Indian Antiquary Vol 61

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Charles E A W Oldham, S Krishnaswami Aiyangar, Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarka
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 419

OCTOBER, 1932 ]
CRASIS, OR VOCAL SANDHI
[ $$ 176-177
176. Not only is this the rule in Dardic, but there are also instances of a true shortening of Dardic long vowels. These, however, are sporadic, and, as yet, it is impossible to lay down any general rule for them. Such are -
Skr. anayati ; Gwr. Kh.Ks.Trw. an-, but Kl. rön-, bring. Skr. khádati; My.ş. r kha-, Kš. V khe-, but Grw.Trw.r khö-, eat. Skr, asyam : BKl. azi, Gwr, häsi, but Kš. asi, mouth. Skr, rūpa-; Gwr. rup, Kš. rõp, but others rüp, &c., silver. Skr. ghotaka h; Wai. gur, Kš. guru, but others göra, &c., horse.
Crasis, or Vocal Sandhi. 177. The rule for Kāšmiri contained in the first and second sūtras of Isvarakaula's Kasmirasabdá meta-(1) samdhisiddhih padēşu, (2) na vākyēgu-applies to all LAVs. According to this, concurrent vowels are liable to contraction, when they are both in the same word, but not when they are in different words. Except in the colloquial language, there is no external Sandhi, such as we find in Skr.
Owing to the tendenoy that Prakrit has to elide single medial consonants, hiatus in the interior of a word is frequent in that language. Thus in nietàro the à and the a are in contact and form a hiatus by the elision of c (Skr, nišácarah). In Pr. (cf. Pr.Gr. $ 165) it is not usual to contract this hiatus by Sandhi, if it occurs in the interior of a word as distinct from external Sandhi) (HC. i, 8), but some writers, especially Jainas, inserted a euphonic , thus, nisávaro.
In LAV.Tbhs., there is, on the contrary, a distinct tendency to contract by Sandhi this Prakrit-begotten hiatus. The rules of this vocalic Sandhi are not always the same as those in Skr.
Vowels in contact may, therefore, in the LAVs. be treated in one of three ways, viz. :
1. They may be contracted by Sandhi. 2. They may be separated by the insertion of a euphonie letter, usually y or v..
3. They may remain in hiatus.
As one of the most frequent instances of hiatus occurs in the termination of the long forms of nouns, it will be useful again to remind the reader that all Tbh. nouns appear in a form derived from the Ap. nominative singular, and that for the purposes of the present exposition, long forms are formed by the addition of the pleonastic suffixes (k)a and (k)a(k)a. The nominative terminations of these long forms in Ap. are :Masc. (1) dü; (2) iu; (3) ùu (la) adu; (2a) iii ;
e Hc. iv, 429, 430 ; ii, 164.
(3a) udi Fem. iä (Ho. iv, 433). Neut. (1) dū; (2) iù; (3) uu H c. as above ; also iv, 354.
(la) adu; (2a) iau; (3a) udú s All these have a secondary accent on the penultimate, and in all a final a may be substituted for the final u. Thus aa, ia, &c. (Hc. iv, 344). We shall now treat the various groups of vowels in contact in order. (1) ata, ata, a tā, ātā, becomes 7. Thus:Skr.
Ар. à jagára, a boa-con- aaáru
M. ār (through áar). strictor (?)ętásmin (sthánē), chàhã
H. yană (for ihàa), B. iha, hiya, here
G. hiya, Eph. hya, A. iyá-l.
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