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Studies in Jainology, Prakrit
395
46
PRAKRITISMS IN EARLY! KANNADA INSCRIPTIONS
It is an established fact that the Jaina teachers and authors, who were Prakritists, were the earliest cultivators of the Kannada language for literary purpose. And in the course of their instructional and literary activities, they must have enriched the Kannada vocabulary by lending leveral needful Prakrit words. There is not available any contemporary material for the study of this important phenomenon. However, we have some carly Kannada Jaina inscriptions and literary works, that could give us a few glimpses of the later phase of this phenomenon.' Keeping this in view, I have taken a sample survey of the early inscriptions on the Cikka Betta (Small Hill) at Sravanabelgola and noted here, with some observations, Prakrit words and words with Prakritic influence found therein. I have collectively called them Prakritisms.
Śravanabelgola is well known for its epigraphic wealth and Jaina monuments. Its inscriptions have been exclusively collected and published in Vol.ll of the Epigraphia Carnatica (E.C. Series At first B.L.Rice discovered such 144 inscriptions and published them in 1899 (1st Edition). Later R.Narasimhachar found 356 more and published these 500 inscriptions in 1923 (2nd edition). And recently the University of Mysore undertook the revised edition of the E.C.Series and published its second volume with
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