Description
The author reveals that the degree courses in Sanskrit almost invariably include a drama, of which a considerable portion is in Prakrit. In practice, whatever examiners may imagine, the student reads the Sanskrit, which most editions provide for him on the same page. At any rate he begins that way; reading the Prakrit afterwards, noticing certain similarities, and some of the differences, so that he may be able to recognize a passage, with which he is already familiar in its Sanskrit form, and perhaps in an English translation. Even the more advanced student who reads the Prakrit as it comes, at the slightest check looks down at the ‘ shadow.’ Consequently, few students have any definite knowledge of any one of the Prakrits, one cannot blame them. One object of this Introduction to Prakrit is to provide students with a guide for the more attentive and more scholarly study of the Sauraseni and Maharastri passages in their Sanskrit plays. The main object however is to assist the student of the History of the great IndoAryan language from Vedic times to the present day. The Indian student starts with an intimate knowledge of at least one modern IndoAryan language.
