[INDOLOGY] Non-standard sandhi

[Madhav Deshpande]

Dear Harry,

     You have raised an interesting question.  The term *avagraha *is used
in older texts like the Prātiśākhyas and Śikṣās to refer to a pause between
members of compounds in the Padapāṭha, and some texts like the
Śaunakīya-Caturādhyāyikā (3.3.35: ऋगर्धर्चपदान्तावग्रहविवृत्तिषु मात्राकाल:
काल:) assign the duration of a *mātrā *to this type of *avagraha*.  The
written sign of *avagraha *(ऽ) in later times got extended to cases like
ततोऽपि and एतेऽपि, and yet I have not seen evidence for this extension in
any of the phonetic texts, and to my knowledge there is no actual pause in
recitation in these cases.  Such a pause would create difficulties with the
meters.  How, when and why the term *avagraha *and the written sign (ऽ) got
extended to such uses needs to be investigated.  But it has no phonetic
value as far as I know.

Madhav

Madhav M. Deshpande
Professor Emeritus
Sanskrit and Linguistics
University of Michigan
[Residence: Campbell, California]


On Mon, Mar 18, 2019 at 12:25 PM Harry Spier via INDOLOGY <
indology at list.indology.info> wrote:

> How are avagrahas considered in metrical verses?
> Is --- sahite 'sya --- pronounced as if it was --- sahite sya --- or is
> there a slight pause for the avagraha?
>
> Harry Spier
>
> On Mon, Mar 18, 2019 at 3:43 AM Martin Gansten via INDOLOGY <
> indology at list.indology.info> wrote:
>
>> Thanks to Madhav Deshpande, Andrey Klebanov and Harry Spier for their
>> (off-list) replies to my question, confirming that the sandhi *e + a > a
>> a* is indeed non-standard. Madhav wrote:
>>
>> I have not seen another example exactly like this, and have not come
>> across a traditional rule to deal with this.  I wonder how hybrid this text
>> is, or whether there are manuscript variants for this particular passage.
>> One thing I noticed is that if we keep the presumed pre-sandhi reading of
>> "sahite asya," the meter does not work, and neither does it work with the
>> regular sandhi "sahite 'sya."  The meter does seem to work with "sahita
>> asya".  The last syllable of "sahita" needs to be metrically light.  So I
>> suppose some sort of metrical compulsion may have resulted in this
>> irregularity.  Just a thought.
>>
>>
>> The work in question is a largish one (~550 stanzas) and written in
>> perfectly grammatical, sometimes even elegant Sanskrit in a variety of
>> metres, with no particular suggestion of being hybrid, and the witnesses I
>> have seen (two of the work itself, and half a dozen of another work quoting
>> the verse in question) all agree on the reading of this passage.
>>
>> Harry raised the same point about the metre (svāgatā), but it wouldn't be
>> difficult to rephrase the pāda so as to conform to both metre and standard
>> sandhi (e.g., tena vāpi sahite 'sya ca labdhis). So I am left with the
>> impression that Yādavasūri must have considered his choice of sandhi in
>> this case unproblematic, although he usually follows the stardard rule *e
>> + a > e [']*.
>>
>> Thanks again,
>> Martin
>>
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