Apabhramsha language
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What is the Apabhramsha language?
The Apabhramsha language represents the final stage of the Middle Indo-Aryan languages. As the Prakrit languages became formalized through literary use, their variations became known as Apabhramsha.
Apabhramsha possesses unique phonological and morphological characteristics, marking a departure from the synthetic nature of Old Indo-Aryan and paving the way for the New Indo-Aryan languages. The majority of Apabhramsha literature draws from Jain mythology, legends, and ethics.
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Where and when was Apabhramsha spoken?
Apabhramsha, a literary language, represents the final stage of the Middle Indo-Aryan languages. It emerged as variations of Prakrit languages became formalized through literary use. By the 6th century, it was recognized as a literary language, lasting until the end of the Middle Indo-Aryan period and even into the early phase of the New Indo-Aryan period (10th century).
The Gujarat king Hemachandra (12th century) based his observations on the western dialects. It is likely that these dialects pioneered Apabhramsha poetry, which then gradually spread to the southern and eastern parts of the Indo-Aryan language area.
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Which languages did Apabhramsha develop from?
Apabhramsha emerged as a literary language from the Middle Indo-Aryan languages, marking a deviation from Old Indo-Aryan's Classical Sanskrit. The term Apabhramsha, meaning "deviance," was used by grammarians to describe departures from standard Sanskrit forms.
Patanjali, in the 2nd century BCE, cited Prakrit words as apabhramsha of Sanskrit. By the 6th century, it was recognized as a literary language, with King Dharasena II acknowledging its use in poetry. Apabhramsha then continued to evolve, maintaining its literary relevance until the early phase of the New Indo-Aryan period around the 10th century.
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How did Apabhramsha influence modern Indian languages?
Apabhramsha, a literary language in the final phase of Middle Indo-Aryan languages, significantly shaped the New Indo-Aryan languages. Apabhramsha displays characteristics that distinguish it from the synthetic Old Indo-Aryan languages and sets the stage for the rise of modern languages.
Sound changes in Apabhramsha, such as the replacement of the vowel sound a by u in final syllables and the development of contracted forms, foreshadow changes in New Indo-Aryan languages like Gujarati and Hindi. The disintegration of the case system in Apabhramsha, where instrumental and locative plurals became identical, also influenced the structure of modern languages. Additionally, syntactic structures and verb formations in Apabhramsha closely parallel those in New Indo-Aryan, demonstrating its lasting impact.
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What types of literature were written in Apabhramsha?
Apabhramsha, a literary language from the final phase of the Middle Indo-Aryan languages, is known for its literature based on Jain mythology, legends, and ethics.
Classic Apabhramsha texts include the Paumacariu of Svayambhu, a Jain version of the Ramayana and the Mahapurana of Pushpadanta, which is based on the lives of Jain figures. Other examples include the Bhavisattakaha of Dhanpala and the Pasanahachariu of Padmakirti. Doha verses, where each verse embodies an independent concept, were also a popular literary form.
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Why is Apabhramsha important in the study of the history of Indian languages?
Apabhramsha holds importance in the study of Indian languages because it represents a crucial transition from Middle Indo-Aryan languages to New Indo-Aryan languages. As the literary language of the final phase of the Middle Indo-Aryan languages, Apabhramsha exhibits unique phonological and morphological characteristics that mark a departure from Old Indo-Aryan languages. These linguistic changes paved the way for the emergence of modern Indo-Aryan languages. The literature of Apabhramsha, often based on Jain mythology, also provides valuable insights into the cultural and linguistic landscape of the time.
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Apabhramsha language, literary language of the final phase of the Middle Indo-Aryan languages. When the Prakrit languages were formalized by literary use, their variations came to be known as Apabhramsha. Despite this close relationship, scholars generally treat Apabhramsha and the nonliterary Prakrits separately.
History
The Middle Indo-Aryan languages are differentiated from Old Indo-Aryan—the Classical Sanskrit used in the Vedas—by significant changes in phonology and morphology. Conservative grammarians branded all such departures as apabhramsha (“deviance”). Patanjali (2nd century bce), for instance, identified Prakrit words such as gavi and goni as apabhramsha of the Sanskrit word go.
The Brahman sage Bharata mentions in his Natyashastra (1st century bce–3rd century ce) two types of vernacular, the Prakrits (bhasas) and their corruptions (vibhasas), in the dialects spoken by the Sabara, Abhira, and Candala peoples. In the late 6th or early 7th century, Dandin said that in poetry the languages of the Abhira and other common folk were called Apabhramsha. These commentaries imply that by the 3rd century there were certain dialects called Apabhramsha and that these gradually rose to the literary level.
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By the 6th century, Apabhramsha was recognized as a literary language. Dharasena II, the king of Valabhi at that time, created an inscription in which he described his father, Guhasena, as an expert in composing poetry in Sanskrit, Prakrit, and Apabhramsha. Bhamaha, an early prosodist of the 6th or 7th century, divides poetry into Sanskrit, Prakrit, and Apabhramsha. Apabhramsha continued in this capacity until the end of the Middle Indo-Aryan period. In its stereotyped form, it even persisted into the early phase of the New Indo-Aryan period (10th century).
Most of the extant literature in Apabhramsha is based on Jain mythology, legends, and ethics. Classic texts include the Paumacariu of Svayambhu (8th–9th century), a Jain version of the Ramayana; the Mahapurana of Pushpadanta (10th century), based on the lives of Jain legendary figures; the Bhavisattakaha of Dhanpala (10th century); and the Pasanahachariu of Padmakirti (11th century). Doha verses, in which each verse is complete in itself and embodies an independent concept, are also a favourite literary form in Apabhramsha.
The Gujarat king Hemachandra (12th century) treated Apabhramsha at length in his grammar of Prakrit. He is said to have based his observations on the western dialects. It is likely that these dialects pioneered Apabhramsha poetry, which then gradually spread to the southern and eastern parts of the Indo-Aryan language area.
Characteristics
As previously noted, Apabhramsha has a number of unique phonological and morphological characteristics. These features show a marked departure from the synthetic nature of the Old Indo-Aryan languages, which had still been lingering in the early phases of the Middle Indo-Aryan, and paved the way for the advent of the New Indo-Aryan languages.
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Among these characteristics are that there is increased vocalic flexibility, in which one vowel may be substituted for another; the ending vowel of words that have declensional terminations may be shortened or lengthened; the pronunciation of /e/ and /o/ is shortened when compounded with a consonant; and the pronunciation of /um/, /ham/, /him/, and /hum/ is shortened when positioned at the end of a metrical foot (the type and number of feet determine the rhythm of a verse).
Sound changes also occur among the consonants. An /r/ can be optionally retained as the final member of a conjunct, and it is also sometimes substituted for the final (non-/-r/) member of a conjunct. Intervocalic consonants—those that are immediately preceded and followed by vowels—may change. For instance, /-k-/, /-kh-/, /-t-/, /-th-/, /-p-/, and /-ph-/ change, respectively, to /-g-/, /-gh-/, /-d-/, /-dh-/, /-b-/, and /-bh-/; /-m-/ changes to /-v-/; and /-mha-/ (from /-ksma-/ and /-sma-/) optionally changes to /-mbha-/.
Apabhramsha inflectional features include the merging of the a-, i-, and u-stems of feminine and neuter words (see gender). The a-stems express the nominative and accusative cases in an identical manner (taking /u/ in the singular and /a/ in the plural). In addition, the instrumental case merges with the locative case, and the ablative coincides with the dative/genitive.
Apabhramsha adds inflectional suffixes to words to avoid confusion between cases that are otherwise expressed identically. Examples include the use of /-tana/ to indicate ablative; /-tana/ or /-kera/ to indicate genitive; and /-majjha/ to indicate locative. In conjugation, Apabhramsha has developed additional terminations. In the present tense, for instance, the first person singular /-um/ becomes the plural /-hum/; the second person singular /-hi/ becomes the plural /-hu/; and the third person singular /-hi/ remains unchanged in the plural. Finally, while substitution of the past participle passive form for the finite verb in the past tense is quite frequent in the Prakrits, it has become almost a rule in Apabhramsha.