Linguistic history of India: Difference between revisions

The oldest language surviving Sanskrit grammar is [[Pāṇini|Panini]]'s [[Aṣṭādhyāyī]] ("Eight-Chapter Grammar") dating to c. the 5th century BCE. It is essentially a prescriptive [[grammar]], i.e., an [[authority]] that defines (rather than describes) correct Sanskrit, although it contains descriptive parts, mostly to account for Vedic forms that had already passed out of use in Pāṇini's time.

The [[Prakrit]]s (which includes [[Pāli|Pali]]) were gradually transformed into [[Apabhramsha|Apabhraṃśas (अपभ्रंश)]] which were used until about the 13th century CE. The term '''apabhraṃśa,''' meaning "fallen away", refers to the dialects of [[Northern India]] before the rise of modern Northern Indian languages, and implies a corrupt or non-standard language. A significant amount of apabhraṃśa literature has been found in [[Jain]] libraries. While [[Amir Khusro]] and [[Kabir]] were writing in a language quite similar to modern [[Hindi]]-[[Urdu]], many poets, especially in regions that were still ruled by Hindu kings, continued to write in Apabhraṃśa. Apabhraṃśa authors include [[Sarahapad]] of [[Kamarupa]], [[Devasena]] of [[Dhar]] (9th century CE), [[Pushpadanta]] of [[Manikhet]] (9th century CE), [[Dhanapal]], [[Muni Ramsimha]], [[Hemachandra]] of [[Patan, Gujarat|Patan]], [[Raighu]] of [[Gwalior]] (15th century CE). An early example of the use of Apabhraṃśa is in [[Vikramōrvaśīyam]] of [[Kalidasa]], when [[Pururava]] asks the animals in the [[forest]] about his beloved who had disappeared.

Hindustani is right now the most spoken language in the Indian subcontinent and the fourth most spoken language in the world. The development of Hindustani revolves around the various Hindi dialects originating mainly from [[Sauraseni]] [[Apabhramsha]]. A Jain text Shravakachar written in 933AD is considered the first Hindi book.<ref name="West2009">{{cite book |author=Barbara A. West |title=Encyclopedia of the Peoples of Asia and Oceania |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pCiNqFj3MQsC&pg=PA282 |date=1 January 2009 |publisher=Infobase Publishing |isbn=978-1-4381-1913-7 |pages=282–}}</ref> Modern Hindi is based on the prestigious Khariboli dialect which started to take Persian and Arabic words too with the establishment of the Delhi Sultanate; however, the Arabic-Persian influence was profound mainly on Urdu and to a lesser extent on Hindi. Khadiboli also started to spread across North India as a vernacular form previously commonly known as [[Hindustani language|Hindustani]]. Amir Khusrow wrote poems in Khariboli and Brajbhasha and referred that language as Hindavi. During the Bhakti era, many poems were composed in Khariboli, Brajbhasa, and Awadhi. One such classic is Ramcharitmanas, written by Tulsidas in Awadhi. In 1623 Jatmal wrote a book in Khariboli with the name 'Gora Badal ki Katha'.

Marathi is one of several languages that further descend from [[Maharashtri Prakrit]]. Further change led to the [[Apabhraṃśa]] languages like Old Marathi, however, this is challenged by Blochlinguist (1970)[[Jules Bloch]], who statesstated that [[Apabhraṃśa]] was formed after Marathi had already separated from the Middle Indian dialect.{{sfn|Bloch|1970|p=32}} The earliest example of Maharashtri as a separate language dates to approximately 3rd century BCE: a stone inscription found in a cave at [[Naneghat]], [[Junnar]] in [[Pune district]] had been written in Maharashtri using [[Brahmi script]]. A committee appointed by the Maharashtra State Government to get the [[Languages of India#Classical languages of India|Classical]] status for Marathi has claimed that Marathi existed at least 2300 years ago alongside [[Sanskrit]] as a [[sister language]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/clamour-grows-for-marathi-to-be-given-classical-language-status/articleshow/63776578.cms|title=Clamour grows for Marathi to be given classical language status|author=Clara Lewis|website=[[The Times of India]]|date=16 April 2018|access-date=7 May 2018}}</ref> Marathi, a derivative of Maharashtri, is probably first attested in a 739 CE [[Indian copper plate inscriptions|copper-plate inscription]] found in [[Satara district|Satara]] After 1187 CE, the use of Marathi grew substantially in the inscriptions of the [[Seuna (Yadava) dynasty|Seuna (Yadava)]] kings, who earlier used Kannada and Sanskrit in their inscriptions.{{sfn|Novetzke|2016|pp=53-54}} Marathi became the dominant language of epigraphy during the last half century of the dynasty's rule (14th century), and may have been a result of the Yadava attempts to connect with their Marathi-speaking subjects and to distinguish themselves from the Kannada-speaking [[Hoysala]]s.{{sfn|Novetzke|2016|p=53}}<ref name="Talbot2001">{{cite book|author=Cynthia Talbot|title=Precolonial India in Practice: Society, Region, and Identity in Medieval Andhra|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pfAKljlCJq0C&pg=PR9|date=20 September 2001|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-803123-9|pages=211–213}}</ref>

{{tree chart| | |PROTOS| |PROTOC|PROTOS=Proto-South-Dravidian|PROTOC={{nobreaknowrap|Proto-South-Central}} Dravidian}}

According to the "Report on the Archaeological Studies in Manipur, Bulletin No-1", a [[Meitei language]] copper plate inscription was found to be dated back to the 8th century CE. It is one of the preserved earliest known written records of Meitei language.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2021-09-16 |script-title=bn:মণিপুরি ভাষা ও লিপি – এল বীরমঙ্গল সিংহ {{!}} আপনপাঠ ওয়েবজিন |url=https://aponpath.com/manipuri-bhasa-o-lipi-l-birmangal-singh/ |access-date=2022-08-20 |language=bn}}</ref>

[[File:Brahmic script travel from India.png|thumb|right|350px|Spread of scripts in [[Asia]]. ]]

This script is ancestral to the [[Brahmic family]] of scripts, most of which are used in [[South Asia|South]] and [[Southeast Asia]], but which have wider historical use elsewhere, even as far as [[Mongolia]] and perhaps even [[Korea]], according to one theory of the origin of [[Hangul]]. The [[Brahmi numeral|Brāhmī numeral]] system is the ancestor of the [[Hindu-ArabicHindu–Arabic numeral system|Hindu–Arabic numerals]], which are now used worldwide.

* {{cite book |last=Bloch |first=J |author-link=Jules Bloch |translator-last=Chanana |translator-first=Dev Raj |title=Formation of the Marathi Language |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1noaklDiSOEC&pg=PA32 |year=1970 |orig-year=First published 1914 |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass |isbn=978-81-208-2322-8}}