A History of Sanskrit Literature c7.s4.14

c7.s4.14

The characteristics of these Old Prākrits are simple.⁴ They include the loss of the vowels *ṛ* and *ḷ*, and of the diphthongs *ai* and *au*; reduction in the number of sibilants and nasals; and the assimilation of consonants. They show also the operation of the substitution of the expiratory for the musical accent, a feature which is obvious in Sanskrit during the same period. Further, they are subject to a most important law which reduces each syllable to the form either of a vowel, short or long, a short vowel followed by one or two consonants, or a long vowel followed by a single consonant; the resulting changes of form are intensified by the confusion which results from substituting a long vowel with a single consonant for an originally short vowel with two consonants, or the use of a nasal vowel in lieu of a long vowel, or a short vowel and a consonant, when another consonant follows.