Dramatic Prakrits were those standard forms of Prakrit dialects that were used in dramas and other literature in medieval India . They may have once been spoken languages or were based on spoken languages, but continued to be used as literary languages long after they ceased to be spoken. Dramatic Prakrits are important for the study of the development of Indo-Aryan languages, because their usage in plays and literature is always accompanied by a translation in Sanskrit.
5-417: Magadhi Prakrit ( Māgadhī ) is of one of the three Dramatic Prakrits , the written languages of Ancient India following the decline of Pali . It was a vernacular Middle Indo-Aryan language , replacing earlier Vedic Sanskrit . Magadhi Prakrit was spoken in the eastern Indian subcontinent , in a region spanning what is now eastern India , Bangladesh and Nepal . Associated with the ancient Magadha , it
10-494: Is a particularly interesting case. Maharashtri was often used for poetry and as such, diverged from proper Sanskrit grammar mainly to fit the language to the meter of different styles of poetry. The new grammar stuck, which leads to the unique flexibility of vowels lengths, amongst other anomalies, in Marathi. The three principal Dramatic Prakrits and some of their descendant languages: This article about Indo-Aryan languages
15-771: The Maurya Empire ; some of the Edicts of Ashoka were composed in it. Magadhi Prakrit later evolved into the Eastern Indo-Aryan languages : Dramatic Prakrit The phrase "Dramatic Prakrits" often refers to the three most prominent of them, Shauraseni , Magadhi and Maharashtri Prakrit . However, there were a slew of other less commonly used Prakrits that also fall into this category. These include Prācya, Bahliki, Dakshinatya (spoken in modern-day states of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Maharashtra), Sakari, Candali, Sabari, Abhiri, Dramili Prakrit , and Odri. There
20-516: Was an astoundingly strict structure to the use of these different Prakrits in dramas. Characters each spoke a different Prakrit based on their role and background; for example, Dramili was the language of "forest-dwellers", Shauraseni was spoken by "the heroine and her female friends", and Avanti was spoken by "cheats and rogues". The prakrits varied in intelligibility with Maharashtri being most similar to classical Sanskrit while Magadhi Prakrit being most similar to classical Pali . Maharashtri
25-502: Was spoken in present-day Assam , Bengal , Bihar , Jharkhand , Odisha and eastern Uttar Pradesh under various apabhramsha dialects, and used in some dramas to represent vernacular dialogue in Prakrit dramas. It is believed to be the language spoken by the important religious figures Gautama Buddha and Mahavira and was also the language of the courts of the Magadha mahajanapada and
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