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THE JAINA GAZETTE the final 'th' of the word 'Manmatha' would not retain in Kanarese the final ‘h' sound it has in the Prakrit (Gammaha), but would naturally change into a 't', and thus the S. 'Manmatha' = Pkt. 'Gammaha' would become, in its Kanarese 'Tadbhava' form, 'Gammata'.
(2) In Kanarese words, the initial 'a' sound alternates with the short 'o' (as in the English word 'not') sound-e.g., (1) magu (a child)= mogu; mammaga (grandson)=mommaga; magacu (to subvert = mogacu; tappalu (valley)= toppalu; daddi (cowshed) = doddi; sappu (dry leaves) = soppu; mala (a cubit)= mola etc. Therefore it is an easy and inevitable passage from Gammata to Gommata. 1
(3) It is to be noted that the short 'e' sound (as in the English words 'net', etc.) as well as the short o' sound as in the English words 'not', 'rod', 'sob' etc.) is conspicuous by their absence in Sanskrit, and though the said sounds are found in the Prakrit, it has no separate letters to denote the same. Now in the word Gommata, the initial sound is that of the short 'o' and though the same is metrically lengthened by the following double consonant, it never changes into the sound of the long'o'. So it is but natural, that, when this word has had to be employed in Sanskrit, its initial short 'o' sound would be lengthened into that of a long o', to suit the phonetic exigencies of Sanskrit, and thus 'Gommata' would become 'Gomata'; this explains why in Prakrit we find the form 'Gommata' employed in preference, and in Sanskrit the form 'Gomata'.
(4) It has already been said above that the Sanskrit word 'patha' (path) becomes 'batte' in its Kanrese 'Tadbava' lorm. It will be seen that the final dental aspirate 'th' of the Sanskrit word changes into a double unaspirated tenuis of the cerebral class : similarly 'Manmatha' would become "Gommatta' (with an initial short 'o') or 'Gomatta' (with an initial long 'o').
(5) As regards the form Gummata, however, it is only a variant of Gommata, the initial short ö' sound of Gommata having been changed into or displaced by the short 'u' sound. Examples of the interchangeability of these two allied vowel
1 The form Gammata is nowhere to be found. Shree Sudharmaswami Gyanbhandar-Umara, Surat
www.umaragyanbhandar.com
