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 24

24
HERMAN TIEKEN
language on BHS. However, in particular in connection with BHS the question may arise if these instances of the extended ending are exact copies of actual endings or if they represent an attempt to translate into Sanskrit a new type of ending of adjectives and participles, or at least to render into Sanskrit the new relationship between adjective and head noun or nominal predicate and subject. While a definite answer to this question cannot be given as yet, it is clear that it would also affect the origin, or rather the status, of -au, and, mutatis mutandis, of -iya and -aya, in Apabhramsa, and ultimately also the reconstruction of the long endings in the New Indo-Aryan languages, which are generally derived through a process of contraction from disyllabic endings such as -au and -iya.65
As indicated, the above remarks concerning the origin of the extended and long endings are of a highly tentative and speculative nature. As such, they form a starting point for a future investigation into the possible existence of an altogether different factor operative in the origin of the long endings in Apabhraṁśa and in the New Indo-Aryan languages, namely that of lengthening. Also marked for further study is the influence of Sanskrit (and Prakrit) on the formation of Apabhramsa as a literary dialect. Above, it has been suggested that pattern 1 might be straight Sanskrit, a suggestion which unfortunately could not be pursued for lack of material from prose texts. It is in any case clear that Apabhramsa has been constantly refashioned in the light of Sanskrit. As another possible instance of the influence of Sanskrit on Apabhramsa, beside the extended endings -au and -iya, may be considered the reintroduction of a nasal element (anusvära as well as the metrically neutral anunāsika) in, for instance, the instrumental singular endings -i and -e and in the ntr. singular ending -au after the corresponding Sanskrit endings.66
In the present study several points had to be left open. It has become clear, for instance, that Alsdorf's statistical material of the various endings in the Harivamsapuräna will have to be extended to include the occurrences of the short ending -u as well. Furthermore, as already indicated, with -u, -au and -a, the number of endings is not yet exhausted, as the Prākṛtapaimgala exhibits a fourth one, namely -o. The circumstances of the occurrences of this latter ending will have to be considered as well.
These, and other points have been marked by me for future research. In the present article I hope to have shown, however, that the occurrence of the long and extended endings beside the short one was in the first place determined by functional factors, and that the derivation of the