The Personality of India: Pre- and Proto-historic Foundation of India and Pakistan c10.102

c10.102

Jayachandra Vidyalankar stresses the correlation when he says, "The areas of Indian dialects and languages, as they are found today correspond in a striking manner with the ancient or Medieval Janapadas or Janapadasanghas (federations of Janapadas)....This shows a survival of India's national units through the long periods of national paralysis and political degeneracy....They have grown out of the whole history of India".³⁰ But it is very interesting to recall that at every stage, the local dialects, primary, secondary and tertiary prakrits were designated by the ancient geographic names of the regions where they were spoken.² Another remarkable feature is the attempt made at different periods to bridge the gap between the literary and the spoken dialects. Just as the Buddhists adopted Pali as the literary dialect, we are justified in assuming a democratic approach to language by raising the status of the regional dialect by adopt- [Figure: INDIA MAJOR LINGUISTIC BOUNDARIES DRAVIDIAN LANGUAGES TRIBAL LANGUAGES INTERNATIONAL BOUNDARIES 0 200 400 MILES Fig. 9a. (After Harrison)]