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Literature on Prakrit Grammar : 47
be used in Sanskrit dramas. In 17th chapter of his Nātyaśāstra he has dealt with Prakrit in gāthās 1-63 or 1-64.In the first gāthā, he volits to explain the characteristics of Prakrit recitation. It is devoid of merits of refinement. In dramatic representation it is of three types: that is where words are the same as in Sanskrit (samānaśabdaṁ), divergent (vibhraştam) and of local usage (deśīgataṁ). Afterward he gives the example of the words of three kinds and phonetic changes that take place in Prakrit with regard to Sanskrit. To him Māgadhi, Avantī, Prācyā, Śaurasenī, Ardhamāgadhi, Bāhlīkā and Dākṣiṇātyā are well known languages. He also names Śākārī, Cānļālī, Abhīrī or Šābarī and Drāmiờ. According to French Scholar Luigia, Nitti- Dolci, the history of Prakrit grammar too begins with Bharat's Nātyaśāstra. Pub. (The Prakrit Grammar of Bharat’s Nātyaśāstra) the text with English translation. JDL, XXV, 1934,// The text in Roman with French trans. by Luigia, Nitti- Dolci, In: Less Grammarian Prakrits, Paris 1938, pp. 64- 76.// Text in Roman with English translation, In: Prakrit Grammarians by Late Luigia Nitti Dolci (translated into English from French by Prabhakara Jha, Motilal Banarasidass, Delhi 1972, p. .12, 240,// P. L. Vaidya, Bharatamuninibaddham Prakrit Bhāṣāsvarūpam, In: Prakrit Grammar of Trivikrama, Sholapur 1954. Appendix VII. 2. Prakrit Lakşaņa of Canda is a grammar of ancient (Arșa) Prakrit, in 99 sūtras (four chapters only). Differing from all other grammarians Canda begins with nominal and pronominal flexion. He treats the vowels in the second and the consonants in the third. Opinion regarding his time varies. To Hornele, he it is prior to Vararuci and Hemacandra i.e. earliest of the known Prakrit grammarians while Dr. Hiralal Jain dated him during 2nd to 3rd cent. CE). Pub. Ed. A. F. R. Hornle, Part I, Text with a critical introduction and indices, Bibliotheca Indica, Calcutta (now Kolakata) 1880. // ed. Rebati Kant Bhattacarya, Calcutta 1923. // Muni Sri Darśanavijaya, Shah Mafatalal Manikcand, Vīramgāma, Gujarat
