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Studies in Jainology, Prakrit
385
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scheme for deciding a Dravidian or non-Aryan loan in IA in general24. Thus there are some tests which are imperfect, there are others which stand in theory only and there are some others which require a long-term co-operative planning and application." Hence, under these circumstances it seems reasonable if one takes courage from Bloch's words, "If it is no reason for giving up this research, it is one for leaving necessary room for possibilities to which hitherto little attention has been paid," and go ahead
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with the work in hand.
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Coming to the next stage of this discussion, for scientific accuracy it is also necessary that when we decide a particular desi vocable is a loan from Dravidian, we must also be able to say where and when it was borrowed into MIA. In other words, we must be able to say whether the vocable was borrowed from Kannada, Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam or Tulu or some other Dravidian tongue, and that also at what definite period. Dr.Katre calls it the "space and time factor" and emphasises it as very important in this branch of research. Recognizing the importance as well as the difficult nature of this factor with special reference to the Desi Element in MIA, he proposes a four-point scientific seheme,2 which also is a gigantic one, demanding long-term co-operative planning and execution to be spread all over the nation and covering all the families of languages in India. Moreover, the problem of inter-borrowing wihtin the Dravidian family of languages is beset with subtle difficulties, which fact Burrow and Emeneau have casually noted, suggesting the need of a "separate monographic treatment' for the same. In this context, it would not be out of place to note what Turner has observed with reference to NIA languages, for it applies, more or less, to the Dravidian Languages too: "In India, perhaps as much as in any linguistic area, we are faced with an extensive mixture of dialects from the earliest times. The conditions have seldom been as such make for the evolution of a number of sharply differentiated languages. Constant invasions, the movements of great armies, the attraction of vast crowds of pilgrims from distant parts to centras of religious worship, the far
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