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260
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
[SEPTEMBER, 1876.
the Sanskrit prati there is produced on the one equal to the Sansk. priyah as to priyam; but in hand, by the dropping of the r, pati; on the other, the western dialect the masculine has always o. first, the form priti (pērti): anr, as well as an 8, There is no explanation whatever to be given of serving to effect the transition to an immediately dva instead of ydva. Briefly, however hazardous following t in the class of dentals. In the oldest it may appear, we will not refrain from expressing Indian of all, this sometimes takes place, in the the conjecture that the text had been written Sanskrit still more frequently, while in the Prikrits originally in the language of the king himself, the it is the rule. Thus the Sanskrit krita becomes Magadhf; that the other redactions are translations pretty generally in the Prakrits kata; perti, pati, thereof, more or less successful; and that Magadhi and thence later padi, pali, and pari. We find the forms have crept into the versions. We cannot, same inconsistency in vadh along with vadh. The
however, regard the word thaira, Sansk. sthavira, distinction between the dental and lingual has as a Magadhism, for at becomes th at the begin. not yet died out, but the author or transcriber con
ning of a word in the Girnari as well. This much tinually confuses them; thus dasand should have is certain, that the Magadhi text of Dhauli, which, the dental; rúpáni, on the contrary, the lingual 1. alas ! has suffered most, and has been the most A carelessness of frequent occurrence in the hastily transcribed--is throughout the most conmajority of Indian MSS., even the most recent, is
sistent with itself in spelling and word-formation, the use of the t after 8, instead of the aspirated th,
is the best written, and excels the two other reas in tistanto, seste. This is not the only point dactions in the correct use of the connecting which shows clearly that the habits of the Indian particles. transcribers all existed at that time ;-the custom "It is also of importance to inquire in how far of indicating every nasal sound with which a any irregularities may admit of being explained syllable closes by a spurious anusvåra, simply to from the condition of an original text, because all save trouble, is another example. In general, those three redactions agree in the reading of a those documents of 258-257 B.C. present exactly very suspicious word, viz. hini (and ahent), in line the same kind of errors that we are accustomed to 11. Sans. hdni means clearly enough' diminution, find in Indian MSS. The s before, though as a and ahani non-diminution. Now if it even sign the same as the dental 8, cannot, for a simple should be supposed that the form of the participle physiological reason, possibly have been the dental. Mina had exercised some influence on that of the Before a lingual, and above all an Indian lingual, monster hini, yet in no single Prakrit, including no man can bring out anything but a lingual. The the Påli, has such a hini been found, but, on the reason why the sh was not used to indicate the contrary, hani. The fact that the three redactions required lingual must have been, that while the agree tends in this particular case not to establish, sh is indeed a lingual, it possesses, besides that, a but to weaken the reading. Because the existcharacteristic of its own, so that it comes near to ence of such a monstrosity as Mini might be in the lingual sound of a liquid 8.
some slight degree conceivable as a sporadic in"Two forms occur which I see no chance of ex. stance in a single dialect, but that such a thing plaining from the dialect of Girnår, viz. dva and
should appear in three widely diverging dialects the nouters in e, as charane, kanume, &c. That dva
or languages would be altogether too singular. savatakapd corresponds to a Sansksit ydvat sari- If, however, all the redactions are from one source, vartalalpat has been correctly perceived by Bar
then it might be possible that there was at first nouf, and admits of no doubt; but dva for Sans
an error in that source. 11 It is fortunate that the ksit ydvat is regular Magadhi, not Girnari. Let it meaning is not obscured in the redactions by the serve for proof of this assertion that the Magadhi
manner of writing. dise, Sanskrit yddyfkam, is in our document, fine
I shall now give the text of Girnar with the 4, yarisa. The termination also of the neuter in
slight modifications which appear to me justie, in seste, kamme, is Magadhi ; so also is tàries as respects the termination'; in like manner bahr
fied by comparison with the Kapurdigiri vidhe dharmacharane in line 7. It would be pre
version :sumptuous to assert positively that an e=Sansk. Atikatan antara bahoni vasasatâni vadhito am and neuter a, was absolutely unknown to the êva pânirambho, vihińskcha bhutanam, matisu Girnari; but we have doubts on the point, and asampatipati, bamhanasamanânam asampatipati; that because in Magadhi the a stems in general, ta aja Dêvánatpiyasa Piyadasino rasio dhamwhether masculine or neuter, have e in the no- macharanêna bhêrighoso aho dharmaghoso, vi. minative, and so forth. Thus Mag. piye is as much månadasanacha hastidaganacha agikhandhånicha
1 The difference between 4, 6, and is so slight in writing, that it may after all be a question whether hini really stands in all places where the trauscripts have it.
