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OCTOBER, 1899.) EAST-CENTRAL GROUP OF INDO-ARYAN VERNACULARS. 267
i. e., we may either use the direct expression, he will go,' or we may bay it will be to-be-gone by him.' The first is in Sanskrit chalishyati, and the second chalitavyam used impersonally. We sball first trace the former into the modern languages. In Sauragêni it first became chalissaï, with the same elision of t that we noticed in the case of the past participle. Then the two 's's became changed to h, and we have chalihaž. This form has survived to the present day, and in Braj Bhâkhả and other Sauraseni-derived dialects means he will go.'3 The whole tense is thus conjugated in Braj Bhakha. Singular.
Plural. Marihaữ, I shall strike
Marihat 2. Márihai
Márihat 3. Marihai
Márihai
We are thus entitled to say that the characteristic of the future tense in the Saurashni group of dialects is the syllable ih.
The Magadbi group of dialects, i. e., those which form the Eastern Group of Indo-Aryan vernaculars, on the contrary prefers to form its future on the impersonal passive future participle, an example of which is the Sanskrit word chalitavyam, it is to be gone, equivalent in meaning to the Latin eundum. The impersonal nature of this participle should be noticed. It does not say who is to go. It leaves this to be supplied by a pronoun. The Sanskrit chalitavyam becomes in both Prakrits chaliavvam, and we find the next stage of growth in the word chalaba, in the old Eastern Hindi of Tulasi Dis. It is here used as a pure future, and is not changed either for person or number. Ohalaba means I, thon, he, we, you, they will go. The explanation is the original meaning in Sanskrit. As in that language, the word literally means it is to be gone.' Who it is that has to go, is left to be defined by the aid of a pronoun. Hence the form of the verb remains unchanged.
Coming now to the present day, we may take Bengali as an example of the Eastern groap of languages. Assamese and Origa follow it in every particular. As in the case of the past tense, Bengali cannot use the future participle alone, it must add enclitic pronouns to it. Its future participle ends in it. That is to say the Prakrit chaliavvam becomes chalib ; while similarly the Sanskrit mári-tavyam, it is to be struck, becomes in Prakrit mariavvam, and in Bengali marib. To this it adds the enclitic pronouns. When a Bengali wishes to say I shall strike,' he says 'márib,''it is to be struck, and then '8,' which he writes a, 'by me,'i, e., márib-a. The Bengali future is therefore conjugated as follows :Singular.
Plural. 1. Mar-ib-a, I shall strike
Mar-ib-a 2. Már-ibi
Már-ib-e 3. Már-ib-é
Mar-it-en
The remaining Eastern language, Bihari, holde fast to the same principle in forming the first two persons of the future. That is to say, it adheres to the base with 6, in this case, marab. It is, however, unable to make up its mind about the third person. In Maithili and Magadhi it uses the present participle somewhat clumsily for this person of the future, but in Bhojpuri it takes refuge in the ih-future which we have just met in Sanrasêni, so that we have the curious spectacle of a future in which the first two persons are really impersonal passives, while the third person is active. As in the case of the Past tense, however, all memory of the
The chalāga which we moet as the future in the ordinary Hindustant of the books has an altogether differen derivation.
