Distribution Of Variant Endings U Au And A In Apabhramsa Verses In Hemacandras Prakrit Grammar

SR No.: 269457
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Herman Tiken
Publisher: Herman Tiken
Total Pages: 31
Language: English
Classification: Article
File Size: 3 MB

Page 22

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HERMAN TIEKEN
other hand, looks like a direct continuation of the one in Sanskrit and Prakrit.
More than anything else the occurrence side by side of these three competing patterns marks Apabhramsa as a linguistic patch-work. The question which arises next is if these three patterns, each with its one type of ending, represent three successive stages in the development of Apabhraíśa.
At first sight it may be tempting to maintain that pattern 1, with its Sanskritic appearance, is indeed an archaism, in the sense that it represents the earliest phase in the development of Apabhramśa. However, there is evidence to suggest that pattern 2 was already in existence well before its attestation in Apabhrarśa texts (see in this connection what has been noted below concerning the distribution of the suffix -ka in Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit). While it could be argued that Apabhramsa as a literary dialect had been formed precisely in that period of transition, in which the Sanskrit and Prākrit pattern (1) was gradually replaced by 2, at the same time it cannot be ruled out that pattern 1 was added to the linguistic repertory of Apabhramsa only relatively late as an artificial construction grafted on Sanskrit (or Prākrit). In this connection we should bear in mind that Sanskrit and Prākrit had remained in use during the whole Apabhraíśa period for literary purposes of their own. Unfortunately, however, this suggestion cannot be verified at this moment, as we lack exact quantitative data concerning the distribution of this pattern, and more particularly as we do not know whether or not it is also found in prose. If pattern 1 would be restricted to metrical texts only, this would support the suggestion that it originated as an artificial construction fabricated to cater to the specific requirements of metre.
According to Alsdorf, the long ending -ā must be considered New Indo-Aryan (Apa-Studien, p. 7, and see above, note 56). As already noted, he derived this long ending directly from -aü.57 This derivation would have a parallel in, among other things, the fem. i-stems, in which -ī would derive from -iya (< -ikā) (Apa-Studien, p. 8). In support of this derivation of -ā Alsdorf refers to several instances of metrical irregularities, which virtually all involve the use of the long ending -ā instead of disyllabic -aü.58 He even suggests to emend a certain passage by substituting the long ending -ī by iya, an emendation which he justified on the grounds that the former had been derived from the latter." It should be noted, however, that from the occurrence of -ā, where the metre requires -aü, it does not automatically follow that the à has also been derived from aü. In fact, as far as their occurrence