पृष्ठम्:The Sanskrit Language (T.Burrow).djvu/६५

58 OUTLINES OF THE HISTORY OF SANSKRIT literature* In the early period this competition was much more important than it was later ; though it appears paradoxical at first sight, the Sanskrit language only reached its full develop- ment as a language of culture and administration at a time when it had ceased to be a mother tongue. The rise of Middle Indo-Aryan as a literary language coin- cided with the foundation of the new religions of Buddhism and Jainism round about 500 b,c. The founders of these religions deliberately chose the vernacular — the dialect of Magadha in the first instance — as the vehicle of their teaching. In the third century b.c. Asoka had his inscriptions engraved in various local dialects and ignored Sanskrit. It follows that the language of administration of the Mauryan empire was also in Middle Indo- Aryan, and not as universally the case later, in Sanskrit. If this process had not been reversed Sanskrit might have yielded place to the younger language, but quite the reverse happened and from the end of the Maurya period a steady process set in which resulted in Sanskrit becoming the predominant language of literature, culture and administration. The epigraphical tradition established by Asoka continued for some centuries. Until after the Christian era the vernacular language alone was used for epigraphical purposes, and this means that business and administrative documents — all of which were written on perishable materials and have not survived — were composed in the same language. After the Christian era Sanskrit too begins to appear in inscriptions, at first in competi- tion with Prakrit, and finally in exclusive use. The inscription of Rudradaman (a.d. 150) marks the victory of Sanskrit in one part of India. In the South Prakrit remained in use longer and was not finally ousted by Sanskrit until the fourth or fifth century a.d. Eventually the use of Prakrit was discontinued entirely and from the Gupta period to the Mahommedan in- vasions Sanskrit — admittedly often incorrect Sanskrit — re- mained in exclusive use* The linguistic revolution in epigraphy is paralleled in other fields. The early Buddhist scriptures were exclusively in Middle Indo-Aryan. Towards the beginning of the Christian era a change took place, and the northern Buddhists adopted Sanskrit instead. A^vaghosa (c. a.d. ioo) is a master of polished Sanskrit, and that he should choose this language as a vehicle of propaganda is an indication of the ascendancy which San-