Old Gujarati

Updeshmala, Manuscript in Jain Prakrit and Old Gujarati on paper, Rupnagar, Rajastan, India, 1666, 76 ff. (−16 ff.), 11x25 cm, single column, (10x22 cm), 4 lines main text, 2–4 lines of interlinear commentary for each text line, in Jain Devanagari book script, filled with red and yellow, 17 paintings in colours mostly of Svetambara Jain monks, influenced by the Mughal style.

The text is a Prakrit didactic work of how best to live a proper Jain life, aimed probably at the laity. The Svetambara pontiff, Sri Dharmadasagaî, lived in the mid-6th century. The Old Gujarati prose commentary was written in 1487. The colophon gives the place, date, and the name of the religious leader, Sri Namdalalaji, on whose order the work was transcribed.

Old Gujarātī (જૂની ગુજરાતી; also called ગુજરાતી ભાખા Gujarātī bhākhā or ગુર્જર અપભ્રંશ Gurjar apabhraṃśa, 1100–1500 CE), the ancestor of modern Gujarati and Rajasthani,^[2] was spoken by the Gurjars, who were residing and ruling in Gujarat, Punjab, Rajputana and central India.^[3][4] The language was used as literary language as early as the 12th century. Texts of this era display characteristic Gujarati features such as direct/oblique noun forms, postpositions, and auxiliary verbs.^[5] It had three genders, as Gujarati does today, and by around the time of 1300 CE, a fairly standardized form of this language emerged. While generally known as Old Gujarati, some scholars prefer the name of Old Western Rajasthani, based on the argument that Gujarati and Rajasthani were not yet distinct. Factoring into this preference was the belief that modern Rajasthani sporadically expressed a neuter gender, based on the incorrect conclusion that the [ũ] that came to be pronounced in some areas for masculine [o] after a nasal consonant was analogous to Gujarati's neuter [ũ].^[6] A formal grammar of the precursor to this language, Prakrita Vyakarana, was written by Jain monk and eminent scholar Hemachandra Suri in the reign of Chaulukya king Jayasimha Siddharaja of Anhilwara (Patan).^[7]

Literature

Major works were written in various genres, for the most part in verse form, such as:^[8]

• rāsa, predominantly didactic narrative, of which the earliest known is Śālibhadrasūri's Bhārateśvarabāhubali (1185).
• phāgu, in which springtime is celebrated, of which the earliest is Jinapadmasūri's Sirithūlibadda (c. 1335). The most famous is the Vasantavilāsa, of unknown scholarship, which is undeterminedly dated to somewhere in 14th or 15th century, or possibly earlier.
• bārmāsī, describing natural beauty during each of the twelve months.
• ākhyāna, in which sections are each in a single metre.

Narsinh Mehta (c. 1414–1480) is traditionally viewed as the father of modern Gujarati poetry. By virtue of its early age and good editing, an important prose work is the 14th-century commentary of Taruṇaprabha, the Ṣaḍāvaśyakabālabodhavr̥tti.^[8]

Phonology

The retroflex lateral flap (ḷ) is generally absent, which is however rather common in Modern Gujarati. This may indicate that it was a later re-introduction, perhaps under the influence of Marathi with the Maratha confederacy.

References

Further reading

• Bender, E. (1992) The Salibhadra-Dhanna-Carita: A Work in Old Gujarati Critically Edited and Translated, with a Grammatical Analysis and Glossary. American Oriental Society: New Haven, Conn. ISBN 0-940490-73-0
• Brown, W.N. (1938), "An Old Gujarati Text of the Kalaka Story", Journal of the American Oriental Society, 58 (1): 5–29, doi:10.2307/594192 .
• Dave, T.N. (1935) A Study of the Gujarati Language in the XVth Century. The Royal Asiatic Society. ISBN 0-947593-30-6
• Tessitori, L.P. (1914–1916) "Notes on the Grammar of Old Western Rajasthani." Indian Antiquary. 43–45.