MacDonnell II - Wilbourhall.org

52-56] EXTEENAL CONSONANT SANDHI 3952. Before vowels final n and n, if preceded ])y a shortvowel, are doubled e. ; g, kidrnn indrah ;ahann indrah.Though the nasal is always written double, the metre showsthat this rule is only partially applied as regards pronunciationin the RV.a. Tlie compound vrsan-asvd loitJt stallions as steeds (n = n)exception.InitialAspiration.is an53. After a final c, initial s regularly becomes eh ; e. g.yae chaknavama for yad saknavama.a. The same change occasionally takes place after t ;thusvipat ehutudri (for sutudri) ;turasat chusmi (for susmi).54. Initial h, after softening a preceding k, t, t, p, ischanged to the soft aspirate of that mute ; e, g. sadhryagghita for hita ;avad dhavyani for avat havyani ;sidaddhota for sidat hota.55. If gh, dh, bh, or h are at the end of a (radical)S5'llable beginning with g, d, or b, and lose their aspirationas final or otherwise, the initial consonants are aspirated byway of compensation ;^e. g. from dagh reach the 3. s,injunctive is dhak (for dagh-t) -budh; icahing becomes-bhut ;duh milking becomes dhiik.B. Internal Sandhi.56. The rules of internal Sandhi apply to the finals ofroots and nominal and verbal stems before all endings of declension(except those beginning with consonants of themiddle stem : 73 a) and conjugation, before primary suffixes(182, 1) and before secondary suffixes (182, 2) beginningwith a vowel or y. Many of these rules agree with thoseof external Sandhi. The most important of those whichdiffer fi-om external Sandhi are the following :'This is not really compensation but the survival of the originalinitial aspiration of such roots, which was lost owing to the avoidanceof an aspirate at the beginning and end of the same syllable. Hencewhen the final aspirate disappeared, the initial returned.