The Language of Caṇḍa's Pṛthvīrāja‑Rāsau – Lāṭīya Apabhraṁśa
By Harivallabh Chunilal Bhayani
Summary
Cāṇḍa’s Pṛthvīrāja‑Rāsau is one of the earliest extant heroic romances of northern India. In this article the eminent linguist H. C. Bhayani analyses the poem’s language, identifying it as a form of Lāṭīya Apabhraṁśa. He examines phonological features such as the treatment of intervocalic consonants, the development of diphthongs and the simplification of consonant clusters. Morphological analysis reveals the retention of Middle Indo‑Aryan case endings alongside innovations that anticipate Old Gujarati and Rajasthani. The article discusses the lexicon of the poem, noting the mixture of Sanskritic, Prakritic and regional vocabulary, and highlights words that can be traced to western Indian dialects. Bhayani compares the Rāsau’s language with other Apabhraṁśa texts and argues that it preserves an archaic stage of the Lāṭī region’s speech. He also considers the sociolinguistic context, suggesting that the poet used a prestigious dialect to appeal to both royal patrons and vernacular audiences. By analysing metre and prosody, the study shows how linguistic choices enhance the poem’s heroic tone. Overall, the article demonstrates the value of the Rāsau for reconstructing the transition from Apabhraṁśa to early New Indo‑Aryan languages.
Conclusion
The linguistic profile of the Pṛthvīrāja‑Rāsau reveals a snapshot of western India’s vernacular around the twelfth century. By situating the poem within the continuum from Prakrit to Gujarati, Bhayani illustrates how literary texts illuminate language change. The study thus contributes to both philology and cultural history, showing how poets negotiated regional identity through their choice of dialect.