﻿( ^99 ) 

 VII. 



ON THE 



SANSCRIT AND PRACRIT LANGUAGES. 



By H. T. COLEBROOKE, Esq. 



In a treatise on rhetorick, compiled for the use of 

 Manicya Chandra, Rctjd o^ Tirabhucti or Tirhut, 

 a brief enumeration of languages, used by Hindu 

 poets, is quoted from two writers on the art of poetry. 

 The following is a literal translation of both pas- 

 sages. 



" Sanscrita Pracrita, Paisdchi and Mdgadliz^ 

 are in short the four paths of poetry. The Gods, &c. 

 speak Sanscrita; benevolent genii, Prdcrita ; wicked 

 demons, Paisdchi; and men of low tribes and the 

 rest, Mdgad'hi. But sages deem Sanscrita the chief 

 of these four languages. It is used three ways ; in 

 prose, in verse, and in a mixture of both. " 



" Language, again, the virtuous have declared 

 to be fourfold, Sanscrita [or the polished dialect,] 

 Prdcrita [or the vulgar dialect], Apabln^ansa [or 

 jargon], and Alisra [or mixed]. Sanscrita is the 

 speech of the celestials, framed in grammatical in- 

 stitutes ; Prdcrita is similar to it, but manifold as a 

 provincial dialect, and otherwise ; and those lan- 

 guages which are ungrammatical, are spoken in their 

 respective districts." 



The Paisdchi seems to be gibberish, which dra- 

 matick poets make the demons speak, when they 

 bring these fantastic beings on the stage. The mix- 

 ture of languages, noticed in the second quotation, 

 is that which is employed in dramas, as is expressly 

 said by the same author in a subsequent verse. It is 

 not then a compound language, but a mixt dialogue 



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