Wilson Philological Lectures on Sanskrit and the Derived Languages c8.44

c8.44

All the sibilants are reduced to स as in the Pâli, but in the Mâgadhî dialect to श; as शालश, पुलिश for सारस, पुरुष, &c. These dialects do not possess the cerebral ळ, and therefore we have ल in the place of the Pâli ळ and in some cases the original Sanskrit ड; as in तलाअ, गरुळ, कीलइ for the Pâli तळाग, गरुळ, कीळति and Sanskrit तडाग, गरुड, क्रीडति, &c., गुल or गुड, णाली or णाडी for the Pâli गुळ, नाळी, &c. and पीहेइ, नीड for the Pâli पीळेति, नीळ, &c. There are a good many more examples of the change of dentals to cerebrals than in the Pâli, both through the influence of a neighbouring र or without it. The त and द which correspond to त् and थ् are in most cases softened to ड and ढ. Thus we have पडि for the Pâli पटि, as in पडिमा, पडिहार, for प्रतिमा, प्रतिहार, &c., and पहुडि, पडण, बहेडअ, for प्रभृति, पतन, बिभीतक; डोला or दोला, डम्भ or दम्भ, डब्भ or दब्भ for दोला, दम्भ, दर्भ, &c.; पढम (Pâli पढम), सिढिल, मेढी, ओसद for प्रथम, शिथल, मेथि, औषध, &c. In Pâli the dental nasal न् is changed ण in but a few instances; but here it is so changed throughout, necessarily when uninitial, and optionally when at the beginning of a word; as कणअ, मणण, वणण, for कनक, मदन, वदन, &c., and णर or नर, णई or नई, णेइ or नेइ, for नर, नदी, नयति, &c. The opposite process is however observable in the Paiśâchî dialect, where not only have we no instances of this change but even the original Sanskrit ण is changed to न as in गुन, गन, for गुण, गण, &c. The conjunct consonants are transformed in the Prâkṛit in the same way as in the Pâli. In the former however, ज्ञ and न्य are changed to णण् and not to ञ्ञ as in the latter, as in णाण, सण्णा, अण्ण, सुण्ण, for ज्ञान, संज्ञा, अन्य, शून्य, &c. To be thus corrupted, ज्ञ must in the original Sanskrit have been pronounced as if it were composed of ज् and न्; and sometimes the latter must have been so weakly pronounced that the sound of ज् prevailed over it and the whole became ज्ञ्, as in जाण or णाण, सव्वज्ञ or सव्वण्ण, मणोज्ज्ञ or मणोण्ण, for ज्ञान, सर्वज्ञ, मनोज्ञ, &c. In the Paiśâchî and the Mâgadhî, however, the Pâli transformation is retained; as in सञ्जा, सव्वञ्, कन्ञका, अभिमञ्जू, for संज्ञा, सर्वज्ञ, कन्यका, अभिमन्यु, &c. The conjunct र्य is sometimes changed to ज्ञ् corresponding to the र्य of the older dialect, and ह्य to ज्ञ् in which case the heavy nâda of ह is transferred to the ज्ञ which takes the place of य as in the change of ह्य to ज्ञ्. In Pâli the consonants of ह्य only interchange places; i. e. it becomes यह. From this and from the change of the initial uncombined य to ज्ञ, it appears that very often the Sanskrit य, was pronounced heavily when the Prâkrits arose. The Śaurasenî and the dialects allied with it have, however, both the Pâli and the Prâkrit corruptions of र्य.