Paishachi - Revision history

Polarishealthcare: further adjusted details for clarity and cleaned formatting

2026-03-05T09:01:13Z

further adjusted details for clarity and cleaned formatting

← Older revision		Revision as of 14:31, 5 March 2026
Line 1:		Line 1:
			{{Short description\|Extinct language of ancient India}}
	{{Infobox language		{{Infobox language
	\| name = Paiśācī Prakrit		\| name = Paiśācī Prakrit
Line 9:		Line 10:
	\| fam2 = [[Indo-Iranian languages\|Indo-Iranian]]		\| fam2 = [[Indo-Iranian languages\|Indo-Iranian]]
	\| fam3 = [[Indo-Aryan languages\|Indo-Aryan]]		\| fam3 = [[Indo-Aryan languages\|Indo-Aryan]]
			\| fam4 = (unclassified)
	\| iso3 = none		\| iso3 = none
	\| linglist = qpp		\| linglist = qpp
Line 15:		Line 17:
	}}		}}

	'''Paishachi''' ({{IAST3\|Paiśācī}}) is a largely [[Attested language\|unattested literary language]] of the [[middle kingdoms of India]] mentioned in [[Prakrit]]<ref name=":0">{{Cite book\|url=~~http~~://archive.org/details/PrakritaPrakashaOfVararuchiDr.P.L.Vaidya_201806\|title=Prakrita Prakasha Of Vararuchi Dr. P. L. Vaidya\|last=Dr. Narinder Sharma\|language=Sanskrit}}</ref> and [[Sanskrit]] grammars of antiquity. It is generally grouped with the Prakrits, with which it shares some linguistic similarities, but is still not considered a spoken Prakrit by the grammarians because it was purely a literary language, ~~but also due to~~ its archaicism.<ref name="menadoc.bibliothek.uni-halle.de">{{cite web\|url=http://menadoc.bibliothek.uni-halle.de/dmg/periodical/pageview/56372\|title=181 [95] - The home of the Paisaci - The home of the Paisaci - Page - Zeitschriften der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft - MENAdoc – Digital Collections\|website=menadoc.bibliothek.uni-halle.de}}</ref>		'''Paishachi''' or '''Paisaci''' ({{IAST3\|Paiśācī}}) is a largely [[Attested language\|unattested literary language]] of the [[middle kingdoms of India]] mentioned in [[Prakrit]]<ref name=":0">{{Cite book\|url=https://archive.org/details/PrakritaPrakashaOfVararuchiDr.P.L.Vaidya_201806\|title=Prakrita Prakasha Of Vararuchi Dr. P. L. Vaidya\|last=Dr. Narinder Sharma\|language=Sanskrit}}</ref> and [[Sanskrit]] grammars of antiquity. It is generally grouped with the Prakrits, with which it shares some linguistic similarities, but is still not considered a spoken Prakrit by the grammarians because it was purely a literary language, and because of its archaicism.<ref name="menadoc.bibliothek.uni-halle.de">{{cite web\|url=http://menadoc.bibliothek.uni-halle.de/dmg/periodical/pageview/56372\|title=181 [95] - The home of the Paisaci - The home of the Paisaci - Page - Zeitschriften der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft - MENAdoc – Digital Collections\|website=menadoc.bibliothek.uni-halle.de}}</ref>

	==Identity==		==Identity==
	The [[etymology]] of the name suggests that it is spoken by [[pishacha\|piśāca]]s, "[[~~ghoul~~]]s". In works of Sanskrit [[poetics]] such as [[Daṇḍin]]'s ''[[Kavyadarsha]]'', it is also known by the name of {{IAST\|Bhūtabhāṣa}}, an epithet which can be interpreted either as a "dead language" (i.e. with no surviving speakers), or as "a language spoken by the dead" (i.e. ghouls or ghosts)~~, the former interpretation being more realistic and the latter being the more fanciful~~. Evidence which lends support to the former interpretation is that literature in Paiśācī is fragmentary and extremely rare but may have been once common.		The [[etymology]] of the name suggests that it is spoken by [[pishacha\|piśāca]]s, ([[Demon\|demons]]). In works of Sanskrit [[poetics]] such as [[Daṇḍin]]'s ''[[Kavyadarsha]]'', it is also known by the name of {{IAST\|Bhūtabhāṣa}}, an epithet which can be interpreted either as a "dead language" (i.e. with no surviving speakers), or as "a language spoken by the dead" (i.e. ghouls or ghosts). Evidence which lends support to the former interpretation is that literature in Paiśācī is fragmentary and extremely rare but may have been once common.

	The Siddha-Hema-Śabdanuśāśana a grammar treatise written by Rev. Acharya Hemachandraacharya includes six languages: Sanskrit, the "standard" Prakrit (virtually Maharashtri Prakrit), Shauraseni, Magahi, Paiśācī, the otherwise-unattested Cūlikāpaiśācī and Apabhraṃśa (virtually Gurjar Apabhraṃśa, prevalent in the area of Gujarat and Rajasthan at that time and the precursor of Gujarati language).		The Siddha-Hema-Śabdanuśāśana, a grammar treatise written by Rev. Acharya Hemachandraacharya, includes six languages: Sanskrit, the "standard" Prakrit (virtually Maharashtri Prakrit), Shauraseni, Magahi, Paiśācī, the otherwise-unattested Cūlikāpaiśācī and Apabhraṃśa (virtually Gurjar Apabhraṃśa, prevalent in the area of Gujarat and Rajasthan at that time and the precursor of Gujarati language).

	The 13th-century Tibetan historian [[Buton Rinchen Drub]] wrote that the [[early Buddhist schools]] were separated by choice of [[sacred language]]: the [[Mahāsāṃghika]]s used [[Prakrit\|Prākrit]], the [[Sarvastivada\|Sarvāstivādins]] used Sanskrit, the [[Sthavira nikāya\|Sthaviravādins]] used Paiśācī, and the Saṃmitīya used [[Apabhraṃśa]].<ref>Yao, Zhihua. ''The Buddhist Theory of Self-Cognition.'' 2012. p. 9</ref>		Some scholars have considered Paiśācī to have been the native language of the [[Punjab]] region, particularly in the city of [[Taxila]] where the Kaikeyī dialect was spoken.<ref>{{Cite book \|last=D.G. Sircar \|url=http://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.405679 \|title=A Grammar Of The Prakrit Language \|date=1943 \|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass \|pages=95}}</ref> The non-aspiration often in the records of those regions is apparently due to the foreign influence.<ref>{{Cite book \|last=D.G. Sircar \|url=http://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.405679 \|title=A Grammar Of The Prakrit Language \|date=1943 \|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass \|pages=94}}</ref>

			Today, the [[Punjabi language\|Punjabi]] and the [[Dardic languages]] have been proposed as descendants of Paiśācī.<ref>{{Cite journal \|last=Bailey \|first=T. Grahame \|date=1921-02 \|title=Linguistic Survey of India. Vol. VIII, Part II : Specimens of the Dardic or Piśacha Languages. By SirGeorge Grierson, K.C.I.E., D.Litt. pp. vii, 567. \|url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/bulletin-of-the-school-of-oriental-and-african-studies/article/abs/linguistic-survey-of-india-vol-viii-part-ii-specimens-of-the-dardic-or-pisacha-languages-by-sirgeorge-grierson-kcie-dlitt-pp-vii-567/5AD94A73707E39C429AFC38477DDA80D \|journal=Bulletin of SOAS \|language=en \|volume=2 \|issue=1 \|pages=137–139 \|doi=10.1017/S0041977X00101909 \|issn=1474-0699}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal \|last=Singh \|first=Sikander \|date=April 2019 \|title=The Origin Theories of Punjabi Language: A Context of Historiography of Punjabi Language \|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/353680383_The_Origin_Theories_of_Punjabi_Language_Sikander_Singh \|journal=International Journal of Sikh Studies}}</ref>

			The 13th-century Tibetan historian [[Buton Rinchen Drub]] wrote that the [[early Buddhist schools]] were separated by choice of [[sacred language]]: the [[Mahāsāṃghika]]s used [[Prakrit\|Prākrit]], the [[Sarvastivada\|Sarvāstivādins]] used [[Sanskrit]], the [[Sthavira nikāya\|Sthaviravādins]] used Paiśācī, and the [[Saṃmitīya]] used [[Apabhraṃśa]].<ref>Yao, Zhihua. ''The Buddhist Theory of Self-Cognition.'' 2012. p. 9</ref>

	==Literature==		==Literature==
	The most widely known work, although lost, attributed to be in Paiśācī is the ''[[Brihatkatha\|Bṛhatkathā]]'' (literally "Big Story"), a large collection of stories in verse, attributed to [[Gunadhya]]. It is known of through its adaptations in [[Sanskrit]] as the ''[[Kathasaritsagara]]'' in the 11th century by Somadeva, and also from the ''Bṛhatkathā'' by [[Kshemendra]]. Both Somadeva and Kshemendra were from [[Kashmir]] where the ''Bṛhatkathā'' was said to be popular.{{citation needed\|date=January 2020}}		The most widely known work, although lost, attributed to be in Paiśācī is the ''[[Brihatkatha\|Bṛhatkathā]]'' (literally "Big Story"), a large collection of stories in verse, attributed to [[Gunadhya]]. It is known through its adaptations in [[Sanskrit]] as the ''[[Kathasaritsagara]]'' in the 11th century by [[Somadeva]], and also from the ''Bṛhatkathā'' by [[Kshemendra]]. Both Somadeva and Kshemendra were from [[Kashmir]] where the ''Bṛhatkathā'' was said to be popular.{{citation needed\|date=January 2020}}

	Talking of its existence, Pollock writes:<ref name=pollock/>{{rp\|92}}		Talking of its existence, Pollock writes:<ref name=pollock/>{{rp\|92}}
	{{quote\|Linguists have identified this as everything from an [[Middle Indo-Aryan languages\|eastern Middle-Indic dialect]] close to Pali to a [[Munda languages\|Munda language]] of inhabitants of the [[Vindhya Range\|Vindhya Mountains]] […] In fact there is little reason to bother to choose […] Paishachi is the joker in the deck of South Asian discourses on language, having an exclusively legendary status, since it is associated with a single lost text, the ''[[Brihatkatha\|Bṛhatkathā]]'' (The Great Tale), which seems to have existed less as an actual text than as a conceptual category signifying the ''Volksgeist'', the Great Repository of Folk Narratives […] In any event, aside from this legendary work (which "survives" only in one [[Maharashtri Prakrit\|Jain Maharashtri]] and several Sanskrit embodiments), Paishachi is irrelevant to the actual literary history of South Asia.}}There is one chapter dedicated to Paisachi Prakrit in Prakrita Prakasha, a grammar book of Prakrit languages attributed to [[Vararuchi]].<ref ~~name~~=":0" />		{{quote\|Linguists have identified this as everything from an [[Middle Indo-Aryan languages\|eastern Middle-Indic dialect]] close to Pali to a [[Munda languages\|Munda language]] of inhabitants of the [[Vindhya Range\|Vindhya Mountains]] […] In fact there is little reason to bother to choose […] Paishachi is the joker in the deck of South Asian discourses on language, having an exclusively legendary status, since it is associated with a single lost text, the ''[[Brihatkatha\|Bṛhatkathā]]'' (The Great Tale), which seems to have existed less as an actual text than as a conceptual category signifying the ''Volksgeist'', the Great Repository of Folk Narratives […] In any event, aside from this legendary work (which "survives" only in one [[Maharashtri Prakrit\|Jain Maharashtri]] and several Sanskrit embodiments), Paishachi is irrelevant to the actual literary history of South Asia.}}

			== Grammar ==
			There is one chapter ([[iarchive:prkitaprakasaorp00vara/page/177/mode/1up\|Chapter 10 of Prakrita Prakasha]]) dedicated to Paisachi Prakrit in Prakrita Prakasha, a grammar book of Prakrit languages attributed to [[Vararuchi]].<ref>{{Cite book \|last=Vararuci \|url=http://archive.org/details/prkitaprakasaorp00vara \|title=The Prkita-prakasa; or the Prakrit grammar of Vararuchi. With the commentary Manorama of Bhamaha. The first complete ed. of the original text... With notes, an English translation and index of Prkrit words; to which is prefixed a short introd. to Prkit grammar \|last2=Bhamaha. Manorama \|last3=Cowell \|first3=Edward Byles \|date=1868 \|publisher=London Trübner \|others=Robarts - University of Toronto}}</ref> In this work, it is mentioned that the base of Paisachi is [[Shauraseni Prakrit]]. It further goes on to mention 10 rules of transforming the base text to Paisachi. D.G. Sircar in his Grammar Of The Prakrit Languages details 14 rules in total, with the first two describing its base. The remaining 12 are as follows:<ref>{{Cite book \|last=D.G. Sircar \|url=http://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.405679 \|title=A Grammar Of The Prakrit Language \|date=1943 \|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass \|pages=95-97}}</ref>

	~~In this work~~, it is ~~mentioned that~~ the ~~base of Paisachi~~ is ~~[[Shauraseni language]]~~. ~~It further goes on~~ to ~~mention 10 rules~~ of ~~transforming~~ the ~~base text~~ to ~~Paisachi. These are mostly rules of substitution of letters~~ - ~~[[iarchive:PrakritaPrakashaOfVararuchiDr~~.P.L.~~Vaidya 201806/page/n125\|Chapter 10 of Prakrita Pariksha]]~~		# Soft Consonants become Hard. For example, ''Ga'' becomes '''Ka''', ''Gha'' becomes '''Kha''', ''Ba'' becomes '''Pa''' and ''Da'' becomes '''Ta'''.
			# The common word ''iva'' (meaning "like" or "as") is replaced by '''piva'''.
			# The dental ''na'' is always replaced by the retroflex '''ṇa.'''
			# The conjunct ''ṣṭa'' is replaced by '''saṭa''' (breaking the cluster).
			# Similarly, the conjunct ''sna'' is replaced by '''sana'''.
			# The conjunct ''ry'' is replaced by '''riya'''.
			# The conjunct ''jña'' is replaced by '''ñña.'''
			# Secifically in the word ''Kanyā'' (Girl), the ''nya'' also becomes '''ñña.'''
			# Similar to Rule 3, the soft geminated sound ''jja'' becomes the hard geminated ''cca.''
			# When the word for King (''Rajan'') is in certain grammatical cases (like "by the king" or "of the king"), the stem changes to '''Raci''' (ja changes to ci)
			# The Suffix ''-tva'', used to say "having done X" is replaced with '''-tuna'''.
			# The word for "Heart," ''Hridaya'', is completely substituted with the word '''Hitapakam'''. The text mentions this is a very strange rule and might be a corruption of the text, but the rule stands.

	==See also==		==See also==
Line 55:		Line 75:
	[[Category:Extinct languages of Asia]]		[[Category:Extinct languages of Asia]]
	[[Category:Prakrit languages]]		[[Category:Prakrit languages]]
			[[Category:Panchatantra]]

2405:204:93:C4AA:62C9:6572:DEFD:38FF: /* Identity */

2021-07-14T15:54:10Z

Identity

New page

{{Infobox language
| name = Paiśācī Prakrit
| altname = Paishachi
| nativename = [[Brahmi]]: 𑀧𑁃𑀰𑀸𑀘𑀻
| region = [[North India]]
| era = Perhaps from 5th century BCE; most texts, however are from 3rd–10th centuries CE
| ref = linglist
| familycolor = Indo-European
| fam2 = [[Indo-Iranian languages|Indo-Iranian]]
| fam3 = [[Indo-Aryan languages|Indo-Aryan]]
| iso3 = none
| linglist = qpp
| glotto = pais1238
| glottorefname = Paisaci Prakrit
}}

'''Paishachi''' ({{IAST3|Paiśācī}}) is a largely [[Attested language|unattested literary language]] of the [[middle kingdoms of India]] mentioned in [[Prakrit]]<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|url=http://archive.org/details/PrakritaPrakashaOfVararuchiDr.P.L.Vaidya_201806|title=Prakrita Prakasha Of Vararuchi Dr. P. L. Vaidya|last=Dr. Narinder Sharma|language=Sanskrit}}</ref> and [[Sanskrit]] grammars of antiquity. It is generally grouped with the Prakrits, with which it shares some linguistic similarities, but is still not considered a spoken Prakrit by the grammarians because it was purely a literary language, but also due to its archaicism.<ref name="menadoc.bibliothek.uni-halle.de">{{cite web|url=http://menadoc.bibliothek.uni-halle.de/dmg/periodical/pageview/56372|title=181 [95] - The home of the Paisaci - The home of the Paisaci - Page - Zeitschriften der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft - MENAdoc – Digital Collections|website=menadoc.bibliothek.uni-halle.de}}</ref>

==Identity==
The [[etymology]] of the name suggests that it is spoken by [[pishacha|piśāca]]s, "[[ghoul]]s". In works of Sanskrit [[poetics]] such as [[Daṇḍin]]'s ''[[Kavyadarsha]]'', it is also known by the name of {{IAST|Bhūtabhāṣa}}, an epithet which can be interpreted either as a "dead language" (i.e. with no surviving speakers), or as "a language spoken by the dead" (i.e. ghouls or ghosts), the former interpretation being more realistic and the latter being the more fanciful. Evidence which lends support to the former interpretation is that literature in Paiśācī is fragmentary and extremely rare but may have been once common.

The Siddha-Hema-Śabdanuśāśana a grammar treatise written by Rev. Acharya Hemachandraacharya includes six languages: Sanskrit, the "standard" Prakrit (virtually Maharashtri Prakrit), Shauraseni, Magahi, Paiśācī, the otherwise-unattested Cūlikāpaiśācī and Apabhraṃśa (virtually Gurjar Apabhraṃśa, prevalent in the area of Gujarat and Rajasthan at that time and the precursor of Gujarati language).

The 13th-century Tibetan historian [[Buton Rinchen Drub]] wrote that the [[early Buddhist schools]] were separated by choice of [[sacred language]]: the [[Mahāsāṃghika]]s used [[Prakrit|Prākrit]], the [[Sarvastivada|Sarvāstivādins]] used Sanskrit, the [[Sthavira nikāya|Sthaviravādins]] used Paiśācī, and the Saṃmitīya used [[Apabhraṃśa]].<ref>Yao, Zhihua. ''The Buddhist Theory of Self-Cognition.'' 2012. p. 9</ref>

==Literature==
The most widely known work, although lost, attributed to be in Paiśācī is the ''[[Brihatkatha|Bṛhatkathā]]'' (literally "Big Story"), a large collection of stories in verse, attributed to [[Gunadhya]]. It is known of through its adaptations in [[Sanskrit]] as the ''[[Kathasaritsagara]]'' in the 11th century by Somadeva, and also from the ''Bṛhatkathā'' by [[Kshemendra]]. Both Somadeva and Kshemendra were from [[Kashmir]] where the ''Bṛhatkathā'' was said to be popular.{{citation needed|date=January 2020}}

Talking of its existence, Pollock writes:<ref name=pollock/>{{rp|92}}
{{quote|Linguists have identified this as everything from an [[Middle Indo-Aryan languages|eastern Middle-Indic dialect]] close to Pali to a [[Munda languages|Munda language]] of inhabitants of the [[Vindhya Range|Vindhya Mountains]] […] In fact there is little reason to bother to choose […] Paishachi is the joker in the deck of South Asian discourses on language, having an exclusively legendary status, since it is associated with a single lost text, the ''[[Brihatkatha|Bṛhatkathā]]'' (The Great Tale), which seems to have existed less as an actual text than as a conceptual category signifying the ''Volksgeist'', the Great Repository of Folk Narratives […] In any event, aside from this legendary work (which "survives" only in one [[Maharashtri Prakrit|Jain Maharashtri]] and several Sanskrit embodiments), Paishachi is irrelevant to the actual literary history of South Asia.}}There is one chapter dedicated to Paisachi Prakrit in Prakrita Prakasha, a grammar book of Prakrit languages attributed to [[Vararuchi]].<ref name=":0" />

In this work, it is mentioned that the base of Paisachi is [[Shauraseni language]]. It further goes on to mention 10 rules of transforming the base text to Paisachi. These are mostly rules of substitution of letters - [[iarchive:PrakritaPrakashaOfVararuchiDr.P.L.Vaidya 201806/page/n125|Chapter 10 of Prakrita Pariksha]]

==See also==
*[[Pali]]

==References==
{{Reflist|refs=
<ref name=pollock>{{citation
|last=Pollock
|first=Sheldon I.
|authorlink = Sheldon Pollock
|year=2006
|title = The language of the gods in the world of men: Sanskrit, culture, and power in premodern India
|publisher=[[University of California Press]]
|isbn=978-0-520-24500-6
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0UCh7r2TjQIC&pg=PA92
}}</ref>
}}

{{Old and Middle Indo-Aryan}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Paisaci}}
[[Category:Indo-Aryan languages]]
[[Category:Extinct languages of Asia]]
[[Category:Prakrit languages]]