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Prakrit Verses in Sanskrit Works on Poetics
The pandita, who replies in Sanskrit when Prakrit poetry is recited, pelts stones at the bed of flowers and destroys it.22
The topic which follows about "Praise of Prakrit Poets" is in a way related to the topic 'under discussion as it contains indirect praise of Prakrit poetry.
5. Poetry In Māhārāştri Prakrit :
Prakrit literature is vast and varied. It is composed in different languages like Ardhämāgadhi, Māhārāștrī, Jain Māhārāstrī, Saurasenī, Jain Saurasenī, Paiśācī and . Apabhramba. I confine myself to poetry in Māhärăştri Prakrit for writers on Sanskrit poetics mostly draw upon poetic works in Māhārāstrī for their illustrations. The principal works in this Prakrit are :
(a) Hala's Sattasai or Saptaśatakam or Gahākoso or better known as Gathasaptaśati (GS) (C. first century A.D., but according to some scholars second or third century A.D.) is the earliest known anthology of Prakrit, to be precise, of Mahārāstrī verses comprising some seven hundred gäthäs. It is the most famous and best known of Māhārāstrī works. Its value as an anthology is high and it also affords evidence to show that Māhārāștrī literature was once very extensive and widespread.24 Its popularity is attested by the large number of commentaries on it and scores of quotations from it in works on Poetics and the use made of it by the Prakrit grammarians. Eminent poets like Bāņa, Uddyotanasūri, Abhinanda and Soddhalaas
22) 415460 Ad fequut Hençut ut si
सो कुसुमसत्थरं पत्थरेण दलिउं विणासेइ ॥ - [प्राकृतकाव्योल्लापे प्रतिवचनं संस्कृतेन यो ददाति ।
स कुसुमस्रस्तरं प्रस्तरेण दलित्वा विनाशयति ॥] 23) A. Weber : Ueber das Saptasatakam des Hala, Leipzing 1870; Das Saptasatakam
of Hala, Leipzing 1881; the Gāthāsaptaśatī, Kavyamala 21, 2nd edn, 1911; Ibid 3rd edn, Bombay 1933. Keith: A History of Sanskrit Literature, Oxford 1928, pp.223 ff.; A.M. Ghatage : Māhārăstri Language and Literature, Journal of the University of
Bombay, IV.6, May 1936. 24) Cf. HTI H3115 $qtontut 13T HISTRATI
STATUT PR3115 HISTORIUT TETUT 11 - GS 1.3 25) Vide, infra, 'Praise of Prakrit poets.'
