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KATRE: CLASSIFICATION OF PRAKRIT
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musical compositions such as Bharata's Nātyaśāstra or the Gitālamkāra or Namisādhu's
Commentary on Rudrata's Kāvyālamkāra. (5) Extra-Indian Prakrits : the language of Prakrit
Dhammapada, fragments of which were discovered in Khotan, written in Kharoşthi characters; Niya and Khotanese Prakrit, the
language of documents found in Central Asia. (6) Inscription Prakrits : From the period Asoka
downwards, written in Brāhmi and Kharoşthi characters, found within the whole of India, and parts of Ceylon. Under these are also to be considered copper-plate grants and coin-legends, thus covering the whole domain of lithic and metal records. Popular Sanskrit : Hindu, Buddhist and Jain. These represent the spoken forms of the IndoAryans after OIA became fixed within the steel frame prepared by generations of grammarians, for in this popular literature we find traces of such usages which were not recognised as proper for
refined Sanskrit of the classical variety. Such is the extent of the MIA languages which we have to take into consideration for our picture of cultural India between 600 B.C. and 1100 A.D., as an additional source to Vedic and Classical Sanskrit literature.
[Taken from Prakrit Languages and their contribution to Indian Culture, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Bombay, 1945)
THE ASIATIC SO? JETY
KOLKIA ACC. No. B20528 DATE 17.8.05
