In Search of the Original Ardhamagadhi English Translation

Author(s): K R Chandra, N M Kansara, Nagin J Shah, Ramniklal M Shah
Publisher: Prakrit Text Society Ahmedabad

Page 105

In Search of the Original Ardhamāgadhi
K.R. Chandra (5) 'nn' = 'nn' is purely a Mahārāstrī Prakrit' pnonetic process, not the one of Pāli, Māgadhī, Paiśācī or Sauraseni as per the grammarians themselves.
(6) The usage with'nn' = 'nn'in the original (i.e. archaic) Ardhamāgadhī, therefore, is tantamount to forcibly knowingly or unknowingly transforming it into Mahārāstrī. Has this not happened in the past ? and is yet happening ? due only to ignorance about the genuine characteristics of the original Ardhamāgadhi language ?
(7) Prof. Schübring has throughout adopted'nn' for 'jñ', but in adopting 'y' in place of 'tr' and in leaving off 'tt', he has chosen improper reading. It seems unavoidable to point out that he too has been influenced by the derivational equivalance with the word 'khedajña'. He has adopted nitiya' in place of nitya'; which is quite proper as it is archaic form. But, `niiya' and 'niiya' are purely artificial, and looks as if it is the literal implementation of the rule of elision of the medial'-ta' without taking into consideration the archaic trait of the language of East India of the Ashokan times.
(8) It is surprising to find that neither the word 'nitiya (which is archaic), nor the 'miiya' or 'niiya' are there in the Prakrit Grammar of Pischel
(9) There has been the prevalence of anaptyxix in the ancient inscriptions and ancient Prakrit, as for instance, kya = 'kiya' 'tya' = 'tiya', 'vya' = 'viya', etc.; in conjunct consonants whereas assimilation of them belongs to a later period.
(10) The change of 'e'to‘’ (preceding the conjunct consonants), e.g., 'samicca in place of ‘samecca', will not be found everywhere, nor is it a characteristic of antiquity.
(11) The Ardhamāgadhī literature is full of the usage of medial 'k' = 'g'; which is sporadically traced in (the Ashokan inscripcions of the Eastern region, in the form of an option only. Elision of medial 'k' is the common characteristic of the Mahārāstrī Prakrit; and this process of elision belongs to a much later period. The elision of medial 'd' and 't',
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