Page:Sanskrit Grammar by Whitney p1.djvu/90

 180—] their utterance, causing its tip to reach the roof of the mouth more easily at a point further back than the dental one.

b. The general Hindu grammar prescribes the same change after a also; but the Prātiçākhyas give no such rule, and phonetic considerations, the  being a dental sound, are absolutely against it. Actual cases of the combination do not occur in the older language, nor have any been pointed out in the later.

c. The vowels that cause the alteration of to  may be called for brevity’s sake “alterant” vowels.

181. Hence, in the interior of a Sanskrit word, the dental is not usually found after any vowel save  and, but, instead of it, the lingual. But —

a. A following prevents the conversion: thus,, ,. And it is but seldom made in the forms and derivatives of a root containing an r-element (whether or ), whatever the position of that element: thus,, , , ,. To this rule there are a few exceptions, as, , , , , etc. In the final  of a root is preserved even immediately before.

b. This dissimilating influence of a following, as compared with the invariable assimilating influence of a preceding , is peculiar and problematic.

c. The recurrence of in successive syllables is sometimes avoided by leaving the former  unchanged: thus,, but ; , but. Similarly, in certain desiderative formations: see below, 184 e.

d. Other cases are sporadic: RV. has the forms and  (but ), and the stems, , , , ; a single root , with its derivative , is found once in ÇB.; MS. has ;  begins to be found in AV.; and such cases grow more numerous; for  and the roots  and , see below, 183 a.

182. On the other hand (as was pointed out above, 62), the occurrence of in Sanskrit words is nearly limited to cases falling under this rule: others are rather sporadic anomalies — except where  is the product of  or  before a dental, as in, , : see 218, 221. Thus, we find —

a. Four roots,, , , , of which the last is common and is found as early as the Brāhmaṇas.

b. Further, in RV.,, , , , , , , (for ?), ; and, by anomalous alteration of original , - ( etc.), , , and probably  and. Such cases grow more common later.

c. The numeral, as already noted (146 b), is more probably.