12 অসমীয়া ব্যাকৰণ আৰু ভাষাতত্ত্ব and Sauraseni. In fact from the literary standpoint the difference is negligible. Maharastri was used in poetry and Sauraseni in prose, Again, neither grammarian says in which countries Maharastri and Sauraseni were used although Vararuci speaks of Magadhi as the language of Magadhas. | the names themselves it may be inferred that Maharastri is the language of Maharastra, the country on the Upper Godavari, where modern Marathi is spoken, viz.-Bombay and Hyderabad : Sauraseni, the language of Surasena, the country round Mathura and Broja having the Gangetic Doab as its centre, Magadhi that of Magadha or modern Bihar and Paisagi that of Pandya (Deccan), Kekaya, Vahlika, Nepala and some other places, Dr. Hornle is of opinion that Prakrt or Maharastri was never the language of the Maratha country as the language of the place, Marathi, had not a single point in common with it. He maintains that the term Maharastri has no reference to a proper name but that it is a laudatory or descriptive word meaning the Prakrt of the great kingdom” (i.e., of the famed country of the Doab and Rajputana) and therefore the Prakrt par excellence. It means Sauraseni, the language of the Doab and Rajputana, from which the modern Western Hindi has been derived. According to him there are only two Prakrts,Maharastra-Sauraseni and Magadhi. The Prakrt gram: marians include in the Maharastra-Sauraseni group Maharastri, Sauraseni, Avanti, Pracya and Sakki. Maharastri and Sauraseni gave birth to Western Hindi, viz. Maharastri to Braja and Kanauji and Sauraseni to Marwari and Gujrati. From Avanti the speech of Ujjain and Eastern Rajputana, from Pragya Baiswari and from Sakki the speech of south and western Punjab were probably derived. In the Magadhi group the Prakrt grammarians included Magadhi, Ardha-Magadhi, Dakshinatya, Utkali and Sabari. Magadhi represents the modern Maithili, Bengali and probably in part Assamese. It should, however, be remembered that Assamese in part at least is derived from Sauraseni now represented by Gujrati and Marwari. J consider that Assamese is a mixture of Sauraseni and Magadhi like Ardha-Magadhi which is represented by modern Bhojpuri and Eastern Hindi proper. From Dakshinatya the language of Berar and Marathi, and from Utkali, Oriya and Sabiri, the speech of the country lying within the borders of Utkali and Dakshinatya, were derived". | Paisayi was the Aryan language as spoken by non-Aryans with perhaps an admixture of their own speech. D. Hoernle describes it as Low or Vulgar Prakrt in contradistinction to High Prart which was a 1 Magadhanam bhaga Magadhi"---Vararuci, 11.1. - See his Comparative Grammar, p. xxii.
- See Hornle's Comparative Grammar, pp. xxil--xxiv.
'Hoernle : Com, Gramin., p. XXVII-
