पृष्ठम्:The Sanskrit Language (T.Burrow).djvu/९

SA N S K R IT A N DI DO-EU ROPE A N Sanskrit in its narrower sense applies to standard classical Sanskrit as regulated by the grammarians but may be con veniently used more widely as equivalent to Old Indo-Aryan In this sense it covers both classical Sanskrit and the pre. classical or Vedic language. Middle Indo-Aryan, that is Prakrit in the widest sense of the term, comprises three successive stages of development : (1) The earliest stage is represented in literature by Pali, the language of the canonical writings of the Thera-yuda school of Buddhism. This is a language of the cen turies immediately preceding the Christian era. On the same level of development are the various dialects recorded in the inscriptions of Asoka (c. 250 B.C.), and also the language of other early inscriptions. (2 ) Prakrit in the narrower sense of the word or Standard Literary Prakrit, represents the stage of develop ment reached some centuries after the Christian era. It is found mainly in the Drama and in the religious writings of the Jains. The various literary forms of Prakrit were stabilised by grammarians at this period and, as a written language, it re mains essentially unchanged during the succeeding centuries. 3) Apabhramsa is known from texts of the tenth century A.D but as a literary language it was formed some centuries earlier. It represents the final stage of Middle IndoAryan, the one immediately preceding the emergence of the Modern Indo Aryan languages. The Modern languages, Bengali, Hindi Gujarati, Marathi, etc.begin to be recorded from about the end of the first millennium A.D., and from then their development can be followed as they gradually acquire their present-day form. Thus we have before us in India three thousand years of continuous linguistic history, recorded in literary documents. During the course of this period a single, and originally alien idiom has spread over the greater part of the country, and, evolving by slow degrees, has resulted in the various languages now spoken in Northern and Central India. Enormous changes have taken place during this time, and the languages we meet today are very different indeed from the ancient speech spoken by the invading Aryan tribes. Nevertheless the docu- mentation available enables us to follow in detail the various intermediate stages of development and to observe how by changes hardly noticeable from generation to generation, an original language has altered into descendant languages which superficially at any rate, are now barely recognisable as the same.