Sanskrit Prakrit Jain Vyakaran aur Kosh ki Parampara

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

Page 587

Importance of Jain literature for Deśya Prakrit 95
(v) If the meaning of a Prakrit word could be explained through metaphorical transfer as compared with the meaning of the corresponding Sanskrit form of that word, that word was not be considered Desya
Hemacandra introduced certain methodological innovations in the arrangement and presentation of his lexical material This made for greater orderliness and clarity and enhanced the reference value of his work He adopted an alphabetical order for the items selected, and under each latter-head he arranged the words according to the number of syllables Items with multiple meanings were separately grouped He composed verses to illustrate the use of the recorded items these also provided the necessary context to remove ambiguities where the glossing word (in Prakrit or Sanskrit) had several meanings Against the former practice, he excluded the verbal substituted (dhātvädeśas) from the lexion and assigned them to the Prakrit grammar, because of their special characteristic of combinability with derivative affixes of Sanskrit origin But for the sake of convenience and to avert any sudden break with the tradition, he noted them in his commentary on the Desī nāmamālā
This commentary also served the purpose of a clearing house Hemacandra critically evaluated earlier work in Deśya lexicography, distinguishing between inaccurate and authentic ones on the other In his work he incorporated the materials from the latter sources In numerous cases of doubt or disagreement, he selected and rejected after properly weighing the available evidence, noted the alternatives where he found them equally authoritative and left the choise open where no decisive evidence was available. We can well imagine the enormous effort involved in this sort of task, and appreciate the high scholarly spirit which saved the Deśya lexicography from utter confusion and threatened oblision
Hemacandra's Desīnāmamālā gives the meanings of about four thousand words. If we count a word with multiple meanings as so many separate words, then the number may go up by a thousand on the other hand the total would go down by a