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 308

Traces of Short ĕ and ŏ in Ṛgveda
This analysis of the cases where the abhinihita sandhi is observed and metrically attested leaves no doubt that in all such cases the final e and of were long and metrically felt as such. It thus confirms the suggestion to which we were led by the observation of the sandhi at the end of the Päda.
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The 13 cases in which the a- is written and yet, according to Arnold, metre requires its elision, are difficult to decide. They are:
I. 70. 4b, visām na visvo amrtaḥ svadhiḥ| Dvipadā Viraj. The no. of syllables of 10 may have influenced the redactors.
I. 190. 3d. mrgo na bhimo arakṣasastuviṣmân | Tristubh. There may be confusion of the caesura after the 4th and 5th syllable.
I. 53. 2c, sikṣānaraḥ pradivo akāmakarśanaḥ | Jagati.
I. 89. 6c. svasti nas tärkṣyo aristanemiḥ | Virātsthänä. The metrical elision may not be intended as can be seen by comparison with the next Pāda svasti na bṛhaspatir dadhātu |
I. 186, 11a. iyam sa vo asme didhitir yajatrā | Triṣṭubh. It is possible to take the first two short syllables as one long.
III. 59. 2d, nainam amho aśnotyantito na durat | Tristubh.
VII. 61. 3d. ṛdhag yato animiṣam rakṣamānā | Tristubh.
VIII. 50. 5b, iyano atyo na tosate | Bṛhati
VIII. 58. 1c. yo anūçāno brāhmaṇo yukta āsīt | Tristubh.
IX. 9. 4b. nadyo ajinvad adruhan | Gayatri. The loss is doubtfull.
X. 72. 4c. aditer dakṣo ajayata | Anustubh. More naturally the first two syllables must count as one.
X. 89. 13d. anvapo ajihata jāyamānam | Tristubh. The number of the syllables may have influenced the writing.
X. 108. 5b. pari divo antän subhage patanti | Tristubh.
Many of these cases are metrically defective, but as far as our present problem is concerned, in no case do we find the final e and o occupying a place where a long syllable is necessary and in all cases the syllable can well be short.
We may now proceed to observe the practice of the redactors of RV. as it is revealed in the cases where the loss of a- is not justified by metre.