Scientific Contents in Prakrta Canons

Author(s): N L Jain
Publisher: Parshwanath Vidyapith

Page 41

Prāksta Bhāṣā : 19
(f) Prākrta of Dramas of Asvaghosa
The Prākrta of Buddhist or Jaina canons is coined by the single name of 'Archaic Prākta' or canonical language. They, however, seem to be quite different in origin and structure. The categories are later developmental forms, Before proceeding to Jaina canons, we will describe these Prākrta forms in brief. (a) Pali Language
Many scholars agree that Pāli is the oldest form of Prākrta. It does have only written form and no spoken form. The word Pāli for this language is a later coin-probably of fourteenth century20. The word Pāli has various meanings as below21 : 1. J. Kashyapa Paliyāya Words, Speeches,
sermons of Buddha 2. Buddhaghosa Pāthā Readings of Buddha
sermons 3. B. Bhattacharya
Lineage 4. Maxwelsar
Pātaliputra 5. Bhandarkar et. el. Palli Village Pāli (by corruption)
Präkta Pāli (by corruption ) 6. Rajwade
Prākrta Pāli (by corruption ) 7. Abhidhän
Protector of meaning of Buddha Lexicon
Prāleya Neighbouring hilly region. Out of these, only three valid meanings have been suggested for Päli -- (a) words, speeches and sermons of Buddha, Village or protector of the meaning of Buddha. It is the recorded language of Buddha's words and it has preserved them since centuries.
There are large number of opinions about the origin of Pāli. They can be summarised to suggest that it has not been a spoken language. It has developed as a literary and inter-provincial language based on different dialects covering the extended areas involving Magadha (Bihar), Srāvasti (U.P.), Avanti (Ujjain, M.P.) and Janapada ( Haryana ). It may have predominance of