Studies in Desya Prakrit

Author(s): H C Bhayani
Publisher: Kalikal Sarvagya Shri Hemchandracharya Navam Janmashatabdi Smruti Sanskar Shikshannidhi Ahmedabad

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2.
simtā versus simdha ( 8. 29 ) 'whistling through nose' (nāsikanāda-).
From among the variants simdhā, sindā, simţà Pischel has selected the first, “only in consideration of Sindhi simdha (fem.) ‘a whistle, whistling'". But we know that siți (or a closely similar form) is inherited by many NIA. languages. Consider, for example, Nepali and Bengali siți, Hindi and Panjabi siți, Lahanda sit, Sindhi siță, Gujarati siți, Marathi śiți. Most of these words go back to *sițțiā. Its nasalized variant would be simțiā which is but an enlarged form of simță. These facts would now support sińţă against simdha. 3. picca- versus pivva- (6, 46) 'water' (jala-).
Going against a substantial majority of his MSS., Pischel has preferred pivva- over picca-, because 'the word is apparently derived from pibati'. But now we have some evidence to support in this case too, the MSS. against Pischel. Puspadanta's Nāyakumäracariu" has the following passage :
apusiya-nayaņa-cuyamsua-piccam annāyaḥ niva ghosai niccam (5-10, 20-21)
'O King, without wiping the waters of tears trickling from the eyes, he (i.e. the Sabara) always shouts loudly : “injustice”!
Here the gloss equates picca- with jala-. As the word rhymes with niccam in the next line, the spelling with -cc- is quite definite and there is no scope for suspecting any confusion of -cc- and -yv-. Hence picca- is to be preferred to pivva-. . 4. ovatti versus ovaddhi (1, 151) 'knot of the garment (nivi).
All the printed editions have ovaddhi. Some of the MSS. read
8. Vide Nepali Dictionary, s. v. siți. 9. Ed. by H. L. Jain. The work was composed in early mid
tenth century. The passage was brought to my notice in a different connection by my student Mrs. Ratna Sriyan.