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1 History

The history of the language can be traced back to 12th c. CE. A formal grammar of the precursor of this language was written by JainJainism is an Indian religion based, most immediately, upon the teachings of Mahavir Swami ( 599 BC- 527 BC). According to Jains, it is an eternal religion which lapses at times but then reappears. In this part of the universe, in the present half cycle o monk and eminent scholar Hemachandra-charya in the reign of Rajput king Siddharaj Jayasinh of Patan. This was called Apabhransa grammar, signifying a language which is a corrupted form of languages like Sanskrit and Ardha-magadhi. The earliest literature in the language survives in oral tradition and can be traced to two stalwarts, the KrishnaKrishna ( Sanskrit for "black" or "dark blue") is an important deity in the Hindu religion. In some Hindu traditions he is the eighth avatar (approximately "incarnation") of Vishnu, in the others the ninth, and in yet others he is considered to be the sou devotee and great egalitarian Narasinh Mehta (later a source of inspiration to

Narasinh Mehta himself was composed as a long narrative ballad by Premananda, accorded the title "maha-kavi" or great poet by modern historians of the language. His date is perhaps late 17th century. Other than this a large number of poets flourished during what is now characterised as the bhakti or devotional movement in Hinduism, a movement of the masses to liberate the religion from entrenched priesthood.

Premananda was a "vyakhyan-kar", a traveling story teller, who narrated his subject in song form and then perhaps elaborated on the lines in prose. His style was so fluent that the long poems running into hundreds of lines were memorised by the people and are still sung during the morning routines. In this sense the oral tradition of the much more ancient Vedas was clearly continuing in India till late. Premananda's famous poetry-stories deal with epic themes couched in stories of mythical kings, and the puranas. He also wrote a drama based on Narasinh Mehta's life capturing his simplicity and his disregard for worldly divisions of caste and class.

Modern exploration into Gujarat and its language is credited to British administrator Alexander Kinloch Forbes. During the nineteenth century at a time when the British rule was more consolidatory and progressive this gentleman explored much of the previous thousand years of the history of the land and compiled a large number of manuscripts. The learned body devoted to Gujarati language is named after him, Farbas Gujarati Sabha with headquarters in Mumbai.