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Studies in Jainology, Prakrit
the change not being due to the secondary or metaphorical use of words, and which were current in Prakrit from time immemorial, are desī. He also points out that a Desī lexicon does not mean a vocabulary of words current in the various provincial dialects, for such words would be almost endless in number.
But Hemacandra has not followed his own definition, though he, with his vast knowledge of Sanskrit and Prakrit, has taken pains to make his work superior to those of his predecessors. Eminent Prakritists like Buhler,' Pischelo and Ramanujaswami' have scrutinised the work from different angles and pointed out this fact. Dr.P.L.Vaidya, in a paper, classifics the words in DNM under eight groups and states that only 25 per cent of them are "genuine desi words”. He further' obscrves, “The principal source of these words would) of course, be the old Mähara iri or the Marathi language of the greater Maharastra or the Marathi language of the grcater Maharastra, with which Hemacandra seems to be well acquainted. It is, however, very likely that the oid Maharastri might have adapted words from other Indian languages, principally from the Dravidian languages".
Considering the vast number of words collected in DNM cven Dr. Vaidya's estimate of the genuine desi words would give us no small number of such words, among which a good many are “very likcly“U to have entered from Dravidian languages including Kannada. Besides, if we take into consideration the history of Prakrit literature or rather that of the Jaina Śauraseni (of the Digambaras) in Karnatak before Hemacandra (1088-1172 A.D.), we are much more convinced of the greater possibility of Kannada words having entered into Prakrit literature and having settled down as desi. Dr.A.N.Upadhye, in a paper", discusses this point and clearly shows the inevitability of Kannada influence on Prakritic vocabulary. He finally observes, “It is no wonder, then, if some Kanarese words have entered into Prakrit Kavyas and they are set down as Desī words by lexicographers”.
In the same paper," Dr.Upadhye has traced about 39 words Jain Education International For Private & Personal Use Only
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