Indian Epigraphy: A Guide to the Study of Inscriptions in Sanskrit, Prakrit, and the Other Indo-Aryan Languages c8.s2.t1: 3.2.1 The character of “Epigraphical Hybrid Sanskrit” (EHS)
Indian Epigraphy: A Guide to the Study of Inscriptions in Sanskrit, Prakrit, and the Other Indo-Aryan Languages c8.s2.t1
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3.2.1 The character of “Epigraphical Hybrid Sanskrit” (EHS)
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From about the first to the fourth century of the Christian era, a large number of inscriptions from northern, central, and occasionally also southern India were written in a peculiar language which is neither fully Sanskrit nor fully Prakrit but partakes of the characteristics of both. This language has accordingly been referred to by such terms as “mixed dialect,” “Sanskrit influenced by Prakrit,” or “Prakrit influenced by Sanskrit.” In 1978, Th. Damsteegt coined the term “Epigraphical Hybrid Sanskrit” (EHS) in his book of the same name, on the analogy of Franklin Edgerton’s “Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit”; and although, like its prototype, the term is potentially misleading in some cases, it deserves to be, and largely has been, adopted for general use.
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EHS texts are typically more or less Sanskritic in orthography but Prakritic in morphology and syntax. Thus a typical EHS word occurring frequently in the inscriptions is *bhikṣusya* ‘of (the) monk’, corresponding to Sanskrit *bhikṣoḥ* and MIA *bhikkhus(s)a*. Here the stem is spelled as in Sanskrit, while the inflection is a pseudo-Sanskrit rendition of the Middle Indic *-ssa*. Similarly, the standard EHS dating formula is *etāye pūrvāye* or variants thereof, equivalent to Sanskrit *etasyāṃ pūrvāyām* ‘on the aforementioned [date (*tithau*)]’.
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An example of a typical EHS text,³¹ in both content and form, is the Kaṅkālī Ṭīlā (Mathurā) *toraṇa* inscription (Lüders, MI §20 [Lüders’ tr.]):
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³¹ For a longer specimen of EHS, see Appendix, no. 5 (Sārnāth umbrella shaft ins.).
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*bhadata-jayasenasya āṃtevāsinīye dhāmaghoṣāye dān[o] pāsādo*
“The temple (is) the gift of Dhāmaghoṣā (Dharmaghoṣā), the female disciple of the venerable Jayasena.”
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Notable here, among other characteristic features, is the juxtaposition of the Sanskrit genitive masculine ending *-sya* with the Prakrit feminines in *-āye* and *-īye*; the semi-Sanskritized stem of the proper name *dharmaghoṣā-* (according to Lüders’ interpretation) contrasting with the un-Sanskritized stem of *pāsādo* (Skt. *prāsāda-*); and the spellings, influenced by MIA orthography, of *bhadata-* (for *bhadanta*) and *āṃtevasinīye* (for *aṃte-*).
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It must be emphasized that EHS, like the epigraphic Prakrits, is by no means a standardized or a unified language. The orthography and morphology of EHS inscriptions vary widely and unpredictably, and they display various grades or degrees of hybridism. In general, one may think in terms of more