The Dynasties of the Kanarese Districts of the Bombay Presidency from the Earliest Historical Times to the Musalman Conquest c8.s3.42

c8.s3.42

however, we do not find in those dialects, and they do not in those respects show a very wide departure from the Sanskrit: The extensive corruptions of Sanskrit sounds, therefore, must be accounted for by the supposition that the language had to be spoken by races whose original tongue it was not. Those alien races could not properly pronounce the Sanskrit words used by the conquering Âryas; and thus the Prâkṛit forms of Sanskrit words represent their pronunciation of them. A few sounds unknown to Sanskrit as well as some words not traceable to that language are also found in the Prâkṛits, and these point to the same conclusion. It thus appears that the Indian Âryas in their progress through the country came in contact with alien races, which were incorporated with their society and learnt their language, at the same time that they preserved some of their original words and phonetic peculiarities.¹ This was the state of things in the north down to the Marâṭhâ country.