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Shri Mahavir Jain Aradhana Kendra
www.kobatirth.org
INTRODUCTION
Acharya Shri Kailassagarsuri Gyanmandir
xxxiii
(ix) The Language of the Vajjālagga :
According to Laber (loc. cit. p. 9) the language of the VL is essentially Jaina Mähäräṣṭrī, a name given by Hermann Jacobi (Kalpasūtra, p. 17; Ausg. Erz. p. XI f.) to that particular form of Mähäräṣṭri Prakrit which was used by the Svetämbara Jainas in their non-canonical prose and metrical works. According to Dr. Ghatage (Kahaṇaya-tigam, Introduction, p. 63), it presents to us, along with the Prakrit stories preserved in Devendra's commentary on the Uttarādhyana-sūtra, the latest form of Jaina Mähäräṣṭri' of which the various Nijjuttis (old metrical comThe only traits of Jaina Mähäräṣṭri that we come across in the VL are the following:
1
1.
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(i) Preponderance of (HS. VIII.1.180). The vowel or remaining behind after the elision of the postvocalic,,,,,,,, and attracts to itself a lightly (JIEJIIHC) as a hiatus-filler. See Pischel, PG § 137 (p. 137). occurs mostly after a preceding for, but frequently also after a preceding 3, 3, 4 or. This phenomenon is peculiar to Ardhamăgadhi and Jaina Māhārāśṭrī and is absent in Māhārāstrī works like गाथासप्तशती and सेतुबन्ध.
pronounced
(ii) Change of non-initial and intervocalic to and retention of initial and of forming part of a conjunct consonant other than 3,, . See Pisehel, P.G. § 224 (p. 161).
(iii) Change of initial and postvocalic to (rather than to as in Mahārāştri). E.g. (1), अविसेसनय (141), गुणन्नुओ ( 470 ), पन्नत्त (प्रशप्त ) ( 512, 518 ), अरसन्न (533), (764).
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छप्पन्नय (281), बीसन्न (विसंश)
(iv) Use of the expressions à (9, 17, 128, 456, 668), याणिमो (32, 40, 162, 331, 405, 614, 747, 756, and न याणसि (508, 533, 712). These expressions occur frequently in Jaina Māhātāṣṭrī. The has been effected here on the assumption that is a medial and not an initial sound. See Pischel, PG § 170 (p. 127). According to Pischel becomes a proclitic word here and is looked upon as the first member of a compound. Consequently in some printed editions of Jaina Mähäräṣṭrî works these expressions are printed with a hyphen between and the following verbal form. In the गाथासप्तशती we get the expressions ण भणामि, ण आणसि, ण आणइ ण आणिमो and ण आणंति, without the यश्रुति.
V.L. 3
