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In Search of the Original Ardhamāgadhi
K.R. Chandra This Process, too is found in the Ashokan inscriptions, wherein krta chages to kața“, and this very ?' later on gets voiced and becomes ! 13. In the vrtti on the sūtra 8.2.146, while giving an ex- . ample of Absolutive Gerund, it is stated ‘kattu iti tu ārse; i.e. the termination in the Ardhamāgadhi is cerebralised to 'ttu?
This peculiarity belongs to the Eastern region of the Ashokan period". In the other regions, the termination -ttu' (dental) occurs.
Could all these characteristics not have been arranged together systematically at one place in the form of the sūtras, as has been done in the case of other Prakrit languages ? For these latter, even their stray peculiarities are put together and explainded in the sūtra form. For Instance : (a) In the case of the Sauraseni : (1) pūrvasya puravaḥ (8.4.270), i.e. the word pūrva
becomes purava; (2) kevā iyadūanau (8.4.271), i.e., the affixes for the
Absolutive Gerund are -iya' and '-dūņa! (b) In the case of the Māgadhi : (1) vrajo jaħ (8.4.294) is explained in the vștti as
mågadhyāṁ vrajeh jakārasya ñño bhavati, e.g.,
vaññādi; (2) tişthah cişthah (8.4.298), e.g., cisthadi; (3) aham-vayamoh hage (8.4.301), i.e., ahan and vayam
become hage. (c) In the case of the Paiśācī : hrdaye yasya paḥ (8.4.310), the example quoted in the
vștti is hitapakam; (d) In the case of Prāksta
(1) kirāte ca (8.1.183), as in cilão; (2) saikhale khah kah (8.1.189), as in, sankalam;
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