Vedic Metre in its Historical Development c12.s3.82

c12.s3.82

(*e*) The existence of the locative in *-av* from *-u* stems is only indirectly recognised in the text in the form *sáno* in the combination *sáno ávye* or *sáno avyáye* in bk ix. In the remaining instances which can be recognised by the metre the text regularly gives -*āv*, before consonants -*au*. The locative *vástav* however, in the phrase *vástav usrāḥ*, appears as *vástor* in defiance of the metre in some passages, and elsewhere more correctly as *vástav usrāḥ* or *usrāḥ*. If we disregard the varieties of spelling, we find that the form in -*av* is considerably more common than that in -*āv*: and it may so far be justified historically, that -*av* stands in just the same relation to -*avi* as -*an* to -*ani*.