A History of Sanskrit Literature c7.s5.15

c7.s5.15

The Prākrit used as the base of early Apabhrañça seems to have been often Māhārāṣṭrī, but sometimes also Çaurasenī. But once Apabhrañça had become popular, perhaps through the activity of the Ābhīra and Gurjara princes, it spread beyond the west and various local Apabhrañças arose, as is recognized by Rudraṭa; in these, we may assume, the special characteristics of the Vrācaṭa or Vrājaḍa Apabhrañça were refined. We find this confused condition reflected in the grammarians. Hemacandra, who belonged to the western school which goes back to the *Vālmīki Sūtras*, describes one kind of Apabhraṅça, but alludes to others; in the eastern school we find a division as Vrācaṭa, Nāgara, and Upanāgara, in all of which *r* after consonants is kept while in the first *r* before consonants also. Faint traces of the observance of this rule may be found in a few verses cited by Hemacandra; the great poems, *Bhavisattakaha* and *Nemināhacariu* assimilate *r*, and thus belong to a later type of Apabhraṅça. In Bengal we find a type of Apabhraṅça long in use in Buddhist texts, and a much degraded form, Avahaṭṭhā, is evidenced in the *Prākṛta Piṅgala* (14th cent.), but the basis even of this Apabhraṅça is Māhārāṣṭrī, not Māgadhī, testifying to its ultimate western origin.