Language of the Snakes : Prakrit, Sanskrit, and the Language Order of Premodern India Paperback / softback
by Andrew Ollett
Part of the South Asia Across the Disciplines series
Paperback / softback
Description
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.
Information
-
Available to Order - This title is available to order, with delivery expected within 2 weeks
- Format:Paperback / softback
- Pages:324 pages, 4 color, 4 tables, 1 map, 1 b-w
- Publisher:University of California Press
- Publication Date:10/10/2017
- Category:
- ISBN:9780520296220
Information
-
Available to Order - This title is available to order, with delivery expected within 2 weeks
- Format:Paperback / softback
- Pages:324 pages, 4 color, 4 tables, 1 map, 1 b-w
- Publisher:University of California Press
- Publication Date:10/10/2017
- Category:
- ISBN:9780520296220
