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Paramatma-prakala
holds Apabh. in great estimation, and his remarks on these languages are worth noting. In his opinion, Sanskrit with its long compounds, indeclinables, prepositions, cases and genders is dangerous for survey like the heart of a villain. The association with Prakrit, like that with the words of good people, is a happy one: it is an ocean of worldly Information crowded with the waves of discussion about various arts: it is full of nectar-drops that are oozing out on account of its being churned by great persons: and it is composed with nice arrangements of words. Apabhramia is a balanced and pleasing admixture of the waves of pure and impure Sanskrit and Prakrit words; it is even (or smooth) as well as uneven (or unsmooth); it flows like a mountain river flooded by fresh rains; and it captures the mind like the words of a beloved when she is coquettishly angry. These remarks of Uddyotana, himself a classical author having high admiration for earlier Sanskrit writers like Jatila and Ravisena, clearly show how Apabh. was already considered as an attractive medium of composition as early as 8th century A.D.
54
Hemacandra Indebted to P.-prakāśa-Of all the available Prakrit grammars Hema.'s grammar deals exhaustively with Apabh. and the speciality of his discussion lies in the fact that he quotes verses after verses illustrate his rules. For a long time no sources of any of these verses were traced. Pischel said, 'One gets the impression that they are taken from an anthology of the kind of Sattasal,' From the inherent dialectal divergences and the variety of religious terms including the names of deities, etc., exhibited by these quotations, It is certain that they are not drawn from a single source but from a wide tract of literature with works belonging to different geographical regions and different religions. It was shown by me that Hema. is indebted to P.-prakasa for a few quotations, and Prof. Hiralal has pointed. out that some versess are taken from Dahapahuḍa. One thing is now clear that these verses are not composed by Hema. himself, and a study of Apabh. works and a survey of Old-Rajastan and Old-Gujarati songs might reveal the sources of other quotations as well, Hema. draws the following quotations from P-praksta:
i) On sutra Iv. 389 Hema. quotes:
संता भोग जु परिहरइ तसु कंतही बलि की तसु दइवेण वि मुंडियउँ कसु खल्लिहडउँ सीसु ॥
1 This is a free rendering of the extracts quoted by L. B. Gandhi in his Intro, to Apabhramtakavyatrayì, pp. 97-8 (G O. S. Vol. 37); see also Apabhramta-pathavali by M. C. Modi. p. 86 of the Notes.
2 See my paper on Varangacarita in the Annals of the B. O. R. I., Vol. XIV, i-ii., pp. 61, etc.
Pischel Grammatik, etc. §29.
4 Annals of the B. O. R. I., Vol. XII, ii, p. 159, etc.
See his Intro. of Pahudadohd, pp. 22-3 (KJS. III).
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