Sanskrit Prakrit Jain Vyakaran aur Kosh ki Parampara

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

Page 570

७८ सस्कृत-प्राकृत व्याकरण और कोश की परम्परा
holder of all four is the holder of Krta throw, everybody should fear him for he will Vanquish them all In this context the use may be a figurative one as many commentators have opined But it is plain that the holder of the four is the holder of the Kita throw, so it is not far-fetched to assume that the word 'Catui a' is a syncopation of 'Catui rūn'=holder of the four viz Kita Generally the lexicons connect this word with the V cat or vcad in the sense of asking or begging. But one fails to establish any direct semantic link between the root and the derivative
The form Kata as noted above is a Prakritization of Krța obtained through the cerebralization of the dental proceded by r Later this form seems to have been absorbed in Sanskrit for Darduraka of the Micchakatika, a Sanskrit speaker says, 'Kațena Vinipātito yānu'.
In the same way it can also be concluded from the speech of the same person that 'Pāvara' a derivative from Dyāpara (Dvāpai a tassimilation >*Vāparat-metathesis > pāvara) has also been absorbed in Sanskrit, for the same speaker says, 'pāvara patanacca Sositaśarīrah'
The game of dice in course of time, beoming more popular among the Prakrit speaking people, the Prakrit names of the terms associated with the game ousted their Sanskrit counterparts It should be investigated if the phrase 'pau bāj alia' is not a popular etymology of the above mentioned 'Pāvara'-doubtless it is connected with the game of dice, they say, 'pade pāsā pau vāraha' etc
Now one may ask : ‘Was the game of dice so extensive and popular that the terms primarily connected with it yielded such rich harvest of semantic expansions? If one looks into the Vedic literature and the ancient Sanskrit literature in general and the Mahābhārat in particular one cannot but conclude that the game of dice was fairly wide-spread in ancient India The Apabiranisa literature testifies that the tradition continued in the medieval period too Anyway, for undergoing a semantic expansion it is not necessary that the term should be wide-spread On the