Sambodhi 1979 Vol 08

Author(s): Dalsukh Malvania, H C Bhayani, Nagin J Shah
Publisher: L D Indology Ahmedabad

Page 17

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S. N. Ghosal
is later than it and in fact proceeds from it (bamhana) due to the transformation of h into bh owing to the formers (aspirate h's) occurrence after the class-nasal m. Here the rule stands like this. If the aspirate h comes after, a claas-nasal it is tramsformed into the sonant aspirate of that group of contact-consonant to which the pasal belongs. This in fact causés h to be changed into bh since it comes immediately after the labial nasal m. Although the word bambhana is later than bamhana the former (bam'bhana) is extremely popular in the Ardha-Māg. dialect. According to my assumption any of these two forms might be the source of the word mahang which is popular in the Ardha Māg. dialect and is unrestrictedly used in the Jain religious texts. 1. Let us see first if the word bamhana can be the source of the form mähanu. Normally mh may remain undisturbed in Prakrits, but in the subsegent time (f.e. in the age of Ap. and New Indo-Aryans) and occasionally in the period of Prakrit too mh develops into mm. One should note that the loc. sg. termination -smin in the Mah. Pkt. appears as nimi which is found both after the nominal and the pronominal bases. This is further substan ţiąted by the fact that the nom. sg. form of the base for the 1st person .i$ ammi along with some others. The form amhi is also recognised along with them. It is evident that the latter i.e. amhi comes from Pkt amhe i.e. Skt. asme and amhi itself leads to the orgin of the form ammi”, that we have just mentioned. So the transformation of the conjunct mh into mm is one of the courses of development of the conjunct-group mh, which reaches this condition (i.e. change into mm) in the age of Prākrit itself.
But this is perhaps not the only course of development. The conjunct mh of bamhane proceeding from brāhmana may undergo simplification by being transformed into simple h with the nasal element (m) being transfered to the preceding -vowel, wbich becomes subjeot to lengthening, this lengthen. ing cotnes by the way of compensasion for loss of the conjunct--consonant, which as a result of this measure becomes reduced to a simple consonant, hin: the present case as we mention above. The nasal, which is transferred to, the preceding vowel becomes reduced in quantity and appears as the anunāsika. Thus' as a result of this change bamhaņa appears finally as bāhana which ought to have been the development in New Indo-Aryan, but the possibility of its occurrence in late Prākrit cannot be absolutely ruled out sitice later trends show their fore-bodings in the earlier speeches on many occasions.
Now the word bāhanu may be substituted by vāhanas in Prākrit since the semi-vowel v appears commonly in the place of the labjal b in the principal Prākrit dialects. The nasalized vă may develop into ma in Prakrit which, very freqently happens in the Ap. speecho. This in fact brings.