On 'patra/pattra' again!

[Robert Zydenbos]

At 12:08 14.02.99 -0500, Madhav Deshpande wrote:
>[...] In my opinion, the phonological variation
>is in all likelihood the more primary fact, while the etymologies are
>simply rationalizations, after the fact.

This reminds me of words like 'tattva' and 'sattva', which in books printed
in Kannada script almost always become 'tatva' and 'satva'. Prosodically
there is no difference. Could this prosodical consideration have played a
role in the change in spelling from 'pattra' to 'patra'?

RZ