History of Mediaeval Hindu India (being a History of India from 600 to 1200 A.D.) v1.c14.s6.12

v1.c14.s6.12

But Gurjaras have probably also left their language impressed on the people and hence their name. The language is undoubtedly northern, Gujarati being more akin to Śauraseni than to Mahārāshtri. Yet originally the Mahārāshtri language seems to have been once predominent in Gujarat. Under the Traikutaka rule that language must have impressed itself on the people; the written characters and the era were certainly theirs. In Kathiawar and in Gujarat the Jains used the Mahārāshtri for their sacred writings and they still use it. This fact can only be explained by believing that the language of the common people was then Mahārāshtri or some form akin to it. Or the Deccan Jainas seem in centuries older than the sixth to be the chief and prominent Jains in India and Gujarat may have got its Jainism from them and therefore taken up Mahārāshtri for their sacred literature. Whatever the reason may be, the sacred writings of the Jains are in Mahārāshtri as those of the Buddhists are in Pāli. We will leave this question of the ancient language of Gujarat unsolved and merely observe that the modern Gujerati must have been formed from a language used by the Gurjara kings, brought from the north and hence it is akin to the Śauraseni. The name and the language of Gujarat thus date from the 8th century A. D. though this is a point which is disputed by many Gujarati scholars.