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35-473: The Pratītyasamutpāda-gāthā , also referred to as the Pratītyasamutpāda-dhāraṇī (dependent origination incantation) or ye dharmā hetu , is a verse ( gāthā ) and a dhāraṇī widely used by Buddhists in ancient times which was held to have the function of a mantra or sacred spell. It was often found carved on chaityas , stupas , images, or placed within chaityas. The Pratītyasamutpāda-gāthā

70-500: A Sanskrit drama, the characters should speak Maharashtri Prakrit in verse and Shauraseni Prakrit in prose. But the 10th century Sanskrit dramatist Rajashekhara does not abide by this rule. Markandeya, as well as later scholars such as Sten Konow, find faults with the Prakrit portions of Rajashekhara's writings, but it is not clear if the rule enunciated by Vishvanatha existed during Rajashekhara's time. Rajashekhara himself imagines Prakrit as

105-511: A cause, the Tathāgata has declared their cause, and that which is the cessation of them; thus the great renunciant has taught. Through ignorance, karma is accumulated; karma is the cause of birth. Through knowledge, karma is not accumulated; through absence of karma, one is not (re)born. Ye dharma hetu is also found in Thailand including the stupa peak found in 1927 from Nakhon Pathom along with

140-530: A distinction between Jain and non-Jain Prakrit literature. Jacobi used the term "Jain Prakrit" (or "Jain Maharashtri", as he called it) to denote the language of relatively late and relatively more Sanskrit-influenced narrative literature, as opposed to the earlier Prakrit court poetry. Later scholars used the term "Jain Prakrit" for any variety of Prakrit used by Jain authors, including the one used in early texts such as Tarangavati and Vasudeva-Hindi . However,

175-480: A good command of the original language of the texts, as several of the extant Prakrit texts contain inaccuracies or are incomprehensible. Also, like Sanskrit and other ancient languages Prakrit was spoken and written long before grammars were written for it. The Vedas do not follow Panini's Sanskrit grammar which is now the basis for all Sanskrit grammar. Similarly, the Agamas, and texts like Shatkhandagama , do not follow

210-549: A large period of the first millennium, literary Prakrit was the preferred language for the fictional romance in India. Its use as a language of systematic knowledge was limited, because of Sanskrit's dominance in this area, but nevertheless, Prakrit texts exist on topics such as grammar, lexicography , metrics, alchemy, medicine, divination , and gemology . In addition, the Jains used Prakrit for religious literature, including commentaries on

245-410: A single language or a single kind of language, alongside Sanskrit, Apabhramsha, and Paishachi . German Indologist Theodor Bloch (1894) dismissed the medieval Prakrit grammarians as unreliable, arguing that they were not qualified to describe the language of the texts composed centuries before them. Other scholars such as Sten Konow , Richard Pischel and Alfred Hillebrandt disagree with Bloch. It

280-737: A wall of Phra Pathom Chedi and a shrine in Phra Pathom chedi found in 1963, a brick found in 1963 from Chorakhesamphan township, U Thong district of Suphanburi, stone inscriptions found in 1964 and the stone inscription found in 1980 from Srithep Archeological site. All of them have been inscribed in Pallava scripts of Pali language dated 12th Buddhist century (the 7th Century in common era). Furthermore, there are Sanskrit version of ye dharma hetu inscribed in Pallava scripts in clay amulets found in 1989 from an archaeological site in Yarang district of Pattani dated to

315-468: Is a group of vernacular classical Middle Indo-Aryan languages that were used in the Indian subcontinent from around the 3rd century BCE to the 8th century CE. The term Prakrit is usually applied to the middle period of Middle Indo-Aryan languages, excluding earlier inscriptions and Pali . The oldest stage of Middle Indo-Aryan language is attested in the inscriptions of Ashoka (ca. 260 BCE), as well as in

350-489: Is possible that the grammarians sought to codify only the language of the earliest classics of the Prakrit literature, such as the Gaha Sattasai . Another explanation is that the extant Prakrit manuscripts contain scribal errors. Most of the surviving Prakrit manuscripts were produced in a variety of regional scripts during 1300–1800 CE. It appears that the scribes who made these copies from the earlier manuscripts did not have

385-521: Is the predominant language of the ancient Indian literature. Several modern scholars, such as George Abraham Grierson and Richard Pischel , have asserted that the literary Prakrit does not represent the actual languages spoken by the common people of ancient India. This theory is corroborated by a market scene in Uddyotana's Kuvalaya-mala (779 CE), in which the narrator speaks a few words in 18 different languages: some of these languages sound similar to

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420-613: Is used in Sanskrit as well as Pali . It is found in Mahavagga section of Vinaya Pitaka of the Pali Canon . The mantra has been widely used. It has been used at Sarnath , Tirhut , Kanari Copperplate, Tagoung , Sherghatti , near Gaya , Allahabad column , Sanchi etc. According to Buddhist scriptural sources, these words were used by the Arahat Assaji (Skt: Aśvajit) when asked about

455-709: The arya meter of Sanskrit; versified portions of Pāli Canon ( Tipitaka ) of Theravāda Buddhism are also specifically called gathas . In contemporary Buddhist practice as popularized (and derived from the Zen and Theravādin traditions) by Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh , a gatha is a verse recited (usually mentally, not aloud) in rhythm with the breath as part of mindfulness practice, either in daily life, or as part of meditation or meditative study. Gatha baani in Sri Guru Granth Sahib Page 1360-61 Prakrit Prakrit ( / ˈ p r ɑː k r ɪ t / )

490-514: The 7th century CE. Gatha (India) The stanzas of the Prakrit dialects of Ardhamagadhi , Sauraseni and Pāli are known as gathas as opposed to shlokas and sutras of Sanskrit and dohas of Apabhramsha . Most of the Jain and Buddhist texts written in Prakrit are composed of gathas (or verses/stanzas). Thus, gatha can mean any Prakrit and Pali verses in general, or specifically

525-572: The Gandhara region (probably Bamiyan ), dated to about 5th century AD has a variation of the mantra . It appears to have some mistakes, for example it uses taṭhāgata instead of tathāgata. It is now in the Schøyen Collection . The mantra was often also carved below the images of the Buddha. A Buddhist screen (parikara) and accompanying Buddha image is now preserved at Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. While

560-450: The Jain canonical literature, stories about Jain figures, moral stories, hymns and expositions of Jain doctrine. Prakrit is also the language of some Shaiva tantras and Vaishnava hymns. Besides being the primary language of several texts, Prakrit also features as the language of low-class men and most women in the Sanskrit stage plays . American scholar Andrew Ollett traces the origin of

595-460: The Sanskrit Kavya to Prakrit poems. Some of the texts that identify their language as Prakrit include: The languages that have been labeled "Prakrit" in modern times include the following: Not all of these languages were actually called "Prakrit" in the ancient period. Dramatic Prakrits were those that were used in dramas and other literature. Whenever dialogue was written in a Prakrit,

630-666: The common people – as well as the converse influence of Sanskrit on the Prakrits, gave Prakrits progressively higher cultural prestige. Mirza Khan's Tuhfat al-hind (1676) characterizes Prakrit as the language of "the lowest of the low", stating that the language was known as Patal-bani ("Language of the underground") or Nag-bani ("Language of the snakes"). Among modern scholars, Prakrit literature has received less attention than Sanskrit. Few modern Prakrit texts have survived in modern times, and even fewer have been published or attracted critical scholarship. Prakrit has been designated as

665-638: 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. Mahāvı̄ra, the last tirthankar of 24 tirthankar of Jainism, was born in Magadha, and the earliest Jain texts were composed in Ardhamāgadhı̄. Almost all the native prākrit grammarians identify prākṛta to be named so because they originate in

700-402: The few languages suitable for composition of literature. Mirza Khan's Tuhfat al-hind (1676) names Prakrit among the three kinds of literary languages native to India, the other two being Sanskrit and the vernacular languages. It describes Prakrit as a mixture of Sanskrit and vernacular languages, and adds that Prakrit was "mostly employed in the praise of kings, ministers, and chiefs". During

735-416: The full grammar of Ardhamagadhi first, and then define the other grammars with relation to it. For this reason, courses teaching 'Prakrit' are often regarded as teaching Ardhamagadhi. Medieval grammarians such as Markandeya (late 16th century) describe a highly systematized Prakrit grammar, but the surviving Prakrit texts do not adhere to this grammar. For example, according to Vishvanatha (14th century), in

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770-818: The great renunciant ( sramana ) has taught. The Pāḷi commentaries take the first line as pointing to suffering ( dukkha ), the second to its cause ( samudaya ) and the third to its cessation ( nirodha ). In Tibetan : ཆོས་གང་རྒྱུ་བྱུང་དེ་དག་གི། །རྒྱུ་དང་དེ་འགོག་གང་ཡིན་པའང་། །དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པས་བཀའ་སྩལ་ཏེ། །དགེ་སློང་ཆེན་པོས་དེ་སྐད་གསུངས།། or ཆོས་རྣམས་ཐམས་ཅད་རྒྱུ་ལས་བྱུང་། །དེ་རྒྱུ་དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པས་གསུངས། །རྒྱུ་ལ་འགོག་པ་གང་ཡིན་པ། །དགེ་སྦྱོང་ཆེན་པོས་འདི་སྐད་གསུངས། The Wylie transliteration is: chos gang rgyu byung de dag gi/ rgyu dang de 'gog gang yin pa'ng de bzhin gshegs pas bka' stsal te/ dge slong chen po de skad gsungs // chos rnams thams cad rgyu las byung/ de rgyu de bzhin gshegs pas gsungs/ rgyu la 'gog pa gang yin pa/ dge sbyong chen pos 'di skad gsungs // A copper place from

805-578: The independent development of these languages, often separated from the history of Sanskrit by wide divisions of caste , religion , and geography . The broadest definition uses the term "Prakrit" to describe any Middle Indo-Aryan language that deviates from Sanskrit in any manner. American scholar Andrew Ollett points out that this unsatisfactory definition makes "Prakrit" a cover term for languages that were not actually called Prakrit in ancient India, such as: According to some scholars, such as German Indologists Richard Pischel and Oskar von Hinüber ,

840-553: The languages spoken in modern India; but none of them resemble the language that Uddyotana identifies as "Prakrit" and uses for narration throughout the text. The local variants of Apabhramsha evolved into the modern day Indo-Aryan vernaculars of South Asia. Literary Prakrit was among the main languages of the classical Indian culture. Dandin 's Kavya-darsha ( c.  700 ) mentions four kinds of literary languages: Sanskrit, Prakrit, Apabhramsha , and mixed. Bhoja 's Sarasvati-Kanthabharana (11th century) lists Prakrit among

875-464: The modern Prakrit grammar. Prakrita Prakasha, a book attributed to Vararuchi , summarizes various Prakrit languages. Prakrit literature was produced across a wide area of South Asia. Outside India, the language was also known in Cambodia and Java. Literary Prakrit is often wrongly assumed to have been a language (or languages) spoken by the common people, because it is different from Sanskrit, which

910-1063: The objects were found in South India, the mantra is given in north Indian 8-9th century script, perhaps originating from the Pala region. The Bukit Meriam Sanskrit inscription from Kedah includes two additional lines. The inscription is now in the Indian Museum, Calcutta. Other similar inscriptions were found in the Kedah region. ये धर्मा हेतु-प्रभवा हेतुं तेषां तथागत उवाच तेषां च यो निरोध एवं वादी महाश्रमणः अज्ञानाच्चीयते कर्म जन्मनः कर्म कारणम् ज्ञानान्नचीयते कर्म कर्माभावान्न जायते ye dharmā hetuprabhavā hetuṃ teṣāṃ tathāgata uvāca, teṣāṃ ca yo nirodha evaṃ vādi mahāśramaṇaḥ. ajñānāc cīyate karma; janmanaḥ karma kāraṇam, jñānān na cīyate karma; karmābhāvān na jāyate. Here several minor orthographic peculiarities (i.e. misspellings) have been standardized. The lines can be translated as: Those dharmas which arise from

945-414: The reader would also be provided with a Sanskrit translation. The phrase "Dramatic Prakrits" often refers to three most prominent of them: Shauraseni Prakrit , Magadhi Prakrit , and Maharashtri Prakrit . However, there were a slew of other less commonly used Prakrits that also fall into this category. These include Prachya, Bahliki, Dakshinatya, Shakari, Chandali, Shabari, Abhiri, Dramili, and Odri. There

980-428: The source language (prakṛti) which is Sanskrit . Thus the name prākṛta indicates that they depend on Sanskrit for their origin and are not themselves the prakṛti (or originary languages, originating independent of Sanskrit): The dictionary of Monier Monier-Williams (1819–1899), and other modern authors, however, interpret the word in the opposite sense: "the most frequent meanings of the term prakṛta , from which

1015-652: The teaching of the Buddha. On the spot, Sariputta (Skt: Śāriputra) attained the stage of stream entry and later shared the verses with his friend Moggallāna (Skt: Maudgalyayana) who also attained stream entry. They then went to the Buddha, along with 500 of their disciples, and asked to become his disciples. The gāthā / dhāraṇī in Sanskrit is as follows: ये धर्मा हेतु-प्रभवा हेतुं तेषां तथागतो ह्यवदत् तेषां च यो निरोध एवंवादी महाश्रमणः IAST transliteration : ye dharmā hetuprabhavā hetuṃ teṣāṃ tathāgato hyavadat. teṣāṃ ca yo nirodha evaṃ vādī mahāśramaṇaḥ In Pali ,

1050-544: The term "Prakrit" refers to a smaller set of languages that were used exclusively in literature: According to Sanskrit and Prakrit scholar Shreyansh Kumar Jain Shastri and A. C. Woolner , the Ardhamagadhi (or simply Magadhi ) Prakrit, which was used extensively to write the scriptures of Jainism , is often considered to be the definitive form of Prakrit, while others are considered variants of it. Prakrit grammarians would give

1085-460: The text reads: ‘යේ ධම්මා හේතුප්පභවා තේසං හේතු තථාගතෝ ආහ තේසංච යෝ නිරෝධෝ ඒවං වාදි මහා සමණෝ” Transliteration into Latin script : ye dhammā hetuppabhavā tesaṁ hetuṁ tathāgato āha, tesaṃ ca yo nirodho evaṁvādī mahāsamaṇo. Daniel Boucher translates as follows: Those dharmas which arise from a cause, the Tathāgata has declared their cause, and that which is the cessation of them. Thus

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1120-427: The word "prakrit" is derived, are "original, natural, normal" and the term is derived from prakṛti , "making or placing before or at first, the original or natural form or condition of anything, original or primary substance". Modern scholars have used the term "Prakrit" to refer to two concepts: Some modern scholars include all Middle Indo-Aryan languages under the rubric of 'Prakrits', while others emphasize

1155-530: The works written by Jain authors do not necessarily belong to an exclusively Jain history, and do not show any specific literary features resulting from their belief in Jainism. Therefore, the division of Prakrit literature into Jain and non-Jain categories is no longer considered tenable. Under the Mauryan Empire various Prakrits enjoyed the status of royal language. Prakrit was the language of Emperor Ashoka who

1190-507: Was a 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", Sauraseni was spoken by "the heroine and her female friends", and Avanti was spoken by "cheats and rogues". Maharashtri and Shaurseni Prakrit were more common and were used in literature extensively. Some 19th–20th century European scholars, such as Hermann Jacobi and Ernst Leumann , made

1225-463: Was patron of Buddhism. Prakrit languages are said to have held a lower social status than Sanskrit in classical India. In the Sanskrit stage plays , such as Kalidasa 's Shakuntala , lead characters typically speak Sanskrit, while the unimportant characters and most female characters typically speak Prakrit. While Prakrits were originally seen as 'lower' forms of language, the influence they had on Sanskrit – allowing it to be more easily used by

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