TRACING VEDIC DIALECTS - People.fas.harvard.edu
TRACING VEDIC DIALECTS - People.fas.harvard.edu
TRACING VEDIC DIALECTS - People.fas.harvard.edu
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The Ṛgvedic nom. pl. -āsaḥ 277 is found in Old Avestan as -ānhö, and in Mede<br />
as -āha (as represented in the O. Pers. inscriptions: aniyāha bagāha). The<br />
extension by -as is, therefore, an Indo-Ir. development (*-āsas) which had<br />
(partially) affected some of the tribes but not all, notably not those of a later<br />
wave of immigrants (e.g., Y. Avestan, O. Pers., Post-Ṛgvedic). While the<br />
innovation -āsaḥ is found in the RV, the older form -āḥ is found exclusively in<br />
post-RV texts (except for archaisms and quotations from the RV/mantra<br />
language).<br />
It is the later, mostly post-Ṛgvedic form (-āḥ), that has gained prominence in<br />
all Prākṛts (-āḥ > ā), except for -āse in Pāli verses (see O.v.Hinüber,<br />
Überblick, p.144 §312). This is a new formation in conjunction with the<br />
Eastern nom. pl. -e. Note that it is not found in Aśoka inscriptions or in Pkt.,<br />
as Lüders has shown (Kl. Schr., p.437), apparently with the exception of two<br />
cases in a Western inscr. of Aśoka, that of Delhi Topra. 278 It is also<br />
remarkable that -ase does not yet appear as a popular form of Eastern Indo-<br />
Aryan in the "language of the Asuras," the famous exclamation he'lavo at ŚB<br />
3.2.1.23 (ŚBK 4.2.1.18 hailo), which still retains the old voc. pl. -o (< -aḥ) in<br />
both versions; this is a phrase which otherwise shows the Eastern<br />
particularity of r > l, as well as that of -y- > -v-: 279 he 'lavo < he 'rayo, "hey,<br />
you strangers/guys." 280 It may well be the case that -āse is a fairly late<br />
development. 281 In this connection, it is interesting to note that AMg. -ao is<br />
equally a new formation (-a + -o of the cons. stems; see O.v.Hinüber,<br />
Überblick §312; voc.pl. Apabhraṃśa -aho < -a + bho, Überblick §322).<br />
Thus the Madhyadeśa form is again accepted almost everywhere, except for<br />
some remnants in a few Old Pāli verses. This case indicates that the process<br />
of the spread of Madhyadeśa forms was a slow one. Apparently, it did not<br />
reach the East (Pāli verses) until the last few centuries, B.C.<br />
277<br />
Cf. O.v. Hinüber, Überblick, p.144.<br />
278<br />
See M.A.Mehendale, Aśokan Inscriptions in India, Bombay 1948, p. 28 §53 IXb:<br />
viyāpaṭase.<br />
279<br />
See O.V. Hinüber, Überblick §214: E. Aśoka inscr., in Pāli (partly), in AMg, Paiśācī.<br />
280<br />
Cf. ann. 2, 240; cf. P.Thieme, Der Fremdling im RV; in Vedic, cf. the JUB story 3.7.8, see<br />
Fs. W. Rau, The case of the shattered head.<br />
281<br />
Cf. nom. sg.in Aśoka, A.Mg., and Mg. remnants in Pāli; see O.v. Hinüber, Überblick.,<br />
p.127 §296; but pl. according to the pronoun te?, Überblick, p.161 §378 te. - Otherwise, one<br />
may think that perhaps it was indeed the famous "first wave" of Indo-Aryan immigration<br />
into the East which had perpetuated the spread of the Ṛgvedic usage -āsaḥ to the East,<br />
where it remained in use, while the Kuru-Pañcāla form -āḥ gained prominence in the rest of<br />
the Middle Indian dialects.<br />
103