________________
84
Amrita
Nemināhacariu writes an Apabhraíśa which uniformly assimilates thergroups, while his contemporary Hemacandra describes in his grammar a language which preserves them and it is natural to suppose that the grammarian is describing a slightly older phase of the language which has become classical by his time, probably following an older grammatical tradition. As rightly pointed out by Alsdorf this cannot mean that works which do not show such groups are younger than others having them, for the text tradition may have removed such group which was easy in view of the fact that such a change could not disturb the metre. Moreover, we now find a poet using side by side forms with and without these groups. The only reasonable conclusion to which we can arrive is to regard them as simply alternative forms current along with the others or at most, as. archaisms continued in the literary language far beyond their natural date. . :)
If this is what can be ascertained about the conjuncts of the normal type of Apabhramsa, it will be possible to reconsider the question about the dialectal difference between the nāgara and vrācada dialects. Jacobi rejected the presence or absence of groups with consonants +r as marking the difference between the two in favour of regarding vrācada as keeping r+consonants, while nāgara as having consonants tor, on the authority of Kramadīśvara. But expect for the illustration sarpi given by his commentator and two forms in Hemacandra's Kumārapālacarita, narmada and sarmada (8. 80) we have no trace of such forms and thus we are unable to ascertain what value should be attached to Kramadīśvara's statement. On the contrary, all the other grammarians of the eastern school agree in attributing the preservation of the same type of conjuncts, consonant+r to both nāgara and vrăcada, and the mode of their writing implies a kind of distinction between the two. It may be that they implied the rule as having a limited application in nāgara while it was operative everywhere in vrācada. The exceptions noted by Mārkandeya to his rule in vrācada with the gana bhrtyādi only pertain to the vowel and not to r-groups, as can be seen from his list, bhrtya-bhica, nrtya nicca, krtya = kicca and krtyā = kiccā. If this is possible, it follows that vracada, as distinguished from nāgara, must keep these r- conjuncts both initially and in the middle as well and in that case, these conjuncts can only be of the type in which the first consonant is geminated. Then the verses of Rudrata can continue to represent the vracada dialect and we may suggest that the two distinct pronunciations of the r-groups distinguished vrācada from nāgara with the further consequence that while in the medial position they can continue in the first, only the initial groups can be preserved in the