Ardhamagadhi differs from later Magadhi Prakrit on similar points as Pāli.
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Theravada Buddhist tradition has long held that the Pāli language was synonymous with the ancient Magadha language; and indeed, there are many remarkable analogies between Pāli and an old form of Magadhi Prakrit known as Ardhamagadhi ("Half Magadhi"), which is preserved in ancient Jain texts.
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Magadhi Prakrit (Ardhamāgadhī) is of one of the three Dramatic Prakrits, the written languages of Ancient India following the decline of Pali and Sanskrit.
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Magadhi Prakrit later evolved into the Eastern Indo-Aryan languages, including Assamese, Bengali, Oriya and the Bihari languages (Bhojpuri, Maithili, and Magahi, among others).
Prakrit |