MacDonnell II - Wilbourhall.org

24 EXTERNAL VOWEL SANDHI [21-23written and pronounced ;in sunav6 'gne (i. 1") it must berestored as sunave Iagne.h. before every other vowel (or diphthong) would naturally'become ay and av (the form they assume within a word),but the former drops the semivowel throughout, while thelatter does so only before a ;vaya ukth^bhih (for vayav) ;e. g. agna iha (for agnay) ;but vayav a yahi.22. The Vrddlii vowels at and au are treated beforeevery vowel (including a) or diphthong exactly in the sameway as e and o before vowels other than a. Thus aibecomes a (through ay) throughout, but au only before u ^(through av) e. ; g. tasma aksi (for tasmay), tasma indraya ;sujihva lipa (for sujihvav), but tav a, tav indragni.a. The (secondary) hiatus caused by the dropping of yand v in the above cases {21 h and 22) as a rule remains.But further contraction is sometimes actually written in theSamhitas ;e. g. sartavajau for sartava ajau (throughsartavay for sartavai) vasau for va asau; (through vayfor vai). Sometimes, again, the contraction, though notwritten, is required by the metre. Thus ta indra must bepronounced as tendra, and gostha lipa (AV.) for gosth^ lipa(through gosthay) as gosthopa.Irregular Vowel Sandhi.23. Vrddhi instead of Guna results from the contraction ofa. the preposition a (in the AV. and VS.) with initial rin arti = a rti and in archatu = a rchatu.In the case ofthe latter verb, the TS. extends this contraction to prei^ositionsending in a : liparchati = upa rehati and avarchati =ava rehati.1Because e and o were originally= ai and au.2 Tliis is also the Sandhi of the AB. and KB.