Prakrit

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Prakrit ( Sanskrit , प्राकृत, n., Prākṛta) (also called Middle Indian languages ) is the name for those Indo-Aryan languages that follow ancient Indian in the development of linguistic history . They were made around the 6th century BC. Spoken until the 11th century AD.

Relationship to Sanskrit

The term Prakrit ( natural ) gains meaning as a contrast to the term Sanskrit : Sanskrit ( cultivated , cultivated ) was the complicated language of the upper social classes codified by grammarians , literary language , and above all the language of Brahmin tradition . On the other hand, prakrits are the dialects that come close to the spoken language of the general population and are documented in various kinds of written documents.

It was and is often claimed that the prakrits developed from Sanskrit. But Sanskrit is just one of many Indo-Aryan dialects that have developed from Proto-Indo-Aryan. Even if Sanskrit influenced the Middle Indian dialects, they developed independently from Proto-Indo-Aryan.

Precisely in order to stand out from the works of Brahmanism , which were mostly written in Sanskrit, the prakrits were probably chosen by the newly established religious communities (especially Jainism and Buddhism ) as a means of their tradition . The new religions also addressed the broad masses, so that in contrast to Sanskrit, the non-exclusive prakrits were the ideal means of communication and mission. They, too, have been described by grammarians. Different dialects of Prakrit were spoken by different people in dramas to express social differences. Of course, Sanskrit was reserved for members of the top castes .

Different languages

Pali is the language of the Tripitaka . It has a special position because it is largely treated separately from the following so-called literary prakrits in research. Although the tradition of the historical Buddha was in Pali, he himself probably spoke Ardhamagadhi .

Six dialects are distinguished among the literary prakrits, which are documented in the literature. The names come from the Indian grammarians , on whose descriptions, in the case of only sparse traditions, much of our knowledge is based, for example in the case of Magadhi .

  1. Magadhi , evidenced in dramas and the Jogimara inscription
  2. Ardha-Magadhi , attested in the canon of the Shvetambara-Jainas
  3. Maharashtri , among other things, evidenced in more recent texts of the Jainas
  4. Shauraseni , evidenced in dramas
  5. Jaina-Shauraseni , attested in texts of the Digambara-Jainas
  6. Paishachi , whose only known witness, the Brihatkatha, has been lost and which has otherwise only been described and cited by grammarians .

Prakrits of the Ashoka inscriptions

An older stage of development of various prakrits is also found in the Ashoka inscriptions from the 3rd century BC. Represents. These oldest written documents from India were set up in different regions of the Ashoka Empire and have largely the same content. They show regionally different variants of Ashoka's official language , which give us information about the characteristics, especially the phonetic ones, of the dialects spoken in the respective areas at that time.

Apabhramsa

Apabhramsa is the umbrella term for the youngest Middle Indian languages ​​spoken between the 5th and 11th centuries AD. With decreasing age, the Prakrit languages ​​become more and more weak in terms of sound and form and thus increasingly move away from their common origin. The modern Indo-Aryan languages ​​(for example Hindustani ( Hindi ), Bengali and Punjabi ) are derived from the Prakrits via the intermediate stage of Apabhramsa.

Linguistic characteristics

Prakrits can be easily compared with Sanskrit and described using the differences between it. (This would, for example, correspond to the description of Italian based on the differences to Latin .)

Phonology

Most of the deviations from Sanskrit are common to most of the prakrits. What is particularly noticeable is the extensive tendency to assimilate groups of consonants , furthermore the omission of the syllable-forming r and l and the diphthongs ai and au and the coincidence of the three sibilants ( sibilants ) into one.

In addition, there is the abbreviation of all vowels before double consonants or anusvara ("Mores law") and the final law, according to which only vowels or anusvara can appear in the final.

grammar

The complicated grammar of Sanskrit is radically simplified in the Prakrits. The number of categories is greatly reduced, and the wealth of forms of Indo-Aryan preserved in Sanskrit has largely given way to generalized series of endings. There are various reasons for this, above all of course the changes in phonetic law: The simplification of the sound system would often result in ambiguous forms in the prakrits.

Here is an example: It could be a prakritic puttā from the Sanskrit form Abl. Sg. Putrāt or Nom. Pl. Putrāḥ . These ambiguities are countered by creating new series of endings by generalizing the unmistakable endings of the various (vowelic, consonantic and pronominal ) stems after the sound change . So remains puttā Nom. Pl .; the oj Sg. Auf -ā is contaminated with the originally -tas adverbial suffix (see adverb , suffix ), which develops in the prakrits via -to to -do and -o : The ending -ādo or -āo is created , so that the Oj Sg. Finally reads puttādo or puttāo . This new suffix -āo is generalized to all vowel stems and also penetrates the declension of pronouns.

The rule that there cannot be a consonant at the end of a word in the prakrits led to the disappearance of consonant stems, which can only be recognized as such before vowel endings. For example, Sanskrit Inst. Sg. (From the tribe bhrātṛ ) bhrātā appears in the Maharashtri Inst. Sg. (From Nom. Sg. Bhattā ) as bhattuṇā , but in the Acc. Sg. Bhattāraṃ the r is retained.

Consonant stems became vowel stems, either by adding a vowel or by removing the final consonant. The stem on -a is clearly preferred, into which, for example, many words of the old s-stems and most of the words of the old -n-stems (omitting the n) have been transferred.

The dual does not exist in the prakrits, its function is supported by the plural . The dative is extremely rare, and its function is taken over by the genitive .

See also

literature

  • Helmuth von Glasenapp : The literatures of India. From its beginnings to the present (= Kröner's pocket edition . Volume 318). Kröner, Stuttgart 1961, DNB 363784993 .
  • Oskar von Hinüber : A Handbook of Pali Literature. Berlin / New York 2000, ISBN 3-11-016738-7 .
  • Oskar von Hinüber: An overview of older Middle Indian. Vienna 1986. (2nd edition. 2001)
  • SM Katre: Prakrit Languages ​​and their contribution to Indian culture. Deccan College, Poona 1964.
  • Klaus Mylius : The history of ancient Indian literature. Bern / Munich / Vienna 1988.
  • R. Pischel: Comparative Grammar of the Prakrit Languages. translated from the German by S. Jha. Delhi 1965.