Prakrit, are implied in their being called, by their respective writers, as
  desi or ‘of the land’. Though sometimes called Sandhabhasa or a
  symbolical speech, it was used not only for mystical themes, but also for
  compositions of epic dimensions. (Box Matter)
Their Regional Socio-Political Base Among the north Indian desibhasas
that originated in this period may be listed Marathi, Bengali and Gujarati. A
similar linguistic burst is visible in south India too, where Kanarese and
Telugu now really came into their own. The development of these languages
was closely connected with regional social-political structures and
particularly, the religious movements of these areas made important
contributions to their growth. The new languages had thus, a broad social
base. In Maharashtra, such adherents of devotional theism as Namdev tried,
through lyrical abhangas, to transcend the barriers of caste; in Bengal the
composers of Buddhist charyapadas represented a ‘low’ strata in society.
Kanarese developed through the contributions of the Jainas, the Virasaivas
and Srivaishnavas; in Telugu, the desi as distinct from margi, is believed to
have represented a rural and popular stream independent of Sanskrit.
Restriction of the Scope of Sanskrit These developments naturally
restricted the scope of Sanskrit as the chief vehicle of creative literary efforts.
Its inspiration still being early and conventional themes, innovation had to be
sought in the realm of poetics and what mainly concerned a Sanskrit scholar
was ‘a display of his erudition, of his mastery over sound and sense, his
infinite vocabulary and his power to execute some wonderful and intricate
devices.’ Sanskrit met the need for systematisation and interpretation, but not
the wide range of the literary urge of the period.
Ancient Indian Historiography The various phases in the growth of
Indian historical tradition and its different facets rather belie the general
feeling that the early Indians lacked historical consciousness. Though this
tradition does not agree with a notion of ‘secular’ history, it was not a
changeless stereotype either. Early Indian historiography, like historiography
elsewhere, attained new social dimensions in different ages. If in the period
of the Satapatha Brahmana, the term ithihasa had a limited connotation and
its study was expected to propitiate       the devas and asuras (the recitation of