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In Search of the Original Ardhamāgadhi
K.R. Chandra (2) The Older Nominal suffix '-ssiņ' of
the Locative Singular :
The popular suffix of the Loc. Sing. in the Ardhamāgadhī is '-assi', as for instance, logaṁsi, nayaraṁsi, aggimsi, vāumsi. But, the suffix '-ssim' is rarely found but in a few places. In fact -ssim' is the suffix anterior to the '-aṁsi', and the '-ssim' has evolved from '-smin'. In the Ashokan Inscriptions we find the written form -sim' for this'-ssim'. Prakrit grammarians have prescribed -ssis' case suffix for pronouns, but it has not been mentioned with reference to the nouns'. This case suffix must have been prevalent in the archaic forms of nouns, too. But, later on the case suffix '-aṁsi' became popular everywhere. The ancient usages with the suffix '-ssim' have been only rarely preserved. One such instance is found in one of the manuscripts of the Ācārānga, and it is consigned to the variants in the foot-notes in the printed edition of the work; thus, logassiṁ(Ācā.1. 1.1.9, a Variant in MJV. Edn.)
It seems the usages with this suffix '-ssim' have disappeared from literature since the Prakrit grammrians too have not mentioned it with reference to the nouns. (3) The form 'rão' (rātrau) of the Locative
Singular of rātrī :
The popular Loc. Sing. form of the word rātrī in Prakrit is 'rattie' but the ancient forms 'rāto and ‘rão' too are found to have survived".
diyā ya rāto ya (Ācā. Sū.189, 190 MJV.) aho ya rào ya (Ācā. Sū. 63, 73)
Over and above these see the Ācā. Sūtra Nos. 133, 282, 291, etc. Pischel (386) has quoted similar instances from the Sūtrakstānga, Uttarādhyayana, Daśavaikālika, etc.
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