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BAHUBALI COLOSSI
243 far older than Marathi which it has enriched with not a few of its own words and grammatical forms. Now the word 'Gomata' or 'Gommata' which is still found in Konkani as Gomato' and 'Gommato' (masculine nom. sing.) is not found in Marathi, except in that of the Konkan and not outside of it as Gomata (masc. nom. sing.), This word is therefore clearly native to Konkani, and to no other Prakrit language.
(1) Skt. manthana (churning)= Kon. 'gantana': here we find the initial 'm' of the Sanskrit word changing into 'g' in Konkani,
(2) Sanskrit 'patha' (path) = Konkani 'vata': Sanskrit granthi (knot)= Kon. 'ganti': here we find that the final 'th' of the Sanskrit word changes into 't' in Konkani. As another instance of this change may be cited the name 'Mammata' of the great rhetorician (author of Kavyaprakasa) which is also a 'Tadbhava' of the Sanskrit Manmatha.
(3) The change of the initial 'a' sound of Sanskrit words into an 'o' (rather a short 'o'han a long one) sound in Konkani is very common in the latter language-e.g., Sanskrit 'panasa' (jack fruit)= Kon. ponasa ; Sanskrit 'bakula' (a flower)=Kon. 'vovla': Skt. 'madhu' (honey)= Kon. 'mo-u'; Skt. Navati (ninety)= Kon. ‘novi'; Skt, rasa (juice)=Kon. 'rosu'; Skt. katu (bitter)= Kon. 'kodu' etc.
All these changes will suffice to prove that the Sanskrit word Manmatha becomes Gommata in Konkani.
Another reason why I hold that the form Gommata is native to Konkani and was thence borrowed into Kanarese dia Marathi in all probability, is that we find such a peculiar word as 'Gova' (masc. nom. sing. ‘govu'=husband, master, lord), which is purely and undoubtedly native to the Konkani language, to be in use in Kanaresel from perhaps a very early period. Possibly this word ‘gova' also filtered down into Kararese through Marathi medium. Though at present it is conspicuous by its absence in
1. I give only 2 examples which come to my mind just now: (1160 A.C.) 'King Ereyamga (of the Hoysala dynasty) who is the lord of heroen' ("Epigraphia Camatica', vol. v. No. 193); (1286 A.C.) This King Narasimba (of the Hoysala dynasty) who is the lord of heroes' ('Epigraphia Carnatica', vol. xii. No. 123). In both the word 'Gova' occurs.
Shree Sudharmaswami Gyanbhandar-Umara, Surat
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