The Rashtrakutas and their Times c23.s2.39

c23.s2.39

It is interesting to note that there is hardly any output of Prakrit or Marathi literature during our period. Dhanapāla's Prakrit dictionary, *Paīyalachchhī*, was composed in our period but the author lived in Dhārā, and not in the Deccan, and his work being a dictionary, can hardly come within the category of literature. The Marathi language existed in our period, for the earliest composition in it seems to go back to the 3rd quarter of the 10th century A.D.⁵¹ There is, however, no Marathi literature belonging to our age.⁵² Marathi was not the mother tongue of the Rāṣṭrakūṭas and Jainism, which had given an impetus to Canarese literature, was not very strong in Maharashtra. It is, therefore, no surprise that there should have been no output of the Marathi literature during our period.