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The Book
The study of the stock of Prakrit words known as Deśya is recognized by the students of Middle and New Indo-Aryan as a greatly difficult and challenging area. After the pioneering work, textual and lexicographical, of Pischel and a few others in his wake, on Hemacandra's Deśināmamālā, the interest in the Deśya studies dwindled and it remained mostly confined to data-collection from individual texts. In the present collection of diverse writings, which originally appeared separately over a number of years, several issues and problems connected with the Dešinämamälä in particular and the Deśya words in general are closely examined for the first time, thereby laying bare numerous intricacies relating to the character, formation, role and history of the Deśya words. Rich and varied data are collected from a few texts which would necessitate a basic alteration in the current coception of what is to be properly designated as Deśya. A few typical word-studies also are presented. The book, by breaking some fresh ground, opens up new directions for the Deśya studies.
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