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In the following Table the nominative cases Narah, “a man," Narāh, "men," and Harih, "Vishnu," joined with verbs, illustrate these rules at one view.

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29. The rules for the changes of Visargah apply equally to final sibilants. Thus, manas hara becomes manohara (as in c. a.); and chakshus vishaya, chakshur vishaya (as in D. a.);* and chetas, standing alone, is written chetah (^. b.).

* In a few compound words a final sibilant takes the cerebral form before k, as prādus krita become prāduṣhkṛita. Similarly, a final r before k or p: as, nir with krānta, ni hkränta ; with putra, nishputra. See also r. 42, 43, and 131. 1.

A. b.

30.

is changed to sh when any other vowel except a or Thus, bhavasi, "thou

ā immediately precedes in the same word.

art"; but karoshi, not karosi, "thou doest."*

CHANGES OF FINAL r.

31. Again, rules A, B, D, apply equally to final r. Thus, prātar kāla becomes prātaḥ kāla; prātar cha, prātash cha; and the preposition nir before ukta remains unchanged, and before rasa is changed to ni; thus, nirukta, nīrasa.

32. But final ar, unlike ah, remains unchanged before any sonant (onsonant or vowel); as, prātar āsha: and before the sonant r itself, drops the r and lengthens the preceding a; as, punar rakshati becomes punā rakshati.

33. It is to be observed further of r, that it may optionally double any consonant (except that immediately follows it. Thus, f

may be written निद्देय.

Hence it appears that the symbol Visargah (:) may be considered as much a representative of final s and r, when these letters are imperceptible, as of final h. Indeed, all those inflections of nouns and persons of verbs which are said to end in Visargah, might be said to end in s; only that, in such cases, the s is silent, or pronounced with an imperceptible breathing, as in the French les, or the English, island, viscount. So again, in many French words, such as parler, the final r is silent; and in some English, such as card, the sound of r is very indistinct; and in all these cases, s and r would be represented in Sanscrit by Visargah (: : &c.).

The following Table exhibits the more common combinations of consonants at one view. Observe, that in the top line of initial letters the aspirated consonants have been omitted, because it is an universal rule, that whatever change takes place before any consonant, the same holds good before its aspirate. Final & has also been omitted, as undergoing precisely the same changes with final h.

* Also when k precedes: as, vid with su is viten; but bhuk, bhukshu. Cf. r. 112. c.

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INITIAL VOWELS AND CONSONANTS.

a

ā, i, &c.

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ch

j

t d

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D

न्

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n is only doubled if preceded by a short vowel.

† A final n before j is very rarely written in the palatal formЯǹ.

CHAPTER III.

ON SANSCRIT ROOTS, AND THE CRUDE FORM OF NOUNS.

35. Before treating of Sanscrit nouns, it will be advisable to point out in what respect the peculiar system adopted in their formation requires an arrangement of the subject different from that to which we are accustomed in other languages.

In Sanscrit nouns, then, there is this great peculiarity, that every one of them has two distinct states prior to the formation of the nominative case: viz. 1st, a root; 2dly, a crude form, coming from this root.

In the first place, therefore, let us inquire, what is the root. There are, in Sanscrit, a number of monosyllabic sounds, which are called roots. These are mere artificial inventions, having only an ideal existence; mere blocks, so to speak, of themselves quite useless;* from which, however, are carved out and fashioned all the varieties of nouns and verbs which exist in the language. Every one of these roots conveys some simple idea, which appears under different modifications in the derivatives from it. Thus, to mention a few of the most common: the root kship conveys the idea of "throwing"; kri of "doing," "making "; hri of "seizing"; yuj, "joining"; as, vrit, "being"; bhu, "becoming "; jiv, "living"; nī, "leading "; ji, "conquering "; gam, ya, char, kram, i, sri, "going"; vad, vach, brū, "speaking "; budh, gyā (m), "knowing"; drish (), "seeing"; ish, kam, "wishing"; mri, 'dying "; da, "giving"; jan, "producing "; dha, "placing "; ad, bhaksh, bhuj, "eating"; pā, "drinking"; pach, "cooking"; han, "killing"; pat, "falling"; vas, "dwelling "; vish (fan), “entering "; sthā, “standing"; shru (), "hearing"; sprish (), "touching "; sidh, sadh, "accomplishing "; kri (), "buying "; kup, krudh, "being

66

*Except in a few cases, where they are used by themselves as nouns.

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66

angry"; chi, "; chi, "collecting"; ghrā, smelling"; khyā, “relating"; nash (), "perishing"; 'perishing"; tyaj, rah, "quitting"; dwish (fay), "hating"; nind, “blaming"; dru, “running"; dyut, dīp, bhā, shubh, "shining"; pū, "purifying"; prachchh (), "asking"; āp, labh, "obtaining"; stu, shans, "praising"; yat, "striving"; yam, “restraining"; shak (4), “being able"; tap, "heating"; dah, “burning"; much, “liberating"; muh, “being foolish "; yudh, “fighting”; ruh, "growing"; has, laughing"; swap, "sleeping"; hrish (), nand, hlūd, “being glad"; snā, "bathing"; rabh, "beginning"; swar, "sounding"; sah, vah, "bearing"; smri, "remembering."

The student is recommended to commit to memory the commonest of these roots or elementary sounds, as here given. For it will appear in the sequel, that from each of them may be drawn out, with great regularity, 1st, a set of simple substantives; 2dly, of simple adjectives; 3dly, of simple verbs. To take, for example, the root budh, "to know. From this root are formed, on fixed principles, the following substantives and adjectives; bodha or bodhana, "knowledge"; buddhi, "intellect"; bodhaka, "an informer"; bauddha, "a Buddhist "; budha, "wise"; buddhimat, "intellectual"; and the verbs, bodhati, "he knows"; bodhayati, “he informs"; budhyate, "it is known"; bubhutsate, or bubodhishati, "he wishes to know"; bobudhyate, "he knows well." And the simple idea contained in the root may be endlessly extended by the prefixing of prepositions; as, prabodha, "vigilance"; prabudhyate," he awakes."

36. In the second place, it has been said that the Sanscrit noun, substantive and adjective, makes its first appearance in a state called the crude form. The same may be said of the pronouns,

* It will be convenient, in the following pages, to express the idea contained in the root by prefixing to it the infinitive sign to. But the Student must not suppose that the sound budh denotes any thing more than the mere idea of "knowing"; nor must he imagine that in deriving nouns from it, we are deriving them from the infinitive, or from any part of the verb, but rather from a simple original sound, a mere imaginary word, which is the common source of both nouns and verbs. + This state of the noun will, in the following pages, be called the crude.

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