Education in Ancient India c9.s3.5

c9.s3.5

¹ During the period *c.* 250 B.C. to *c.* 250 A D. most of the public documents are seen to be composed in Pali or Prakrits. Sanskrit appears in inscriptions very rarely. So this period is regarded as a period of the ascendancy of Prakrits; there is a tradition to the effect that the Sātavāhana kings of the Deccan had decreed that all their public documents should be in Prakrit alone (*Kāvyamīmāṃsā*, p. 50). This tradition is confirmed by the inscriptions of the house. The Guptas were champions of Sanskrit and had decreed that Sanskrit should be spoken even in their harems, (*Ibid*, p. 50). Their records are all in Sanskrit.