the Kekaya as the standard Paisaci in which Gunadhya is reputed to have written bis Bribatkatha. It is, however, contended by some scholars tbat Gunadhya was a South Indian and the Brihatkatha was composed in the Chuliks Paisaci, centuries before that late literary development in Kashmir which produced Kshemendra, Bilhana, Somnadeva and Kalhana, and that, therefore, it is as much possible that original Chulika Paisaci belonged to the Vindhyas as to Kashmir. Even graniting that this contention is correct, it does not affect the north Western crigin of the Privaci. The main characteristics of Paisacias laid down by Prakrit grammarians are reflected in the inscriptions of Asoka at Shahabazgarhi, a village ou the river Makam, nine miles from Mardan, the capital of the Yusufzai Taluk in Peshawar District of the N. W. Frontier province of India This points to Kekaya as being the original home of
Page:An introduction to Dravidian philology.djvu/42
32
