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Magadhi Prakrit (Māgadhī) is of one of the three Dramatic Prakrits, the written languages of Ancient India following the decline of Pali. It was a vernacular Middle Indo-Aryan language, replacing earlier Vedic Sanskrit.

History and overview

Magadhi Prakrit was spoken in the eastern Indian subcontinent, in a region spanning what is now eastern India, Bangladesh and Nepal. Associated with the ancient Magadha, it was spoken in present-day Assam, Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha and eastern Uttar Pradesh under various apabhramsha dialects, and used in some dramas to represent vernacular dialogue in Prakrit dramas. It is believed to be the language spoken by the important religious figures Gautama Buddha and Mahavira and was also the language of the courts of the Magadha mahajanapada and the Maurya Empire; some of the Edicts of Ashoka were composed in it.

Magadhi Prakrit later evolved into the Eastern Indo-Aryan languages, categorised into four groups:

• Bengali–Assamese
• Bihari
• Halbic
• Odia

References

1. ^ Claus, Peter J.; Diamond, Sarah; Mills, Margaret Ann (2003). South Asian folklore: an encyclopedia : Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India. Routledge. p. 203.
2. Cardona, George; Jain, Dhanesh, eds. (2003), "The historical context and development of Indo-Aryan", The Indo-Aryan Languages, Routledge language family series, London: Routledge, pp. 46–66, ISBN 0-7007-1130-9
3. Prasad, Balaram; Mukherjee, Sibasis. "Magadhi / Magahi" (PDF). lsi.gov.in. Retrieved 24 February 2022.
4. ^ Chatterji, Suniti Kumar (1926). The Origin and Development of the Bengali Language. p. vi.
5. Grierson, Sir George Abraham (1903). The Languages of India: Being a Reprint of the Chapter on Languages. Office of the Superintendent of Government Printing, India. pp. 57–58.
6. Beames, John (2012) . Comparative Grammar of the Modern Aryan Languages of India: To Wit, Hindi, Panjabi, Sindhi, Gujarati, Marathi, Oriya, and Bangali. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/cbo9781139208871.003. ISBN 978-1-139-20887-1.
7. Bashan, A.L. (2004). The Wonder that was India. Picador. p. 394.
8. Cardona, George; Jain, Dhanesh K. (26 July 2007). The Indo-Aryan Languages. Routledge. p. 445. ISBN 978-1-135-79711-9.

External links

• Jain Agams (archived)
• Jainism in Buddhist Literature (archived)
• Toulmin, Mathew W S (2006). Reconstructing linguistic history in a dialect continuum: The Kamta, Rajbanshi, and Northern Deshi Bangla subgroup of Indo-Aryan (PhD). The Australian National University.

• Indo-Aryan languages
• Prakrit languages
• Magahi language
• History of the Bengali language