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An Unassimilated Group in Apabhramsa
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confirmed by the use of words containing r-groups or the vowel r as (iv) jraṁ, truṁ (or other variants all containing this group) (v) prassa- 'to see (with the doubtful exception of Mk.) (v) jatru, tatru (Mk. doubtful) (vi) grnha- 'to take'. To these Purusottama alone adds (vii) forms like kimpradi etc. The vracada dialect is distinguished from this normal type of Apabhramsa by the additional rules like (i) the preservation of r and groups of consonant+r except in words like bhrtya, (ii) vrs- becoming varha- (Mk. doubtful) and brū- becoming broppi etc. (Pu. doubtful). Kramadīśvara has the additional rule that this dialect keeps groups of r+consonant. For the present we are not concerned with other features which are said to distinguish these two dialects.
The position of the Prākrit grammarians may be summarised as follows. Hemacandra and others do not know any dialectal distinctions in Apabhraṁśa and allow for this language the preservation of ļ and groups like consonant+r, and the presence of an inorganic r in a few words. The grammarians of the eastern school, Purusottama Markandeya and Rāmatarkavägisa allow the first rule for both nāgara and vrācada, while the peculiar feature of vrācada alone is varha- coming in place of vrh-, because it is not possible to ascertain what is peculiar to vrācada in the forms broppi and broppinu, whether the base or the termination. For Kramadīśvara, the distinguishing feature of vrācada is the retention of r+consonant, of which varha- may be regarded as a specific illustration. Now in this fact Kramadīśvara is alone and the base varha- is too isolated to form clear distinction between the two dialects. Thus there is no authority for regarding groups of consonant+r as a feature which, should separate vrācada from nāgara and the group r+consonant has the authority of Kramadīśvara only with the solitary of sarpi.
In the light of these facts it will be now necessary to examine the Apabhramsa stanzas quoted by the early rhetoricians and particularly by Hemacandra in his grammar, in order to see how far they keep traces of conjuncts with r. The two stanzas of Rudrata illustrating bhāsāślesa of Sanskrit and Apabhramśa (IV. 15, 21) show forms like abhramada, prasara, krīdanti, prasaranti, pranaya, bhramarā, mitra and suvibrama all of which keep groups of plosive+r. The word durdhara, which occurs in the first verse, however, has suffered assimilation in becoming duddhara. In the verses quoted by Hemacandra, we find traces of r and groups of r in the following words : grnhai (336). prangani, dhrum, tram, bhrantri (360), krdantaho (370), tudhra