Introduction. Light and Heavy Syllables. 48. For metrical purposes syllables (not vowels) are dis- tinguished as “heavy' and 'light'. A syllable is heavy if its vowel is long, or short and followed by more than one consonant (“long by position"). Visarga and anusvāra are here counted as full con- sonants. The aspirated mutes, of course, do not count as double letters. . Changes of Sounds. Guna and Vrddhi. 49. The changes to which both the vowels and the consonants of Sanskrit are subject are very numerous. Among the vowel- changes, the most regular and frequent are the so-called guna and vrddhi, which are of frequent occurrence in derivation and inflection. 50. The following table exhibits these changes: Simple vowels wa wa Fifa zu Brú 1 ? Guņa अ आ 6 ए । ओ ० । शुर ar Vrddhi
- Tā û ai ! Tāu | 17 år
n 51. Theoretically the changes of Ț would coincide with those of ļ, and the vrddhi of ļ would be āl; but actual cases of these are quite unknown. The guņa of ? is al (just as that of ? is ar), but it occurs only in one root, klp. As will be seen in the sequel, the guna-sound coincides with the result of the combination of an a with the simple vowel corresponding to that guna; thus, ya combines with a following 7 i ori into Q e, which is also the guņa of 7 i and & i. The výddhi, in like manner, is identical with the result of combining an am a with the corresponding guna; thus, a combines with a following d e into û ài, the vrddhi of 7 i and 7 i. For the present the table is to be learned outright. 52. In all gunating processes a remains unchanged — or, Univ Calif - Digitized by Microsoft ®
