Ashokan Prakrit
Ashokan Prakrit (or Aśokan Prākṛta) is the Middle Indo-Aryan dialect continuum used in the Edicts of Ashoka, attributed to Emperor Ashoka of the Mauryan Empire who reigned 268 BCE to 232 BCE.[1] The Edicts are inscriptions on monumental pillars and rocks throughout South Asia that cover Ashoka's conversion to Buddhism and espouse Buddhist principles (e.g. upholding dhamma and the practice of non-violence).
Ashokan Prakrit | |
---|---|
![]() Ashokan Prakrit inscribed in the Brahmi script at Sarnath. | |
Region | South Asia |
Era | 268—232 BCE |
Indo-European
| |
Early forms | |
Brahmi, Kharoshthi | |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | – |
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The Ashokan Prakrit dialects reflected local forms of the Early Middle-Indo-Aryan language. Three dialect areas are represented: Northwestern, Western, and Eastern. The Central dialect of Indo-Aryan is exceptionally not represented; instead, inscriptions of that area use the Eastern forms. [2]:50[1] Ashokan Prakrit is descended from an Old Indo-Aryan dialect closely related to Vedic Sanskrit, on occasion diverging by preserving archaisms from Proto-Indo-Aryan.
Ashokan Prakrit is attested in the Brahmi script and the Kharoshthi script (only in the Northwest).
Classification
Masica classifies Ashokan Prakrit as an Early Middle-Indo-Aryan language, representing the earliest stage after Old Indo-Aryan in the historical development of Indo-Aryan. Pali and early Jain Ardhamagadhi (but not all of it) also represent this stage.[2]:52
Dialects
There are three dialect groups attested in the Ashokan Edicts, based on phonological and grammatical idiosyncrasies which correspond with developments in later Middle Indo-Aryan languages:[3][4][5]
- Western: The inscriptions at Girnar and Sopara, which: prefer r over l; do not merge the nasal consonants (n, ñ, ṇ); merge all sibilants into s; prefer (c)ch as the reflex of the Old Indo-Aryan thorn cluster kṣ; have -o as the nominative singular of masculine a-stems, among other morphological peculiarities. Notably, this dialect corresponds well with Pali, the preferred Middle Indo-Aryan language of Buddhism.[6]:5
- Northwestern: The inscriptions at Shahbazgarhi and Mansehra written in the Kharosthi script: retain etymological r and l as distinct; do not merge the nasals; do not merge the sibilants (s, ś, ṣ); metathesis of liquids in consonant clusters (e.g. Sanskrit dharma > Shahbazgarhi dhrama). These features are shared with the modern Dardic languages.[7]
- Eastern: The standard administrative language, exemplified by the inscriptions at Dhauli and Jaugada and used in the geographical core of the Mauryan Empire: prefer l over r, merge the nasals into n (and geminate ṁn), prefer (k)kh as the reflex of OIA kṣ, have -e as the nominative singular of masculine a-stems, etc. Oberlies suggests that the inscriptions in the Central zone were translated from the "official" administrative forms of the Edicts.
Sample
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The following is the first sentence of the Major Rock Edict 1, inscribed c. 257 BCE in many locations.[8]
- Girnar:
iy[aṃ]
this
dhaṃma-lipī
morality-rescript
Devānaṃpriyena
Devānāṁpriya.INS
Priyadasinā
Priyadarśin.INS
rāña
king.INS
lekhāpitā
write.CAUS.PTC
'This rescript on morality has been caused to be written by king Devānāṁpriya Priyadarśin.'
- Kalsi:
iyaṃ
this
dhaṃma-lipi
morality-rescript
Devānaṃpiyena
Devānāṁpriya.INS
Piyadas[i]nā
Priyadarśin.INS
[lekhit]ā
write.PTC
- Shahbazgarhi:
[aya]
this
dhrama-dipi
morality-rescript
Devanapriasa
Devānāṁpriya.GEN
raño
king.GEN
likhapitu
write.CAUS.PTC
- Mansehra:
ayi
this
dhra[ma]dip[i]
morality-rescript
Devanaṃ[priye]na
Devānāṁpriya.INS
Priya[draśina
Priyadarśin.INS
rajina
king.INS
li]khapita
write.CAUS.PTC
- Dhauli:
...
...
[si
LOC
pava]tasi
mountain.LOC
[D]e[v]ā[na]ṃp[iy]
Devānāṁpriya.INS
...
...
[nā
INS
lājina
king.INS
l]i[kha]
write.PTC
...
...
- Jaugada:
iyaṃ
this
dhaṃma-lipi
morality-rescript
Khepi[ṃ]galasi
Khepiṅgala.LOC
pavatasi
mountain.LOC
Devānaṃpiyena
Devānāṁpriya.INS
Piyadasinā
Priyadarśin.INS
lājinā
king.INS
likhāpitā
write.CAUS.PTC
The dialect groups and their differences are apparent: the Northwest retains clusters but does metathesis on liquids (dhrama vs. other dhaṃma) and retains an earlier form dipi "writing" borrowed from Iranian;[9] meanwhile, the l/r distinctions are apparent in the word for "king" (Girnar rāña but Jaugada lājinā).
References
- Thomas Oberlies. "Aśokan Prakrit and Pali". In George Cardona; Dhanesh Jain (eds.). The Indo-Aryan Languages. pp. 179–224.
- Masica, Colin (1993). The Indo-Aryan Languages. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-29944-2.
- Jules Bloch (1950). Les inscriptions d'Aśoka, traduites et commentées par Jules Bloch (in French).
- Ashwini Deo (2018). "Dialects in the Indo-Aryan landscape". In Charles Boberg; John Nerbonne; Dominic Watt (eds.). The Handbook of Dialectology (PDF). John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
- Jain, Danesh; Cardona, George (2007-07-26). The Indo-Aryan Languages. Routledge. p. 165.
- Norman, Kenneth Roy (1983). Pali Literature. Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz. pp. 2–3. ISBN 3-447-02285-X.
- George A. Grierson (1927). "On the Old North-Western Prakrit". The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland. 4 (4): 849–852. JSTOR 25221256.
- "2. Girnār, Kālsī, Shāhbāzgaṛhī, Mānsehrā, Dhauli, Jaugaḍa rock edicts (Synoptic, Māgadhī and English)". Bibliotheca Polyglotta. University of Oslo.
- Hultzsch, E. (1925). Corpus Inscriptionum Indicarum v. 1: Inscriptions of Asoka. Oxford: Clarendon Press. p. xlii.