1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910227354203321

Autore

Ollett Andrew <1986->

Titolo

Language of the Snakes : Prakrit, Sanskrit, and the Language Order of Premodern India / / Andrew Ollett

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Oakland, California : , : University of California Press, , [2017]

©2017

ISBN

0-520-96881-6

Edizione

[1st ed.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (xi, 308 pages) : illustrations, charts, map; PDF, digital file(s)

Collana

South Asia across the disciplines

Disciplina

891/.3

Soggetti

Language and culture - India

Sanskrit literature - History and criticism

Prakrit languages

Prakrit literature - History and criticism

Electronic books.

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references (pages 259-295) and index.

Nota di contenuto

Prakrit in the language order of India -- Inventing Prakrit: the languages of power -- Inventing Prakrit: the languages of literature -- The forms of Prakrit literature -- Figuring Prakrit -- Knowing Prakrit -- Forgetting Prakrit.

Sommario/riassunto

"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."--Provided by publisher.