Page:The history of the Bengali language (1920).pdf/249

Rh the 4th line is to be read হ্রস্ব for the evident reason that a stress or emphasis on চাহহি renders the initial syllable short in the metre. That the irregularities have been due to the usual vernacular pronunciation of the words, can be well illustrated by the example of a Bengali তোটক, in which only unawares, the Bengali author has made the last two syllables of সাঁতারে (i.e., তা and রে) short; the, lines are:

In respect of the language of the above-quoted প্রাকৃত verse, a few remarks may be offered. The metre is no doubt Hindi: but there are many forms which are foreign to Western Hindi, and which prevailed only in a comparatively recent time in Eastern Māgadhi, which is undeni­ably very closely allied to Bengali. তই for thou is Eastern Māgadhi; this very form was in use in old Bengali and it is now current in Assamese. The Māgadhi form ইৎথি became a special property of Bengali amid the speeches of the Eastern Gauḍi group; the ablative case-denoting suffix থি as occurs here, has transformed itself in modern Bengali into 'থে' which appears as 'থেকে' with an otiose ক. The form দেই is wholly equivalent to our old Bengali form, and this very form is still current in Oriya; the modern Bengali form দিয়া only slightly varies from it. The locative denoting হি as in নই-হি is also peculiar to Eastern Māgadhi. We can therefore very easily say that the language of the verse represents the Māgadhi speech which was current at a time not far removed from the date of birth of the Eastern modern vernaculars.

I proceed now to give some examples to show that the authors of several verses wrote in Prākṛta, at a time when modern vernaculars became respectable literary languages.