Prakrit was once used by masses for communication. Experts tell Vaishnavi Singh that Hindi, Punjabi and Marathi and several dialects borrow heavily from this ancient language
It was in the Middle Ages (5th century BC-10th century BC) that these two vernaculars prospered, with Sanskrit enjoyed the position of Devbhasa (language of the Gods) and Prakrit as the lokbhasa (language of the masses). Historians speculate that Prakrit was more popular than Sanskrit as it was employed by the common man in the daily discourse while Sanskrit was reserved for the elite class.
Delhi-based Bl Institute of Indology’s Director, GC Tripathi, said in a seminar on Prakrit: The language and literature that it was imperative to preserve Prakrit language and its derivative vernaculars. The other scholars who also participated in the seminar agreed that the golden literary treasure should be preserved for the future generations.
Jagat Ram Bhattacharya, a professor of Prakrit Studies at Viswa Bharati University, laid emphasis on how Prakrit, literally meaning vernacular or natural, had evolved and transformed itself into various dialects according to different regions like Shaurseni, Magadhi, Ardhamagadhi, Maharastri and Apabhramsa and served as a tool of communication for the common people. The Prakrit language falls into the Middle Indo — Aryan language family, a subfamily of the extant Indo — Eastern language family. The earliest traces of written Prakrits can be found in the Vedas (c 1500 — 1000 BCE) and Kalidasa’s epic poem Kumarsambhav (5th century AD). However, the most extensive use of the Prakrit dialect, Ardhamagadhi can be found in the Jain Agamic literature.
The discussion progressed towards the relation between Prakrit dialects and classical Sanskrit and their peculiarities. Whether Sanskrit has evolved from Prakrit or is Prakrit a derivative of SanskritIJ GC Tripathi commented that due to the lack of physical evidence to corroborate which language came first, Prakrit was contemporary of languages such as Sanskrit and Pali. “Mahavira and Gautam Budha employed Ardhamagadhi and Magadhi to reach out to the masses and propagate their teachings. It was later that Prakrit was used to document Jain canonicals and life of common people outside general subjects while Pali was used to pen down Buddhist teachings”, he said. He also added that Prakrit evolved in India and was used to write various texts and manuscripts while documents in Pali could be found in abundance at Ceylon and not in India.
Professor JB Shah, director of lD Institute of Indology, Ahmedabad, elaborated this fact and went on to say that the popularity of Prakrit as thelokbhasa encouraged many scholars to wield this vernacular to record folklore and teachings. The rare valuable masterpieces of Prakrit and the large pool of information that it has to offer still remain untapped. The manuscripts and documents are found in this vernacular range from the Jain scriptures to teachings about family, sanitation, kings, household management and social life. He claimed, “The documents relating to astrology and vedic mathematics are more comprehensive and scientific than in any other language and that Sanskrit and Pali alone paint an incomplete picture of Indian history and language.”
Indian heritage has been largely shaped through this age-old vernacular and its traces can still be found in the languages that we use today. In the words of Samani Charitrprajna, Vice Chancellor of Jain Viswa Bharati University, “Prakrit was popular in the northern part of India, from Burma (now Myanmar) to the Gandhar region (now Afghanistan) and parts of Maharashtra and Gujarat.
The present languages such as Hindi, Punjabi and Marathi borrow extensively from Prakrit and evolved from the Prakrit dialect Apabhramsa.” Prakrit has witnessed a great metamorphosis to its present day derivatives and still lives on in this form. Samani also gave importance to Prakrit as a classical language and listed four parameters to arrive at this conclusion. Any language which has antiquity, originality (own vocabulary), extensive literature and take part in the development of other dialects and languages can be termed as a classical language.
Prakrit has fascinated scholars and researchers abound, for whom the enormous information database needs to be explored and preserved. This rare beauty has seen many trials and tribulations and in the present language discourse seems to have disappeared. The reason for such a tumult of this language seems to be the vast and hurried Sanskritisation during the earlier centuries by rulers like Ashoka in a bid to propagate Buddhism across different parts of the world. For Prakrit researchers, the vernacular has still not lost its charm and their continued efforts to revive it have led to many academic courses in Prakrit in various varsities.
photo Sanjeev Kumar
