Language of the Snakes

Prakrit, Sanskrit, and the Language Order of Premodern India

Andrew Ollett (Autor)

Buch | Softcover

324 Seiten

2017
University of California Press (Verlag)
978-0-520-29622-0 (ISBN)

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At publication date, a free ebook version of this title will be available through Luminos, University of California Press's Open Access publishing program. Visit www.luminosoa.org to learn more. Language of the Snakes traces the history of the Prakrit language as a literary phenomenon, starting from its cultivation in courts of the Deccan in the first few centuries of the common era. Although little studied today, Prakrit was an important vector of the "kavya movement," and once joined Sanskrit at the apex of classical Indian literary culture. The opposition-as well as underlying identity-between Prakrit and Sanskrit was at the center of an enduring "language order" in India, a set of ways of thinking about, naming, classifying, representing, and ultimately using languages. As a language of classical literature that nevertheless retained its associations with more demotic language practices, Prakrit both embodies major cultural tensions-between high and low, transregional and regional, cosmopolitan and vernacular-and provides a unique perspective onto the history of literature and culture in South Asia.

Andrew Ollett works on the literary and intellectual traditions of premodern India.

List of Illustrations
List of Tables
Acknowledgments

1. Prakrit in the Language Order of India
2. Inventing Prakrit: The Languages of Power
3. Inventing Prakrit: The Languages of Literature
4. The Forms of Prakrit Literature
5. Figuring Prakrit
6. Knowing Prakrit
7. Forgetting Prakrit

Appendix A
Appendix B
Appendix C
Notes
Bibliography
Index

Erscheinungsdatum	29.01.2018
Reihe/Serie	South Asia Across the Disciplines
Zusatzinfo	4 color, 4 tables, 1 map, 1 b-w
Verlagsort	Berkerley
Sprache	englisch
Maße	152 x 229 mm
Gewicht	454 g
Themenwelt	Geisteswissenschaften ► Geschichte ► Regional- / Ländergeschichte
ISBN-10	0-520-29622-2 / 0520296222
ISBN-13	978-0-520-29622-0 / 9780520296220
Zustand	Neuware