OF BHAKATAVAKSA OR INDIA. 
99 
The formation of the word Pallava ^'^ can be explained iu 
different ways. It may have been derived from the word 
Palla which, being combined with the pronominal aflSx an, 
formed the honorific term Pallavan, and eventually dropped 
the final n ; or, if of Sanskrit origin, the affix va may either 
have been added to Palla, or the Taddhita affix a to the term 
Pallu, which denotes the Pallar caste as an aggregate. In 
the latter case Pallava would have been formed from Pallu 
and ought to have been Pallava, but according to Paniai V, 
2, 127 {ana ddibhyo'c) Vrddhi or long a is not necessary. 
The omission of one I and the insertion in its place of an h 
requires a few remarks in order to connect Palhava, Pah- 
lava and Pahnava with Palla, which was no doubt the 
original Dravidian form with which the Aryans became first 
acquainted. 
Before a language reaches the literary stage, dialectical 
differences excepted, only one form of speech does generally 
prevail, which is the language in common use, the popular 
or Prakrit idiom. In course of time, with the growth of 
literature, the language, or rather the literary speech, becomes 
more and more settled and stationary, and certain forma- 
tions, owing to their having been preferred by poets and 
other authors, are widely adopted and supersede those pre- 
viously used. The refined or Sanskrit language must have 
originated in some such manner. Its very existence pre- 
supposes the Prakrit, as the original Prakrit must be older 
than the later Sanskrit. The so-called Prakrit forms, which 
are found, e.g., in the Vedie literature, should not for this 
reason be regarded as belonging to a later period, simply 
because they belong to Prakrit, as they may even represent 
^' The Jdtisangrahasara on p. 171 says that PaUavan is derived from 
Funivalan, one who has got the strength of hody, that pur a was dropped in 
course of time, V changed into P, and van added. 
