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Vol. XV, No. 4
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prakrit, was also composed and completed by the 1st century A.D. It is now-a-days a general convention of the scholars to think that AMg. literature is followed by the Svetāmvara Jains and the canonical literature by the Digamvaras. However, we have AMg and Saur. literature almost from the very beginning of the Christian era. And we have vast amount of literature of these two languages.
But literature in Mg, one of the dialects of prakrit. is not as old as that of AMg. and Saur. It is to be noted at the very out set that though Mg. is one of the majar dialects of prakrit, a book entirely written in Mg. is not available. It is difficult for us to guess at the present moment why literature in Mg. is not written. But the fact is that not a single book entirely written in Mg. is available to day or, any reference to a book written entirely in Mg. has yet been traced. In the case of Paišācī, we have, atleast, a reference that Gunādhya's Beharkathā was written in Paišāci. In a similar way no reference to any lost work written entirely in Mg. is found anywhere. So the earliest specimens of Mg. literature, entirely written in Mg. can not be given. But some specimens of Mg. language are available in Sanskrit dramas and in the quotations of some other authors. H in this paper. I can arrange this specimens of Mg. language in four groups :
(1) Inscriptional prakrits, (2) Sanskrit dramas, (3) Prakrit grammatical treatises and (4) References to Māgadhi in Sanskrit Rhetoric and Dramatic treatises.
(1)
INSCRIPTIONAL PRAKRIT Asokan inscriptions of the eastern region are the earliest written documents of the Mg. prakrit. A śokan inscriptions are generally into four clases : (i) North-Western,
(ii: Western, (iii) Central, and
(iv) Eastern The edicts of Asoka, found in different regions, represent the local language (the then prakrit) of that area. The edicts in the eastern region therefore present the then eastern language which was supposed to be Mg. The Dhauli and Jaugada Rock-edicts of Asoka, therefore, are the earliest specimens of Mg. prakrit. Though we do not find any prakrit grammar before or after Aśoka to determine the language of the Rock-edicts of Dhauli and Jaugada, it is assumed, on the basis of the characteristic features of Mg. as given by later gram
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