PRAKRIT LANGUAGES AND LIT ERATURE. The term Prakrit is applied to the vernacular languages of India, in distinction from the literary idiom, the Sanskrit (sams krita, purified, refined; prakrit, natural, com mon), and it is a sign of the venerable age of Prakrit that we find traces of it even in some very early Vedic hymns. Prakrit again is sub divided into primary, secondary and tertiary, according to the period when each of these three forms of the vernacular was in general use. There are two main groups of primary. Prakrit, namely, the Arylvarta, or that spoken in the central part of India, the Madhya-desa, and that current in the zone beyond, the so called ((Outer Band.° That of the Midland developed in its turn into literary Sanskrit about a.c. 300. Irrespective of that process, however, the primary Prakrits arose and grew in accordance with the usual courses of pho netics, with a general tendency to simplify the different idioms, eliminating harsh consonants and diphthongs and also complicated grammar forms. Side by side, however, with the literary Sanskrit there developed in the central region of India a vernacular, though this was some what hampered in its growth by the literary tongue. One of the secondary Prakrits at least, the Pali, grew into the literary vehicle of Buddhism and became a highly articulated tongue. Besides, other Prakrits in a measure went through the same process and blossomed out into literary languages, both for profane and sacred uses. Thus, Jainism (or the Jaina religion, a regenerated Brahmanism) was propagated by three distinct Prakrits, and in the Indian drama and in other branches of lit erary production some of the common dialects were likewise employed. Singplarly enough, in such dramas the Brahmans, heroes and persons of high lineage and the female personages, the celestial nymphs, courtesans, etc., only, spoke generally in Sanskrit to the audiences, all the others in the various forms of Prakrit. In fact, our knowledge of the older Prakrits has been greatly enhanced by this Indian stage con vention, because the vernaculars thus employed in plays by acting persons varied greatly, par taking as they did of the provincial character assumed by each. Often as many as 10 dif ferent forms of Prakrit are thus introduced in a single play to the audiences, and of some of the less prominent Prakrits, notably of those possessing no literature of their own, we should not have a single trace without the aid thus given our understanding. Distinguished again from Prakrit proper, or perhaps rather as its lowest expression, is the Apabhramsa language, or a name given to the Wholly unliterary form of Prakrit, the one quite devoid of grammatical niceties and ingenious refinements of speech. However, it might happen that the Apabhramsa itself grew into a literary vehicle and received a gram matical construction, while a coarser form of the same vernacular remained as the speech of the totally uncultured masses. The secondary Prakrits again attained a double growth, that of the Madhya-desa, or Midland region of India, which was named Sauraseni, and that of the surrounding country district. Sauraseni extended as far as Lahore, overrunning Rajputana and Gujerat. Its vocabulary was nearly identical with the primary Prakrit, but phonetically there was considerable change. The Prakrits of the Outer Band comprised the Magadhi, Ardhamagadhi and Maharastri. Pali grew out of Magadhi. Ardhamagadhi (half Magadhi) developed by itself. Maharastri was spoken and cultivated in the large kingdom of that name, reaching from the Nerbudda to the Kistna and including parts of Bombay and Hyderabad, all of it south of the Sauraseni territory. At one time the prevalence of Prakrit of the Outer Band extended up to and including Benares. As a general point it ought to be noticed that there was an Apabhramsa (corruption) to each proper form of Prakrit.
But uniform with them all, Prakrit and Apabhramsa both had the inclination to do away with certain harsh consonantal sounds that existed in literary Sanskrit itself, and with as much grammatical restriction as possible. Thus, for example, the Sanskrit bratam (brother) develops into vatam in Pali and into vaam in Maharistri. A number of the Prakrits, too, cast out the Sanskrit r. Of all these Prakrits it is Maharistri that deserves most mention. In the Indian texts it usually stands for Prakrit per se. It obtained literary prominence quite early, epical, lyrical and dramatical literature being alike cultivated. Ardhamagadhi also produced much literature, though of a some what inferior texture. However, the early Jaini books were composed in it. Sauraseni is, on the other hand, the usual prose dialect of the plays and is also used exclusively by one of the Jaini sects in their writings. There is, then, a plentitude of material from which to study the earlier as well as the later Prakrits, and there are grammars, too, to help. Throughout one notices a steadily proceeding decay of grammatical rules and forms in all the Prakrits, until, as in the Hindustani of to-day, a purely analytical vernacular is the result. In their general phonetic effect there was a flattening of the vowels and a pruning away of super abundant consonants. To be more explicit as to the poetical and literary uses made of the Pra krits, the holy writings of the Jaina religion, the sutras, etc., were in Ardhamagadhi; the non canonical books of the Svetamfbara sect were in Miliaristri, and the canon of the Di gambiras was in Sauraseni. In lyrics, which all are of a highly artificial type, the Prakrit M reigns supreme. Most admired. by Indians is Hila's a collection of lyrics com piled some time before the 7th century A.D. There is much grace and playful fancy dis played in this collection, though in of subjects and thought somewhat narrow. Many imitations inspired by this volume have appeared in India, the best being probably the (Satsai,* of Bihari Lal (17th century). The sources whence Hala drew are, unfortunately, lost. It has been contended that the also owed much to Prakrit, and that it had first been written as a folk-epic in the early vernac ular before being done over into Sanskrit proper. Maharastri was employed for lyrics, even in Sanskrit dramas, as Sauraseni was for most interspersed dialogue. In Prakrit epic poetry the (Death of Ravana), based on the of Pravarasena (about A.D. 700) occupies first place. Since then the by Vakpabi (about 750 A.D.), telling of the taking of Bengal by Yasovarman, and the (A.D. 1150) are the most pretentious. Of Prakrit dramatic literature may be mentioned the (Karpfira-manjarl,* a lively comedy of intrigue (AD. 900) by Rijaselchara; in fiction a tale of adventures by Somadra, and by Jayadeva, a fanciful narrative may be cited.
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