The Purana Text of the Dynasties of the Kali Age c6.38

c6.38

iii. Of the third class of peculiarities the following are instances. As the last half line of a *śloka* the Vā and Bd have in one place *varṣāṇi bhavitā trayaḥ*¹, and in another *tasya putraḥ samās trayaḥ*²; and the Mt has in another place *bhaviṣyati samās trayaḥ*³. In all these passages grammatical concord is violated, because (1) these are accus. expressions denoting duration of time, and (2) *varṣāṇi* is neuter, *samās* feminine, and *trayaḥ* masculine and nomin.; but, if the Pkt *tao* be substituted for *trayaḥ*, concord is established, because *tao* is both nomin. and accus. in all three genders⁴, and the metre also is satisfied. Such expressions could not have been composed in Skt originally. There can be no doubt that they were originally in Pkt and that, when the verses were Sanskritized, the exigencies of metre induced the redactor to convert *tao* into *trayaḥ*, because the correct equivalents *trīṇi* and *tisraḥ* would not suit the metre⁵.