Collected Articles Of LA Schwarzschild On Indo Aryan 1953 1979

Author(s): Royce Wiles
Publisher: Australian National University

Page 50

Nos. 1 & 2]
GLEANINGS FROM THE VASUDEVAHINDI
25
BHARATIYA VIDYA
[Vol. xvm
This confusion between prefixes explains words in category 2 where av-0- was in a closed syllable, but it cannot account for the difference between category 1 (avatârâmi uyarâmi) and 3 (avaler- ulclas). One would only expect the latter, as the final consonant of the prefix ud-caused reduplication of the initial consonant of the following word.
The changes undergone by the Sanskrit system of composition by prefix in Middle Indo-Aryan help to explain the varied developments. Sometimes phonetic change has caused a weakening of the system and compounds were no longer recognised as such, particularly if they had become dissociated in meaning from the simple verb: thus Apabhramsa baisai 'sits' is no longer felt as a compound verb derived from spa + visati, the simple visai <ulate 'enters' is rare and has become completely separated by phonetic evolution. But in Prakrit the majority of compound verbs were still felt as compounds and connections that were severed by phonetie evolution were often re-established: the changes involved are simple and less startling than the recompositions so characteristic of the Romance languages. Thus in Maharastri, where the development of intervocalie consonants has gone further than in the other Prakrits pabhäsei from prabhas "to speak' is found as well as the regular pahasei, pakarei is more usual than the confusing payarei from pra + ker to make' under the in fluence of the simple karei; paritapp occurs for pariyapp- 'to suffer pain and there are very many other examples. When ud- preceded a word beginning with a sibilant recomposition was practically the rule, and seems to have taken place very early: the sibilant either caused assimilation of the preceding d of ud-, or caused the disappearance of the d with compensatory lengthening of the tof ud: e.g. Sanskrit wechas to breathe gives in Ardhamagadhi both isas- and
There was then clearly a feeling that the prefix U-rud belonged to a syllable of two morae (either a closed syllable or one containing a long a) in the majority of cases. But when the original Sanskrit tid had been followed by a vowel the question of double consonants or of lengthening never arose: eg. Sanskrit udirana gives Maharastri wirana 'sending out'. There was therefore also a tendency in Prakrit speakers to think of a prefix that was simply and this tendency was strengthened by some words in which the prefix upo- 'hither' had also become treg. Sanskrit upaya "device' Jain Maharastri uyd The fact that a simples in an open syllable was felt as a prefix is shown by some of the compounds formed with the prefix upa- which lose the initial - in back-formations involving the wrong analysis of t as a prefix: e.g. Sanskrit tiparasatha gives the Jain technical term posaha; Sanskrit pinahau 12. R. Pischel, op. cit. 327 .
"shoes' becomes påhando 18 in Ardhamagadhi; vakianta 14 in the Kalpastra is probably derived from spakrante 'begun'; vantha in the Apabhrama of the Harivamsapurâna is derived from spavasta P.p. of upavas- 'to fast', and Apabhrama baisai 'sits' comes from upavlati. It was therefore in the form of a simple that the prefix sud- replaced ar-O- in Middle Indo-Aryan. This explains the absence of reduplication in the following consonant and accounts for the examples in the Vasudevahindi: Sanskrit avalambita olambio + - lambio, avatarati oyarai +
garai, avaviddha ouiddha + > tviddha,
apasarati osaras + -> sarai ete. As in a number of other instances the archaic Jain Maharastri of the Vasudevahindi has thus given us an indication of a transitory feature of the spoken language which is little attested elsewhere. For a while there existed side by side the two factors which account for the differences in development between the two categories 1 and 3: consciousness of a prefix u plus double consonant on the one hand, and on the other consciousness that a simple was also a prefix. Gradually the first tendency gained ascendaney, seeing that it was in agreement with the general trend to preserve the initial consonant of the word that followed the prefix and to remodel compounds. In the Vasudevahindi there is some overlapping in meaning, as already pointed out for Sanskrit, but on the whole syarat cautarati 'to descend is still kept separate from uttarai utarats 'to emerge from'. In Apabhramia uttarai has ousted syarai and we find for instance in the Paumasiricarius uttariya in the meaning "put down'. It is from this form with the double consonant that Gujarati utarou, Hindi utarnd etc. are derived. Similarly Hindi tard to recede' is not derived directly from Sanskrit tutarati 'to leap up', but from apasarati 'to recede' via Middle Indo-Aryan sraite fuarai (Vasudevahindi). With recomposition and doubling of the consonant this word gave ussarai in later Jain Maharastri and in Apabhramba.
The intermediate stage shown by the Vasudevahindi gives an indication of the complexities of developments in Middle Indo-Aryan: it shows just one detail of the many changes and remodellings that helped to weaken the old system of composition. The complete decay of the system and the gradual rise of new methods of expression is characteristic of Apabhrana. 13 or a different interpretation of these two examples ef. Pischel, op. cit. 141. 14. The etymology volkantavalduta glven in the Pala-saddha-mahannavos
satisfactory as it involves a complete reversal of the meaning of the word. 15 CE HC Bhayanland MC Modl, Pow e r Singh Jain series, Bombay
1968 Glossary Ev. 16 Gujarati
- may represent a recombosition of this form or it may more probably show the influence of oral. CI. P. B. Pandit loe. cit
- 80 -