A brief survey of Sanskrit, Pali, Prakrit

and Tamil literature

Prakrit language and literature
Broadly speaking, Indo-Aryan speech has flowed in two streams: Samskrta and
Prakrta (which will be spelt hereafter as Sanskrit and Prakrit) and, at various
stages, these two streams have constantly influenced each other. Prakrit, which
means ‘natural’ or ‘common‘, primarily indicates the uncultivated popular
dialects which existed side by side with Sanskrit, the ‘accurately made‘,
‘polished‘, and ‘refined‘ speech.
The Prakrits, then, are the dialects of the unlettered masses, which
they used for secular communication in their day-to-day life, while Sanskrit is
the language of the intellectual aristocrat, the priest, pundit, or prince, who used
it for religious and learned purposes. Yet the language of every-day
conversation even of these people must have been nearer to the popular Prakrits
than to literary Sanskrit. The former was a natural acquisition; while the latter,
the principal literary form of speech, required training in grammatical and
phonetic niceties.
Side by side with the Vedic language, which was an artistic speech
employed by the priest in religious songs, there existed popular dialects which
probably owed their origin to tribal groups, and developed through use of the
Aryan speech by indigenous people. Vedic literature gives some glimpses of
popular speeches, the primary Prakrits; but no literature in them has come
down to us. Classical Sanskrit, as standardized by Panini and his
commentators, respectfully shelved all that was obsolete in the Vedic speech
and studiously eschewed all that belonged to the popular tongue; the use of
such a rigorously standardized language was a task for a selective group.
Whenever a preacher or a prince wanted to address the wider public,
not from the monopolized temple or sacrificial enclosure but from the popular
pulpit, the tendency to employ a popular dialect of the day was but natural.
Thus, in the sixth century B.C., Mahavira and Buddha preferred to preach in the
local Prakrits of eastern India; and the great emperor Ashoka (third century B.C)
and, a century later, King Kharavela addressed their subjects in Prakrit.
 Practically all over India, Prakrits were freely used for inscriptions
almost up to the Gupta age and the earlier inscriptions, up to about the first
century A.D., were all in Prakrit. Dialectal distinctions are fairly clear, though
the problems of localization are not so easily solved. The Asokan inscriptions do
show, to a certain extent, dialectal differences according to regions; and they are
not altogether without some correspondence with the known literary dialects.
It is held by some scholars that the early secular literature comprising
drama, epics, lyrical poetry, and so on, was originally in Prakrit; and that
sometime in the second century A.D. through the initiative of the Saka Satraps
of western India, Sanskrit gradually entered the field of secular composition.
The epic idiom shows contamination with Prakritism which the bards must
have contracted from the Prakrits they used in day-to-day conversation, in fine,
from their vernaculars.
The so-called gatha literature of the Buddhists is a good specimen of
queer admixture of Sanskrit and Prakrit. In drama, different characters spoke
different languages in the same play; the earliest known plays of Asvaghosa (c. a
.d. 100) bear evidence to the antiquity of this practice. There can hardly be any
doubt that when these dialects were first employed in drama they were
contemporary local vernaculars; but later on they became stereotyped, and their
usage was a matter of conventional fixing. Kings and courtiers spoke Sanskrit;
ladies of rank spoke SaurasenI; and the lower characters spoke Magadhi.
The Prakrit grammarians give a sketchy description of various
Prakrit dialects: Maharastrl, Sauraseni, Magadhi, Paisaci, and Apabhramsa. Pali
and Ardha-Magadhi are also Prakrits and are used in the Buddhist and Jaina
canons. From the point of view of the evolution of language, the inscriptional
Prakrits, Pali and Paisaci, form an earlier group; Sauraseni and Magadhi come
next, one a central and the other an eastern dialect. Ardha-Magadhi is close to
Pali with regard to its vocabulary, syntax, and style, but is phonologically later
in age. Maharastri has proved to be an elastic medium for learned epics and
lyrical poetry on popular subjects. Some of these were raised to literary status
from a regional footing; but they gradually became stereotyped, with scant
deference to their local colour from the grammarians. By that time the popular
dialects had already advanced, and the gap between the literary Prakrits and
contemporary popular speech went on increasing. Popular elements, stray
forms from a popular vernacular, even percolated now and then into some of
the earlier Prakrit works.
By about the fifth century AD. Sanskrit and Prakrit were equally
stereotyped as literary forms ‘of expression. Their cleavage from the current
vernaculars was felt more and more; and once again an effort was made to raise
the then popular speech to a literary stage, an effort represented by Apabhramsa
which, as a literary language, is to be distinguished from Sanskrit and Prakrit.
Like Sanskrit and Prakrit, Apabhramsa no longer remained local. The standard
literary Apabhramsa looks very much like a forerunner of Old Rajasthani and
Old Gujarati, but it appears to have been used on a wider scale even outside the
expected area. It is heavily indebted to literary Prakrits for its vocabulary, while
it’s other elements, such as nominal and verbal terminations, pronouns, adverbs,
and particlcs, arc drawn from the popular speech-stratum, in a few cases,
possibly, with some foreign influence. The metrical dressing was peculiaily
popular and novel, and to a certain extent this influenced its phonetic shaping.
In its turn, Apabhramsa also reachcd a fixed form like Sanskrit and the Prakrits;
and side by side came into being what we call today the 'modern Indian
languages.
The Prakrits and Apabhramsa represent the Middle Indo-Aryan
stage. Maharastri and Apabhramsa appear to have been developed first by the
common people for their songs and couplets; and it was through these channels
that they obtained recognition from the learned as well and were admitted into
literature. Sudraka admitted Maharastri verses in the Mrcchakatika; Kalidasa (c.
A.D. 400) employed Apabhramsa songs in his Vikramorvasiya; and Vidyapati
(A.D. 1400) used Maithili verses in his Sanskrit-Prakrit dramas. As literary
languages to be written after a close study of grammar and literature, Sanskrit,
the Prakrits, and Apabhramsa were cultivated simultaneously for a considerable
length of time, even after the Modem Indo-Aryan stage was actually reached in
the popular language of day-to-day conversation.
Judging from its abiding values, especially the thoughts it contains
and the way in which they are expressed against a background of human
experience and natural and social environments, Prakrit literature is many-sided
and remarkable. It records the noble thoughts of one of the greatest kings of the
world; and it embodies the ideology of a religion which is realistic in
philosophy, ascetic in morals, and humanitarian in outlook. It presents a
valuable, though complicated, picture of linguistic and metrical evolution in the
last two thousand years or more.
The society depicted in Prakrit literature is more popular than
aristocratic. Eminent monks and outstanding poets have earnestly contributed
to its treasures. Some of these authors are quite frank about personal details, and
the chronological data afforded by them have special significance in
reconstructing the history of Indian literature. Indian linguistics would certainly
be poorer in the absence of Prakrit literature, for on its lap have grown the
modem Indian languages. Prakrit literature goes a long way in helping to add
important and significant details to our picture of Indian culture and
civilization.

Pali and its origin

Pali means ‘row‘(pankti), ‘text‘, ‘sacred texts, and ‘reading‘. Pali always signifies
the text of the Buddhist scriptures. In the Mahavamsa we find that ‗only the text
has been brought here not the commentaries‘. It also means that which preserves
the import of words. Pali belongs to the early Middle Indo-Aryan period.
Opinions as to its origin, however, differ among the Indologists, both oriental
and occidental. According to some scholars, Pali was Magadhi Prakrit or
Magadhi-bhasa which was held out to be the mulabhasa, ‘the primary speech of
all men‘. Buddha spent most of his time in Magadha and preached his doctrine
there in the dialect of that region. It is but natural that the early Buddhist
scriptures were composed in Magadhi in which Buddha himself spoke.
According to others, Pali has a close relationship with Paisaci Prakrit
spoken at that time in the Vindhya region. Some scholars further hold that Pali
was the language of Kalinga (South Orissa and East Telugu country) whence
Buddhism was introduced into Ceylon (modern Sri Lanka). There are again
others who think that Pali was an old form of Sauraseni Prakrit as the phonetics
and morphology of Pali are mostly identical with it.
It is said that Emperor Asoka sent his son Mahindra to preach the
Saddhamma (Buddhism) in Ceylon. Some scholars maintain that he carried with
him the text of the Tipitaka, while according to others, he went to Ceylon after
memorizing the whole of the Tipitaka. Through the patronage of the king,
Buddhism was, however, well established there. The Tipitaka was committed to
writing during the reign of Vattagamani Abhaya in the first century B.C.
According to Ceylonese monks, this Tipitaka and the Tipitaka which was
compiled in the Third Buddhist Council, however, was the one and the same.
Some scholars do not subscribe to this view. They hold that this Tipitaka was
not the same as that compiled in the Third Council-it is but a revised edition.
The Tipitaka composed in Pali and Buddhist Sanskrit was derived
from the old Tipitaka which was written in Magadhi. It is striking to note here
that before the compilation of the Tipitaka, the Buddhist literature was divided
into nine angas or parts. This ninefold division is not the ninefold classification
of the literature. It points out but specimens of nine types of composition in the
literature. For instance, they are extant in the Anguttara Nikaya. It is said that
these diverse forms existed in the Buddhist literature even at the time of the
compilation of the Buddhist scriptures. Let us now turn to the Pali Tipitaka and
give a brief survey of the texts constituting it.

Examples
Canonical: The Vinaya Pitaka, The Sutta Pitaka, Abhidhamma
Pitaka,

Non-canonical Pali literature: Milindapanha, Netti-pakarana,

Commentaries: Vinayavinicchaya, Uttaravinicchaya,

Abhidhammavatara and Ruparupavibhaga

Chronicles: The Dipavamsa and the Mahavarhsa

Grammars: Susandhikappa, Cullasaddaniti

Lexicons: Abhidhanappadipika and the Ekakkhara-kosa

Buddhist Sanskrit Literature

Like the Pali Tipitaka, there is also the Tripitaka in Buddhist Sanskrit consisting
of Agama, Vinaya, and Abhidharma. But a complete set of the Tripitaka is still a
desideratum. Some of them exist in fragments of manuscripts and others are lost
beyond recall. Fortunately, some fragments of manuscripts of the Tripitaka of
the Sarvastivada school, one of the main branches of Hinayana Buddhism,
composed in Buddhist Sanskrit have been discovered in Central Asia and Gilgit
(now in Pakistan).
Hinayana Buddhist Sanskrit texts
The Agama as mentioned above is divided into four books entitled Dirghagama,
Madhyamagama, Samyuktagama and Ekottaragama, corresponding to the four Pali
Nikayas, viz. Digha Nikaya, Majjhima Nikaya, Samyutta Nikaya and Anguttara
Nikaya. The Dirghagama consists of thirty sutras only as against thirty-four in
Pali. Among the sutras, the fragments of the Sangiti and Atanatiya Sutras have
been discovered in Central Asia. The Madhyamagama contains two hundred and
twenty sutras as against one hundred and fifty of the Pali text. The manuscript
fragments of the Upali and Suka Sutras have only been discovered.
Mahayana Buddhist Sanskrit texts
The Mahayana school‘s contribution to Indian thought is indeed unique. It had
an extensive literature of its own. Of the numerous Mahayana works, nine
books, ‘so-called nine Dharmas‘, which are held in great reverence, deserve to be
specially noted in as much as they trace the origin and development of
Mahayana as also point out its fundamental teachings. They are: Astasahasrika
Prajnaparamita, Saddharmapundarika-Sutra, Lalitavistara, Lankavatara,
Suvarnaprabhasa, Gandavyuha, Tathagata-guhyaka, Samadhiraja and
Dasabhumisvara. They are also known as Vaipulya-Sutras.
Pure Sanskrit texts
The Buddhist literature was further enriched by a galaxy of eminent scholars.
Prominent among them were Asvaghosa, Nagarjuna, Aryadeva, Asanga,
Vasubandhu, Sthiramati, Dinnaga, Vasumitra, Dharmapala, Dharmakirti,
Santideva and Santaraksita. Their works were composed in pure Sanskrit and
mainly on Buddhist philosophy and logic. Some of them are available in
Sanskrit and others are preserved in Tibetan and Chinese translations.
The Buddha-carita and the Saundarananda are the two important
poetical works composed by Asvaghosa. The former is a mahakavya gives us an
account of the life and work of Buddha from his days in the royal palace till the
conversions in Varanasi. It is for the first time that the life and teachings of
Buddha have been depicted by a real poet in a true kdvya style. The mythological
traditions and the pre-Buddhist philosophical system of the then India are also
mentioned herein.
The latter is also connected with Buddha‘s life-story, but actually it
narrates the love-story of Nanda, Buddha‘s half-brother, who was ordained as a
monk by Buddhas and his beautiful wife Sundari. The Sariputra-prakarana, a
drama in nine acts, is the oldest dramatic work extant in Sanskrit literature.
The Madhyamika-sastra, popularly known as the Madkyamika-karika,
can certainly be called Nagarjuna‘s masterpiece. It presents in a systematic
manner, in twenty-seven chapters, the philosophy of the Madhyamika School. It
teaches Sunyata (the indescribable absolute) to be the sole reality. This work
alone is enough to show what a mastermind Nagarjuna was and how he shines
in solitary splendour among the intellectuals of this country, past and present.
Catuhsataka of Aryadeva, which is available in Sanskrit at present, is next in
importance to Nagarjuna‘s Madhyamika-karika. It contains four hundred karikas
(verses) and is one of the principal works of the Madhyamika philosophy.
The Yogacara-bhumi-Sastra by Asanga in its original Sanskrit form has been
discovered by Rahul Sankrityayana. It is divided into seventeen bhumis
(chapters) and describes in detail the path of discipline according to the
Yogacara School.
The Vimsika and the Trimsika of Vasubandhu, containing twenty and
thirty karikas respectively, are the basic works of the Vijnanavada system of
thought. Both repudiate all belief in the reality of the objective world,
maintaining that citta (cittamatra) or vijnana (vijnanamatra) is the only reality. The
Nyayapravesa of Dinnaga, the father of Indian logic, is a monumental work on
logic. It deals with different types of terms, viz. paksa, sadhya, drstantas
(examples), etc. for demonstration and refutation of fallacies. Perception and
inference have also been discussed herein for selfunderstanding.
The Nyayabindu by Dharmakirti is regarded as one of the important works on
logic. It is divided into three chapters: Pratyaksa (perception), Svarthanumana
(inference for one‘s own self), and Pararthanumana (inference for the sake of
others).
The Siksa-samuccaya is a work of Santideva. It is a compendium of
Buddhist doctrines. It consists mainly of quotations and extracts from various
Buddhist sacred works. It is a manual of
Mahayana Buddhism consisting of nineteen chapters. It deals with the following
subjects: faith, restraint, avoidance of evil, sacrifice of the body, application of
merit, duty of self-preservation, the snare of Mara, the Buddhist Satan,
truthfulness, rules of decency, evil of talkativeness, contemplation of thought,
good conduct, and so on. The Bodhicaryavatara, another work of Santideva, is an
important and popular religious-cum-philosophical work of Mahayana
Buddhism.
According to this text, the perfect charity (dana-paramita) is not an
actual deliverance of the world from poverty, but an intention for such
deliverance. It is a grace of the spirit. Poverty here means misery due to worldly
desire. The purity of will is the greatest of all virtues and the foundation of all.
The perfect conduct (sila-paramita) consists essentially in the will not to hurt any
living being. The Tattva-sangraha of Santaraksita is an important philosophical
work. It criticizes various other philosophical systems of his time-Buddhist and
non-Buddhist.