SANSKRIT AND PRAKRIT (Sociolinguistic Issues)

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This volume brings together eight contributions of Professor Madhav M. Deshpande relating to the historical sociolinguistics of Sanskrit and Prakrit languages. The studies brought together here represent his continuing research in this field after his 1979 book: Sociolinguistic Attitudes in India: An Historical Reconstruction. The main thrust of these studies is to show that patterns of languages use and ideas about language, including grammatical theories, are deeply influenced by political, religious, geographical, and other sociohistorical factors. This is true as much of ancient languages as it is for modern languages. Studies presented here attempt to uncover these complicated networks of influences, and offer a rare understanding of why the ideas about language developed in a particular way in India. This is a particular work in the newly emerging field of historical sociolinguistics of Indo-Aryan languages.

About the Author:

Madhav M.Deshpande is a Professor of Sanskrit and Linguistics at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA. Originally trained in Pune in traditional and modern Sanskrit scholarship, Deshpande earned his Ph.D. degree in Sanskrit linguistics at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA, and has been teaching at the University of Michigan since 1972. His research relates to the fields of Paninian linguistics, historical linguistics of Indo-Aryan languages, etc. However, his work in the field of reconstructing the historical sociolinguistics of Sanskrit and Prakrit languages has been especially pioneering. He has successfully reconstructed and elaborated a previously neglected area of South Asian history, i.e. the sociolinguistic attitudes of the South Asian people in ancient and medieval India and the impact of these attitudes on the development of both language-use and linguistic theories in India.

An Apologia

by Professor Ashok Kelkar

by Madhav M. Deshpande

1. Sanskrit and Prakrit: Some Sociolinguistic Issues
   1. Introduction. 2. Sociolinguistic Attitudes in Vedic India. 3. Alternative Sociolinguistic Perspectives in India. 4. Sociolinguistic Attitudes in Buddhism. 5. Sociolinguistic Attitudes in Jainism. 6. Political Factors and Sociolinguistic Attitudes.

2. Loka: The Linguistic World of Patanjali
   1. Introduction. 2. Loka and Veda in Patanjali. 3. Motivations for Studying Sanskrit Grammar. 4. Patanjali on the Interaction between Sanskrit and Prakrit. 5. Varieties of Sanskrit Evidenced in the Mahabhasya. 6. Sanskrit as a Second Language: Living or Dead? 7. Conclusion.

3. On Vernacular Sanskrit: The Girvanavanmanjari of Dhundiraja Kavi
   1. Vernacular Sanskrit. 2. The Girvanavanmanjari of Dhundiraja Kavi. 3. Linguistic Parallelisms. 4. Conclusions.

4. Historical Change and the Theology of Eternal (Nitya) Sanskrit

5. Sanskrit Grammarians: Differing Perspectives in Cultural Geography

6. Rajasekhara on Ethnic and Linguistic
   Geography of India

7. Nation and Region: A Sociolinguistic Perspectives on Maharashtra

8. Genesis of Rgvedic Retroflexion: A Historical and Sociolinguistic Investigation
   1. Introduction. 2. Plurality of Rgvedic Recensions. 3. Recensional Variation: An Epistemological Problem. 4. Aitareya-Aranyaka (3.2.6): Its Implications. 5. Pre-Rgvedic Aryan-non-Aryan Bilingualism? 6. Emergence of Retroflexion in Prehistoric Indo-Aryan. 7. Brahamikarana: A Gradual Transformation. 8. Retroflexion and the Development of the Brahmi Script. 9. Instability of Post-Vedic Retroflexion. 10. Irregular Retroflexion in Vedic Recensions. 11. Retroflexion in the Pratisakhyas. 12. Aspects of Dravidian Influence on Indo-Aryan. 13. Problems in the Reconstruction of the Ur-Rgveda. 14. Other Instances of Alleged Dravidian Influence. 15. Conclusions.

Bibliography