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A Prākrit Tendency in Rgveda
A number of considerations give Rgveda a position of pre-eminence in the whole range of the Vedic literature. As regards the language we have not only the oldest phase of the Indo-Aryan preserved in it, but we also see there many dialectal features which bring it nearer the spoken language of the time than any other Vedic work. One result of the influence of the spoken language on the literary idiom of the Rgveda is a number of Prākritism which it reveals here and there! Scholars are now beginning to see that not only the phonology of the Rgvedic dialect shows traces of Prākrit influence in a number of words, but also the so-called Prākritic tendencies of the later days find some trace in the Sandhi-rules and the morphology of its language? The general implication of these facts is clear. In spite of the attempts of the later redacters to put the Rgveda Samhitā in a form consistent with a later linguistic tradition and theory, the original features of its language have survived in places, particularly when the normalising process would go against the metre or when some plausible explanation could be imagined which can bring them in agreement with later usage. We hope to find such a Prākritic tendency in the present Samhitā of Rgveda incidentally preserved though in a limited number of cases.
The Rgveda shows, as is well known, a number of cases of double Sandhi, a feature also observed in the epic literature. Among these scholars have included a few cases where we find a Sandhi of final -am with a following vowel giving rise to a long vowel by combination. Thus Whitney? explains a case like sasvānanobhayankāram (RV. VIII. 1. 2.) as due to the loss of the final -m and the combination of samvānana with the following ubhayankaram. Support is sought in the reading of Sāmaveda which gives samvānanam in the corresponding place, although this interpretation contradicts the reading of the Padapātha samvänanā. Wackernagel notes the explanation given by Kuhno to the effect that the final -m becomes a mere
| SR No. | 006968 |
| Book Title | Amrita Collected Papers by A M Ghatage |
| Original Sutra Author | N/A |
| Author | Jitendra B Shah |
| Publisher | Kasturbhai Lalbhai Smarak Nidhi Ahmedabad |
| Publication Year | |
| Total Pages | 530 |
| Language | English |
| Classification | Book_English |
| File Size | 10 MB |