New History of the Marathas v1.c5.65

v1.c5.65

5. Manabhav literature.—But it is more in the literary sphere than in the religious, that the Mānabhāvs have rendered their greatest service, which is not yet widely nor adequately recognised. They rigidly prohibited the use of Sanskrit either in common prayer or in their literary works. They adopted pure Marathi as the only channel of expression holding it to be as sacred as Sanskrit and, like our popular Mahārāshtra saints, made available to the common folk the highest philosophical thought of the old Sanskrit works. They were the first to create Marathi proto-types of the various forms, constructions and styles of classical writers, their Samhitas, Sutras, Bhāshyas and even the metres of the Sanskrit verse, both of the *Aksaragana* and the *Mātrāgana* systems. The Mānabhāv scholars were the first to write elegant Marathi prose, unlike the Sanskrit writers who preferred the metrical form. This Mānabhāv prose is of the blank verse type.