Book Title: Indian Antiquary Vol 43
Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarkar
Publisher: Swati Publications
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APRIL, 1914.] NOTES ON GRAMMAR OF THE OLD WESTERN RAJASTHANI
various class nasals. The passing of anusvára into anundsika had already begun in the Prakrit and Apabhramça stage. Prâkrit Grammarians state that in Prâkrit and Apabhramça poetry the terminations,,, etc., can be accounted both long and short i.e., the terminal nasal may be optionally treated as anusvára or as anunásika (see Pischel, § 180). Hemacandra, sûtra iv, 411 of his Prâkrit grammar, states that in Apabhramça the terminations... are commonly,' (pryas) pronounced as short and from the examples quoted in his grammar we can see that the same is the case with the terminations, and . It would therefore seem that terminal anusvára had already passed into anunûsika in the Apabhramça and if we judge from the evidence of the verses quoted by Hemacandra, where nearly all terminal nasals are anundsika and only a few ones anusvára, we feel inclined to believe that the former represent the rule and the latter the exception, i.e., that in Apabhrança terminal anusvâra had actually become anunâsika in the ordinary language and had survived only in poetry, where it continued to be employed whenever a long syllable was required.
In passing from Apabhramça to Old Western Rajasthani anusvara and anunâsika are treated as follows:
(1) Medial anusvira is changed to anuntsika when the preceding vowel is lengthened. Ex : sacaraï (P. 388) <Ap. samcarai <Skt. samcarati,
sābhala (Kal. 35) <Ap. sambhalai (Cf. Hc., iv, 74) <Pkt. sambharai (cf. Pischel, § 313) <Skt. samsmarati.
(2) Medial anusvára preceded by two vowels, which contract into a long vowel different from á, may be dropped. Ex.:
jûjûyan (Dd. 1) <Ap. juamjua<Skt. *yugamyugakaḥ. (3) Medial anunâsika is generally retained. Ex.:
kuara (Dd. 1) <Ap. *kuara-, *kidra- <Skt. kumara-, kuári (Vi. passim) <Ap. kudri, küvûri <Skt. kumari.
In the following examples, medial anundsika has been transposed:
tha (Çâl. 72) <Ap. thai <Skt. *sthâme (-sthane),
bhui (Crâ., P. 318) <Ap. bhui <Skt. bhûmi.
(4) Terminal anusvára or anunâsika of the Apabhramça is generally retained under the form of anunâsika in Old Western Rajasthânî. Ex.:
tā, tiha (see §§ 90, 98, (1)) <Ap. taha (Hc. iv, 355) <Pkt. tamha<Skt. tasmát,
pânii (Daç. iv)<Ap. paniae <Skt. pânîyakena,
rakhau (Kal. 30) <Ap. rakkhau<Skt. *rakṣakam (? See Pischel, § 454), váhla (Adi. 22) <Ap. vallahaha or haha Skt. * vallabhasm (?-vallabhanam), hi (e § 83) <Ap. hau <Skt. ahakam.
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Occasionally, however, it is transposed, as in:
kai (see § 91) <Ap. kâi <Skt. kâni,
and it is dropped, when falling on two vowels, which contract into e, as in:
dine (P. 685) <Ap. di nahi <Skt. #dinabhis (-dinais).
(5) In the following example anunâsika is changed to m
kimha-i (Daç., passim) <Ap. kahi-i, kahi-vi<Skt. katham-api.
(6) Euphonic anundsika is commonly added to medial â, chiefly when the latter is followed by the nasals ?, n, m or by h. Ex.:
pura na (P. 3), svana (P. 48), nima (P. 521), vrihma ja (P. 26), mähii (P. 573).
(To be continued
