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

• Superior document: South Asia across the disciplines
• VerfasserIn: Ollett, Andrew, 1986-
• Place / Publishing House: Oakland, California : : University of California Press,, [2017].; ©2017
• Year of Publication: 2017
• Language: English
• Series: South Asia across the disciplines.
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (xi, 308 pages) :; illustrations, charts, map; PDF, digital file(s).

"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.

Table of Contents

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.