Mahapurana of Puspdanta

Author(s): Ratna N Shriyan
Publisher: L D Indology Ahmedabad

Page 55

DESYA WORDS FROM THE MAHÁPURĀŅA
9. Peter Peterson (Upamitibhavaprapañcā Kathā of Siddharşi) 10.Johannes Hertel (Pañcākhyāya of Pūrnabhadra-1199 A.D.) 11.M.D, Desai (Jain Gurjara Kavio, part I, Bombay, 1926, pp. 227-34) 12.B.J. Sandesara (a list of rare words from the Prabandhāvali of Jina
bhadra (1234 A.D. )in his 'Literary circle of Mahāmātya Vastupāla and its contribution to Sk. literature', pp. 146-147; jointly with J.P. Thakor, Lexicographical studies in Jaipa Sk. in the supplements to J.O.I.
Baroda, vol. x, dos. 1, 2, 3, 4,) 13.Manilal Patel (Articles on Dešināmamālā in Haima Sāraswata Satra) 14.S.M. Katre (Some Problems of Historical Linguistics in Indo-Aryan, . Formation of Konkani and Prakrit Languages and their contribution
to ihe Indian Culture, Bombay, 1945) 15.A.C.Woolner (Introduction to Prakrit, Lahore, 1939) 16.E.D.Kulkarni (A list of rare and urfamiliar words of lexical interest
found in Yt. of Somadeva in the Bulletin of the Deccan College Rese"
arch Institute, vol, 18, 1957, pp. 313-335) 17. Helen Johnson (Rare words occurring in Trişaştisalākāpuruşacarita
of Hem.) :.18.L.B. Gandhi (Ap. Kāvyatrayi, G. O. S. no. xxxvii, 1927) 19.E.C. Dimock (Symbolic forms in Bengali, pp. 23-29, Bulletin of
Deccan College Research Institute, vol, 18, Jan., 1957) 20.Jozef Deleu (Lexicographical Addenda from Rājasekhara's Prabandhakośa in Indian Lignguistics, Turner Jubilee Vol. II, 1959, pp. 180-219)
A critical consideration of the views of these scholars as given above brings out the following facts about the nature and character of Desi. If we leave aside the one-sided views which either equate Deśya wholly and completely with obscure Tadbhavas or which derive them totally fron non-Sk. i.e. Indo-European source or alternatively from foreign sources, we can see that nost of the modern scholars agree that Deśya or Deśz is a very loose label applied by early grammarians and lexicographers to a section of MIA lexical material of a heterogeneous character. Together they trace back the origin of Deśya words to 1) Sk. (through niore or less obvious phonological or semantic development), 2) non-Sanskritic element inherited from Indo-European, 3) non-IndoAryan Indian languages like Dravidian and Mundā, 4) non Indian languages like Persian, Saka, etc,
We can put the substance of these views in a more systematic manner and illustrate them from Hemacandra's Deść collection as follows:
Linguistic sources of Desi material collected by Hemacandra' Let us now examine from a modern point of view the liuguistic source and character of the material collected by Hemacandra,