PRA CRll' POETRY. SQS 



dialect of the southern extremity of the peninsula ; the 

 uivaniicd (probably the language of Mdiava) ;* the 

 ArSha mdgaci'h'i^ d stinijuished from M/ij^acfkl pTopet" 

 ly so called ; the Bdlilicahhdshd, perhaps the language 

 o^ B(dk in the Transoxuna) ; -|~ the Mahdrdshtri or di- 

 alect of the Marhaltas \ the FrdcJixd or language em- 

 ployed in the east of India ; J the Ah. 'tin and ChdnddU^ 

 which from their names, seem to be dialects used by 

 herdsmen and by persons of the lowest tribes ; the 

 Sdncard and Sdkari, concerning which nothing satis- 

 factory can be at present suggested ; and generally 

 any provincial dialect. 



It is not to be supposed, that the Frdcrit rules of 

 pro«ody, as taught by Pin gala, are suittdto all these 

 languages : but it is j^robable, that they were framed 

 for the same dialect of Frdcrit, in which they are 

 composed ; and ihey arc applicable to those cognate 

 dialects, which differ much less from each other (be- 

 ing very easily confounded), than they all do horn San- 

 scrit, their acknowledged con)n:ion parent. Generally 

 those rules n;ay be considered applicable to all the lan- 

 guages comprehended under the designation of Frd- 

 crit, ^ as derivative from Sanscrii ; and certainly so to the 

 vernacular tongues of the ten nations of Hindus now in- 

 habiting India. Awriter on ^^z//j-m/ prosody jj pronounces 



* Avanti 13 another name of Ujjai/ani. 



t Bihlica or Bihlica (for the word is spelt variously (is a country 

 famous for the breed ot horses. Amer a. 2. 8. 45. It appears to be 

 s tuated north o^ India ; being mentioned in enumerations of coun- 

 tries, with Turushca, C' hasa, Casmira, &c. (Hemachandra. 4. 25. 

 Tricavda s'esha.'l. \. QJ 



+ The commentator on Xh& Sahhya dcr/>a',a [Rama Chakana), 

 interprets Prachva, by Gaudii/n ; meanins;, no doubt, the langiuii^e 

 ot Be)igal. He was himself a native of this province ; and his uoi k 

 is modern, being dated 5<3ira 1(J22 (A. D. 17pO.) 



§ As. Res. Y\l. p. 219. 



II Xara\ana bhatta in a commentary on the JYitta retnacara 

 lyritten in Sambat l602 (A. D. \54Q.] 



