Studies in Desya Prakrit

Author(s): H C Bhayani
Publisher: Kalikal Sarvagya Shri Hemchandracharya Navam Janmashatabdi Smruti Sanskar Shikshannidhi Ahmedabad

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New derivative suffixes :
Diminutive Possessive Habitual Postpositions Redublicatives
: -, -3, -377 : $ : -57 : 479, 191, afaa : 3 4-4f5, 317352910, s'afaa'a, 35977
परत्तय
Vasudevahidi and Kuvalayamālā are primarily prose narratives. Tales in verses also contain a good amount of Deśya expressions. Padalipta's Tarangavati is lost, but its verse abridgement tells us that the original contained numerous Deśya words. Apabhramsa had a stronger tendency to use Dośīs. Svayambhū’s Paumacariya has about five hundred words3 aud Puspadanta's Mahāpurāņa about thirteen hundred4, which can be classed as Deśya. The Puhaicamdacariya of Santisūri, composed in 1105 A.D. contains about eight hundred Deśya words5. These three works which have been studied from the point of view of the use of Deśya words may help to give some idea of rich amount of Deśya words and expressions that lie scattered over hundreds of Prakrit and Apabhramsa works.
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In the field of Prakrit lexicography the only extent work prior to Hemacandra's Deśināmamālā is Dhanapāla's Pāialacchināmamālā, composed in 973 A.D. The proportion of Deśis coutained in it is quite small as compared to the Tadbhavas, and nowhere it can compare to Hemacandra's work. Even then it has its value as a pre-Hemacandra source.
Next we pass on to the most extensive and outstanding extent work of Deśya lexicography, viz., Hemacandra's Rayaņāväli or Desinamamālā. Hemacandra aimed at preparing an up-to-date authentic lexicon of Deśya words for Prakrit writers and readers on the basis of various previous works. It was a very difficult and taking task