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INTRODUCTION
129
Prāksta-bhāşā in
to poems like the Setubandha composed in Cantos called Aśvāsa'.
Mahārāstri as the name of a Prakrit dialect seems to have become popular at a date later than Hemacandra. As we have seen, Daņdin and Bhoja describe the Prākşta of Mahārāştra as the language of the Setubandha. Very often, however, Irāksta means the Prakrta of Mahārāştra, i.e. Mahārāştri, even without any reference to its geographical extent, because it was regarded as the Prāksta par excellence. Earlier than Hemacandra, Rudrața and Bhoja, for instance, refer to a sixfold division of languages comprising Sanskrit, Prakrta, Magadbi, Saurasení, Paiśāci and Apabhraņśa, where Prāksta obviously stands for the Prāksta of Mahārāştra, i.e, Maharastria. This is made clear by Rudrata's illustrations of the literary device known as Bhāṣāśleșa, which consists in employing in a verse more than one language, e.g., Sanskrit and Prāksta, or Sanskrit and Saurasens, simultaneously in the same sense, or with different meanings. Bhoja likewise illustrates what he calls pure Praksta (Prākstajātih śuddha) with a verse from Kālidāsa's Šakuntala, Act 3: tujjha ņa āne hiaam, which Mārkandeya 9.86 specifically mentions as composed in Maharāștrí because of the form tujjha. The Sahityamimamsa of Ruyyaka reproduces the above statement of Bhoja about pure Prā. kşta along with the example, but calls the language Mahārāstra-Prāksta“, probably for the sake of clarity. A reference
1 Vol. 1, pp. 461, 463. 2 Kävyalamkāra with the comm. of Namisådhu 4.10 ff., SK 2.16 ff. 3 The illustration of the sleșa of Sanskrit and Prākļia in Rudrata 4.11 reads in Prāksta as follows : 82-7a5 af at Am A10--AETA I THEAT
- TUTTI - II 4 P. 92 (T.S.S.)
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