Wilson Philological Lectures on Sanskrit and the Derived Languages c7.28

c7.28

I have already given instances in which the cerebral ड of a previous syllable in going out changes the dental of the following to a cerebral, and to these I may now add निगण्ठ for निर्ग्रन्थ, वण्ट for वृन्त, कट for कृत &c. In some instances, this change takes place without such an influencing cause, as in इसति and इंस for दशति and दंश, and डाह for दाह. The same phenomenon is observable in some conjuncts, as in विदड्ढ for विदग्ध, हेठा for अधस्तात्, and ठा or ढा for स्था in the several derivatives from that root as ठाति, ठायी, उट्ठान &c. The dental nasal न is also similarly changed to ण in a few cases, as in याण, ओणत, ओणीत, सणिकं for ज्ञान, अवनत, अवनीत, शनकैः &c. The operation of this process is very limited but still it exists and cannot be accounted for in any other way than by supposing that the vocal organs or the vocal habits of the Pâli speakers were more adapted for the production of cerebral sounds, or, in other words, the people had a natural aptitude for them.