1897.] M. M. Chakra varti —Language and Literature of Orissa. 
317 
Notes o)i the language and literature of Orissa, Parts I. and II. — By Babu 
M. M. Chakravarti, Deputy Magistrate, Jajpur, District Cuttack. 
[Read December, 1897.] 
Part I. Language and Alphabet. 
The modern language of Orissa is generally believed to be a 
descendant of the Magadhi Prakj-t. The principal reasons on which 
this supposition rests, are the following:— 
Firstly, Sanskrit nouns ending with a ( ) in nominative singular 
ended with o (^t) in faurasenl and e ( ) or t ( ^ ) Magadhi. In Oriya 
such nouns end with a or a vowels which are derivable more easily from 
Magadhi e than from pauraseni o. Secondly, the past participle was in 
Qauraseni da or id a, and in Magadhi da or ida. The Oriya past participle 
Id (in *TTOT x ¥ftTOT) * s apparently derived from the Magadhi da, d being 
easily interchangeable with l. Thirdly, pauraseni used a future ih or iss, 
while Magadhi in addition to Ih occasionally used such forms like devva 
(Skt. ddtavya ) as future tenses. The Oriya future ih ( ) is 
clearly connected with the aforesaid Magadhi ah. Fourthly, Magadhi 
changes r to l andy to y. Dr. Hoernle has ingeniously shown that the 
Sanskrit r was a semi-cerebral while the modern vernacular r is a dental, 
and that Magadhi supplied the intermediate link by substituting a 
dental l which gradually changed to dental r of the current Indian ver¬ 
naculars. Similarly the Sanskrit j was a semi-consonant, which Maga¬ 
dhi changed into y, a semi-vowel still retained in modern vernaculars. 1 
Historical reasons strengthen this derivation of the Oriya from 
the Magadhi. The Magadhi dialect prevailed over old Magadha which 
roughly corresponds to the modern province of Behar and the Benares 
Division of the N.-W. Provinces. Orissa is contiguous to this tract on 
the south, being separated only by the jungles of Clihutia Nagpore. 
Hence in the ordinary course of progress the dialect of the more civi¬ 
lised Magadha would spread downwards to the less civilised Odrade^a. 
1 See Dr. Hoernle’s Introd. Comp. Gramm, of the Gaudian languages 
p. XXVII et esq. 
J. i. 41 
