Amrita Collected Papers by A M Ghatage

SR No.: 006968
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Jitendra B Shah
Publisher: Kasturbhai Lalbhai Smarak Nidhi Ahmedabad
Total Pages: 530
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 10 MB

Page 300

Traces of Short ĕ and Ŏ in Ṛgveda
The problem of the short values of ĕ and Ŏ suspected of being found in RV. is intimately connected with that of the abhinihita sandhi, and both must be treated together. For a long time, the facts of this sandhi in RV. are well-known, and scholars have come to the conclusion that, in spite of the writing of this sandhi in the traditional text, it was nearly non-existent in the oldest period of the language, and came into vogue only gradually so as to become finally the usual practice in the Classical Sanskrit. The RV. Samhitā reveals an apparently conflicting procedure of sometimes eliding or merging the initial a in the preceding -e and -o, and more often keeping them apart with a hiatus between the two. No general principle for this divergent treatment is easily perceptible and the Ṛk-Prātiśākhya finds it necessary to formulate a few general rules based on empirical observation and then to enumerate exceptions to them as found in the Samhita. The rules of the Prätisakhya' may be summarised in brief. It lays down that the abhinihita sandhi is the rule between the Pädas of a stanza, which are treated as forming a unit in the Samhita. This rule is observed in the traditional text, except for 3 cases, which are duly noted by the Prätiśäkhya. In the interior of a Pāda, the sandhi occurs under definite conditions, otherwise absence of sandhi is the usual practice. The sandhi is observed in the following cases: (i) when the initial a- is followed by a light syllable beginning with y- or v; (ii) when the first word ends in -avo and the following word begins with afollowed by any light syllable (iii) after words ending in aye, ave, -ayo, - avo with initial a- irrespective of the nature of the following syllable (to this rule the Pratiśākhya notes 12 exceptions); (iv) after vo, preceded by the words a, na, pra, kva, citra, suvitä, eva or ka and followed by the initial a. After these general rules the Pratiśākhya notes the cases of 16 words, the initial a of which is elided; 10 words after which the a- is lost and finally some 62 cases of specific combinations in which a- is elided2.