The Geographical Dictionary of Ancient and Mediaeval India c2.4

c2.4

A study of the words in this Dictionary will show that time has mutilated many original names almost out of recognition. The restoration of the altered derivatives to their genuine originals is not, however, an impossibility in view of the fact that most of the changes are found not to have taken place haphazardly. Barring names displaced by new ones by some cause or other, they appear in most cases to be governed by the rules of Prâkṛit grammars, except where the peculiar brogue of a particular place has checked or modified the application of the rules. I give below some of the principal rules illustrating them by words from the toponomy of this Dictionary:—