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Vol. XVI, No. 3
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which Hc. has a sūtra abhimanyau-ja-njau-vā (Hc. 2.25). In the word abhimanyu, ny has developed into nn or nn or it or ñj, for example ahimajju, ahimañju, ahimannu.
In another sūtra where the word manyu, without any preposition occurs, Hc. has suggested different formation, for example, manyu apart from mannu, Hc. has mantu. The form mantu may be a contamination for past-participial form with man coming from the suffix matup/vatup.
Incidentally, we may mention that the root v jñā becomes jāņa or nāna by the sūtra jňo jāņa-munau (4.7).
All these developments of nj, fr, ny, ny, etc. in Mahārāştrí is also corroborated by eastern prakrit grammarians for Mahārāştri. It is therefore quite possible to think why the eastern prakrit grammari. ans have not made any sutras for Māgadhi. It can be asked at the same time why and how Hc. has got a clue to insert this phenomenon in the Māgadhi chapter of his prakrit grammar.
It is to be noted that in the earliest specimen of Māgadhi dialect, that is, in the Dhauli version of Asokan Inscription, the form patiññā occurs. The palatal ñ occurs only in this example, whereas in its Jaugada version the same word occurs with nā. This fact is noticed by Hultzsch in bis Inscription of Asoka at page c (introduction) as follows :
"The palatal pasal ñ occurs only in patimña (Dhau. Sep. II, 6), instead of which the Jaugada text reads pasiṁnā. It is replaced by dental n also ānapayāmi, à [na] p [ayl is [a] ti, nätisu”. Even in conjunct with jn, the development is in jin as in läjinä, lajine. Hultzsch has given the example patimñā for Dhauli version whose Jaugada version is pațiññā as doubtful, because in other forms where fõ occurs as in Sanskrit jñātişu Dhauli nätisu, so also anapayāmi for Sanskrit ajñāpayāmi, the ñ does not occur, (see Hultzsch ibid p. cii). However, this usage indicates the formation of ñ ñ from jññj is not very old. Infact even in modern IA language, particularly in the Māgadhi region, ñ from sanskrit jñ did not develop in the NIA languages in the eastern region. The inclusion of Hc. as one of the Māgadhi characters has very little support either from usage or from grammatical treatises.
From above discussions, it appears that Hc. might have got this idea from pāli, where jñ ñj or even ny, develops into ññ, for example Sanskrit prajñā>pāli paññã, Sanskrit jñāti>pali &ati, and so on. As pāli was orginally considered a Māgadhi dialect (sā māgadhi müla bhāsā etc.), Hc. was perhaps guided with this idea that in Māgadhi ñiñi occurs in place of Sanskrit jñ/bj ny etc. This then is the
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