MacDonnell II - Wilbourhall.org

19-21] EXTERNAL VOWEL SANDIII 23h. coalesce with Guna vowels to Vrcldhi ; e. g. aibhih= a ebhih.^c. are absorbed by Vrddhi vowels ; e. g. somasyaii^ijah= sdmasya ausijah.20. The simple consonantal vowels i and u before dissimilarvowels or before diphthongs are regularly changedto the semivowels y and v respectively in the written textof the Samhitas ; e. g. praty ayam = prati ayam ; jdnitryajijanat = janitri ajijanat ;a tv 6ta, = a tii 6ta. But theevidence of the metre shows that this y or v nearly alwayshas the syllabic value of i or u.^ Thus vy usah must beread as vi usah ;vidathesv anjan as vidathesu anjan.a. Final r (which does not occur in the RV.) becomes rbefore a dissimilar vowel ; an example is vijnatr etat =vijnatr etat (SB.).21. The Guna vowels e and oa. remain unchanged before a,^ which is generally ^ elidedin the written text of the Samhitas, biit accordingto theevidence of the metre, must almost invariably in the RV.,and generally in the AV. and YV., be pronounced,^ whetherwritten or not." In devaso apturah (i. 3^)the a is both^a instead of contracting with e is sometimes nasalized befoi-e it :aminantam 6vaih. (for a e) ; updstham eka (for a e). Again a issometimes elided before e and o ;as up'esatu (for a e), yath'ohise(for a o).2Because i and u are prosodically shortened before a followingvowel (p. 22, note 1).^The exceptional treatment of e in stdtava ambyam for stotavsambyam is a survival showing that the Sandhi of e and o before awas originally the same as before other vowels.*In the RV. it is elided in about 75 per cent., in the AV. in about66 per cent, of its occurrences.^In the RV. it must be pronounced in 99 per cent., in the AV. andthe metrical parts of the YV. in about 80 per cent, of its occurrences.^The frequent elision of the a in the written text compared withits almost invariable retention in the original text of the RV., indicatesa period of transition between the latter and the total elision of thepost-Vedic period.