Some observations on Indian Classical Literature
Around 6th century BC, people of India were speaking and writing languages that were much simpler than classical Sanskrit. These vernacular forms, of which there were several, are called the Prakrits. The word Prakrit stands for a group of languages and does not refer to any individual language. Marathi (with all varieties), Bengali, Orisa, Assamese, Bihari, Hindi (with all varieties), Gujrati, Rajastani, Marwadi, Punjabi, Sindhi, Kashmiri are all the varieties of new or modern Indo-Aryan languages. All these regional languages are originated from there respective varieties of Prakrits (technically called Apabhramsha) and not directly from Sanskrit. ‘Prakriti’ is ‘nature’. Prakrits are natural and spontaneous expressions of mass devoid of strict rules of grammar etc. Prakrit was largely used by the common people of the society. All the famous classical Sanskrit dramas of Kalidas, Bhasa, Bhavabhuti etc. contain almost 50% dialogues in Prakrit. The comedian, lay-man, ascetic, sage,