Three Prakrit Grammars

For Indian grammarians as well as for Western scholars Prakrit represents an importanlage in the development of Indo-Aryan. The Prakrit languages are since long the subject of graamitiunt descriptions composed for various purposes, which range from religious motivation to the more secon Prakrit in plays and poetry. The book "Three Prakrit Grammars" highlights the works of grammarians, Märkandeya, Puruşottamadeva and Ramasarman. Each of them composed in Sanskrit between the 12th and 17th century. The authors belonged all to the Eastern School Pa grammar. The mutual influence between the grammarians is clear from the order of their grammatical rules and from their choice to incorporate many illustrative examples from existing plays.

The book offers an introduction on grammatical studies in the Indian history and a description of the various Prakrits. A short biography of the authors in question completes the introduction. The chapters of the Prakrit languages Pracya, Avanti, Mägadhi and Paisacī are translated and analyzed, in order to compare the similarities and differences between the styles and content of the three Prakrit grammars.

After completing her MA in Oriental languages and civilizations (Hindi, Prakrit, Sanskrit) at Ghent University (Belgium) in 2006, and an additional year of linguistic research at the Central Institute of English and Foreign Languages (CIEFL), Hyderabad. Saartje Verbeke currently works as a doctoral researcher (Research Foundation Flanders-FWO) at Ghent University, Belgium. For her P D research, she investigates the ergative construction in Indo-Aryan languages on a syntax/semantics inter . She focuses in particular on the languages Marwari, Asamiya, Kashmiri and Nepali. Besides Modern Io-Aryan languages, she also has a keen interest in the grammatical structure of Middle Indo-Aryan languages, as for instance the Prakrit varieties, and early stages and literary works of the Early New Indo-Aryan period.

**Contents and Sample Pages**