________________
ARCHAIC LINGUISTIC ELEMENTS IN THE ARDHAMÄGADHI
Some More Archaic Forms :
(i)
vedavi (vedavit) Nom. Sing. (Ācā. Sūtra 145, 163, 174, 196) kālaveyavī (Isibhā., 22.12) (ii) jantavo, sāhavo, (Nom. Plu.; Ācā., Sū. Kṛ., Uttarā., Pischel, 380)
(iii) dummaṇā, sumaṇā (Nom. Sing.; Sū. Kr. Pischel, 408)
(iv) ativijjam (atividvān) (Ācā. Sū. 112, 115; Su. Kr. Pischel, 299)
(N)
(0)
(v) hrīmato (Sū. Kr. 1.2.2.18; variant hīmato) (vi) tamasi (Loc. Sing.; Pischel, 408)
(vii) nipatanti (Isibhā. 10, p. 23.9); the prevalent form would be ni(ni)vaḍamti), ('ta' 'da'); we find ṇivatiṁsu (Sū. 295, 297) and ṇivatita (Sū. 148, 316), in the Acā.
(viii) vidhiyate (Isibhā., 22.14)
(ix) dhit (Isibhā., 22.1)
(x) dittatejasam (Acc. Sing., Isibhā., 39.1) The nominal suffixes 'ya' and 'ya' Similar to Pāli, and 'ye' Similar to Ashokan Inscriptions :
-
The Prakrit grammarians have not mentioned the 'ya' and 'ya' as the oblique case suffixes of feminine sing"., as a result of which even though there might have been the usage of these suffixes in ancient Prakrit literature, such suffixes must have automatically been discarded. In fact these suffixes are older and are found in both Pali and Ashokan inscriptions. It does not seem proper to say that there could not have been such suffixes in prevalence, because the period and the region of the origination of the original Ardhamāgadhi and Pāli literature has been the same. If some usages of such suffixes have survived in the Ardhamāgadhī, they indicate an archaic trait, For instance,
36
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
