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M. A. MEHENDALE
Sk. sangha->hagha Nagarjunikonda
EI 20.20.C2 and EI 20.17. CI". §14. Palatalisation: The dentals are usually not palatalised in these inscriptions. Thus whereas Sk. amatya-> amaca in Brahmi and Kharoṣṭhi inscriptions, here it becomes ameti instead, cf. EZ 3. 250. The cluster k also becomes k (<kh) but never ch. cf. bhiku-EZ 3. 1622.
It may, however, be noted that for the usual Prakrit word dhitä meaning 'daughter' we get jhitd in EZ 1. 19. 2b2.
§15. Cerebralisation: As in other inscriptions, cerebralisation of dentals, usually under the influence of r or occurs in these inscriptions in the following instances. katu EZ 1. 62. 4.
Sk. kṛtva Sk. artha Sk. V pat
atha-ata-EZ 3. 116. pada - EZ 3. 116".
J
All these examples belong to the 2nd century A. D. The cerebral is rigorously preserved in these inscriptions. The dental is cerebralised both initially and medially. cf.
Sk. nagara->pagara-EZ 3. 1222 (4th cent. A. D.).
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Sk. khan->✓ khana-EZ 1. 2115 (2nd cent. A. D.).
Also cf. dini (for dinna) EZ 1. 21. Rock B No. 1 (2nd cent. A. D.).
So far as the Brahmi inscriptions are concerned the earliest instance of initial cerebralisation of n is found only in the Kopbal version (cf. Sk. no> no) of Asoka's minor Rock edict (and also perhaps once in the Jaugada separate edict cf. Sk. ni-✓ dhyā->ni- jhapa-). Among later inscriptions, we find initial cerebralisation in a few instances from the 1st cent. B. C. to the 2nd cent. A. D. inscriptions. from Western India. cf. Sk. Nanda-> Namdaat Kuḍā (L 1037) and Sailärwadi (L 1121), Sk. niyukta-> piyutaand Sk. nir-yätita-> pi-yäcitaat Nasik.( L. 1127), and
Madhu Vidya/239
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