Maharashtri or Maharashtri Prakrit (Mahārāṣṭrī Prākṛta) is a Prakrit language of ancient as well as medieval India.
Maharashtri Prakrit was commonly spoken until 875 CE and was the official language of the Satavahana dynasty. Works like Karpūramañjarī and Gatha Saptashati (150 BCE) were written in it. Jain Acharya Hemachandra is the grammarian of Maharashtri Prakrit. Maharashtri Prakrit was the most widely used Prakrit language in western and southern India.
Jain literature (Sanskrit: जैन साहित्य) refers to the literature of the Jain religion. It is a vast and ancient literary tradition, which was initially transmitted orally. The oldest surviving material is contained in the canonical Jain Agamas, which are written in Ardhamagadhi, a Prakrit (Middle-Indo Aryan) language. Various commentaries were written on these canonical texts by later Jain monks. Later works were also written in other languages, like Sanskrit and Maharashtri Prakrit.
Jain literature is primarily divided between the canons of the Digambara and Śvētāmbara orders. These two main sects of Jainism do not always agree on which texts should be considered authoritative.
Rajashekhara (IAST: Rājaśekhara; fl. 10th century) was a Maharashtri Prakrit and Sanskrit poet, dramatist and critic. He was the court poet of the Pratiharas of Kannauj.
Rajashekhara wrote the Kāvyamīmāṃsā between 880 and 920 CE. The work is essentially a practical guide for poets that explains the elements and composition of a good poem. He is most noted for the Kārpūramañjarī, a play written in Maharashtri Prakrit. Rajashekhara wrote the play to please his wife, Avantisundarī, a woman of taste and accomplishment. Rajashekhara is perhaps the only ancient Indian poet to acknowledge his wife for her contributions to his literary career.