| Abahattha the
stage after apabhrangsha,
which was the final stage in the evolution of the central Indian Aryan
language prakrit.
The new Indo-Aryan languages developed from Abahattha. For instance, Bangla
developed out of the eastern Indian Magadhi Prakrit : Magadhi
Prakrit > Magadhi Apabhrangsha > Magadhi Abahattha > Bangla. Dr muhammad
shahidullah's opinion is different. He opinioned that Bangla
develop out of Gouriya Prakrit : Gouriya Prakrit > Gouriya Apabhrangsha
> Gouriya Abahattha > Bangla. Abahattha was current from about the
6th century to the 15th.
Some peculiarities of Abahattha are
the loss of affixes and suffixes, the absence of gender variations, an
abundant use of short vowels, nasalisation at the end or in the middle
of words, the substitution of h for s, etc. The first compositions
in this language were perhaps the doha, or religious verses, composed
by the Buddhist tantriks and Saivite yogis, such as Sarhapa and kahnapa,
and subsequently collected in the Dohakos. Bangali as well as non-Bangali
poets composed doha in Abahattha
Secular literature was also written
in Abahattha. In the 10th century, when Bangla was
just developing, there was some rivalry between the two languages.
However, poets often wrote in both languages; for example, they
composed charyapada
in Bangla and doha in Abahattha. |
|
A page from Dakarnava (10th century)
in Abahattha |
Dakarnava,
a Buddhist classical text ascribed to dak,
was also written in Abahattha. For some time there also
existed a pidgin, combining vocabulary drawn from other contemporary languages
and Abahattha. Abahattha continued to be cultivated right
up to the 15th century. Most shlokas of Prakritapaingala, composed
around the 15th century, were in Abahattha. vidyapati
(15th century) was among the last well-known poets who used Abahattha.
His autobiography, Kirtilata, in prose and verse, was composed
in Abahattha. Shubhankarer Arya, slokas containing folk
wisdom, are examples of Abahattha still current today.
[Dulal Bhowmik]
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