नाट्यशास्त्रम् (प्रथम भाग - अभिनवभारती एवं हिन्दी टीका सहित)

-XVIII. 35] RULES ON THE USE OF LANGUAGES 329

35. ¹Similarly Prakrit should be assigned to children, persons possessed of spirits of lower order, women in feminine character² persons of low birth, lunatics and phallus-worshippers³.

Exception to the rule for Pkt. Recitation

36. But to itinerant recluses¹, sages², Buddhists³; pure Śrotriyas⁴ and others who have received instruction [in the Vedas] and wear costumes suitable to their position (liṅgastha)⁵ should be assigned Sanskritic Recitation.

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35 (C.33b-34a; B.XVII.37 f.n. 9). ¹ B.'s reading in translation is as follows : Similarly Pkt. should be assigned to Śaiva teachers, lunatics, children, persons possessed of spirits of lower order, women, persons of low birth and hermaphrodites (B.XVII.37).

² In a queen's role a woman may sometimes speak Skt. See 38-39 below. The parivrājikā in the Mālavi. speaks Skt.

³ saliṅga.—This possibly means the member of a sect which like the Liṅgāyets wears a phallus suspended from their neck.

36 (C.34b-35a; B.XVII.38). ¹ parivrāj—a person of the fourth āśrama. A recluse belonging to the Vedic community.

² muni.—This word, probably of non-Indo-Aryan origin meant in all likelihood "wise man." See NŚ. I. 23 note 1. In the ancient world, wisdom was usually associated with religious and spiritual elevation. This might have been the reason why the word was applied to persons like Vasiṣṭha and Nārada.

³ śākya.—a follower of the Buddha. There is nothing very astonishing in Skt. being assigned to Buddhist monks. Buddhist teachers like Aśvaghoṣa, Nāgārjuna, Āryadeva, Vasubandhu were almost all great Sanskritists, and the Mahāyāna literature was written in Sanskrit of corrupt as well as of pure variety. This might have been the general linguistic condition before the schism arose among the Buddhists. In Aśvaghoṣa's Śāriputra-prakaraṇa Buddha and his disciples speak Sanskrit (Keith, Skt. Drama p.82). Aśvaghoṣa assigns Skt. to a śramaṇa, as well (loc. cit). This śramaṇa was possibly a Buddhist ; see 34 f.n.

⁴ cokṣeṣu (caikṣeṣu, C.) śrotriyeṣu—for the pure śrotriya or a learned Brahman. The adjective "pure" (cokṣa) used with śrotriya is possibly to separate him from an apostate who might have entered Jain or any other heterodox fold and was at liberty to use Pkt.

⁵ śiṣṭāḥ liṅgasthāḥ—religious mendicants who have received instruction (in Vedas).

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