THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.

42

Hindi rejects these short vowels, and Bidyāpati seems to follow this rule, changing rºti into rit, and vôyu into bay or bato. Nouns ending in long ? and it frequently follow the Bengali mode, and

[FEBRUARY, 1873. 1st Person.

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Sing. Nom. h fi m.

[h a me.] [h am a hin.]

mo y . mo he .

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shorten those vowels: so we see dhani for dhant,

[m or e.]

badhu and bahu for vadhá.

mujh .

The pronoun, especially in the 1st and 2nd persons, is singularly Hindi in its general type, leaning towards the Bhojpuri dialect. The 1st person has lost its real singular, which would probably have been either haun or mu, and instead thereof the plural høm is always found. This is the case in Bhojpāri, and is introductory to the universal employment in Bengali of dimi for ‘I,’ though this is really a plural, the genuine singular mui being now considered vulgar and banished from polite speech. Thus we have Nārijaname him ná karinu bhāgi— “Born a woman, I have not been fortunate.”

h film a r.

Gen. m or .

h a mari.

The oblique form used as in the noun for all cases, with or without postpositions. 2nd Person.

Sing. Nom. tu hun.

Plural. tu m, tu m hi.

tun hi.

Obl.

tum a hin.

to, to re. to he .

tu y á. to y.

tujh. tuh unk a.

Gen. to r. 3rd Person.

Sing. Nom. so, se. Jāti goyālini hâm matihin

Plural. It in i.]

Obl. t a , t a y.

“I am by caste a cowherdess, without wisdom.” Aju bujhaba ham tayå chaturăi– “To-day I shall understand thy craftiness.” Of the oblique case in its most usual crude form, there are several variations :— Ki kahasi mohe midān-

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“What dost thou say to me after all 7’’ Mobine swapane nå herabi än— “Even in sleep thou shalt see no other but me.” Ingite bedan nä janāyabi moy— “(Even) by a sign thou shalt not show to me thy pain.” We even get a form closely approaching modern Bengali in

t a he .

Gen. t a kar.

täh āri.

tà r.

Leaving the subsidiary pronominal forms, which exhibit no striking peculiarities, I proceed to the verb, all the tenses of which have not yet been found, though the principal parts can either be pointed to in various passages, or inferred by analogy. The latter are inclosed in brackets. Root Dh a ran a-‘holding.’ Present Tense.

1. [d h a rul,

I hold.

2. d har as i,

thou holdest.

3. d h a rai, d h are,

he holds.

d h a ray e, dhar a ,

Bihi more dāruna bhel— “Fate has been harsh to me.”

Here the text has probably been modernized ; the poet perhaps wrote mohe. The genitive

All four forms of the 3rd person are found, and sometimes even a sort of double form in

eye, as maigeye.

exhibits the Bengali form.

Past Tense.

Ki lági badanas jhāpasi Sundari, Harala chetana mor—

“Wherefore dost cover thy face, O fair one * It has snatched away my senses.” Kata rüpe minati karala pahun mor— “In how many ways did he intreat me !” (Literally “make supplication of me:” minati vinati).

Plural. h a m.

Obl. m. o.

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Sugandhi chandana ange lepala mor— “He rubbed fragrant sandal on my body.” In order to avoid lengthening this paper too much, I will for the rest merely give the words

which I have found, omitting quotations :-

1. dd hh aa ral ri nu, u,

I held.

2. d h a ral i, 3. d h a ral a,

thou heldest. he held.

Future Tense.

1. dhar a ba, 2. d h a r a bi, 3. d h a r a ba,

I shall hold. thou shalt hold. he shall hold.

Imperative. 2. d h a r a , d h a r a h a , - hold thou. d h.ar a hu, 3. d h a r u k, let him hold.