Editing Prakrit (section)

==Etymology==
There are two major views concerning the way in which Sanskrit and Prakrit are related. One holds that the original matter in question is the speech of the common people, unadorned by grammar, and that prākṛta thus refers to vernacular usage in contrast to the elevated register of Sanskrit usage. This is one of several views noted, for example, by Nami Sadhu (11th century ce) in his commentary on Rudraṭa’s Kāvyālaṅkāra (“Ornaments of Poetry”), a 9th-century treatise on poetics. It is also the usual explanation accepted by Western linguists. In contrast, the view most commonly held by Prakrit grammarians holds that the Prakrit languages are vernaculars that arose from Sanskrit:<ref>{{Cite web |title=Prakrit languages {{!}} Origins, Characteristics & Examples {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Prakrit-languages |access-date=2024-12-31 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref>

# According to the ''Prākrṭa Prakāśa'', an ancient Prakrit grammar, “Saṃskṛtam is the prakṛti (source) and the language that originates in, or comes from, that prakṛti, is therefore called prākṛtam.”
# [[Hemachandra]] (a grammarian of the 11th century who lived in [[Gujarat]]) in his grammar of Sanskrit and Prākrit named ''Siddha-Hema-Śabdanuśāsana'', defines prākṛta’s origin to be sanskṛt: “prakṛtiḥ saṃskṛtam, tatrabhavaṃ tata āgataṃ vā prākṛtaṃ”<ref>{{Cite web|title=Sanskrit Manuscripts : Śabdānuśāsanalaghuvṛttyavacūri|url=https://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/MS-ADD-02318|access-date=2019-07-20|website=Cambridge Digital Library}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite book|last=Pischel|first=Richard|title=Comparative Grammar of the Prakrit Languages|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass|year=1965|location=India|pages=1}}</ref>[Sanskrit is the prakṛti (source) and Prākṛta is so called because it either ‘originates in’ or ‘comes from’ Sanskrit.]
# Another prākṛta grammarian, [[Markandeya|Mārkaṇḍeya]], writes in his grammar ''Prākṛtasarvasva:'' “prakṛtiḥ saṃskṛtaṃ, tatrabhavaṃ prākṛtam ucyate” [Sanskrit is called the prakṛti (origin), and from there prākṛtam originates].<ref name=":1" />
# Dhanika, in his ‘Daśarūpakāvaloka’ commentary on Daśarūpaka (one of the most important treatises explaining the 10 types of Indian Drama), says: “prakṛter āgataṃ prākṛtam, prakṛtiḥ saṃskṛtam” [from the prakṛti (source) comes Prākṛtam, and that prakṛti is Sanskrit]<ref name=":1" />
# Siṃhadevagaṇin while commenting on Vāgbhaṭālaṅkāra writes: “prakṛteḥ saṃskrtād āgataṃ prākṛtam” [from Sanskrit (which is the source, i.e. prakṛti) comes Prākṛta]<ref name=":1" />
# The Prākṛtacandrikā (a grammar of Prākṛta) says: “prakṛtiḥ saṃskṛtaṃ, tatrabhavatvāt prākṛtaṃ smṛtam” [Sanskrit is the prakṛti, it is remembered that prākṛtam originates from that (prakṛti)]<ref name=":1" />
# The Prākṛtaśabdapradīpikā of Narasiṃha says: “prakṛteḥ saṃskṛtāyāstu vikṛtiḥ prākṛtī matā” [Alterations/changes (vikṛti) of the original Sanskrit is known as Prākṛta]<ref name=":1" />
# The Ṣaḍbhāṣācandrikā of Lakṣmīdhara says the same thing as the above: “prakṛteḥ saṃskṛtāyāstu vikṛtiḥ prākṛtī matā” [Alterations/changes (vikṛti) of the original Sanskrit is known as Prākṛta]<ref name=":1" />
# Vāsudeva, in his Prākṛtasaṃjīvanī commentary on Rājaśekhara’s Karpūramañjarī, says: “prākṛtasya tu sarvameva saṃskṛtaṃ yoniḥ” [Sanskrit is the mother of all Prākṛta]<ref name=":1" />
# Nārāyaṇa, in his Rasika-sarvasva commentary on the Gītāgovindam of Jayadeva, says: “saṃskṛtāt prākṛtam iṣṭaṃ tato ’pabhraṃśabhāṣaṇam” [From Sanskrit is derived proper prākṛt, and from that is derived the corrupt-speech, i.e. apabhraṃśa]<ref name=":1" />
# Śaṅkara, in his Rasacandrikā commentary on the Abhijñānaśākuntala (play by Kālidāsa), says something slightly different from the above: “saṃskṛtāt prākṛtam śreṣṭhaṃ tato ’pabhraṃśabhāṣaṇam” [From Sanskrit is derived best prākṛta, and from that is derived the corrupt-speech, i.e. apabhraṃśa]<ref name=":1" />

The dictionary of [[Monier Monier-Williams]] (1819–1899), and other modern authors, however, interpret the word in the opposite sense: “The most frequent meanings of the term ''{{IAST|prakṛta}}'', from which the word ‘prakrit’ is derived, are ‘original, natural, normal’ and the term is derived from ''{{IAST|prakṛti}}'', ‘making or placing before or at first, the original or natural form or condition of anything, original or primary substance.’”