Sanskrit Prakrit Jain Vyakaran aur Kosh ki Parampara

Author(s): Chandanmalmuni, Nathmalmuni, Others
Publisher: Kalugani Janma Shatabdi Samaroha Samiti Chapar

Page 493

ASPECTS OF JAIN SANSKRIT
AS EXEMPLIFIED BY MUNI SUMATIVIJAYA'S
VRTTI ON THE MEGHADUTA
by Dr W H MAURER
A LARGE portion of Jaina literature is written in a peculiar kind of Sanskrit (Sht) to which scholars have devoted relatively little attention 1 In fact, the greater part of the extra-canonical literature of the Jaina-s is composed in it Much of this literature consists of independent works, but much is exegetical in character and hence of considerable importance to text-critics and literary historians The characteristic features of this Skt are numerous and rather far-reaching and concern every department of the language its phonological laws, morphology, syntax and vocabulary The differences from standard or classical Sanskrit (cl Skt ) within each of these spheres are often only slight and of sporadic occurrence, they may even pass unnoticed, except with a careful reading, or be imputed to these imperfect transcription Undoubtedly, certain of these phenomena might easily be explained away by scribal blundering, but their continual recurrence inevitably suggests that, if indeed they are 'errors', they must have been committed with method and plan A somewhat analogous situation prevails with Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit (BHS) in which most northern Buddhist texts are written a casual reading of a few pages gives the impression that either one is confronted with a badly transcribed MS or the author did not know how to write the language correctly But a careful reading reveals the same forms and usages again and again, the deviations from the standard language fall into well-defined patterns so that scribal carelessness or imperfect acquaintance with Skt on the part of the author are quite insufficient to explain the fact, and it has long since been clearly demonstrated that the language of these texts is really not Skt at all, but a