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 312

Traces of Short ě and o in Rgveda
303
so far reveals that this view, in this extreme form, cannot be maintained. Apart from all the cases at the Pāda-end where q- is read, the cases of the sixth syllable in the octosyllabic lines, and those occurring in the 8th syllable of the lines of eleven and twelve syllables, can never be regarded as showing a short value of e and o. To appreciate fully the value of these 33 cases, it must be remembered that these occur in the cadence which is metrically most rigid and stand out of a total of 35 such cases, leaving aside the 18 cases of the octosyllabic lines for which we have found a special reason for their occurrence. The two exceptions are found in lines which are metrically defective.
But there are ample indications to show that the final e and o were pronounced short before the following a- which was not elided. From the bulk of such cases, I have collected and analysed all such cases from the and IX Mandalas of RV. in order to verify the hypothesis. The cases even in these two books are ample enough to give definite and reliable results and there is no doubt that the results obtained by an analysis of the other Mandalas would prove to be similar. Altogether the tabulation gives the following results : .
I. Lines of eight syllables : Syllable No.
Metrical scheme with e and o as short.
(U.-) 2nd 36
17 = (-U-V) 5 = (-UU.)
26 = (yuy) 1 = (UUU.) 4th 38
38 = (uu.U) 2 = (U-UU) 5th39 95
92 = (U-u) 3 = (U..U)
cf. IX. 18. 1b; IX. 53. 1a; Ix. 98. 3a. 189
1st 35
:
5
3rd 37
Out of these 189 cases 92 have necessarily the short value of e and 0. It is not possible to determine with the same amount of certainty the value of the other cases, though it can be seen that the neighbouring long syllable suggests a preference for a short value of the syllable in question.
II. Lines of eleven syllables :
1st 40
3
2 = (U -- -) 1 = (U-U--)