https://indianpedia.org/index.php?action=history&feed=atom&title=Magadhi_PrakritMagadhi Prakrit - Revision history2026-07-31T11:18:23ZRevision history for this page on the wikiMediaWiki 1.45.4https://indianpedia.org/index.php?title=Magadhi_Prakrit&diff=451064&oldid=prevAamir2580 at 18:25, 1 March 20262026-03-01T18:25:08Z<p></p>
<p><b>New page</b></p><div>{{Short description|Written language of Ancient India}}<br />
{{Distinguish|Ardhamagadhi Prakrit}}<br />
{{EngvarB|date=August 2020}}<br />
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2020}}<br />
{{Infobox language<br />
| name = Magadhi Prakrit<br />
| altname = Māgadhī<br />
| nativename = [[Brahmi]]: 𑀫𑀸𑀕𑀥𑀻<br />
| region = [[India]]<br />
| extinct = developed into the [[Eastern Indo-Aryan languages]]<ref name=Claus2003 /><br />
| familycolor = Indo-European<br />
| fam2 = [[Indo-Iranian languages|Indo-Iranian]]<br />
| fam3 = [[Indo-Aryan languages|Indo-Aryan]]<br />
| glotto = none<br />
}}<br />
'''Magadhi Prakrit''' (''Māgadhī'') is of one of the three [[Dramatic Prakrit]]s, the written languages of [[History of India#Classical period (c. 200 BCE – 650_CE)|Classical]]-[[Medieval India]] following the decline of [[Pali]]. It was a vernacular [[Middle Indo-Aryan language]], replacing earlier [[Vedic Sanskrit]].<ref>{{Citation| contribution=The historical context and development of Indo-Aryan | editor1-last=Cardona | editor1-first=George | editor2-last=Jain | editor2-first=Dhanesh | title=The Indo-Aryan Languages | publisher=Routledge | place=London | year=2003 | series=Routledge language family series | isbn=0-7007-1130-9 | pages=46–66}}</ref><br />
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==History and overview==<br />
Magadhi Prakrit was spoken in the eastern [[Indian subcontinent]], in a region spanning what is now [[East India|eastern India]], [[Bangladesh]] and [[Nepal]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=Prasad |first1=Balaram |last2=Mukherjee |first2=Sibasis |title=Magadhi / Magahi |url=http://lsi.gov.in/MTSI_app/DraftReport/Bihar/11.%20MAGADHI%20MAGAHI.pdf |website=lsi.gov.in |access-date=24 February 2022}}</ref><ref name="Chatterjee'>{{cite book |last1=Chatterji |first1=Suniti Kumar |title=The Origin and Development of the Bengali Language |date=1926 |page=vi |url=https://archive.org/details/OriginDevelopmentOfBengali/CHATTERJI_Origin-Development-of-Bengali_Vol-1/page/n3/mode/2up?q=magadhi+prakrit+bengal |language=English}}</ref> Associated with the ancient [[Magadha (Mahajanapada)|Magadha]], it was spoken in present-day [[Assam]], [[Bengal]], [[Bihar]], [[Jharkhand]], [[Odisha]] and [[Eastern Uttar Pradesh|eastern]] [[Uttar Pradesh]] under various ''apabhramsha'' dialects,<ref>{{cite book |last1=Grierson |first1=Sir George Abraham |title=The Languages of India: Being a Reprint of the Chapter on Languages |date=1903 |publisher=Office of the Superintendent of Government Printing, India |pages=57–58 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=L65DAAAAYAAJ&q=magadhi+prakrit+bengal |language=en}}</ref> and used in some Prakrit dramas to represent vernacular dialogue. It is believed to be the language spoken by the important religious figures [[Gautama Buddha]] and [[Mahavira]]<ref>{{Cite book |last=Beames |first=John |url=http://ebooks.cambridge.org/ref/id/CBO9781139208871 |title=Comparative Grammar of the Modern Aryan Languages of India: To Wit, Hindi, Panjabi, Sindhi, Gujarati, Marathi, Oriya, and Bangali |orig-year=1879 |year=2012 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-139-20887-1 |location=Cambridge |doi=10.1017/cbo9781139208871.003}}</ref> and was also the language of the courts of the [[Magadha (Mahajanapada)|Magadha]] [[Mahajanapadas|Mahajanapada]] and the [[Maurya Empire]]; some of the [[Edicts of Ashoka]] were composed in it.<ref name="Chatterjee'/><ref>{{cite book|last=Bashan |first=A.L. |title=The Wonder that was India |publisher=Picador |year=2004 |page=394}}</ref><br />
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Magadhi Prakrit later evolved into the [[Eastern Indo-Aryan languages]], categorised into four groups:<ref name=Claus2003>{{cite book |last1=Claus |first1=Peter J. |last2=Diamond |first2=Sarah |last3=Mills |first3=Margaret Ann |title=South Asian folklore: an encyclopedia : Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India |publisher=Routledge |year=2003 |page=203}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Cardona |first1=George |last2=Jain |first2=Dhanesh K. |title=The Indo-Aryan Languages |date=26 July 2007 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-135-79711-9 |page=445 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OtCPAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA445}}</ref><br />
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*[[Bengali–Assamese languages|Bengali–Assamese]]<br />
*[[Bihari languages|Bihari]]<br />
*[[Halbic languages|Halbic]]<br />
*[[Odia language|Odia]]<br />
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==References==<br />
{{Reflist}}<br />
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==External links==<br />
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* [https://web.archive.org/web/20150214085724/http://jainworld.com/literature/jain_agams.asp Jain Agams] (archived)<br />
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20140810115344/http://jainfriends.tripod.com/books/jibljainismliterature.html Jainism in Buddhist Literature] (archived)<br />
* {{cite thesis|type=PhD|first=Mathew W S|last=Toulmin|title=Reconstructing linguistic history in a dialect continuum: The Kamta, Rajbanshi, and Northern Deshi Bangla subgroup of Indo-Aryan|url=https://digitalcollections.anu.edu.au/handle/1885/45743|publisher=The Australian National University|year=2006}}<br />
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{{Old and Middle Indo-Aryan}}<br />
{{Maithili language}}<br />
{{Authority control}}<br />
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[[Category:Indo-Aryan languages]]<br />
[[Category:Prakrit languages]]<br />
[[Category:Magahi language]]<br />
[[Category:History of the Bengali language]]</div>Aamir2580