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{{Infobox language
| name = Ashokan Prakrit
| region = [[South Asia]]
| image = Brahmi pillar inscription in Sarnath.jpg
| imagecaption = Ashokan Prakrit inscribed in the [[Brahmi script]] at [[Sarnath]].
| era = {{BCE|268—232}}
| familycolor = Indo-European
| fam2 = [[Indo-Iranian languages|Indo-Iranian]]
| fam3 = [[Indo-Aryan languages|Indo-Aryan]]
| fam4 =
| ancestor = [[Proto-Indo-European]]
| ancestor2 = [[Proto-Indo-Iranian]]
| ancestor3 = [[Proto-Indo-Aryan]]
| iso3 =
| glotto =
| glottorefname =
| script = [[Brahmi script|Brahmi]], [[Kharoshthi script|Kharoshthi]]
| map = {{Map of the Edicts of Ashoka}}
| country = India
}}

'''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 {{BCE|268}} to {{BCE|232}}.<ref name="Cardona">{{cite book |title=The Indo-Aryan Languages |editor=[[George Cardona]] |editor2=Dhanesh Jain |chapter=Aśokan Prakrit and Pali |author=Thomas Oberlies |pages=179–224}}</ref> 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).

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 Indo-Aryan languages|Central]] dialect of Indo-Aryan is exceptional ''not'' represented; instead, inscriptions of that area use the Eastern forms. <ref name="Masica">{{cite book|last=Masica|first=Colin|authorlink=Colin Masica|title=The Indo-Aryan Languages|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=J3RSHWePhXwC|date=1993|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-29944-2}}</ref>{{rp|50}}<ref name="Cardona"/> 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.<ref name="Masica"/>{{rp|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:<ref>{{cite book|title=Les inscriptions d'Aśoka, traduites et commentées par Jules Bloch|author=Jules Bloch|year=1950|language=French}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|chapter=Dialects in the Indo-Aryan landscape|author=Ashwini Deo|title=The Handbook of Dialectology|editor=Charles Boberg|editor2=John Nerbonne|editor3=Dominic Watt|url=https://cpb-us-w2.wpmucdn.com/u.osu.edu/dist/6/37654/files/2015/09/handbookdialectology-original-2akgf2w.pdf|year=2018|publisher=John Wiley & Sons, Inc.}}</ref><ref>Jain, Danesh; Cardona, George (2007-07-26). The Indo-Aryan Languages. Routledge. p. 165.</ref>
* '''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.<ref name=Norman>{{cite book | last = Norman | first = Kenneth Roy | author-link = K. R. Norman | title = Pali Literature | publisher = Otto Harrassowitz | date = 1983 | location = Wiesbaden | pages = 2{{ndash}}3 | language = English | isbn = 3-447-02285-X}}</ref>{{rp|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]].<ref>{{cite journal|title=On the Old North-Western Prakrit|author=[[George A. Grierson]]|journal=The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland|year=1927|volume=4|issue=4|pages=849–852|jstor=25221256|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/25221256}}</ref>
* '''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===
[[File:Dhrama Dipi inscription in the Shahbazgarhi First Edict in the Kharosthi script.jpg|thumb|200px|''Dhrama-dipi'' "rescript on morality" in Ashokan Prakrit in the [[Kharoshthi script]] at [[Shahbazgarhi]].]]
The following is the first sentence of the [[Major_Rock_Edicts#Major_Rock_Edict_1|Major Rock Edict 1]], inscribed {{circa}} {{BCE|257}} in many locations.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www2.hf.uio.no/polyglotta/index.php?page=record&vid=365&mid=634949|title=2. Girnār, Kālsī, Shāhbāzgaṛhī, Mānsehrā, Dhauli, Jaugaḍa rock edicts (Synoptic, Māgadhī and English)|work=Bibliotheca Polyglotta|publisher=University of Oslo}}</ref>

* Girnar:
{{interlinear
|iy[aṃ] dhaṃma-lipī Devānaṃpriyena Priyadasinā rāña lekhāpitā
|this morality-rescript Devānāṁpriya.INS Priyadarśin.INS king.INS write.CAUS.PTC|'This rescript on morality has been caused to be written by king Devānāṁpriya Priyadarśin.'}}
* Kalsi:
{{interlinear
|iyaṃ dhaṃma-lipi Devānaṃpiyena Piyadas[i]nā [lekhit]ā
|this morality-rescript Devānāṁpriya.INS Priyadarśin.INS write.PTC|}}
* Shahbazgarhi:
{{interlinear
|[aya] dhrama-dipi Devanapriasa raño likhapitu
|this morality-rescript Devānāṁpriya.GEN king.GEN write.CAUS.PTC|}}
* Mansehra:
{{interlinear
|ayi dhra[ma]dip[i] Devanaṃ[priye]na Priya[draśina rajina li]khapita
|this morality-rescript Devānāṁpriya.INS Priyadarśin.INS king.INS write.CAUS.PTC|}}
* Dhauli:
{{interlinear
|... [si pava]tasi [D]e[v]ā[na]ṃp[iy] ... [nā lājina l]i[kha] ...
|... LOC mountain.LOC Devānāṁpriya.INS ... INS king.INS write.PTC ...|}}
* Jaugada:
{{interlinear
|iyaṃ dhaṃma-lipi Khepi[ṃ]galasi pavatasi Devānaṃpiyena Piyadasinā lājinā likhāpitā
|this morality-rescript Khepiṅgala.LOC mountain.LOC Devānāṁpriya.INS Priyadarśin.INS king.INS 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;<ref name=Hultzsch>{{cite book|last1=Hultzsch|first1=E.|title=Corpus Inscriptionum Indicarum v. 1: Inscriptions of Asoka|year =1925| publisher=Clarendon Press|location=Oxford |page=xlii| url=https://archive.org/stream/InscriptionsOfAsoka.NewEditionByE.Hultzsch/HultzschCorpusAsokaSearchable#page/n44/mode/1up }}</ref> meanwhile, the l/r distinctions are apparent in the word for "king" (Girnar ''rāña'' but Jaugada ''lājinā'').

==References==
{{Reflist|2}}

{{Old and Middle Indo-Aryan}}

[[Category:Indo-Aryan languages]]
[[Category:Languages of India]]
[[Category:Extinct languages of Asia]]
[[Category:Prakrit languages]]
[[Category:Ashoka]]

Ashokan Prakrit - Revision history

WikiDwarf at 16:47, 26 August 2022