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VERSIONS OF ASOKA'S MINOR ROCK EDICT
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influence. This was rightly altered in the Mysore version in keeping with the western forms, but allowed to remain in the yr version.
(6) Treatment of 1:1: As is to be expected the eastern s version gives the forms with l, and in this respect the b version also agrees with it. cf. udala (udāra), cila (cira), etc. As against this, the kpb and the yr versions agree with the non-eastern treatment and show r. cf. udara, cira, etc. The ru version in Central India, however, gives forms with r as well as 1 : satireka,24 arādhe[ta] vaa5 (
ā rādh-), cira, and savachara, but also sātileka, udala, Vpalakama (parav kreem), apalıdhiya (aparārdhya ?), ahāla (āhāra), vālata (varatan). The mk version, which is further in the south, is allowed to be more free from the eastern influence in this regard. Cf..... [t]ire .., pure, but kalamta
(V kar), udūla ka. This state of affairs shows that the eastern speech habit to use l was known very much outside its home so that the scribes who worked for the ru and mk versions thought it proper to use some forms with I to show familiarity with the king's speech. Moreover, it is also possible that the original draft contained some of these words with l as a result of the influence of the king's speech.27 While these were completely altered in some versions, it was only partly done in the others.
(7) Sibilants: As in the standard western Prakrit, the versions of the minor rock edict have only the dental sibilant in a large majority of cases. But as the north-western dialect shows distinction between the three sibilants we have at least one instance of the palatal ś in Saka (sākya), and one instance of the cerebral s in vasa (varsa), both in mk.28 In b, the palatal é is found in an attempt at hyper-north-westernisation in śvaga (svarga); exactly as we have saca (satya), sava (sarva), and ācarinsa (ācāryasya) in the Mysore version.
(8) Cerebralisation : The cerebralisation of dentals is particularly an eastern characteristic. But instances of cerebralisation are found in many forms in the north-west also and hence such cases can be witnessed in the versions of the minor rock edict. Thus for t > 1,29 cf.
24. BUEHLER and SENART read såtileka, cf. HULTZSCH, p. 166, f.n. 1. 25. TURNER, loc. cit., p. 8, would read aladhetava-; iladhi and Vāladha- occur al
ready in the K version in the north. Kalanta occurs in K as well. Some Magadhisms showing l for r have been well known in S, M, and G versions also. BLOCH (op. cit., p. 48) regads these cases as scribal errors and considers that they do not represent the actual pronunciation. True, they do not reflect the pronunciation of the west or central dialect but surely they point to the dis
tinction maintained in the original draft which came from the north-west. 29. The western dental, however, can be seen in pavatitaviya (pravartitavya) and
pakiti (prakrti) in yr.
Madhu Vidyā/272
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