[INDOLOGY] devabhāṣā query

[Madhav Deshpande]

The Jain Bhagavaī-Sutta says: *devā kyarāe bhāsāe bhasanti? devā
addhmāgahāe bhāsāe bhāsanti*. While the Jains would probably not call
Ardhamāgadhī a Devabhāṣā in the same sense as Sanskrit is called a
Devabhāṣā, they do insist that the Devas speak Ardhamāgadhī.  Also note
that the precursor of Devabhāṣā is the Vedic expression *devī vāk [devīṃ
vācam ajanayanta devāḥ]*. The semantics have changed somewhat, but there is
probably a connection.

Madhav M. Deshpande
Professor Emeritus, Sanskrit and Linguistics
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
Senior Fellow, Oxford Center for Hindu Studies
Adjunct Professor, National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bangalore, India

[Residence: Campbell, California, USA]


On Fri, Mar 21, 2025 at 5:27 AM Shrikant Bahulkar via INDOLOGY <
indology at list.indology.info> wrote:

> I have already answered Patrick's question, referring to the Amarakosa 1.33
>
> On Fri, 21 Mar 2025, 10:29 patrick mccartney via INDOLOGY, <
> indology at list.indology.info> wrote:
>
>> Dear Friends,
>>
>> Does someone know of the earliest attestation for the *devabhāṣā* phrase?
>>
>> Thank you.
>>
>> All the best,
>>
>> Patrick McCartney, PhD
>> Phoenix Fellow 2023–26, HIroshima University, Japan
>> Visiting Fellow - South and South-east Asian Studies Department, Australian
>> National University
>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> INDOLOGY mailing list
>> INDOLOGY at list.indology.info
>> https://list.indology.info/mailman/listinfo/indology
>>
>
> _______________________________________________
> INDOLOGY mailing list
> INDOLOGY at list.indology.info
> https://list.indology.info/mailman/listinfo/indology
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://list.indology.info/pipermail/indology/attachments/20250321/9dc07dba/attachment.htm>