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JOURNAL R. A. S. (CEYLON). 



[Vol. III. 



opinion generally received at the present day, as to the 

 age of the dramatic literature, and of Vararuchi, whom some 

 have erroneously regarded as identical with Katyayana* 



To such important questions, however, it is imposible to 

 do justice within the confined limits of periodical literature. 

 The object, therefore, of the following observations is, simply 

 to shew the difference between the Pali, otherwise called 

 Mdgadhl ; and the so-called Mdgadhl of the Prakrit Gram- 

 marians. 



Vararuchi, in his Prakrit Prakasa, which has been trans- 

 lated into English by Dr. Cowell, devotes a Chapter con- 

 taining 15 Sections, to exhibit the differences between the 

 MagadM and the Sanskrit ; and the following observations 

 are confined to comparisons between those laws and che 

 distinguishing characteristics of the Pali. 



1. The first rule of Vararuchi is SHASOH SAIL In the 

 Pali there is no s ; it has only the dental sibilants. The 

 inapplicability of the rule, which states that in the peculiar 

 dialect of Prakrit termed Magadhi, ' s is substituted for sh or 

 s' is therefore self-evident. 



2. Jo YAH. The occasional substitution of y for/ is no 

 more a peculiarity of the Pali than of the Sanskrit or 

 Sinhalese ; e.g., yamini or jamini in Sanskrit ; yama or 

 jama, Sinhalese 4 night.' The usual Pali nija is written in 

 the Suttas with a y, as niyan puttctn * own son.' Instances 

 like these, are exceptions, not the rule, in those two langu- 

 ages. But neither in the instance given by Vararuchi, nor in 

 the great majority of Sanskrit words with a j, is it changed 

 into a y in the Pali. The reverse of what is given by Vara- 

 ruchi may be regarded as the rule. Thus, jay ate 4 he is 

 born,' is the same in the Pali, and is not changed into yayade. 

 So likewise raja is raja, and not ray a, ' king ; ' gaja is gaja 

 but not gay a, 'elephant'; vajra is vajira, but not vayara, 

 diamond.' It is true that in words like paryushand the 



* Cowell's Prakrit Prakasa, p. vii. 



