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प्राकृतसर्वस्वम् ।
and treats the same as a subdialect of Mg, the reason for which will be discussed later on.
The treatment of Pkt by Kramadīśvara in the eighth chapter of his Sanskrit grammar Samkşiptasāra is very brief. Among the various dialects that are employed in case of different characters in a play mention is made of Saka (Sākārī), Abhira, Drāvida, Udra, Avanti, Srāvanti (?), Prācyā, Saurasenī, Bāhlīki and Dākşiņātyā. Otherwise it mainly rests upon Mabārāștri and Apabbramsa. Besides, KI also recognises Mg, Paisācika, Amg. and Sabara as Pkt dialects. He also refers to the three main varieties of Ap, i.e., Nāgara, Upanāgara and Vrācața (= Vrācada ). But a systematic treatment of all these dialects is lacking in it.
The mutual relation of the works of Puruşottama, Rāmaśarman and Mk seems to be vary close. All of them belong to the Eastern School. Unfortunately the grammar of Pu, Prākrtānusāsana, is lacking in its first two chapters which are lost to us. Even then the work bears striking resemblance with the PS of Mk, Like Mk’s grammar, Pu's grammar is divided into twenty chapters and each chapter in the former's work has a corresponding one in the latter's. Now these three authors divide Pkt into Bbāṣā, Vibhāṣā, Apabhramsa and Paisācika. Again all of them deal with M first and then study S, Prācyā, Avantī and Mg under the first division, Bhāşā. Mk and Rāmaśarman observe Bählīki and A Mg as merging with Avantī and Mg respectively. Both of them also take note of Dākṣiṇātyā as coming under Bhāşa but fail to define and illustrate it precisely and thus they do not approve of it as a separate category. Then the remaining three, Vibhāṣā, Apabhramsa and Paiśācika, are discussed.
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