Vaidik Bhasha Me Prakrit Ke Tattva - Book Summary

Here's a comprehensive summary of the Jain text "वैदिक भाषा में प्राकृत के तत्त्व" (Vaidik Bhasha Me Prakrit Ke Tattva), which translates to "Elements of Prakrit in Vedic Language," by Premsuman Jain and Udaychandra Jain:

Core Argument:

The central thesis of this paper is to explore and demonstrate the presence of "Prakrit elements" within the Vedic language. The authors argue that the Vedic language, while considered the earliest representative of the Indo-Aryan language family, shares significant similarities with Prakrit, a later stage of Middle Indo-Aryan. They contend that a direct comparative study between Vedic and Prakrit has been historically lacking, and this paper aims to bridge that gap by highlighting these shared characteristics.

Historical Context and Scholarly Opinion:

The authors begin by acknowledging the tripartite division of the Indian-Aryan language family: Ancient, Middle, and Modern.
They note that while individual studies on Vedic, Sanskrit, and Prakrit exist, and some comparative studies have been done, a deep and independent comparative study of Vedic and Prakrit is rare.
Scholars like Pischel, Bechardas Doshi, Pradod Pandit, Katre, Nemichandra Shastri, Sunitkumar Chatterjee, Sukumar Sen, Tagare, Bhayani, and Gune are cited for acknowledging that the vernacular spoken alongside Vedic was an early form of Prakrit, and that certain elements were commonly adopted by both.
Jules Bloch is also mentioned for attempting to clarify the relationship between Vedic and Prakrit.

The Nature of Vedic and Prakrit Languages:

Vedic Language: The authors describe the Vedic language, as found in the four Vedas, as a composite form of the many vernaculars spoken at the time, known as "Chhandas." Chhandas is presented as a refined form of the contemporary spoken language. They assert that the elements found in Chhandas are also present, with minor variations, in the currently available Prakrit literature. This leads to the conclusion that Vedic and Prakrit languages share a common origin in the spoken language of that era.
Development of Dialects: The development of ancient languages is attributed to the influence of three regional dialects: Udiichya (Northern), Madhyadeshiya (Central), and Prachya (Eastern). Udiichya is considered to have influenced Chhandas (Vedic literature), while Prachya influenced Prakrits. The authors suggest that as these dialects were contemporary, they influenced each other, leading to the similarities observed between Vedic and Prakrit.
Prakrit Language: The name "Prakrit" is derived from "prakriti," meaning nature or naturalness. Thus, Prakrit is seen as the natural language of the people, not restricted to a specific class. It is also defined as the language in which the earliest Jain Agamas were written. The paper acknowledges that Prakrit literature spans about two thousand years across various genres.

Sanskrit's Role and the Methodology:

The authors point out that the study of languages within the Indo-European family has often used Sanskrit as a reference point, even for languages like Avestan, German, Greek, and Latin. Similarly, Vedic's characteristics have been sought within Sanskrit.
However, they argue that just as the aforementioned languages are considered independent today, Prakrit is also an independently developed language, even if its study has historically been mediated through Sanskrit.
The paper acknowledges the challenge of definitively stating whether Prakrit elements found in Vedic are original or a result of "Prakritization" from Vedic, due to a lack of early Prakrit literature. The question of which form is primary (e.g., devo, dev, dev in the nominative singular) is presented as a scholarly debate.
While the general linguistic principle is that language evolves from complexity to simplicity (e.g., for phonetic ease), the authors suggest that this needs to be reconsidered, and the evolution of Vedic, Sanskrit, and Prakrit should be understood historically.
Methodology Adopted: Given the existing scholarly approach, the paper will proceed by identifying Prakrit elements in Vedic by taking Sanskrit as a reference point, while acknowledging that this is a prevalent, but not necessarily definitive, method.

Key Areas of Similarity (Prakrit Elements in Vedic):

The paper then delves into specific linguistic categories where these similarities are observed, providing numerous examples:

Vowel Change (स्वर परिवर्तन):
- Short vowels becoming long, and long vowels becoming short.
- Substitution of one vowel for another.
- Vowel epenthesis (addition of a vowel).
- Vowel elision (loss of a vowel).
- Examples include Vedic ashva to Prakrit āso, Vedic varṣaḥ to Prakrit vāso, Vedic amatra to Prakrit amatta, Vedic mahī to Prakrit mahi, and instances of 'i' becoming 'e' and 'ṛ' changing to 'a', 'i', 'u', 'e', 'ri'.
Consonant Simplification (व्यञ्जनों का सरलीकरण):
- Elision of initial, medial, and final consonants.
- Examples include:
  - 'k' to 'g' (gulf to kulf)
  - 'kh' to 'h' (makhḥaḥ to muḥaḥ)
  - 'ṭ' to 'ḍ' (naṭaḥ to naḍaḥ)
  - 'ḍ' to 'l' (dāḍim to dālim)
  - 'n' to 'ṇ' (na to ṇa)
  - 'dh' to 'th', 'th' to 'dh' (samidh to samith)
  - 'd' to 'u' (dūdum to dūuṁ)
  - 'b' to 'bh' (tribhub to tribhubh)
  - 'bh' to 'h' (durlabha to dūlaha)
  - 'y' to 'j' (yuṣṭa to juṣṭa)
  - 'v' to 'y' (pṛthujavah to pṛthujayaḥ)
  - 'r' to 'l' (madhura to madhulā)
  - 'l' to 'r' (salila to sarira)
  - 'h' to 'bh' (grhītā to grbhitā)
  - 'h' to 'gh' (sudughāṁ to sudughāṁ)
  - Conjunct consonants simplification (akṣa to accha)
  - Consonant doubling (vīrya to vīryya)
  - Elision of initial, medial, and final consonants (yuvāṁ to uvāṁ, āgataḥ to āta, paścāt to paścā)
  - Change of voiced to voiceless and vice versa (gulf to kulf, triṣṭubha to triṣṭubha)
Alternating Word Forms (शब्दरूपों में वैकल्पिक प्रयोग):
- The use of alternative forms in declensions.
Ablation of Case Endings and Number (विभक्तिलाघव एवं वचनलाघव):
- The tendency towards simplification in case endings and numbers.
Increased Use of Native Words (देशी शब्दों के प्रयोग की अधिकता):
- A greater prevalence of indigenous vocabulary.
Use of Retroflex Consonants (मूर्धन्य ध्वनियों का प्रयोग):
- The presence of retroflex sounds, a characteristic often associated with Prakrit.
Simplification of Verb Forms (क्रियारूपों में लाघव):
- Tendency towards simpler verb conjugations.
Simplification of Kṛdanta (Past Participle) Suffixes (कृदंत प्रत्ययों का सरलीकरण):
- Simplified forms of participle suffixes.
Sandhi (Combination) with Pragati-bhava (Nature Preservation) (संधि प्रयोगों में प्रकृतिभाव):
- Less frequent or modified application of phonetic combination rules.

Further Specific Similarities Detailed:

The paper continues to elaborate on these points with numerous examples, covering:

Vowel Changes: Detailed instances of short to long, long to short, vowel substitution, vowel insertion, and vowel deletion, with comparative examples.
Changes in 'ṛ': The paper notes that Prakrit often replaces the vowel 'ṛ' with 'a', 'i', 'u', 'e', or 'ri', and provides Vedic examples showing similar changes.
Vowel Insertion (Swara-āgam): Examples of vowels being added to the beginning of words.
Vowel Elision (Swara-lop): Examples of vowels being dropped.
Alternation of Vowels: Specific examples of 'i' becoming 'e', 'ai' becoming 'e', 'au' becoming 'o', and 'ay' becoming 'e'.
Alternation of 'r': The replacement of 'r' with 'l' and vice versa.
Alternation of 'h': 'h' becoming 'bh' and 'gh'.
Conjunct Consonants: Simplification of conjunct consonant clusters.
Consonant Doubling: Examples of consonants being doubled.
Elision of Consonants: Instances of initial, medial, and final consonants being dropped.
Voiced/Unvoiced Consonant Changes: Shifts between voiced and unvoiced consonants.
Syllabic Anomalies: Changes like assimilation and vowel epenthesis.
Word Form Similarities: Examples of identical or very similar word forms in both Vedic and Prakrit, particularly in case and number usage, and pronominal forms.
Similar Vocabulary: Instances of shared words.
Similar Adjectives: Overlap in adjective forms.
Similar Tadit (Derivative) Suffixes: Commonality in suffixes used to form derivative words.
Similar Indeclinables (Avyaya): Shared conjunctions, adverbs, and particles. Specific examples of particles like 'u', 'o', 'ṇa', 'na', 'mā', 'tāvata', 'yāvat' are highlighted.
Vipsā (Repetition): The use of repetition for emphasis or distribution, similar to Prakrit.
Verb Forms:
- Lack of conjugation classes (gana) in both Vedic and Prakrit verbs.
- Use of the 'e' suffix in Vedic first-person singular present tense, similar to Prakrit.
- Similarities in the imperative mood (lot लकार), with the 'hi' and elision of suffix.
- Absence of a clear distinction between Ātmanepada (middle voice) and Parasmaipada (active voice) in some instances.
- The tendency to use the past tense form in place of the imperfect/periphrastic past in Prakrit, while Vedic also shows a mix.
- Absence of the initial 'a' in some past tense forms in both.
- Uniformity in Verb Forms: Providing examples of seemingly identical verb roots used across both.
Kṛdanta Forms: Similarity in the use of '-nt' and '-māṇa' suffixes for participles.
Causal Kṛdanta Suffixes: Similarities in suffixes for causal participles.
Sandhi Forms: While Sanskrit often has strong sandhi rules, both Vedic and Prakrit show instances of "pragati-bhava" (preservation of original forms) or simplified sandhi, along with exceptions. The paper details various sandhi phenomena and their approximations in both languages.

Conclusion:

The paper concludes by emphasizing the significant shared features between Vedic and Prakrit languages. It reiterates the argument that these similarities point to a common origin and mutual influence, suggesting that the conventional view of Prakrit as solely derived from Sanskrit might be incomplete. The study aims to contribute to a deeper understanding of the early stages of Indo-Aryan languages by highlighting these overlooked connections.