132 G. A. Grierson —Dssnys on Bihari Declension. [No. 2, 
D. It is rarely used in the Ramayan, and probably only in the 
locative. In Ap. Prakrit, and Maithili it is used as follows: 
Ap. Prakrit. 
Maithili. 
Instr. sing, and plur. 
Abl. plur. ( 3 ?) 
Gen. plur. (#) 
Loc. plur. (^) 
Abl. sing, and plur. 
Loc. sing, and plur. 
See Hoernle, §§ 367, 369. 
This termination is probably a weakened form of the Prakrit abl. pi. 
suffix ^T. The derivation of is obscure. From the analogy of fWT, 
we might expect it to be a compound of ^ + 3 t (Lassen, p. 310) : ^ 
is the Prakrit termination of the locative plural, and it may be noted that 
whatever vowel precedes the termination ^ in Prakrit declension, the same 
vowel precedes 
Thus, Prakrit,— 
Nom. Singular. 
Loc. plural. 
Abl. plural. 
ttT 
31JTT 
3TJTT$ 
3i3lTi^T 
\S 
Vi 
vj 
The termination ^ occurs in ATsha Prakrit, but not ^r, which tends 
also to show that the latter is a later, and may be a compound form. 
One example of this form will suffice. Skr. a sage; loc. plur. 
Arsha Prakrit, Prakrit, Pr. abl. plur. ; Ap. 
Pr. gen. plur. : Bihari instr. plur. 
Note in the above that it is only in classical Prakrit that the final 
vowel of Tif«T is lengthened. We have Arsha, and Ap. TifcTs?, so that 
\i vj 
we are justified in assuming an intermediate form 
It is easier to derive from rather than from 
^ # J j 
directly; as it is more natural to derive the genitive from the ablative 
than from the locative. As regards the formation of an ablative by the 
