Sanskrit Prakrit Jain Vyakaran aur Kosh ki Parampara

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

Page 494

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Middle Indic Prakrit (Pkt ) which was subjected to partial, haphazard Sanskritization There is, then, no question about its being 'bad' Skt in any sense because it is another language which obeys different laws. But it must not be supposed that in a similar fashion this peculiar Skt of the Jaina-s is basically not Skt at all, but only some Pht dialect imperfectly disguised as Skt, or, to put it more directly, simply the Jaina version of BHS In point of fact, Jaina Sanskrit (IS) is quite the reverse of this it is essentially nothing clse than Skt which has been Prakritized and vernacularized, but this process has been carried out to a lesser degree than that of Sanskritization in the case of BHS In its basis JS is always Sht, whereas BHS is an unidentified Pkt , JS is Prakritized Skt , BHS is Sanskritized Pkt.
The origin of JS certainly lies in the intense desire of the Jaina-s to popularize and disseminate their faith, this could only be achieved by adopting a means of communication meaningful to the majority of people Skt was the language of the few, Pkt of the many, yet the Jaina muni-s were versed in Skt as the medium of the susţa-s Their contact with the lasty, however, caused them to introduce into their discourses, doubtless unconsciously, many localısms and popular words which were more readily understood by their listeners In the course of time these words became part and parcel of the language they used also in their writings There was probably not a great deal of difference between the two levels, at least between the language of certain types of exegetical and narrative writing on the one hand and that of the discourses on Jaipa dharma on the other Not only was there a tendency towards popular words, but there was a general liberalization of the vocabulary which readily permitted many Skt words to enlarge their periphery of meaning under the influence of local vernacular usage There was also a fairly general relaxation of the rigid laws of Skt grammar and free rein was given to analogy All these tendencies and impulses gradually produced a freer, less fettered language than ordinary Skt but different enough from it, not always to be readily intelligible to one unacquainted with its peculiarities and more especially its strange and diverse vocabulary In the light of present research, however, no accurate description of these peculiarities for JS as a whole is possible, to do this would require the