From: Kishore patnaik
Message: 55475
Date: 2008-03-18
>
> Dear all,
>
> Most of us must have heard of the language 'pisaca'. This is the
> lost predecessor of today's Telugu, which is a primary language of
> South India.
>
>
>
> I have discussed earlier in other groups some known facts of the
> language, none of them linguistic.
>
>
>
> Traditionally, it is said that Hanuman has written the first
> commentary to BG in pisaca language. Hanuman, if considered to be
> historical, is a Telugu person coming from Nasik, MS, India.
>
>
>
> That Gunadhya, a poet belonging to Dhanya kataka (Andhra MS border,
> India) has written a long poem in Pisaca is a historical fact. This
> poem has been translated by ksemendra of Kashmir. Where is Dhanya
> kataka of Central South India and where is the Kashmir Valley? This
> shows that pisaca was a well spread or well known language of yore.
>
>
>
> Some people include it in the Dardic languages. What is the
> scholars' stand on this? (elementary question?) ref :
> http://www.britannica.com/eb/topic-151511/article-9028763 and
> http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00maplinks/overview/lang
> uages/languages.html
>
> However, I am wondering if there were any efforts or projects or
> books that tried to reconstruct this lost Andhra language just as we
> are trying to construct (at least a mythological) Nostratic
> language.
>
> The group may please comment on this.
>
>
>
> With best regards,
>
>
>
> Kishore patnaik
>
>
>
> --- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "kishore mohan"
> <kishore_future@> wrote:
> >
> > Telugu is a south Indian langauge, usually clubbed with Dravidian
> > languages.
> >
> > Telugu closely follows Sanskrit in grammar and is spoken by
> Andhras
> > of Andhra pradesh in India. (Andhra pradesh is one of the major
> > states in india and its capital, Hyderabad , is now world famous
> as a
> > hub of information activities, apart from several other things)
> >
> > Andhras were a nomadic tribe who have started their journey from
> > Maharashtra, from the banks of Andri river. They gave their name
> to
> > several rivers, including the Handri in kurnool.
> >
> > This tribe is mentioned in Vedas, Mahabharat and several other
> > scriptures.
> >
> > As per puranic history, Andhra was the seventh son of sudheshna,
> a
> > queen and Deergha tama, a blind sage. He occupied the coastal
> area
> > of today's Bay of bengal.
> >
> > Vanaras were said to be a tribe closely connected to andhras,
> perhaps
> > a sub-tribe. While Hanuman hails from Maharashtra, the same place
> > from where the andhras have emerged, Vanaras have occupied today's
> > borders of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, both are predominantly
> > telugu speaking areas and where you had a highly flourishing
> kingdom
> > of vijayanagara(today's anantpur and Hampi districts)
> >
> > Hanuman has written in paisaci, a vanished language today,
> supposedly
> > the first commentary on Bhagavad gita.
> >
> > These Andhras have spread all over the country , in kingdoms like
> > vatsa, malla, salva and karoosha.
> >
> > Karoosha, situated on the banks of yamuna ,was in fact ruled by an
> > Andhra king, Canura,a great warrior and wrestler and a vassal of
> king
> > kansa. Sri Krishna has killed canura in a fist fight.
> >
> > Great people like Bodhayana, Apastamba ( both were law givers) and
> > Acarya Nagarjuna (a buddhist monk) were all Andhras/telugus.
> >
> > It is said canakya, another law giver, is also a telugu man, since
> he
> > was somewhat black and was having a oordha sikha like telugu
> shodiyar
> > brahmins.
> >
> >
> > Now coming to the linguistic part of it, the forerunner of telugu
> > were dichotomical in nature. there were two languages, desi andhra
> > and prakrit andhra. desi andhra is a dardic language and was
> spoken
> > by echoleon in the society whereas the prakrit andhra is not
> really
> > known to the today, though it is surmised that it is spoken by the
> > common man.
> >
> > In fact, while desi andhra must hv been spoken by andhras of north
> > india, prakrit andhra was spoken by people confined to today's
> andhra
> > pradesh.( till the times of sata vahanas, this part of the country
> > was not much developed)
> >
> > Since desi andhra is a dardic language, my assumption is that
> prakrit
> > andhra also must have been a dardic language.
> >
> >
> > what is this prakrit andhra?
> >
> > In olden days, a language by name paisaci was being mentioned.
> > paisaci, though an extinguished language long ago, boasts of great
> > works- like an encyclopaedia of surgery and of course, 'brhtkatha'
> by
> > gunadhya.
> >
> > the language is said to be so sweet that when gunadya was singing
> his
> > work, even the animals were spell bound by its sweetness.
> >
> > A wide spread spectrum of languages, rightly or wrongly, claim
> > their origination to paisaci-kashmiri, tulu, tamil etc.
> >
> > If this is such great and sweet language, then why on earth this
> is
> > called paisaci?( paisaci- the language of ghosts!)
> >
> > Once more, in puranas, there is a sect called pisacas but i do not
> > think this has got anything to do with them ( just like the way of
> > marriage of pisaca has got nothing to do with them)
> >
> > In olden days, there was a great sage by name dakshina murthy ,
> > living in the kalinga kingdom on mahendra giri hills (today's
> > srikakulam area, another district in andhra pradesh). he is said
> to
> > be an avatar of lord siva, coz he adopted the living style of
> siva.
> >
> > True to this saying, his disciples used to be very fierce looking,
> > what with their vibhuti, torn clothes, unkempt hair and perhaps
> using
> > drugs etc.
> >
> > These people were belonging to the local areas ie they were
> andhras.
> >
> > the andhras spread all over the country must hv spoken only desi
> > andhra and it is to the credit of the discipiles of dakshina
> murthy
> > that the language of common andhra ie prakrit andhra has been
> > introduced to the rest of the country. Since these people looked
> > like pisacas or ghosts, their langauge was also called paisaci.
> >
> >
> > My feeling is that this is language which is the prakrit andhra.
> >
> > My reasons are as below:
> >
> >
> > a) As mentioned above, paisaci has emerged in andhra area
> >
> > b) As mentione above, it is a very sweet language. Traditionally,
> > telugu is acclaimed as a very sweet language
> >
> > c) All the known works of paisaci are written by telugu people-
> both
> > hanuman and gunadhya are andhrites
> >
> > d) As mentioned above, paisaci is claimed as a forerunner of both
> > dardic language as well as dravid langauges. That is to say, it
> has
> > characteristics of both dardic language as well as dravid
> lanaguage.
> > Telugu has also same kind of characteristics.
> >
> > The geographical proximity to tamilnadu of andhra pradesh has
> > resulted in a trace more exhibition of dravidian characteristics
> in
> > telugu and hence, it is classified as a dravidian langauge.but
> truly,
> > telugu is not a dravidina langauge. It must have been a dardic
> > language, just like kashmiri.
> >
> > Thus, telugu has emerged from paisaci, which is a forerunner of
> > kashmiri too.
> >
> > I hope the linguists in this group will come up with
> substantiating
> > arguements.
> >
> > kishore
> >
>