Magadhi Prakrit
Written language of Ancient India
Magadhi Prakrit (Māgadhī ) is of one of the three Dramatic Prakrits , the written languages of Ancient India following the decline of Pali . It was a vernacular Middle Indo-Aryan language , replacing earlier Vedic Sanskrit .[ 2]
History and overview
Magadhi Prakrit was spoken in the eastern Indian subcontinent , in a region spanning what is now eastern India , Bangladesh and Nepal .[ 3] [ 4] Associated with the ancient Magadha , it was spoken in present-day Assam , Bengal , Bihar , Jharkhand , Odisha and eastern Uttar Pradesh under various apabhramsha dialects,[ 5] and used in some dramas to represent vernacular dialogue in Prakrit dramas. It is believed to be the language spoken by the important religious figures Gautama Buddha and Mahavira [ 6] and was also the language of the courts of the Magadha mahajanapada and the Maurya Empire ; some of the Edicts of Ashoka were composed in it.[ 4] [ 7]
Magadhi Prakrit later evolved into the Eastern Indo-Aryan languages :[ 1] [ 8]
References
^ a b South Asian folklore: an encyclopedia : Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, By Peter J. Claus, Sarah Diamond, Margaret Ann Mills, Routledge, 2003, p. 203
^ Cardona, George; Jain, Dhanesh, eds. (2003), "The historical context and development of Indo-Aryan", The Indo-Aryan Languages , Routledge language family series, London: Routledge, pp. 46–66, ISBN 0-7007-1130-9
^ Prasad, Balaram; Mukherjee, Sibasis. "Magadhi / Magahi" (PDF) . lsi.gov.in . Retrieved 24 February 2022 .
^ a b Chatterji, Suniti Kumar (1926). The Origin and Development of the Bengali Language . p. vi.
^ Grierson, Sir George Abraham (1903). The Languages of India: Being a Reprint of the Chapter on Languages . Office of the Superintendent of Government Printing, India. pp. 57–58.
^ Beames, John (2012) [1879]. Comparative Grammar of the Modern Aryan Languages of India: To Wit, Hindi, Panjabi, Sindhi, Gujarati, Marathi, Oriya, and Bangali . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi :10.1017/cbo9781139208871.003 . ISBN 978-1-139-20887-1 .
^ Bashan A.L., The Wonder that was India , Picador, 2004, pp. 394
^ Ray, Tapas S. (2007). "Chapter Eleven: "Oriya" . In Jain, Danesh; Cardona, George. The Indo-Aryan Languages . Routledge. p. 445. ISBN 978-1-135-79711-9 .
External links
Language Dialects Culture Scripts