Some Prakrit grammarians say that Sauraseni was the Prakrit par excellence, while others give that credit to the the Maharashtri, and still others to both. Sauraseni claims importance as being the nearest neighbour to Sanskrit and being that which was the least affected by phonetic decay through its influence. But Maharashtri is the best known Prakrit. It attained greatness as a a literary dialect at an early time It received the best attention of the grammarians. It was the language of lyric poetry like that in the Sattasai of Hala, and of the formal epic (Kavya) like the 'Setubandha' or 'Ra. vana Vaho' of Pravarasena, 'Gauda Vaho' of Vappai Raa and 'Kumarapala. charita' of Hemachandra. Dramas were composed in it like the ‘Karpuramanjari' of Rajasekhara. Even in Sanskrit dramas, Mabarashtri is used by the higher rank of characters. This dialect again was the language
