A History of Indian Literature v1.c7.s5.t2: II. The Middle Indian Languages and Dialects
A History of Indian Literature v1.c7.s5.t2
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II. The Middle Indian Languages and Dialects
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Simultaneously and parallel with the development of Sanskrit proceeded the more natural further development of the popular dialects spoken by the Aryan Indians. The languages and dialects which we distinguish as "Middle Indian" are not indeed derived directly from the Sanskrit, but rather from the Indo-Aryan popular languages which underlie the Ancient High Indian and the Sanskrit, or are related to the two latter. Considering the size of India, it is not to be wondered at that, with the gradual spreading of the Aryan immigrants from the West to the East and the South, a large number of varying dialects were formed. Of the diversity of these dialects we get an idea from the oldest Indian inscriptions, which are all written in Middle Indian and *not* in Sanskrit. Quite a number of such popular languages, moreover, have been raised to the rank of literary languages. Only these shall be briefly enumerated here :
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1. The most important of the Middle Indian literary languages is *Pāli*, the ecclesiastical language of the Buddhists of Ceylon, Burma and Siam, the language in which the oldest preserved collection of sacred writings of Buddhism is written. The Buddhists themselves tell us that the Buddha did not, like the Brahmans, preach in the learned Sanskrit, but talked to the people in the language of the people. As Buddha first preached in the land of Magadha (Southern Bihar), and there displayed his best activity, therefore the Buddhists tell us that Pāli is the same as Māgadhī, the language of the province of Magadha. However, that cannot be right, as the dialect of Magadha which is otherwise known to us does not agree with Pāli. It is, however, probable that Pāli is a mixed language the foundation of which was Māgadhī.¹ The word Pāli really signifies "row," then "order, regulation, rule," hence also "sacred text" and finally the language of the sacred texts, in contradistinction to the Ancient Sinhalese, the language in which the commentaries to these texts were composed.
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¹ This is the view of E. *Windisch*, "Ueber den sprachlichen Charakter des Pali" (OC., XIV., Paris, 1906) and of G. A. *Grierson*, Bhandarkar Com. Vol., 117 ff. The latter agrees with *Sten Konow* (ZDMG 64, 1910, 114 ff.), that Pāli is similar to Paiśācī-Prākrit. The latter was probably the local dialect of Eastern Gāndhāra and the district of Taxila, a famous seat of learning at the time of Buddha.
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2. Besides the Pāli literature there exists also a Buddhist Sanskrit literature. Now in these Buddhist works there is frequently only the prose in Sanskrit, while the interspersed metrical pieces, the so-called "Gāthās" (*i.e.* "songs" or "verses") are composed in a Middle Indian dialect, which has therefore been called “Gāthā dialect.” But this term is not quite appropriate, as the same dialect is found also in prose portions, and even whole prose works are written in it. It is an old Indian dialect, which through the insertion of Sanskrit terminations and other Sanskritisms in a rather crude manner, tries to approach the Sanskrit, wherefore Senart suggested for it the designation “mixed Sanskrit.”¹
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¹ See S. *Lefmann*, ZDMG, 212 ff.; and E. *Senart*, Ind. Ant., 21, 1892, 243 ff.
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3. Like the Buddhists, the Jains too did not use Sanskrit for their sacred writings, but Middle Indian dialects, indeed two different Prākrits:²
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² The Hindus do not designate popular languages generally by the term “Prākrit” but only those popular languages which are used in literature. For the whole of this chapter see R. *Pischel*, “Grammatik der Prākrit-Sprachen” (in Grundriss I, 8 Einleitung) and H. *Jacobi* in A Bay. AXXIX, 4, 1918, pp. 81 * ff.
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(*a*) The Jaina Prākrit (also called Ardhamāgadhī or Ārṣa), the language of the older works of the Jaina Canon.
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(*b*) The Jaina-Māhārāṣṭrī, the language in which the commentaries to the Jaina Canon and the non-religious poetical works of the Jainas are written.³ This dialect is closely related to that Prākrit, which has been used most frequently as a literary language for secular writing, namely—
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³ See H. *Jacobi*, Ueber das Prākrit in der Erzählungs-litteratur der Jainas, in RSO, II, 1909, pp. 231 ff.
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4. The Māhārāṣṭrī, the language of Mahārāṣṭra, the land of the Marathas. This is universally considered the best Prākrit, and when the Indians speak simply of Prākrit then they mean Māhārāṣṭrī. It was used principally for lyric poetry, especially also for the lyric parts in the dramas. However, there are also epic poems in Māhārāṣṭrī. Other important Prākrit dialects which are used in the drama are:
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5. The Śaurasenī, which in the prose of the dramas is chiefly spoken by high-born women. Its foundation is the dialect of Śūrasena, the capital of which is Mathurā.
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6. Persons of the lower classes speak Māgadhī in the dramas, the dialect of Magadha, and
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7. Paiśācī is spoken in the drama by the members of the lowest grades of society. The word probably originally designated the dialect of a branch of the Piśācas, although the Indians declared it to be the language of the demons called Piśācas. A famous book of narrative literature, Guṇāḍhya's Bṛhatkathā was also composed in this Paiśācī dialect.
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8. Lastly the Apabhraṃśa which is used in popular poetry, in Jaina romances and occasionally in the drama, stands midway between the Prākrit and the modern Indian vernaculars: for “Apabhraṃśa” is a general term for literary idioms which, though based on the Prākrit, are more closely adapted to certain popular dialects.[^1)