HOME





Dramatic Prakrit
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. Dialects 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 was an astoundingly strict structure to the use of these different Prakrits in dramas ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Prakrit
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 Middle Indo-Aryan languages, excluding Pali. The oldest stage of Middle Indo-Aryan language is attested in the inscriptions of Ashoka (ca. 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. Mahāvı̄ra, the last tirthankar of 24 tirthankar of Jainism, was born in Magadha, and the earliest Jain texts were composed in Ardhamāgadhı̄. Etymology There are two major views concerning the way in which Sanskrit and Prakrit are related. One holds that the original matter in question is the speech of the common people, unadorned by grammar, and that p ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Indo-Aryan Languages
The Indo-Aryan languages, or sometimes Indic languages, are a branch of the Indo-Iranian languages in the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family. As of 2024, there are more than 1.5 billion speakers, primarily concentrated east of the Indus river in Bangladesh, Northern India, Eastern Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Maldives and Nepal. Moreover, apart from the Indian subcontinent, large immigrant and expatriate Indo-Aryan–speaking communities live in Northwestern Europe, Western Asia, North America, the Caribbean, Southeast Africa, Polynesia and Australia, along with several million speakers of Romani languages primarily concentrated in Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. There are over 200 known Indo-Aryan languages. Modern Indo-Aryan languages descend from Old Indo-Aryan languages such as early Vedic Sanskrit, through Middle Indo-Aryan languages (or Prakrits). The largest such languages in terms of First language, first-speakers are Hindustani language, Hindi–Urdu ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Ardhamāgadhī Prākrit
Ardhamagadhi Prakrit was a Middle Indo-Aryan language and a Dramatic Prakrit thought to have been spoken in modern-day Bihar and Uttar Pradesh and used in some early Buddhist and Jain dramas. It was likely a Central Indo-Aryan language, related to Pali and the later Shauraseni Prakrit. The Eastern Hindi languages evolved from Ardhamagadhi Prakrit. Relationship with Pali Theravada Buddhist tradition has long held that Pali was synonymous with Magadhi and there are many analogies between it and ', literally 'half-Magadhi'. was prominently used by Jain scholars and is preserved in the Jain Agamas. Both Gautama Buddha and the tirthankara Mahavira Mahavira (Devanagari: महावीर, ), also known as Vardhamana (Devanagari: वर्धमान, ), was the 24th ''Tirthankara'' (Supreme Preacher and Ford Maker) of Jainism. Although the dates and most historical details of his lif ... preached in the region of Magadha. Ardhamāgadhī differs from later Magadhi Prakri ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Maithili Language
Maithili ( , ) is an Indo-Aryan language spoken in parts of India and Nepal. It is native to the Mithila region, which encompasses parts of the eastern Indian states of Bihar and Jharkhand as well as Nepal's Koshi Province, Koshi and Madhesh Provinces. It is one of the 22 scheduled languages of India. It is the second most commonly spoken native languages of Nepal, Nepalese language constitutionally registered as one of the fourteen provincial official languages of Nepal. It is spoken by 21.7 million people. Of those, 3.2 million are Nepalis, Nepalese speakers. The language is predominantly written in Devanagari, but the historical Tirhuta script, Tirhuta and Kaithi scripts retained some use until today. Official status In 2003, Maithili was included in the 8th Schedule, Eighth Schedule of the Indian Constitution as a recognised language of India, Indian language, which allows it to be used in education, government, and other official contexts in India. The Maithili language i ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Magahi Language
Magahi (), also known as Magadhi (), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken in Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal states of eastern India, and in the Terai region of Nepal. Magadhi Prakrit was the ancestor of Magahi, from which the latter's name derives. It has a very rich and old tradition of folk songs and stories. It is spoken in approximately twelve districts of Bihar ( Gaya, Nalnda, Patna, Jehanabad, Aurangabad, Nalanda, Sheikhpura, Nawada, Lakhisarai, Arwal, Jamui and in some parts of Banka), twelve districts of Jharkhand ( Hazaribag, Palamu, Chatra, Koderma, Jamtara, Bokaro, Dhanbad, Giridih, Deoghar, Garhwa, Latehar, Chatra) and in West Bengal's Malda district. Magahi derived from the ancient Magadhi Prakrit, which was created in the ancient kingdom of Magadha, the core of which was the area south of the Ganges and east of Son River. Though the number of speakers in Magahi is about 12.7 million, it has not been constitutionally recognised in India. ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Bhojpuri Language
Bhojpuri (IPA: ; Devanagari: , Kaithi: ) is an Indo-Aryan language native to the Bhojpuri region, Bhojpur-Purvanchal region of India and the Terai region of Nepal.:ethnologue:bho, Bhojpuri Ethnologue World Languages (2009) It is chiefly spoken in eastern Uttar Pradesh, western Bihar, and northwestern Jharkhand in India, as well as western Madhesh Province, Madhesh, eastern Lumbini Province, Lumbini. It is also a minority language in Fiji, Mauritius, Suriname and historically primarily in the Natal (province), Natal province of South Africa. Fiji Hindi, an official language of Fiji, is a dialect of Bhojpuri spoken by the Indo-Fijians. Caribbean Hindustani is spoken by the Indo-Caribbean people in Guyana, Suriname, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago. In Mauritius, it is a recognised by the government and taught in university as well. Bhojpuri language is listed as potentially vulnerable language, vulnerable in the UNESCO World Atlas of Languages. Name The oldest presence of the ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Bihari Languages
Bihari languages are a group of the Indo-Aryan languages. The Bihari languages are mainly spoken in the Indian states of Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal, and also in Nepal.Brass, Paul R. (1974). ''Language, Religion and Politics in North India''. Cambridge University Press. The most widely spoken languages of the Bihari group are Bhojpuri, Magahi/ Khortha, Nagpuri and Maithili. Despite the large number of speakers of these languages, only Maithili has been constitutionally recognised in India, which gained constitutional status via the 92nd amendment to the Constitution of India, of 2003 (gaining assent in 2004). Both Maithili and Bhojpuri have constitutional recognition in Nepal. Bhojpuri-Awadhi-Magahi mix is also official in Fiji as Fiji Hindi. There are demands for including Bhojpuri and Magahi/Khortha in the 8th schedule of Indian constitution. In Bihar, Hindi is the language used for educational and official matters. These languages were legally a ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Odia Language
Odia (;"Odia"
''Lexico''.
, ISO 15919, ISO: , ; formerly rendered as Oriya) is a classical languages of India, classical Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken in the Indian state of Odisha. It is the Languages with official status in India, official language in Odisha (formerly rendered as Orissa), where native speakers make up 82% of the population, and it is also spoken in parts of West Bengal, Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. Odia is one of the Languages with official status in India, official languages of India; it is the official language of Odisha and the second official language of Jharkhand. The Odia language has various dialects varieties, including the Baleswari Odia (Northern dialect), Kataki, Dhenkanalia, Anugulia(central dialect), Ganjami O ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Assamese Language
Assamese () or Asamiya ( ) is an Indo-Aryan language spoken mainly in the north-eastern Indian state of Assam, where it is an official language. It has long served as a ''lingua franca'' in parts of Northeast India."Axomiya is the major language spoken in Assam, and serves almost as a lingua franca among the different speech communities in the whole area." It has over 15 million native speakers and 8.3 million second language, second language speakers according to ''Ethnologue''. Nefamese, an Assamese-based pidgin in Arunachal Pradesh, was used as a lingua franca till it was replaced by Hindi language, Hindi; and Nagamese Creole, Nagamese, an Assamese-based Creole language, continues to be widely used in Nagaland. The Kamtapuri language of Rangpur division of Bangladesh and the Cooch Behar district, Cooch Behar and Jalpaiguri district, Jalpaiguri districts of India is linguistically closer to Assamese, though the speakers identify with the Bengali culture and the literary lan ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Bengali Language
Bengali, also known by its endonym and exonym, endonym Bangla (, , ), is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language belonging to the Indo-Iranian languages, Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family. It is native to the Bengal region (Bangladesh, India's West Bengal and Tripura) of South Asia. With over 242 million native speakers and another 43 million as second language speakers as of 2025, Bengali is the List of languages by number of native speakers, sixth most spoken native language and the List of languages by total number of speakers, seventh most spoken language by the total number of speakers in the world. Bengali is the Official language, official, National language, national, and most widely spoken language of Bangladesh, with 98% of Bangladeshis using Bengali as their first language. It is the second-most widely spoken scheduled languages of India, language in India. It is the official language of the Indian states of West ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Punjabi Language
Punjabi, sometimes spelled Panjabi, is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language native to the Punjab region of Pakistan and India. It is one of the most widely spoken native languages in the world, with approximately 150 million native speakers. Punjabi is the most widely-spoken first language in Pakistan, with 88.9 million native speakers according to the 2023 Pakistani census, and the 11th most widely-spoken in India, with 31.1 million native speakers, according to the 2011 Census of India, 2011 census. It is spoken among a Punjabi diaspora, significant overseas diaspora, particularly in Canada, the United Kingdom, the United States, Australia, and the Arab states of the Persian Gulf, Gulf states. In Pakistan, Punjabi is written using the Shahmukhi alphabet, based on the Persian alphabet, Perso-Arabic script; in India, it is written using the Gurmukhi, Gurmukhi alphabet, based on the Brahmic scripts, Indic scripts. Punjabi is unusual among the Indo-Aryan languages and t ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Middle Kingdoms Of India
The middle kingdoms of India were the political entities in the Indian subcontinent from 230 BCE to 1206 CE. The period begins after the decline of the Maurya Empire and the corresponding rise of the Satavahana dynasty, starting with Simuka,from the 1st century BCE The "middle" period lasted for over 1200 years and ended in 1206 CE, with the rise of the Delhi Sultanate, founded in 1206, and the end of the Later Cholas (Rajendra Chola III, who died in 1279 CE). This period encompasses two eras: ''Classical India'', from the Maurya Empire up until the end of the Gupta Empire in 500 CE, and ''early Medieval India'' from 500 CE onwards. It also encompasses the era of classical Hinduism, which is dated from 200 BCE to 1100 CE. From 1 CE until 1000 CE, Economic history of India, India's economy is estimated to have been the largest in the world, having between one-third and one-quarter of the world's wealth. This period was followed by the late Medieval India, Medieval period in ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]