Page:Sanskrit Grammar by Whitney p1.djvu/87

 part they allow either at pleasure. The usage of the manuscripts is also discordant; the conversion to is the prevalent practice, though the sibilant is also not infrequently found written, especially in South-Indian manuscripts. European editors generally write ; but the later dictionaries and glossaries generally make the alphabetic place of a word the same as if the sibilant were read instead.

Examples are: or ;  or ;  or.

173. There are one or two exceptions to these rules:

a. If the initial sibilant has a surd mute after it, the final may be dropped altogether — and by some authorities is required to be so dropped. Thus, or ;  or. With regard to this point the usage of the different manuscripts and editions is greatly at variance.

b. Before, the is allowed to become , instead of being retained.

174. Before a sonant, either vowel or consonant (except र् : see 179), स् is changed to the sonant र्  — unless, indeed, it be preceded by अ  or आ.

Examples are:, ; , ; ; ; ;.

a. For a few cases like, , see below, 199 d.

b. The exclamation (456) loses its  before vowels and sonant consonants: thus,  (and the  is sometimes found omitted also before surds).

c. The endings अस् and आस्  (both of which are extremely common) follow rules of their own, namely:

175. a. Final अस्, before any sonant consonant and before short अ , is changed to ओ — and the अ  after it is lost.

b. The resulting accentuation, and the fact that the loss of is only occasional in the older language of the Veda, have been pointed out above, 135 a, c.

Examples are:, ; ; ; ( + ),  ( + ).

c. Final अस् before any other vowel than अ  loses its स्, becoming simple अ ; and the hiatus thus occasioned remains.