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EPIGRAPHIA INDICA.
original from which the Sauraseni termination ado and the Mahashtri áo have been derived. Peculiar is also the nominative, instead of the crude form, at the end of the first part of & compound. It occurs once in I. 3, where kekatey akasa jamata-vijitasa is a negligent spelling for kekateyakasa jámátá-Dijitasa, and takes the place of the grammatically correct jámátu or jámáti-dijitasa. The some anomaly is repeatedly observable in the Bharhut inscriptions, see e.g. No. 10, isimigo-játaka, and it is very common in the Jaina Mathura inscriptions. Further, the use of the feminine affix á at the end of female names in derá, e.g. Sonado [de]oá, I, 8; Dhamadevá II, 3; which agrees with that of the Bharhut inscriptions e.g. in Chapadeva, No. 22, differs from the Pali. But it would be correct even in Sanskrit, if the compounds are taken as Bahuvrihis and in the sense of "she whose god is Sona, Dhama, or Chapa."13
The word-forms are in general of the type of the Pali and of Asoka's Girnar edicts. Even the ra, which is never changed to la, is occasionally preserved in groups of consonants. And it is worthy of note that in the name Prátithanasa, I. 12, even the spelling of the initial syllable agrees exactly with that used in the Girnår inscriptions for words like prána, priya and so forth. The á stroke is attached to ra, and both are placed above the pa, which thus shows at the top the well-known wavy line. Some of the words, which differ from those used in Pali and Aboka's edicts, are at least formed according to principles prevalent or traceable in the most ancient Prakrits. Bhichhu, which appears far more frequently than bhikhu, shows the change of ksha to chchha or chha observable in Pali achchhi, a variant for akkhi, and Asoka's chhudaka for khudaka and other words. The only remarkable point is that the form with chha does not occur in this particular case in Pali, nor in Asoka's edicts, but that it is found repeatedly in the Bharhut inscriptions see, e.g., Nog. 27, 31, 65, 120. Nhusá, I. 22, which clearly stands for Sanskrit mushá“ daughter-in-law" has been formed according to the principle applied in Pali to medial on. It is interesting, because neither the Pali nor Asoka's dialects admit the group nh in the beginning of this or any other word. The Pali forms for snusha are sunisá, sunha and husá.16 Nusá, a further corruption of nhusá, appears in our inscription, I. 73. The proper name Patithiya, I. 22, 23, no doubt represents the Sanskrit pratishthita, and thus shows an elision of a medial ta. Such elisions are rare in the most ancient Prakrits. Nevertheless, a number of similar forms has been collected in Professor Kuhn's Beiträge zur Palt Grammatik, p. 56.
A large number of other peculiarities which the Sanchi and Bharhut inscriptions exhibit are, I think, merely graphic and partly due to negligent spelling. Among these I would reckon :(1) The frequent omission of a medial long á, e.g. in danam for dánan, I. 6, 49, 82,
jamata for jámátá, I. 3, Achalaya for Achalaya, I. 6, Sonado[de]vaya for Sonadevaya, I. 8, upasikaye for upásikaye, I. 20, Asvadevaye for Advadeváye, 1. 80, Yasilaya for Yasilaya, I. 33, pojavatiya for pajávatiya, I. 48, bhatu for whátu, I. 63, Samidatasa for Sámidatasa, I, 65, Avisinaye for Avisinaye,
3/8ee ante, vol. I, p. 375.
W such compounds would fall under the general rule of Papini, IV; 1, 4 wbich teaches that nouns in a taked in the feminine
Soe E. Müller: Pali Grammar, p. 56;-Kuhn: Beitrage sur Pali-Grammatik, p. 62.
Another abnormal chha occurs in soch ha, Sanskrit faslaha and Pali sokha, Bharhut inscriptions, No. 16. * The latter probably stood in I, C. 58, where Sir A. Cunningham gives a meaningless pusa; see below, note 27.
