Page:Sanskrit Grammar by Whitney p1.djvu/98

 208. Before the surd palatal, lingual, and dental mutes, there is inserted after final a sibilant of each of those classes respectively, before which the  becomes : thus,, , , ,  (425 c).

a. This rule, which in the classical language has established itself in the form here given, as a phonetic rule of unvarying application, really involves a historic survival. The large majority of cases of final in the language (not far from three quarters) are for original ; and the retention of the sibilant in such cases, when once its historical ground had been forgotten, was extended by analogy to all others.

b. Practically, the rule applies only to before  and, since cases involving the other initials occur either not at all, or only with extreme rarity (the Veda does not present an example of any of them). In the Veda, the insertion is not always made, and the different texts have with regard to it different usages, which are fully explained in their Prātiçākhyas; in general, it is less frequent in the older texts. When the does not appear between  and, the  is of course assimilated, becoming  (203).

209. The same retention of original final after a nasal, and consequent treatment of (apparent) final, , ,  as if they were , , ,  (long nasalized vowel with final ), shows itself also in other Vedic forms of combination, which, for the sake of unity, may be briefly stated here together:

a. Final becomes  (nasalized ) before a following vowel: that is to say,, with nasal vowel, is treated like , with pure vowel (177): thus, , ,. This is an extremely common case, especially in RV. Once or twice, the appears as  before ; thus,.

b. In like manner, is treated after nasal, ,  as it would be after those vowels when pure, becoming  before a sonant sound (174), and (much more rarely)  before a surd (170): thus, , , ;  (and -, MS.).

c. RV. has once - before. MS. usually has instead of.

210. The nasals, , , occurring as finals after a short vowel, are doubled before any initial vowel: thus, , ,.

a. This is also to be regarded as a historical survival, the second nasal being an assimilation of an original consonant following the first. It is always written in the manuscripts, although the Vedic metre seems to show that the duplication was sometimes omitted. The RV. has the compound.

211. The nasals and  before a sibilant are allowed to insert respectively  and  — as  (207) inserts : thus,.