Magadhi Prakrit

Magadhi Prakrit is of one of the three Dramatic Prakrits, the written languages of Ancient India after the decline of Sanskrit as an official language. Magadhi Prakrit was spoken in the eastern Indian Subcontinent, in a region spanning what is now India, Bangladesh, and Nepal. It is believed to be the language spoken by The Buddha, and the language of ancient kingdom of Magadha.

Theravada Buddhist tradition has long held that the Pāli language was synonymous with the ancient Magadhi language; and indeed, there are many remarkable analogies between Pāli and an older form of Magadhi Prakrit known as Ardhamagadhi ("Half Magadhi"), which is preserved in ancient Jain texts.

Ardhamagadhi differs from Magadhi Prakrit on similar points as Pāli. For example, Ardhamagadhi preserves historical l, unlike later Magadhi Prakrit, where l changed into r. Additionally, in the noun inflection, Ardhamagadhi shows the ending -o instead instead of Magadhi Prakrit -e at least in many metrical places.

Magadhi Prakrit later evolved into the Eastern Indo-Aryan languages, including Bengali, Oriya, Assamese, and the Bihari languages (Bhojpuri, Maithili, and modern Magadhi, among others).