Early Tamil Epigraphy: From the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century A.D. c22.s3.t5.1

c22.s3.t5.1

Prakrit, in the widest sense of the term, comprises all Middle Indo-Aryan (MIA) languages including those recorded in the inscriptions of Asoka and the post-Mauryan period, the canonical languages of the Buddhist and Jaina religions, and the Literary Prakrits found in the Sanskrit plays. An attempt has been made in the present study to determine the type of Prakrit from which the loanwords in the cave inscriptions are derived.²