Indian Antiquary Vol 49

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarkar
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 113

JUNE, 1920]
THE WIDE SOUND OF E ANDO
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THE WIDE SOUND OF E AND O IN MARWARI AND GUJARÍTI. BY PANDIT VIDHUS HEKHARA BHATTACHARYA SHASTRI : SANTINIKET.NA
The controversy between Dr. Tessitori and Mr. Divatia regarding the above subject leads me to write the following lines which may throw a little light on some of the points discussed by them.
It is a well-known fact that the Sanskrit diphthongs ai and au ( it) are com. posed of two vowels, ati and atu respectively; and though each of these two groups of vowels has two syllables separately, they form only one syllable in the resultant diphthongs, For a diphthong is a long vowel, and therefore its component vowels must combine themselves in such a way that they may not exceed the regulation quantity of one long vowel. It therefore follows that the component vowels must suffer loss in their original quantity and such loss may be unequal in amount in the mutual adjustment, that is to say, the one portion may occupy longer duration than the other.
This is what the Prátisakhyas affirm when they say that the first element of a diphthong (i.e. a, 9 ) is short and the second (i.e. i or u, 6, 7, ) is far longer than the first.1
It has, however, not been strictly followed in the vernaculars, for, as we shall see later on, sometimes the first and sometimes the second element of a diphthong has been lengthened and this has given rise to different words from the original.
Neither the ai (&) (with a single exception, see Hem., VIII, 1. 161 ; Trivikrama, II, 2. 74 - Shadbhasha, B.S.S. p. 150), nor au (*) of Sanskrit is to be found in Prakrita, the former becoming generally (i) a-, -, and the latter a-u, -3-, both in two syllables, and sometimes (ii) , T, and 0, wit, respectively.
The Prakritic a-i and a-u in two syllables gradually began to contract themselves into one syllable again, according to the principle of quiescence or disappearance of medial or final vowels a process the operation of which is seen widely, not only in our vernaculars, but also in the Vedic and classical Sanskrit, about which I have already discussed in detail elsewhere. By the word quiescence, for which I have used the Sanskrit term grasta ( YET), following Prof. Jogeshchandra Ray in the article referred to, I mean a vowel sound which first becomes inarticulate and then gradually disappears or is deprived of its proper or original quantity. For instance, from the stem or crude form rajan in the singular number fourth case-ending e we have first rd-ja-ne in three syllables, and then, according to the principle above mentioned and the rules thereof, the second syllable, i.e., a in ja first becomes quiescent, and finally disappears, giving rise to the form rdj-ne in two syllables, which again in accordance with Sandhi rules coalesces into rájñe. Let us take another example. The H. chaudha ( T ) is derived from Skt. chaturthaka through the stages as follows :(i) cha-tur-tha-ka>(i) Pr. cha-u-tha-a>(iii) cha-u-tpha > (iv) chau-tha>(v) chau-tha. Here in the third stage, a trisyllabic word cha-u-tthd can never change into the fourth stage chauttha until the second syllable (i.e. the u of the trisyllabic cha-u-tha) lessens its own quantity or matrd and combines with the preceding syllable, i.e. the a in cha. This decrease in quantity is governed by a principle which I have explained in the paper alluded to. For the sake of convenience I shall denote such thinned vowels by putting them above the line. Thus the dissyllabic chau-thd is to be written chatha and so on.
1 According to Řk. Pr., Benaro, XIII, 41, the mderd of the first element (a) is and that of the second (i or w) is 14. See Tai. Pr. Mysore, II. 26-29. (Ubbata says +1t=2.)
3 Vangiya-Sahitya Parishat-Patrikd, Vol. xxv, pp. 26 ft.