was born in Magadha, and the earliest Jain texts were composed in Ardhamagadhi.

Etymology

There are two major views concerning the way in which Sanskrit and Prakrit are related. One view holds that Prakrit was the speech of the common people, unadorned by grammar, and that prakrta thus refers to vernacular usage, while Sanskrit was a co-existing but elevated register of the language. This is the usual explanation accepted by Western linguists. It also is one of several views noted, for example,

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