Abahaṭ‌ṭha, Abahatta or Avahaṭṭha (

Prakrit The Prakrits (; sa, prākṛta; psu, 𑀧𑀸𑀉𑀤, ; pka, ) are a group of vernacular 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 usu ...

: ''abasaṭ‌ṭa'', ultimately from

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...

''apaśabda'' 'meaningless sound') is a stage in the evolution of the Eastern group of the

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 the early 21st century, they have more than 800 million speakers, primarily ...

. The eastern group consists of languages such as Assamese, Bengali, Bhojpuri, Magahi, Maithili, and Odia. Abahatta is considered to follow the Apabhraṃśa stage, i.e. those Apabhraṃśas derived from Magadhi Prakrit. After different business and trading classes such as the Jains gained in power in the end of ninth century, the dominant position of classical Sanskrit waned; Apabhransa and Abahatta became very popular, especially among common people. It functioned as a lingua franca throughout the northern half of the

Indian subcontinent The Indian subcontinent is a list of the physiographic regions of the world, physiographical region in United Nations geoscheme for Asia#Southern Asia, Southern Asia. It is situated on the Indian Plate, projecting southwards into the Indian O ...

. Abahatta, which existed from the 6th century to the 14th century, was contemporaneous with some Apabhraṃśas as well as the early modern languages such as Old Odia, Old Bengali, Old Maithili and Old Assamese. Many poets composed both in Abahatta and a modern language such as the ''

Charyapada The Charyapada (IAST: Caryapāda, Assamese/Bengali: চর্যাপদ) is a collection of mystical poems, songs of realization in the Vajrayana tradition of Buddhism from the tantric tradition in Assam, Bengal, Bihar and Odisha. It was w ...

'' poets, who wrote dohas or short religious verses in Abahatta; the Maithili poet Vidyapati wrote his poem ''Kirtilata'' in Abahatta. Many works authored in Abahatta were translated into Sanskrit, and some texts were also written using multiple languages, such as Somprabha's "Kumarpala-pratibodha" in 1195 CE. The Abahattha stage is characterized by: *Loss of affixes and suffixes *Loss of grammatical gender *Increased usage of short vowels *Nasalisation at the end or in the middle of words *The substitution of h for s

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* Eastern Indo-Aryan languages Languages attested from the 6th century Languages extinct in the 14th century {{IndoAryan-lang-stub