Book Title: Sambodhi 1976 Vol 05
Author(s): Dalsukh Malvania, H C Bhayani
Publisher: L D Indology Ahmedabad

Previous | Next

Page 254
________________ 956 G. H, Schokker Verges of songs to be sung by women in the course of the dramatic perfo, rmance. Since its model, viz. Sanskrit, as the universal standard language could be used for any style, at the margin of the drama Śaurasen may also have been used for lyric purposes But its proper use was to represent the conversational language of the high-class female characters in the drama. This close connection between the use of a language and a particular style seems to be characteristic of Indian literature in general For instance it is well-know from New Indo-Aryan Braj and Avadhl, viz respectively the Western and Eastern Variants of Hindi, received their literary coltivation within the scope of two differont styles. Whereas Braj served a lyric atyle proper to the Krsna-cult for which it was used, Avadhl served a narra. tlve-didactic atyle which in its initial stage was cultivated by the Sufis in their romaacos (premakhyana) and at a later stage by the devotees of Rama lo theft Rama-epics. Proceeding on the assumption that Braj, like Saurasen, was the vernacular of the country of Mathura, it is generally taken for granted that Braj descended from Saurasonī. Bat if the use of a language 13 a matter of style, Braj no more than Sauraseul can be directly connected with the vernacular of the countary about Mathura. From a stylistic point of view it 18 also interesting to note that Braj just played the reverae part of that played by Sauraseni in the drama, Braj belag used for a lyric style, and Saurasons for & proso style.co ! The difference of atyle, between Maharasstri and Sauraseny manifests Itaelf in the fact that the former boars the distinguishiaz marks of its lyric stylo, and the latter thoso of its prose style. Io the study of Prakrit this important point up to now has hardly received any attention. Since in the drama as a rule the use of Maharaştri and Sauraseny is confined to the high-class female characters, such a difference of style between these two kinds of Prakrit may generally manifest itself only on a small scale. But the karpūramanjarī 18 entirely written in Prakrit, and therefore, offers a good opportunity for comparing Mabarştci with Saurasent from a atylistic polnt of view, Here I may call attention to a striking Polat la which Mahāraştri and Saurasen, as used in the Karpüramanjart differ from each other. This poiot relates to the fact that they make a different use of the present partigiple and the absolutive. In Maharastri tho use of the present participlo to a large extent predominates over that of the absolutivo, the ratio of tho present participles to the absolutives being 56.9.42 On the other hand, Šauragent in this respect just gives the reverse picture. Here the age of

Loading...

Page Navigation
1 ... 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 324 325 326 327 328 329 330 331 332 333 334 335 336 337 338 339 340 341 342 343 344 345 346 347 348 349 350 351 352 353 354 355 356 357 358 359 360 361 362 363 364 365 366 367 368 369 370 371 372 373 374 375 376 377 378 379 380 381 382 383 384 385 386 387 388 389 390 391 392 393 394 395 396 397 398 399 400 401 402 403 404 405 406 407 408 409 410 411 412 413 414 415 416