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INTRODUCTION
87
which is long by position before a conjunct consonant to be short in metrical compositions. All the examples cited by Mk except in two cases which occur in Mr come from one or more Skt dramas in which Sakāra is a character. We have only two widely known plays bearing the character Sakāra, namely, Cārudattoo and Mrcchakatika, the former being unfortunately either incomplete or having its later portion lost, whereas the latter only a development of the former. The examples of Mk and Rt, however, presuppose a number of Skt plays in which Sakāra was a character and spoke Sākārī. The peculiarities of his speech as given by Mk exactly tally with those given by Pu® and Rt.
Even though Śākārī is assigned to Sakāra, a particular character in a play, its status of being a spoken dialect once upon a time should not be lost sight of. In my opinion the nucleus of each and every Vibhāṣā was a spoken dialect of a particular group of people in a particular area sone time or other. It was later on given a literary status by being carried to plays by dramatists with the speech of particular characters. We shall have further discussion on this point. Sākārī was evidently a form of Mg and as such a subdialect of the latter. In fact Pu's authority substantiates it. It may have acquired its name originally for being spoken by a class of people called Sakas who were the fureign invaders to this land.59 Similarly, the character Sakāra being the brother of the unmarried wife of the king89
57. Pị cites a verse characterising the speech of Sakāra which bears close resemblance to that given by Pu.
58. For the meaning of Saka, see MONIER WILLIAMS' Skt. Eng. Dic., p. 1045.
59. See PS XIII, 1; also cf. SD III, 44.
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