Sambodhi 1977 Vol 06

Author(s): Dalsukh Malvania, H C Bhayani, Nagin J Shah
Publisher: L D Indology Ahmedabad

Page 72

66
S. N. Ghosal
that constitute the product of the entire mental process of a nation, imbued with the same ideals. These texts thus grant us an access into the religious and cultural heritage of the Jains--tbe adherents of the doctrine of nonviolence and give us an insight into the very intricate problems of their mode of life and thinking. But as this treasure remains concealed within the liard soil of a technical language one has got to work hard to master the speech and unearth the invaluable legacy.
The knowledge of Prakrit is indispensible for philological studies. Of late people are beconring more and more interested in the history of the modern Aryan languages. In fact Turner and Bloeh showed the way by which such languages should be studied and they set the models in pursuance of which the later rescareliers made commendable progress in the respective spheres of their investigation. But the study of these modern Aryan languages became possible only when one could learn Präkrit as it was the direct source of the former. In fact Prakrit is the connecing link between Sanskrit on the one hand and modern Aryan languages on the other. Had there been 110 scientific study of Prakrit there could not have been any progress in the sphere of study of the modern Aryan languages.
The knowledge of Präkrit helps one surely to obtain some result in the field of literary study. The early works of the modern languages cannot be understood properly unless one has got a thorough knowledge of the secular Prakrit literature. It is a fact that the thoughts and the ideas, which forined the contents of the later Prākrit texts, must have found their continuity in the early New Indo-Aryan literature. Ideas appearing before must have come down later-till they have not been totally abandoned owing to their inappropriateness with the social conditions of the time. So investigation into the ideas of the modern Aryan literature requires a close study of the Prakrit texts, without which the knowledge of the former remains incomplete. For a specific instance we can say that the knowledge of the love poems of the Vaişņaya poets of Bengal like Vidyapati and Candidāsa cannot be achieved without an acquaintance with the love lyrics of Apabhramga, which must have left an unmistakeable influence upon the former.
So judged from all these standpoints the study of Prakrit is essential. We cannot ignore it. It should be mentioned here that the scholars of Europe have given some consideration to the study of Prākrit. In fact it is being studied there seriously, from the beginning of the nineteenth century. Lassen, Weber, Pischel, Jacobi, Leumann, Lüders, Sten Konow, Hultzsch, Alsdorf and some others have made significant contribution to the progress in the study of Prākrit, which has in fact facilitated the activities of the later researchers. But inspite of their tireless activities the store of the knowledge of Prākrit has not been exhausted. There are yet many problems