Prakrit
Sign in to savePrakrit ( ) is a group of vernacular classical Middle Indo-Aryan languages that were used in the Indian subcontinent from around the 5th century BCE to the 12th century CE. The term Prakrit is usually applied to the middle period of the Middle Indo-Aryan languages, excluding Pali.
AI overview
Prakrit refers to a group of everyday languages spoken across ancient India from roughly the 5th century BCE to the 12th century CE, representing the middle period of Middle Indo-Aryan languages. These vernacular languages matter historically because they were the actual spoken tongues of ordinary people during a significant era in Indian history, in contrast to the more formal Sanskrit used by elites and religious scholars.
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Key facts
- Language family.name
- Prakrit
- Language family.map
- Word for Prakrit Praakritee in the Mandsaur stone inscription of Yashodharman-Vishnuvardhana 532 CE.jpg
- Language family.mapsize
- 150
- Language family.region
- Indian subcontinent
- Language family.familycolor
- Indo-European
- Language family.fam2
- Indo-Iranian
- Language family.fam3
- Indo-Aryan
- Language family.iso2
- pra
- Language family.iso5
- pra
- Language family.glotto
- midd1350
- Language family.glottoname
- Late Middle Indo-Aryan
via Wikipedia infobox
Article
21 sectionsContents
- Etymology
- Definition
- Development of Prakrit from Old Indo-Aryan
- Conservative features lost in Vedic
- Early changes common to Dardic
- Sound changes common to Pali and Prakrit
- Changes after the split of Pali and Prakrit
- Changes up to Dramatic Prakrits
- Up to Apabhramsha
- Grammar
- Prevalence
- Literature
- List of Prakrits
- Dramatic Prakrits
- Jain Prakrit
- Status
- Research institutes
- Notes
- References
- Bibliography
- Further reading
Prakrit ( ) is a group of vernacular classical Middle Indo-Aryan languages that were used in the Indian subcontinent from around the 5th century BCE to the 12th century CE. The term Prakrit is usually applied to the middle period of the Middle Indo-Aryan languages, excluding Pali.
The oldest stage of Middle Indo-Aryan language is attested in the inscriptions of Ashoka (c. 260 BCE), as well as in the earliest forms of Pāli, the language of the Theravāda Buddhist canon. The most prominent form of Prakrit is Ardhamāgadhı̄, associated with the ancient kingdom of Magadha, in modern Bihar, and the subsequent Mauryan Empire. Mahāvīra, the 24th and last Tīrthaṅkara of Jainism, was born in Magadha, and the earliest Jain texts were composed in Ardhamāgadhı̄.