Studies in Desya Prakrit

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

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were considered Deśī by a respectable and authoritativetradition, and hence they were accepted as Deśís. Because the verbal bases that were not derivable from Sanskrit could take Sanskrit-derived verbal terminations and suffixes, they were technically excluded by Hemacandra from the DN. as against the earlier practice, and were listed as Verbal Substitutes in the Prakrit section of his Siddhahema grammar. But as a concession to the established practice (and also for convenience of reference), he has recorded most important of them by way of notes in his DN. commentary. Here as everywhere, the approach of the Prakrit grammarians in general is found to be more pragmatic than theoretical. If we properly appreciate this point, our modern objections to their lack of rigour and consistency in distinguishing items of Sanskritic and non-Sanskritic origin would loose much of their force and some of them would appear rather like cavil.
Modern studies have succeeded in settling some of the sources of the Deśya strand of the Prakrit vocabulary. Some of these words have evolved from Sanskrit words through complex or less easily discoverable phonological or semantic alteration. Others derive from Old Indo-Aryan material not at all attested in preserved or known literature or attested only in the earliest stage (Vedic ) or even further beyond (Pre-Indo-Aryan ). Still others are identifiable as Dravidian loans. But even after we set apart all such items that we can now derive or identify from other languages, there remains a very large stock of words as obscure as ever.
Actually the further research work on the DN. has to proceed in two closely related directions : ascertainment of the correct form and meaning of a listed item, and ascertainment of its currency and derivation. The first problem has two aspects. Firstly the correct forms of the items as they were recorded by Hemacandra are to be settled. The text of the DN. as handed down to us bristles with profuse