THE VERB 299 injunctive forms are confined to the aorist stem, imperative and optative forms to the present stem, while the subjunctive, except for such forms of it as are incorporated in the impera- tive, dies out. The precative is in the later language connected with the root aorist in the active and with the is-aorist in the middle. Earlier, while confined to the aorist it appears assoc- iated with a greater number of forms. Injunctive . The so-called injunctive is not strictly speaking a separate morphological category at all. In form the injunc- tives are unaugmented aorists and imperfects : dhat, vrnak t etc., but forms of this nature may also be used as simple pre- terites of the indicative, in the same way as the augmented forms. Comparative study of the languages makes it clear that the augment was originally an optional prefix in the formation of these preterites, and that the unaugmented forms are the most ancient. The fact that these forms can also be used in an 4 injunctive 1 sense, that is to say as futures, imperatives and in the expression of a wish, takes us back to an extraordinarily primitive state of the language when owing to the undeveloped nature of the verbal system one form had perforce to serve in many meanings. The three main meanings of the injunctive may be briefly illustrated by a few examples : (1) as future : ko no mahyi dditaye punar dot 4 who will give us back to the great Aditi Indrasya nu viryhii pra vocam 4 I will now proclaim the manly deeds of Indra * ; (2) as imperative : gdrbham A dhdh * deposit the embryo pari tvesdsya durmatir maht gat ' let the great malevolence of the impetuous one avoid us Where special forms of the imperative do not exist, in the 2nd person plural, etc., the injunctive remains the only way of expressing the imperative, and such forms are incorporated into the impera- tive system. The injunctive is used exclusively with ma to express prohibitions : ma gdh 4 do not go *, etc. This construc- tion remains in the classical language where it is the only type of injunctive (except for those forms incorporated in the im- perative) which continues to exist ; (3) in the expression of a wish : agnim hinvamu no dkiyas tena jesma dhdnam-dhanam 4 let our prayers urge Agni ; may we continually win wealth through him Imperative. The imperative possesses distinct forms only in a certain number of persons and numbers, namely in the 2. 3,
