urdhvaṁ pravakṣyāmi deśabhāṣāvikalpanam |
bhāṣā caturvidha jñeyā daśarūpe prayogataḥ || 17.26 ||
17
'I shall discuss hereafter the classification of regional languages. The languages to be used in drama are of four types'.
mlecchaśabdopacara ca bharatam varṣam asrita /
atha yonyantarībhāṣā grāmyāraṇyapaśūdbhavā || 17.30 ||
"The common language prescribed for use (on the stage) has various forms. It contains (many) words of Barbarian origin and is spoken in Bharatavarṣa (only). The language of other animals have their origin in animals domestic or wild'.
athava cchandataḥ karya deśabhāṣā prayoktṛbhiḥ /
nānādeśasamuttham hi kavyam bhavati naṭake || 17.48 ||
"The producer of plays may however at their option use local dialects; for plays may be written in different regions (for local production)'. The seven languages and several dialects are mentioned in the folloing verses.
magadhyavantija pracyā saurasenyardhamagadht/
bāhlikā dākṣiṇatya ca sapta bhāṣaḥ prakirtitaḥ || 17.49 ||
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"The seven major languages are as follows: Magadhi, Avanti, Pracyā, Sauraseni, Ardhamāgadhi, Bāblikā, Dākṣiņātyā”.
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