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18 : Scientific Contents in Prākrta Canons
(d) Dramatic Basis
3 — Māgadhi sauraseni Mahārāstri
It seems that most of the names of these forms are regional. The native sub-forms of Mārkandeya are mostly supposed to be sub-classes of Māgadhi and Sauraseni (Abhirika), Dākṣiṇātya, Paiśāci ( corrupt Sauraseni). It could, however, be seen that the Apabhramsa form was added to the list in later periods where many native language forms were also included in it due to later corruptions in their original forms, Similarly, it seems that Paisāci ( a tribe originally of north-west Kaśmira ) also spread through the country in east, west and south where it also adopted different forms. One also finds that there are large number of duplication of names in each category suggesting the regional forms of many dialects. This long list of forms need not surprise any body as the different regional forms belonged to the same basic language with minor differences. These were virtually dialects or sub-languages. Whatever be their number, they could all be included in the following five categories of Prākrtas as mentioned by Tiwari 8 :
(i) Māgadhi (ii) Ardhamāgadhi or Semi-magadhi (iii) Sauraseni (iv) Mahārāștri
(v) Paiśāci The Literary Prākrta of First Stage and Period
The different forms of literary Prākrtas developed due to regional and other characters. The first stage literary Prākrta is the most important for the studies of Jaina canons. Seth has suggested many forms of this Prākrta :
(a) Language of Pāli literature or Pali (b) Language of Jaina canons - Ardhamāgadhi (c) Jaina Mahārāstri Language (d) Inscriptional Prākrta Language (e) Paiśāci and Cūlika Paiśāci Language
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