18 The most ancient Grammar of the Vedas. [Jan. 



him, instead of choosing the v, which offered itself so naturally for 

 explaining the change of the visarga, preferred the more distant y for 

 that purpose. From this we are led to conclude that y, even in the 

 cases where it is entirely preserved, had yet a much softer sound than 

 v, and thence appears much fitter than the former letter, also therd 

 to be inserted where the grammatical abstraction alone required a conso- 

 nantical element which in pronunciation was indeed not at all express- 

 ed. For how much the nasal element lost its character as a consonant 

 in the above anpada : padavrittayas, and went off in a vowel, we ob- 

 serve, not merely from the given denomination of the occurrence, but 

 also from an application of the nasal sign derived from it which will 

 be described afterwards, and which does not allow to consider it as any 

 thing belonging to a consonant. 



(b.) In the vivritty-abhiprdya-sandhayas pivo anna rayivridhas, da- 

 dhanva yo, g'ug'urva ya : svava yata dadva va. 



N. B. Prat. II. 3, f. 37 b. has the same examples. 



(c.) Sparca-repha-sandhayas. The terminations un and in change 

 their n in repha before hatam, jonau, vacobhis, yan, yuvan, yun, vani- 

 shishta (ut panir hatam urmya madanta, Rik I. 24, 5, 2,) and before 

 vowels dasyur ekas, nrir abhi. 



N. B. Exceptions to (a.) are asman upa (dhenur vag asman upa sush- 

 tutaitu) etavan, sphuran, gachan (gachan iddadusho ratim) devan ajat, 

 hiranya chakran (pacya hiranya chakran ayodashtran,) mayavan, gho- 

 shan (ayat te ghoshan uttara yugani. III. 3, 4, 8,) tanacvina, avidvan 

 (avidvan, itthaparo acheta :) payasvan (payasvan agna agahi, I. 5, 4, 

 23) yagiyan putran adhehi ; patin uro (?) to c. 



Prat. II. 3. f. 38. b. and 39. a. mentions besides an adhyaya begin- 

 ning with acva, (of which book, 1 do not know) in which an remains 

 unchanged before a vowel, as exceptions also the following : lokan, 

 maimshyan, amitran before ut (lokan udag'ayat, amitran, unnayami, 

 manushyan udagayatam) and an before apnoti and iti (the latter 

 in the Kramapatha, in which morever this change cannot take 

 place.) 



Prat. III. 1,9, names as exceptions racmin (racmin anu) crapayan, 

 yaman (suyaman utaye) patangan (patangan asanditas), samanan, archan 

 (archan Indra gravanas) yagiyan (yagiyan upasthe) ; lastly dn suffers 

 no change before ud and atha (vidvan atha.) 



