MacDonnell II - Wilbourhall.org

i20CHAPTER IIRULES OF SANDHI OR EUPHONIC COMBINATIONOF SOUNDS16. Though the sentence is naturally the nnit of speech,which forms an unbroken chain of syllables euphonicallycombined, it is strictly so only in the prose portions of theAV. and the YV. But as the great bulk of the Vedas ismetrical, the editors of the Samhita text treat the hemistich(generall}'^ consisting of two Padas or verses) as the euphonicunit, being specially strict in applying the rules of Sandhibetween the verses forming the hemistich. But the evidenceof metre supported by that of accent shows that the Pada isthe true euphonic unit. The form which the final of a wordshows varies according as it appears in pausa at the end ofa Pada, or in combination with a following word within thePada. With the former is concerned the law of finals inpausa, with the latter the rules of Sandhi. Avoidanceof hiatus and assimilation are the leading principles onwhich the rules of Sandhi are based.Though both are in general founded on the same phoneticlaws, it is necessary, owing to certain differences,to distinguishexternal Sandhi, which determines the changesof final and initial letters of words, from internal Sandhi,which applies to the final letters of verbal roots andnominal stems when followed by certain suffixes andterminations.a. The rules of external Sandhi apply with few exceptions(which are survivals from an earlier stage of external Sandhi)to words forming compounds, and to final letters of nominalstems before the case-endings beginning with consonants{-bhyam -bhis, -bhyas, -su) or before secondary (182, 2)suffixes beginning with any consonant except y.