A History of Sanskrit Literature: Classical Period, Vol. I c3.6.3

c3.6.3

This resulted in the formation of the Mahārāṣṭrī in the dominions of the Sātavāhanas in the South-west and the rise of the Māgadhī and the Śaurasenī, as may be noticed in the dramas of Bhāsa and Aśvaghoṣa on the one hand and Kālidāsa on the other. By the 2nd century A.D. we find the Mahārāṣṭrī lyric in the pomes of Hāla. The Mahārāṣṭrī Prākṛt became important as the Prākṛt of the dramas and of the epic poetry. The Śaurasenī was but occasionally used in verse and sometimes in the drama. The Śaurasenī is more closely allied to Sanskrit than the Mahārāṣṭrī and it was generally used in dramas by men of good and noble position. The Māgadhī on the other hand was reserved for people of low rank. The *Nāṭya-śāstra* speaks, however, of different types of Prākṛt such as *Dākṣiṇātyā*, *Prācyā*, *Āvanti* and *Ḍhakkī*, which are the different types of the Śaurasenī, though *Cāṇḍālī* and *Sākārī* are types of the Māgadhī. The Prākṛt of the verses of the *Nāṭya-śāstra* need not be assumed to be the Prākṛt of a different type but it may well be regarded as a variant of the Śaurasenī. The poetry of Śaurasenī Prākṛt is closely akin to the Mahārāṣṭī. A separate note has been added regarding the Apabhraṁśa, the impotance of which for literary purposes may now be ignored.