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TULASI-PRAJNÁ, June, 1990
mägadhy-avantijā prācha Sauraseny-ar dhamăgadhi /
Vāhlīkā dākṣinātyä сa sapta bhāşā prakirtitāḥ 11 5. Bharata also says that Māgadhi is to be used by low caste people ;
Magadhi tu narendrānām antahpuranivāsinām || 10. Dhanañjaya (10th century A.D.) in his Daśa-rupaka says that Māgadhi is spoken by the extremely degraded persons :
Striņāṁ tu prākstas prāyaḥ Sūraseny-adhameșu ca |
piśācā-tyanta nīcādau paišācaṁ māgadhaṁ tathā || 60. In a similar way, Säradātanaya (1175-1250 A.D.) while talking about the languages to be used in Sanskrit dramas, mentions the name Māgadhi and its speakers ;
bhāşā syāt saptadhā daiśyā vibhāṣā pi ca saptadhā |
mågadhy-avantikā prācya Saurasenyā-ca [nyardha) māgadhi || Following Bharata, Sāgaranandin (13th century A.D.) in his Nataka-lakşaşa-ratna-koşa mentions Māgadhi among the seven kinds of prakrit dialects :
māgadhy-avantikā prācyā Sauraseny-ardhamāgadhi / Vählīki dākşiņāryā ca saptai-tāḥ parikirtitäh //
p. 5, 112-113 (lines) He also says that Māgadhi is spoken by the low caste people (Māgadhīṁ tatpare” dhamāḥ—2154 line at p. 90 of Myles Dillon's edition).
Sjógabhūpāla (about 1330 or 14th century A.D.) in his Rasārņavasudhākara divides prakrit into two : bhāṣā and vibhāṣā. In the category of bhāṣā he mentions Magadbī as one of the main dialects.
tatra bhāṣā dvidhā bhāşā vibhāşā ceti bhedataḥ / tatra bhāśā sapta vidhā prācyāvantyā ca māgadhi // 1. 295 prakrteḥ samaskrta-yāstu vikstiņ prākrti matāḥ /
şadvidhä sä präkrtaṁ ca śauraseni ca māgadhi || III. 297 In his opinion the fisherman and the low grade persons speak Māgadbi:
dhīvarādyati-nīcesu māgadhi ca niyujyate || III. 301 Though apparantly it seems that Viśvanātha (1330-1400 A.D.) might have borrowed his idea on the distribution of Prakrit dialeets from Bharata's Nātya-Sastra, he has also derivated from him, particularly with reference to Māgadhi dialect which is described by him thus :
atroktā māgadhi bhāşā rājāntah-pura-cārinām || (ch. VI, S. 168 at p. 365 of the edition Haridāsa-Siddhāntavāgiša)
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