Four indices instead of two have been appended. In order to bring the present edition into harmony with the Greek and Latin grammars now in use, some of the grammatical terms have been altered, e. g. suffix has been substituted for affix; stem for base; special and general tenses for conjugational and non-conjugational tenses respectively. Some errors which, notwithstanding all my efforts, crept into the last edition have been corrected, and a few other improvements effected. But I dare not even now hope to have attained the standard of perfection. Sanskrit is far too vast and intricate a subject to admit of such pretensions. I can, however, with truth affirm, that I have done what I could to bring the present work up to the level of the scholarship of the day; and my acknowledgments are due to Mr. E. L. Hogarth, M. A., of Brasenose College, for his aid in conducting the sheets through the Press. In conclusion I may, perhaps, be permitted to express a hope that my second visit to India will add to my powers of improving any future edition that may be required, as it certainly will increase my ability to promote a more general knowledge of the Sanskrit language and literature among my own fellow-countrymen, to whose rule a vast Eastern Empire has been committed, and who cannot hope, except through Sanskrit, to gain a proper acquaintance with its spoken dialects, or to understand the mind, read the thoughts, and reach the very heart and soul of its vast populations. OXFORD, October 1876. M. W. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. LETTERS. I. THE Deva-nágarí or Nágarí character (or its modifications *), in which the Sanskrit language is usually written, is adapted to the expression of nearly every gradation of sound; and almost every letter has a fixed and invariable pronunciation (see, however, 16). There are fourteen vowels (or without rí thirteen, see 3. d) and thirty-three simple consonants. To these may be added a nasal sign, standing for either true or substitute Anusvára (see 6), and a sign for a hard breathing, called Visarga (see 8). They are here first exhibited in the order followed in dictionaries. All the vowels, excepting a, have two forms; the first is the initial, the second the medial or non-initial. Nasal sign called true or proper Anusvára, n. Anusvára, m. Sign for a hard breathing, called Visarga, : ḥ. au. Substitute * Such as the Bengálí, Gujarátí, &c. In the South of India Sanskrit is generally written, not in the Deva-nágarí, but in the Telugu, Kanarese, and Malayalam B The characters are written from left to right, like the Roman. The compound or conjunct consonants (see 5) may be multiplied to the extent of four or five hundred. The most common are given here. A more complete list will be found at the end of the volume. THE MORE COMMON CONJUNCT CONSONANTS. or a kr, kl, kv, ☎ ksh, TM khy, TM gn, a gr, nk, ♬ ng, ▼ ćć, ééh, π by, ♬ jj, ☎ jn, ♬ jv, dg, dy, nț, nth, nd, ¤ ǹć, ♬ néh, ¤ ǹj, e ṭṭ, za ty, dhv, ■ yy, â rk, स ?রার, ण्य ny, a tt, त्थ tth, न tn, त्म tm, त्य ty, त्र or a tr, त्व tv, त्स ts, thy, dg, ddh, ☎ dbh, ¤ dm, ☎ dy, è dr, ☎ dv, ш dhy, ♬ nt, ♬ nd, ☎ nn, ♫ ny, ■ pt, ■ py, ■ pr, ♬ pl, ☎ bj, z bd, cu by, ☎ br, » bhy, ✈ bhr, ↔ mbh, Ħ mm, ♬ my, ♬ ml, 45 rm, a lp, all, a vy, a vr, a ść, qu śy, a śr, ■ śl, g shth, ण shn, प्प shy, एक sk, ख skch, स्त st, स्थ sth, ♬ sy, ♬ sr, ♬ sv, ♬ ss, a hm, a hy, ☎ hl, ♬ kty, kshin, एम kshm क्ष्य kshy, ग्न्य gny, ग्भ्य gbhy, ग्य gry, échy, ééhr, ndy, tsn, tmy, try, ☎ śv, e sht, न sn, स्म sm, ktr, ☎ ktv, nkt, का nky, tsy, attr, attv, ddy, a ddhy, a dbhy, ♬ dry, πnty, ♫ mby, & rdr, No ryy, rvy, g shtr, स्थू sthn, स्त्य sty, स्त्र str, त्स्य tsny, न्त्र्य ntry, स्पे rtsy, rtsny. characters, as well as in the Grantha (or Grantham), which is a name for the character used for Sanskrit in the Tamil country, the Tamil alphabet being too defective to represent all the necessary sounds. In the second edition of this Grammar I gave a comparative table of old Inscription characters from Mr. Edward Thomas' edition of Prinsep's Indian Antiquities, which shows that the present form of Deva-nágarí character is traceable to the inscriptions of Aśoka, who is called Piyadasi for Priyadarsin—a well-known Buddhist king, grandson of Ćandra-gupta Sandrakottos-and who must have reigned over nearly the whole of India, his capital being Páțali-putra (=Páli-bothra, the modern Patna). These inscriptions are found on rocks at Giri-nagara (Girnár) in Gujarát on the Western coast, and at Dhaulí in Kuttack on the Eastern coast (in the province of Orissa); and again at a place called Kapurdigiri, quite N. of the Pañjáb, a little to the E. of Purushapura (Peshawar). It is from the Girnár rock-inscriptions that the present Devanágarí is most evidently derived, and these are not yet clearly traceable to a Phenician origin, those of Kapurdigiri being more so. |