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244
M. A. MEHENDALE
cluster sm is preserved in the north-western dialect of Asoka as sp from which an assimilated form ph is an easy step. Thus we can trace the appearance of these forms to the north-westera influence ( *asma- > aspa. > apha).
It is in respect of all the forms detailed in the foregoing discussion that the d and j versions differ from D and J. As all these features are restricted to d and ; and not even once appear in D and J, it would be difficult for us to assume that they represent the sporadic or exceptional tendencies of the eastern dialect. In that case they would have appeared even in a stray instance in D and J. On the contrary the affinity of these features with the north-western dialect suggests that these two edicts were issued by Asoka probably when he was on tour in the north-west in the local language and that they were later translated into the eastern dialect. This woald satisfactorily explain the presence of just a few peculiar forms in d and j.
MadhuVidya/245
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