In Indology, it is used as an umbrella term for the dialects forming the transition[1] between the late Middle and the early Modern Indo-Aryan languages, spanning the period between the 6th and 13th centuries CE.

Apabhraṃśa literature is a valuable source for the history of North India for the period spanning the 12th to 16th centuries.

An early example of the use of Apabhraṃśa is the Vikramorvashiyam of Kālidāsa, when Pururavas asks the animals in the forest about his beloved who had disappeared.

Compositions in Apabhramsha continued until the 18th century, when Bhagavatidasa wrote Migankaleha Chariu.

[3] The first known example of an Apabhraṃśa work by a Muslim is the Sandeśarāsaka of Abdur Rahman of Multan, possibly written around 1000 CE.