Kashmiri Language: Roots,
Evolution and Affinity
Kashmiri is a unique language in
the Indian linguistic context. It is analytic like the modern Indian languages
of Sanskritic stock and synthetic like the Old Indo-Aryan itself, possessing
characteristics of both and at the same time having peculiarities of its own
many of which are yet to be fully explored. Linguistically, its importance can
hardly be overlooked because, as Siddheshwar Verma has observed, it reveals
linguistic strata of various ages-"Vedic, Buddhist Sanskrit, Pali,
Kharoshthi Prakrit"1. George Buhler's view that it is of the greatest
importance in the study of a comparative grammar of Indo-Aryan languages2 only
stresses the obvious for preserving old word-forms and also revealing how new
forms took shape from old bases, Kashmiri does seem to hold the key to
understanding the processes through which these languages have passed in their
development before assuming their present forms.
Grierson too appears to endorse the
same point when he says that a study of the Kashmiri language is "an
essential preliminary to any inquiry" regarding the "mutual relations
of the modern Aryan vernaculars of India"3.
Vedic Origin
There exists a very strong evidence to
support the claim that Kashmiri has descended from the Vedic speech or, as
pointed out by Buhler, from "one of the dialects of which the classifical
Sanskrit was formed"4. References are replete in Rig Vedic hymns to rivers
and mountains which have been identified by scholars like Zimmer with definite
places in Kashmir, indicating that the region was a part of the Vedic Aryan
world - at least in the geographical sense. Linguistically too this fact is
strongly corroborated by the presence of a large number of lexical and phonetic
elements in Kashmiri that can be directly traced to Vedic sources. These include
several words most commonly used in everyday speech in Kashmiri. For example, we
have the Kashmiri word yodvay meaning if, what if, yet, still, nonetheless. This
appears in almost the same form in the Vedic word yaduvay 5, the corresponding
word for it in Sanskrit and Hindi being yadi. Similarly, the word basti, which
in Kashmiri means skin, hide, bellows, is hardly different from the Vedic basti
meaning goat or bastajin meaning goatskin. The Vedic word sin occurs as syun in
Kashmiri meaning "a cooked vegetable", while the Vedic san appears in
Kashmiri as son meaning deep. Again, the word vay which means grains in Vedic is
used in Kashmiri in the same sense. From the Vedic root taksh comes the Kashmiri
word tachch (to scratch, to peel, to plane, to scrape) and its derivative chchan
(carpenter, Skt Ksh invariably changing to chch in Kashmiri). Several Kashmiri
words have evolved from Vedic through intermediary Pali or Prakrit forms. For
instance, Ksh. atsun (to enter), Pali accheti, Vedic atyeti. Similarly Vedic
prastar, from which the Hindi word patthar (stone) is derived, changes through
the intermediary Prakrit form pattharo to pathar or pathur in Kashmiri retaining
the original sense of "on the ground" or "floor". These are
but a few of the numerous examples that show how Kashmiri has preserved
phonetic, semantic and even morphological elements of the Vedic speech.
It is perhaps on the basis of such
overwhelming evidence that eminent inguists like Jules Bloch, Turner,
Morgenstierne, Emeneau, Siddheshwar Verma and several other scholars have
pointed to the Vedic origin of Kashmiri, arriving at their conclusions after
intensive research on the actual traits of the language.
Phonetic aspects of how Kashmiri
retains some of the most archaic word forms that can be traced only to the Old
Indo-Aryan speech have been analysed at some length by Siddheshwar Verma. Citing
word after word, Verma provides evidence on how Kashmiri shows contact with
older layers of Indo-Aryan vocabulary 6. The Kashmiri word Kral (potter) derived
from the Vedic Sanskrit Kulal is one of such words which he has examined in
detail, taking help of Turner's Nepali dictionary. While all other modern Indo-
Aryan languages, except Nepali and Sinhalese, have for it words derived from the
Sanskrit kumbhakar, Kashmiri alone preserves remnants of the relatively older
kulal, he points out, which appears for the first time in the Vajasneyi Samhita
of the Vedas. Kumbhakar makes its appearance after the Vedic age (c.f.Monier
Williams: Sanskrit-English Dictionary) and it is from this that words like Hindi
Kumhar, Gujrati-Marathi kunwar and Western Pahari kumar have originated. Tomul
(uncooked rice) is another word cited by him in this context, which, he says,
has retained the initial ta of Sanskrit tandulam, while other modern Indo-Aryan
languages generally have cha. For example, we have chawal in Hindi and Gujrati,
chaul in Bengali and Oriya, chaur in Sindhi, chamal in Nepali. Retention of the
original r in Kashmiri pritsh (Skt. prichcha = to ask) and prang (Skt. paryank =
bed) are other notable examples, according to him, of the tendency (in Kashmiri)
to preserve original phonetical elements. Kochchwu, the Kashmiri word for
tortoise, he goes on to point out, indicates that the original word must have
been kashyapa and not kachchapa as in Kashmiri. Skt. ksha almost invariably
changes to chcha, e.g. aechchi < Skt. akshi, maechchi < Skt.
--------
Editor's note: 'ae' is used for Greek symbol for
delta (lower case). A text editor does not provide a delta.
--------
makshika, lachch < Skt. laksha, vachch
< Skt. vaksha and so on. The intermediary form derived from kashyapa, which
actually occurs in the Vajsaneyi Samhita, must have been kakashapa, Verma
suggests.
Arguing along similar lines, eminent
Kashmiri linguist S.K. Toshkhani goes a bit further and suggests that Kashmiri
may have preserved even some pre-Vedic phonetic elements 7. Citing examples, he
refers to the Kashmiri words rost and sost which correspond to Sanskrit rahit
and sahit respectively. Rost and sost, he says, appear to be older than rahit
and sahit, and could be pre-Vedic as the change of sa to ha is regarded a
relatively later development.
Grierson's views
George A. Grierson, however, holds
entirely different views on the question of affinity of Kashmiri. Disregarding
the overwhelming evidence that reveals its basic Indo-Aryan character, he seeks
to banish the language from the Sanskritic family, preferring instead to
classify it under the Pishacha or Dardic group, which, he holds, occupies a
position "intermediate between the Sanskritic language of India proper and
the Eranian languages farther to their West"8. Considering Dardic
languages, including the Shina- Khowar group, to have developed from the
Indo-Iranian branch of Aryan, he uses the cover term Pishacha to describe them
and observes that Kashmiri too shares their characteristics and so must be
grouped with them. He tries to shrug off the predominance of Indo-Aryan
vocabulary in Kashmiri by attributing it to a powerful influence of Indian
culture and literature for over two thousand years and arguing that vocabulary
alone cannot be the determining factor of the classification of a language.
"Kashmiri", he concludes, "is a mixed language, having as its
basis a language of the Dard group of the Pishacha family allied to Shina",
explaining that by basis he means "its phonetic system, its accidence, its
syntax, its prosody"9.
Suniti Kumar Chatterji almost echoes
Grierson when he observes that "the Kashmiri language is a result of very
large overlaying of a Dardic base with Indo-Aryan elements''10. But neither
Grierson nor Chatterji have heen able to show what this Dardic base precisely is
or produce any evidence of the "over-laying". However, their
conclusions have found almost uncritical acceptance by many, creating a
confusion that shows no sign of abating and letting a totally erroneous view to
prevail. It must be strongly asserted that Grierson's arguments and
pronouncements are based on extremely flimsy evidence which has little to do
with the facts of the language, and need, therefore, to be re-examined,
particularly at a time when the very basis of his theory of Aryan immigration in
waves is being seriously questioned. His classification of Kashmiri is overdue
for rejection as seriously flawed and arbitrary.
Kashmiri and Pishachi
Grierson starts from a false premise when
he equates Kashmiri with Pishachi and therefore with Dardic and Iranian, a
theory that makes little linguistic sense and has even lesser basis in
historical facts. His infatuation with this equation notwithstanding, there are
questions which refuse to be exorcised. Were the supposed raw-flesh eating
Pishacas actual speakers of Pishachi Prakrit? Were they and the inhabitants of
Dardistan one and the same people historically? Both find mention in the
Mahabharata and in the Rajatarangini, but in different contexts and as separate
and distinct ethnic groups. Nowhere have their ethnic traits or identities
overlapped or been confused with one another - something that only Grierson has
attempted on the basis of far-fetched and hardly tenable evidence.
Scholars are absolutely not sure and
certainly not in agreement about the linguistic features and exact geographical
area of Pishachi. Yet Grierson in his obsession to separate Kashmiri from
Indo-Aryan languages extends as though with a sweep of his hand the Pishachi and
hence Dardic speaking region from the Hindukush to Goa11, assuming too much and
interchanging the terms Pishacha and Dard only to create a mess from which
linguistic research has yet to recover. And granted for a moment they are
interchangeable terms in ethnic as well as linguistic sense, is there sufficient
material for one to adduce inferences about the features of Pishachi and
sufficient grounds to apply these on one to one basis to Dardic larguages and
equally to Kashmiri? Was Chulika Pishachi an Indo-Iranian form of speech? For
answering these queries all that we have to fall back upon is what the Prakrit
grammarians have to say in this regard and the stray examples they have cited in
their works, for of Pishachi virtually no record exists, the great Brihatkatha
of Gunadya having been completely lost.
What we gather from Vararuchi,
Hemachandra and other Prakrit grammarians boils down to but a few phonetic and
morphological features with which Kashmiri has hardly anything to do. One of
these is hardening of soft consonants in Pishachi as compared to Sanskrit, or
the third and fourth voiced aspirated stops becoming voiceless and unaspirated.
This process is nowhere in evidence in Kashmiri except in some rare cases
limited to borrowings from Persian. Thus ga seldom changes to ka in
Kashmiri-there being absolutely no possibility of nagar changing to nakar or
gagan to gakan (examples chosen by the Prakrit grammarians to illustrate their
point), nor of guru changing to kuru or gachcha to katsh. Sanskrit agni changes
to agin and lagna becomes lagun (of Hindi lagna) the ga remaining strong and
unchanged in initial, medial or terminal positions. Again gha is pronounced as
ga but in no case does it become kha as is said to happen in Pishachi-megha >
mekho is unthinkable in Kashmiri in which ghotaka > gur, ghama > gum and
ghata > gati. Further, d at the end of a word does not change to t. Thus,
Damodar changing to Tamotar, as shown to happen in Pishachi is absolutely
impossible in Kashmiri. In fact, there are several examples of the final ta
changing to da, as, for instance, in Skt. anta > Ksh and, Skt. danta > Ksh.
> dand. The consonant is, however, mostly retained in Kashmiri in initial and
medial positions while changing to th in the final position (rakta > rath,
gati > gath, mati > math, prati > prath, shata > shath and so on.
Also, Sanskrit ja is pronounced as
za in Kashmiri and does not become cha as the rules of Pishachi phonetics would
have required. Thus, jal becomes zal, jana becomes zon, jangha becomes zang,
jarjar becomes zazur and ujjwal changes to wozul. In borrowings from Persian,
however, ja usually remains unaltered, as in jald, janawar, jurmani, jae:hil,
jang etc. Of Sanskrit ra changing to la, a frequent phenomenon occuring even
before the Prakrits were evolved, there are but very few examples, the tendency
to retain it as such being quite strong. For example, rajju > raz, raksha
> rachh, taranam > tarun, maranam > marun, patra > vaethr, mitra
> myethir, sutra > sithir, mutra > mithir and so on. Final dha is
pronounced as da, loosing its aspiration, but not as tha to which it changes as
in Pishachi.
Morphologically too Kashmiri does
not share any of the characteristics attributed to Pishachi. The ablative of
stems ending in a is not marked by ato or atu, nor does the past- participle tva
changes to tun, or thun or dun as Prakrit grammarians have laid down. Sanskrit
tva invariably becomes it or ith in Kashmiri as illustrated by Kritva >
karitva > karith, nutva > namayitva > naemith, mritva > marith,
dhritva > darith and so on.
As against this none of the actual
linguistic traits of Kashmiri, phonetical or morphological, can be traced in
Pishachi, of which examples provided by the Prakrit grammarians are the only
record available. One, therefore, sees little logic in forcibly imposing on
Kashmiri features of a virtually non-existent language. All that Grierson has
done is to gather far-fetched examples, mostly from Dardic and Kafir languages,
and attribute these to Kashmiri, claiming that rare exceptions form the rule and
pronunciation of a few words (Persian borrowings) represents phonetical
tendencies of the whole language. A much laboured exercise, surely, but also
gross misrepresentation of facts.
Is Kashmiri a Dardic Language?
Coming to Dard languages proper,
Grierson's pet theory that these together with Kashmiri and the Kafir group
constitute a special branch of Indo-Iranian can hardly withstand linguistic
scrutiny. Georg Morgentierne rejects it outright by maintaining that the
so-called Dardic languages are in reality Indo-Aryan and not Iranian. Their
word-stock is mainly Indo-Aryan and so are their basic characteristics, he
contends. Morgiensterne finds Grierson to have muddled the whole issue by
clubbing together the Dardic and the Kafir languages into one single group, and
so he is not inclined on the basis of his own research to accept Grierson's
views. "I am unable to share these views", he observes. "The
Dardic languages, in contradistinction to the Kafir group, are of pure IA
(Indo-Aryan) origin and go back to a form of speech closely resembling
Vedic''12.
Endorsing Morgenstierne's
observations, Emeneau adds that these (Dardic) languages are Indo-Aryan but they
did not pass through the MIA (Middle Indo-Aryan) development represented by the
records, while on the other hand the Kafir languages (Kati, Waigali, Ashkun,
Prasun and to some extent Dameli) may occupy some sort of special
position"13. With Jules Bloch and Burrow too taking the line that the
Dardic (Shina-Khowar group) languages have Indo-Aryan characteristics while the
Kafir group may have Iranian affiliations, there is no justification for
applying a different yardstick to Kashmiri. Kashmiri too is just as much Indo-
Aryan as, say, Shina to which Grierson finds it allied. By confusing Pishachi
with Dardic and Dardic with Kafir speeches and all these in turn with Kashmiri,
Grierson has botched up the whole question of affiliation.
We find him going to absurd lengths
in trying to establish that Kashmiri has close affinity with Shina, shutting
himself out from facts and displaying on]y a superficial knowledge of Dardic
phonetic and morphological systems. Ironically, while he rejects vocabulary as
the determining factor in the matter of linguistic classification, he starts
with using this very factor as a proof for his conclusions. Of the 128 Shina
words he has listed for having cognate forms in Kashmiri 14, more than 107 are
unmistakably of Sanskrit origin-a fact that he chooses to conceal. Let us have a
look at some of these:
English
|
Shina
|
Kashmiri
|
Sanskrit
|
acid
|
churko
|
tsok
|
chukra
|
after
|
phatu
|
pati
|
pashchat
|
army
|
sin
|
sina
|
sena
|
aunt
|
pafi (Hindi fufi)
|
poph
|
pitushvasr
|
autumn
|
sharo
|
harud
|
sharad
|
be
|
bo-
|
bov
|
bhu
|
beard
|
dei
|
daer
|
danshtrika
|
between
|
maji (Pkt. majjh, Hindi manjh)
|
manz
|
madhya
|
blue
|
nilo (Hindi nila)
|
nyul
|
nila
|
Bone
|
atoi
|
aedij
|
asthi
|
bow
|
danu
|
duny
|
dhanush
|
break
|
put
|
phut
|
sphot
|
cold
|
shidalo
|
shital (the actual Kashmiri word
is 'shihul')
|
shital
|
cow
|
go
|
gav
|
gau, gav
|
dance
|
nat
|
nats
|
nrtya
|
day
|
dez
|
doh
|
divas
|
death
|
maren
|
mara (marun)
|
maranam
|
dog
|
shu
|
hun
|
shun or shwan
|
dry
|
shuko (Hindi sukha)
|
hokh
|
shushka
|
ear
|
kon
|
kan
|
karna
|
eat
|
ko-
|
khe
|
khad
|
escape
|
much
|
mwkal
|
much, mukti
|
face
|
mukh
|
mwkh
|
mukham
|
far
|
dur
|
dur
|
duram
|
feet
|
pa
|
pad
|
pada
|
finger
|
agul
|
ongijy
|
anguli
|
fortnight
|
pach
|
pachh
|
paksha
|
give
|
di (the actual word is doiki)
|
di
|
dada
|
gold
|
son
|
swan
|
swarna
|
grape
|
jach
|
dachh
|
draksha
|
hand
|
hat
|
athi
|
hasta
|
leaf (of a tree)
|
pato (Hindi 'pat')
|
patir
|
patra
|
learn
|
sich (Hindi sikh)
|
hechh
|
shikasha
|
lip
|
onti
|
wuth
|
oshtha
|
man
|
manuzho
|
mohnyuv
|
manushya
|
meat
|
mos
|
maz
|
mamsa
|
milk
|
dut
|
dwd
|
dugdha
|
naked
|
nanno
|
non
|
nagna
|
name
|
nam
|
nav
|
nama
|
new
|
nowu
|
nov
|
nava
|
night
|
rati
|
rat(h)
|
ratri
|
old
|
prono
|
pron
|
puranam
|
plough
|
hal
|
ala-
|
hala
|
receive
|
lay
|
lab-
|
labh
|
right
|
dashino
|
dachhin
|
dakshina
|
rise
|
uth
|
woth
|
utishtha
|
sand
|
sigel
|
syakh
|
sikta
|
seed
|
bi
|
byol
|
bijam
|
silver
|
rup
|
rop(h)
|
raupya
|
sing
|
gai
|
gyav-
|
gayanaga
|
smoke
|
dum
|
dh
|
dhuma
|
smooth
|
pichhiliko
|
pishul
|
pichhala
|
sweet
|
moro
|
modur
|
madhuram
|
today
|
acho
|
az
|
adya
|
tongue
|
jip (Hindi jibh)
|
zyav
|
jivha
|
tooth
|
don
|
dand
|
dantah
|
vein
|
nar
|
nar
|
nadi
|
village
|
girom
|
gam (Pkt. gamo)
|
gramah
|
weep
|
ro-
|
riv-
|
rodan/ruv
|
woman
|
chai
|
triy
|
stri
|
write
|
lik-
|
lekh
|
likha
|
yes
|
awa
|
ava
|
ava
|
The Sanskrit Factor
It will not be difficult to see from these
examples selected at random by Grierson that it is not the Dardic connection
that binds Kashmiri and Shina but the affiliation of both to Sanskrit or the Old
Indo-Aryan upon which they draw as the basic source for their vocabulary. Many
of these, as Grierson hirmself admits, have cognate forms in other Indian
languages too because of the Sanskrit factor and, therefore, these do not show
any exclusive linkage between Kashmiri and Shina. It can also be easily marked
that phonetic systems of the two languages operate along entirely different
lines. The presence of one or two Shina loan words in Kashmiri does not go to
prove anything for, as T. Graham Bailey has clearly pointed out, Shina in turn,
particularly in its Guresi and Tileli dialects, has been influenced considerably
by Kashmiri. The fact is that Dardic languages have borrowed heavily from
Urdu/Hindi and Punjabi and have some singificant morphological similarities with
these North Indian languages, while with Kashmiri they have practically none.
Contrary to what is generally
believed, there are wide differences between the linguistic traits of Kashmiri
and Shina, too fundamental to be ignored. Proceeding one by one according to the
criteria set up by Grierson himself for affiliation, let us see how tenable the
arguments in support of grouping Kashmiri with Shina as a representative
language of the Dardic group are. But before that let us have a look at some of
the lexical and morphological similarities that link the Dardic speeches with
other modern Indo-Aryan languages. These will be found to be of more than casual
interest. Here are some lexical items from Shina and their corresponding Hindi
equivalents.
Shina
|
Hindi
|
English
|
agar
|
angar
|
a live coal, cinder, spark
|
agut
|
angutha
|
thumb
|
ashatu
|
ashakt
|
powerless, helpless
|
ash
|
ashru, ansu
|
a tear
|
bago
|
bhag
|
part, portion, division
|
bar
|
var
|
husband
|
baris
|
baras
|
year
|
bachhari
|
bachhri
|
female calf
|
bish
|
vis (note the cerebrals)
|
poison
|
biz
|
khiti
|
fear
|
burizoiki
|
burna
|
to dip, be immersed
|
charku
|
charkha
|
a spinning wheel
|
chilu
|
chir
|
cloth
|
choritu
|
chor
|
thief
|
chushoiki
|
chusna
|
to suck
|
dugunia
|
dugna
|
double
|
dut
|
dudh
|
milk
|
eklu
|
akela
|
alone
|
gant (note the cerebral)
|
ghanta
|
hour
|
gur
|
gur
|
molasses
|
halizi
|
haldi
|
turmeric
|
hanz
|
hans
|
a swan
|
hiu
|
hiya
|
heart
|
jaru
|
jara-
|
old age
|
jinu
|
jivit, jina
|
alive/to live
|
kali
|
kalah-kari
|
querrelsome
|
kriye
|
kiri
|
anant
|
khen
|
kshan
|
an instant, glamoment
|
lash
|
ajja
|
shame
|
manuk
|
mendhak
|
a frog
|
manu
|
manushya, manav
|
a man
|
mos
|
mans
|
meat, flesh
|
musharu
|
mishra
|
mixed
|
mushtake
|
mushti, mutthi
|
fist
|
on
|
anna
|
grain, food
|
paku
|
pakka
|
ripe
|
pochi
|
poti
|
grand-daughter
|
rog
|
rog
|
disease
|
rong
|
rang
|
colour
|
sand
|
sand
|
a bull
|
sheur
|
shvasur, sasur
|
father-in-law
|
sheu
|
shvet
|
white
|
shing
|
sing, shring
|
horn
|
shish
|
shis
|
head
|
sioki
|
sina
|
to stitch, sew
|
tal
|
tal
|
bottom
|
teru
|
terha
|
crooked, bent
|
jo
|
jo
|
which, who that
|
These are but a few examples that should
be sufficient to give an inkling of, how lexical items in both the languages are
derived from a common source. The similarity extends to other features also. For
instance, pronomial forms (first person-singular) in Shina closely resemble the
corresponding Hindi, Urdu and Punjabi pronouns. The same is true of adverbs of
place and of conjunctions, most of which appear to be borrowings from these
languages. The Shina auxiliary and substantive verb-forms hanus, hanu, hane,
haniek bear an amazing similarity to Hindi hun, hai, hain, honge. If that is the
case, are we to conclude that Hindi too is a Dardic language?
Kashmiri and Shina: Phonetic
Dissimilarities:
Let us go back to the dissimilarities
between Kashmiri and the Dardic languages and start from their phonetic
features. Though too glaring, these have never been highlighted. Some of the
important differences are as follows. (1) The peculiar Kashmiri vowel sounds ae
ae: i and i: do not occur in Shina and other Dardic languages, nor does Kashmiri
share with them its umlaut system or "consonantal epenthesis under
influence of a following vowel". In turn Kashmiri does not follow the
short, very short, long, half- long vowel system of Dardic languages. (2) Almost
all nasals occurring in the old Indo-Aryan exist in Shina, including the
cerebral n, Kashmiri has only n and m. (3) Dardic languages have the sibllant
cerebral s, Kashmiri has not. (4) Existence of two sets of so-called palatal
letters, both fricatives and stops, is a marked features of Shina, while
Kashmiri like other Indo-Aryan languages has only one- the fricates sh, and z
and zh do not occur in it nor does cerebral j. (5) Like most modern Indian
languages the cerebral letters t, d, r and n are an intrinsic part of Shina, but
Kashmiri does not have n and r., the latter being used in the rural dialect only
in place of r. (6) In Shina the position of the half-vowel y is very weak and
often approaches e; in Kashmiri y is strong in initial, medial and terminal
positions.
There is a great divergence in the
phonetic changes that words of Sanskritic stock undergo in Kashmiri and in
Shina. Sanskrit s and sa almost invariably change to ha' in Kashmiri, but in
Dardic languages this phenomenon seldom occurs. Some examples: Sanskrit sharad,
Shina sharo, Kashmiri harud; Skt. shun Sh shun, Ksh. hun; Skt. shikasha Sh.
sich, Ksh hech, Skt. shrnkhala Sh. shangal, Ksh. h:nkal; skt. shushka Sh. shuko,
Ksh. hokh; Skt. vis Sh. bish Ksh. veh; Skt. shakti Sh. shat, Ksh. hekat. Initial
h chances to a in Kashmiri, but is generally retained in Dardic: Skt. hasta, Ksh
ath, Sh. hat; Skt. hamsa, Ksh. anz Sh. hanz; Sanskrit tr changes to cho, in
Shina while in Kashmir it is generally preserved: Skt. stri Sh. chei, Ksh. triy;
Skt. trini Sh che. Ksh tre; Skt. jamatr Sh. zamoch. Sanskrit dr changes to z in
Shina, where as in Kashmiri the d of the compound consonant is generally
preserved: Sh. heridra, Sh. halizi, Ksh. ledir, Skt. draksha zach. Ksh. dachh.
Sanskrit bhr also changes to z in Shina, but not in Kashmiri: Skt. bhratr Sh. za
(cf. Panjabi bhra), Ksh. boy. In Shina, as in several Indian languages, Sanskrit
v becomes 'b', but in Kashmiri its position is generally strong. Skt. vish Sh.
bish, Ksh. veh; Skt. vatsa Sh. batshar (c.f. Hindi bachra). Ksh. votshh.
Terminal b, in Shina tends to become p and terminal d is pronounced as t in
words of Persian or Sanskrit origin; gulab > gulap, garib > garlp, jibh
> jip faulad > fulat. This is rarely the case in Kashmiri.
That should be enough to blast the
myth that the Kashmiri phonetic system is allied to that of Shina. The fact is
that phonetically Shina has little to do with Kashmiri, though it has features
that can be found in Hindi/Urdu and Punjabi. Grierson has unfortunately chosen
to give selective, distorted and misleading information by taking words- from
Dardic and Kafir speeches and even from the so-called Siraji and other supposed
dialects of Kashmiri.
Morphological Differences
We find the same process of falsification
of facts repeated when we come to morphological features. Grierson has kicked so
much dust about these-accidence and syntax and so on-that it would be worthwhile
to examine in brief some of the important ways in which these features differ in
the two languages15:
(1) Shina has two sets of accusative-the
first after transitive verbs in general and the second after verbs of striking
(with hand, stick, knife etc.), the nominative having the same form as the Ist
accusative.
(2) The genetive in Shina is formed
by adding the suffix- ei or -ai in Kashmiri post positions. un and iny and n and
ni are added to the dative for masculine and feminine, singular and plural
proper nouns relating to human beings, uk and iky and ich and ichi in case of
inanimate objects. For nouns other than proper names hund or sund, hindy or
sindy in case of masculine singular and plural and hinz and sinz and hinzi or
sinzi in case of feminine singular and plural nouns are added.
(3) Shina has a prepositional case
to be used after most prepositions, Kashmiri has no prepositional case.
(4) In Shina separate suffixes -r
and -zh are used to denote in and on or upon in the locative.
Examples:
(i) ai disher (in that place); hier, in
(my, his, your) heart.
(ii) mecizh, generally used with
azhe, as mecezh azhe, upon the table;
(iii) anu manuzezh (it ibareh
nush, I have no faith in this man.
In Kashmiri locative is formed by using
postpositions like andar, tal, dur, kyath, nyabar, pyath etc. with the dative
case.
(5) Pronouns in Shina are mostly of
the Hindi/Urdu, Panjabi type, except the nominative and agentive plural of Ist
person masc. be, bes which appear to be influenced by Kashmiri. Only pronouns in
the 3rd person have a feminine in singular. The most important difference is
that unlike Kashmiri there are no regular indefinite and relative pronouns in
Shina.
The interrogative pronoun is
commonly used in their place especially in negative clauses. For example:
(i) ko, (who): ko mush, there was no
one, mutu ko (someonel
(ii) jeh (what): jega nush,
(nothing at all), mutu jek (something else).
(iii) kos thai buti daulat naye
gub (the man who lost all your wealth), main jek daulat haniek, (whatever
wealth there may be of mine).
6. In Kashmiri adjectives are declined and
agree with the noun in gender, number and case. In Shina only adjectives ending
in -u are declined, and these agree with the noun in gender and number only, not
in case. Other adjectives are not declined and are treated as nouns.
7. There are no forms for the
comparative and superlative in Shina. These are expressed by means of the
preposition jo or zho, (from, than). Thus: chunu, small: mojo chunu, smaller
than, but, e jo chunu: smaller than all i.e., smallest. In Kashmiri the
comparative and superlative are formed by using khwoti and sariviy khwoti
respectively.
8. Numerals in Shina are counted by
twenties or scores, though there are words for hundred, thousand and lakh (the
last two have been borrowed from Hindi/ Urdu). To form numbers beyond twenty the
conjunctive particle ga is added to it. For example bi(h), twenty: biga ek,
twenty and one or twenty one; bi ga dai, twenty and ten or thirty; dibyo ga che,
two-twenty and three or forty three and so on. In Kashmiri cardinals are formed
as in other modern Indo-Aryan languages - akavuh, twenty one; trih, thirty,
tsatji, forty, teyitae:ji forty three and soon.
9. Cardinal numbers in Kashmiri are
declined in agreement with their nouns. In Shina, they are declined only when
used by themselves as nouns, not otherwise.
10. Ordinals in Kashmiri are formed
by adding the suffix -m or -yum to the cardinal, whereas in Shina ordinals after
pumuko or 'the first' are formed by adding - mono and -mone in masc. singular,
and plural and -moni and -monye in fem. singular and plural respectively.
11. Like Hindi/Urdu and Panjabi,
noun of agency is formed in Kashmiri by adding vol (Hindi vala) in masculine and
vajyen (vali) in feminine singular. This is not the case in Dardic languages. In
Shina, the auxiliary verb is used to express the idea. For instance, Ek achi
hanu musha hanu, one eye is man is, a one- eyed man; shei jakur hani chei hani,
white hair is woman is, a white-haired woman.
12. In Shina verbs most commonly
used are thoiki (ta do) boiki (to be) and doiki (to give). Boiki and thoiki are
correlative verbs used with the same nouns or adjectives to form intransitive
and transitive verbs respectively. This is not the case with the corresponding
verbs karun, asun and dyun in Kashmiri.
13. Pronominal suffixes are a
prominent feature of Kashmiri, but they rarely occur in Dardic languages.
14. The present tense in Kashmiri is
formed by the auxiIiary verb chhu and its various masculine and feminine forms.
In Shina auxiliary forms hanus, hane, hanu, haniek etc. are used which bear a
similarity to hun, hai, hain, honge etc. It must be stated that substantive verb
forms based on the root chha occur in many Indian languages, but not in Dardic
languages.
15. There is no ordinary way to
express the idea of continuance in Shina. While in some cases the word hel is
employed to indicate habit, the conception underlying the Kashmiri bi osus
khyavan (I was eating), bi gos khyavan, (I went on eating), su rud vuchha-n, (he
kept looking) etc. is not expressed in everyday speech in Shina.
Kashmiri differs from Dardic
languages in numerous other ways, all of which cannot be recounted here for want
of space. A few similarities there may be, but these are mainly because of the
Sanskrit factor common to Indo-Aryan languages. In view of such overwhelming
evidence that separates Kashmiri from the Dardic group in such important aspects
as phonetics and accidence, the assertion that Kashmiri possesses nearly all the
features that are peculiar to Dardic and in which Dardic agrees with
Eranian" looks preposterous. It is difficult to believe, yet it is true
that Grierson has gone to the extent of distorting linguistic facts and making
false and misleading statments- a case of suppresso veri and suggesto falsi- in
his desperate attempt to procure evidence for his pet theory. A glaring example
of the tendency on his part can be seen in his suggestion that all basic
Kashmiri numerals are Dardic and therefore Eranian in spite of their obvious
development from the old- Indo-Aryan, or the "Pali-Sanskrit" pattern
to use Siddeshwar Verma's words Similarly, it is a known fact that Kashmiri
borrowed the Persian poetic forms like the Ghazal and Masnavi and the metre
Bahar-e-Hajaz in the 19th century, but it is the Vakh and the Shruk that are
considered to be the representative Kashmiri metres. How does this lead to the
conclusion that Kashmiri metrology is basically Iranian? Fifteenth century
Kashmiri works Banasur Katha and Sukh Dukh Charit have employed well-known
Sanskrit metres, which have contributed primarily to the evolution of vatsun or
the Kashmiri short lyric, and also some original Kashmiri metres like Thaddo and
Phuro. These facts are too signiticant to be overlooked.
Kashmiri a Sanskritic Language
Just because Kashmiri is different in some
ways from languages like Hindi and Gujrati, does it make linguistic sense to
exclude it altogether from the Indo-Aryan family? How strong its affinities are
with this family is revealed by its basic word-stock, or, to put it in
Grierson's own words, "the commonest words-the words that are retained
longest in any language, however mixed, and seldom borrowed". Surely words
relating to parts of the body 'physical states and conditions names of close
relatives, animals and bids, edibles, minerals, objects of common use etc. can
be described as such words and show that their etymology can be umistakably
traced to Sanskrit.16 (For details see Appendix I).
Morphological Features
Coming to accidence or morphological
features, Kashmiri reveals its Sanskritic roots no less firmly. Declensions of
Kashmiri nouns show how new cases have developed from old Sanskrit bases. For
instance, the instrumental in masculine singulars takes the case-ending -an
which is a remanant of Skt. -ena or -ena: Ksh. tsuran, Skt. chorena. The dative
suffix -as or -is is obviously the same as Pali - assa, which in turn is a
derivative of Skt. -asya, though there it is used with the genetive: Ksh.
tsuras, Pali chorassa, Skt. chorasya. The locative singular takes the ending -i
or e: Ksh. vati, Skt. pathi; Ksh. gari, Skt. grihe. The ablative masculine
singular ends in -a or -i, a remanant of Skt. -at: Ksh. tsuri, Skt. chorat For
agentive masculine plurals the affix used is -av which appears to have evolved
from the Vedic ebhih: Ksh. tsurav, Skt. chorebhih. In the accusative/ dative
masc. pl., the case-ending -an can be traced to Skt. -anam: Ksh. tsuran, Skt.
choranam: Likewise, fem. sing. nouns take the affixes -yi or -i in
accusative/dative/agentive case which can be said to have been derived from the
Sanskrit case-endings im, -ya, yah: Ksh. d-iviyi, Skt. deviml devya/devyah.
Like other modern Indo-Aryan
languages, Kashmiri forms a new genetive by adding postpositions to the dative
and agentive cases. The postpositions used are hund or sund with masculine
singular and hinz or sinz with feminine singular nouns and pronouns in case of
animate objects the plural forms being, hindy or sindy and hinzi or sinzi
respectively Punjabi uses handa or hunda and sanda and Sindhi sanda. According
to Becames, sanda is the Panjabi form of the Prakrit santah18, which becomes
handa and hunda' with the s changing to h. Buhler is of the opinion that
Kashrniri sund comes from Sanskrit shyunda19, which appears to be a little
far-fetched. The genetive takes the postpositions un and iny also in masculine
and feminine nouns denoting living things; the plural forms are iny and ni. With
inanimate objects uk and ich are used in singular and iky and chi are used.
These correspond to the Hindi ka, ke and ki, while in Gujrati we have no (bapno
ghar- father's house). The feminine forms of the Kashmiri genetive remind one of
the corresponding Marathi forms chi che etc.
Several other cases can also be
formed by adding postpositions to the dative.
Kashmiri pronouns have preserved
many old forms, which occur in Sanskrit but are not found in Prakrit. For
example, the personal pronouns (third person) su (he) and su (she) are quite
akin to Sanskrit sah and sa. and their plural forms tim (they masc.) and timi
(they fem.) to Sanskrit te and tah. All other forms of this pronoun have evolved
from the Sanskrit root tad. The Kashmiri first person pronoun bi or bo (I) is a
remarkable new form which Buhler regards as "a representative of Skt.
bhavat, originally present participle of bhu, 'to be"'. All other forms of
this pronoun have developed from the Sanskrit root asmad, as is the case with
Punjabi and some other modern Indo-Aryan languages Ksh. asy, panj. assi.
Kashmiri interrogative pronoun, kus, who, and its plural kam, as also their
various forms reveal a close relationship with Skt. kah and kas. The
demonstrative pronouns yi, this has its origin in the Skt. root idam while the
relative pronoun yus and yim come from Skt. yah yo and ye.
Verbal forms in Kashmiri follow
Sanskrit in being derived from the root of the verb, especailly in the past
tense. As Buhler has pointed out, "it is impossible to explain them by
Kashmiri'20. In this context Buhler cites deshun, 'to see' and dyun to give; as
examples. From these we get the forms dyuth, saw', and dyut, was given', which
are derived from dittho Skt. drstitah and ditto < Skt. dattah respectively.
This process is visible in the formation of all basic tenses- past, present and
future. Various forms of the Kashmiri auxiliary verb chhu and as, which are
derived from the Skt. roots kshi, 'to be' and as, and occur in several other
Indian languages too, are formed by affixing remanants of personal pronouns to
the stem. The simple future tense is formed by adding the suffix -i to the
nominative base in the 3rd person, a remanant of the Sanskrit suffix -syati:
Ksh. kari (-he/she will do), Skt. Karis yati, Ksh. mari (-he/she shall die),
Skt. marisyati, Ksh. vegli (it will melt), Skt. vigalisyati, Kashmiri imperative
verbs can hardly be distinguished from their corresponding Sanskrit forms. For
example we have, Ksh. gatsh, 'go' Skt. gachcha; Ksh. Iekh, write, Skt likha;
Ksh. an, bring', Skt. anaya; Ksh. dav, run Skt. dhava, Ksh. lab, find', Skt.
labha(sva), Ksh. kar; do', Skt. kuru, Ksh. van, tell', Skt. varnaya and so on.
It appears that most Kashmiri verbs spring from Sanskrit roots.
Verbal nouns are formed in Kashmiri
by adding the suffix -un to the base, which can be easily traced to Skt. -nam or
nam and is similar to the Hindi suffix -na. Examples Ksh. marun. Skt. maranam
(Hindi marna; Ksh. tarun Skt. taranarn (Hindi tarana); Ksh. vavun, Skt. vapanam
-(Hindi bona); Ksh. pihun, Skt. pesanarn (Hindi pisna); Ksh. pihun, Skt. pesanam
(Hindi pisna); Ksh. tsihun, Skt. chusanam (Hindi chusana), Ksh. khanun, Skt.
khananam (Hindi khodana Ksh. tachhun, Skt. takshanam; Ksh. thavun, Skt.
sthapanam; Ksh. vuchhun, Skt. vekshanam (Panj. vekhna), Ksh. vatun. Skt.
vestanam and so on.
The Kashmiri conjunctive participle
-ith preserves elements of the old Sanskrit form -tva. Thus, we have Ksh. karith
(-having done), Skt. Krtva, Ksh. namith (having bowed) < namitta < Skt.
namitva (nutva), Ksh. gatshith having gone) < ae gachitta (-having
gone") < gachhitva < ae gachhitva (gatva), likhit < Skt. likhitva,
rachhit Skt. rakshitva.
Kashmiri adverbs too point to their
old Indo-Aryan origins, quite transparently:
1. Adverbs of Time:
Kashmiri
|
English
|
Sanskrit
|
yeli
|
when
|
yarhi
|
teli
|
then
|
tarhi
|
kar
|
when, at what time
|
karhi
|
az
|
today
|
adya (Pkt. ajja)
|
rath
|
yesterday, yesternight
|
ratrih
|
suli
|
early
|
sakae (saka+ika)
|
tsiry
|
late
|
chiram
|
pati
|
afterwards
|
pashchat
|
adi
|
after that
|
ada (Vedic)
|
prath dohi
|
everyday
|
prati+divase
|
prathryati
|
everymonth
|
prati+rituh
|
prath vari
|
every year
|
prati+varse
|
gari-gari
|
every now and then
|
ghatika (Pkt. ghatia, Hindi gari
ghari)
|
yuthuy
|
as soon as
|
yathapi
|
tyuthuy
|
at that very moment
|
tathapi
|
totany
|
till then
|
tavat
|
yotany
|
till such time until
|
yavat, as
|
2. Adverbs of Place:
Kashmiri
|
English
|
Sanskrit
|
yeti
|
here, wherever
|
yatra
|
yetyath
|
at this place
|
|
tati
|
there
|
tatra
|
tatyath
|
at that place
|
|
ati
|
at that place/from that place
|
atra
|
kati
|
at which placet (interrogative)
|
kutra
|
yot
|
to this place/to whichever place
|
itah
|
tot
|
to that place
|
tatah
|
kot
|
to which place
|
kutah, kutra
|
tal
|
under, below
|
tale
|
manz
|
in, inside
|
madhye (Pkt. majjhe, Hindi
manjh)
|
manzbag
|
in the middle
|
madhya+bhage
|
dur
|
far
|
dura
|
duri
|
from far
|
dure
|
yapari
|
on this side
|
iha+pare
|
3. Adverbs of Manner:
Kashmiri
|
English
|
Sanskrit
|
yithi
|
in which manner, as in this
manner
|
yatha
|
tithi
|
in that manner, like/that
|
tatha
|
kithi
|
in what manner (interrogative)
|
katham
|
yithi-tithi
|
somehow
|
yatha+tatha
|
Kashmiri conjunctions too show the same trend with 'ti'
and, coming from Skt. tatha, 'ti', 'also' from Skt. iti'21 and beyi, and,
'more', 'again', from Pkt. 'beiya' Skt. 'dwitlya'.
Order of words
Inspite of all this massive evidence the
fact that Kashmiri is an Indo-Aryan language is sought to be dismissed with the
argument that the order of words in a Kashmiri sentence is not the same as in
Hindi or other north Indian languages. But the order of words is not the same in
any of the Dardic languages either which have a totally different syntax.
Besides this is not the whole truth. True, the order of words very nearly
approaches that of English in direct or coupla sentences with verb coming in
between subject and object, but certain other types of Kashmiri sentences do
resemble those of Hindi and even Sanskrit, as for instance, in certain types of
imperative and interrogative sentences. Consider the following examples:-
(1) Imperative sentences:
Kashmiri
|
English
|
Hindi
|
yot yi ti bati khe
|
come here and eat your food
|
yahan a aur khana kha
|
humis adkas nishi beh
|
sit near that boy
|
us larke ke pas baith
|
yim palav chhal
|
wash these clothes
|
ye kapre dho
|
chay chyath gatsh
|
leave after taking tea
|
chay pikar ja
|
guris (pyath) khas
|
mount the horse
|
ghore par charh
|
vwazul posh an
|
get the red flower
|
lal phul la
|
kuthis manz par
|
Read inside the room
|
kamre mein parh
|
yitsi kathi ma kar
|
Don't talk so much
|
itni baten mat kar
|
tot dwad ma che
|
Don't take hot milk
|
garam dudh mat pi
|
nyabar ma ner
|
Don't go out
|
Bahar mat nikal
|
gyavun ma gyav
|
Don't sing a song
|
gana mat ga
|
vuni ma shong
|
Don't sleep yet
|
abhi mat so
|
Some of the simpler imperatives can hardly
be distinguished from Sanskrit:
Kashmiri
|
English
|
Sanskrit
|
ati ma par
|
Don't read there
|
atra ma patha
|
gari ma gatsh
|
Don't go home
|
ghriham ma gachchha
|
az ma lekh
|
Don't write today
|
adya ma likha
|
krud ma kar
|
Don't be angry
|
krodham ma kuru
|
(2) Interrogative sentences:
Kashmiri
|
English
|
Hindi
|
tse kya gatshi?
|
What do you want?
|
tumhe kya chahiye?
|
su kot gav?
|
Where di he go?
|
voh kahan gaya?
|
yot kar-ikh?
|
When will you come here?
|
yahan kab aoge?
|
chany kur kati chhe?
|
Where is your daughter?
|
tumhari beti kahan hai?
|
yi kamysund gari chhu?
|
Whose house is this?
|
yeh kiska ghar hai?
|
bati kus kheyi?
|
Who will take food?
|
khana kaun khayega?
|
In subordinate or relative clauses the
verb generally come last as in Hindi:
Kashmiri
|
English
|
Hindi
|
su ladki yus yeti rozan os kot
gav?
|
Where has the boy who lived here
gone?
|
voh larka jo yahan rahta tha
kahan gaya?
|
su hun yus tse onuth tsol rath
|
The dog which you brought, ran
away yesterday
|
voh kutta jo tumne laya tha, kal
bhag gaya
|
yosi kath taemy vaeneyi so drayi
paez
|
What he had said came out to be
true
|
jo bat usne kahi thi voh sach
nikali
|
yosi kath gaeyi, so gaeyi
|
what is past is past
|
jo bat gayi so gayi
|
This is not to suggest that Kashmiri
agrees with Sanskrit in every respect. As a language it has its own
peculiarities and distinguishing features. But its basic word-stock does come
from Sanskrit, or old Indo-Aryan, and its grammatical forms too have without
doubt, developed from it to a considerable extent. True that a great number of
Persian and Arabic lexical items have found their way into Kashmiri after the
advent of Islam and have become a part of its vocabulary. These, however, are
later day additions made much after Kashmiri had evolved as a distinct language.
Written Evidence: Kashmiri and MIA
Though it is not possible to say at what
point of time exactly did Kashmiri start taking shape as a distinct language,
much of its early literary output having been lost, there is enough written
evidence available to help one outline its gradual development fromthe MIA
stages of Prakrit and Apabhramsha through which other modern Indo-Aryan
languages have passed. Anyone who cares to study its earliest extant record,
that exists in the form of the Chhumma Sampraday verses, Mahanay Prakash,
Banasur katha and 'Sukha-dukha Charit' will be able to see clearly the
continuity of linguistic development that runs through these works. While Chumma
Sampraday can be assigned to 11th or 12th century, Mahanay Prakash written by
Shitikantha can be rated to the 13th century, both being treatises of esoteric
Tantric sects. Then we have the verses of Lalleshwari and Sheikh Nur-ud-Din,
celebrated saint-poets who lived in the 14th century, but these have been passed
down for centuries in oral tradition and thier language cannot be said to be the
same in which they were originally composed. The sentence 'Rangassa Helu dinna'
(the village of Helu was given to Ranga) occuring in the 12th century work
Kalhana's Rajataringini is also a curious piece of of linguistic evidence.
Though Shitikantha's 'Mahanay Prakash' and Avtar Bhatta's Banasur Katha are
separated in time by about two centuries, these works share many a linguistic
feature.
Shitikantha claims to have written
his work in the local dialect "inteligible to all
people'-"sarvagochardeshabhasa", and Avtar Bhatta too has used the
term "deshy" to describe the language he wrote in. The term has been
used by Prakrit grammarians to denote local or provincial dialects, as pointed
out by Dr. Tagare. Prakrit works by Jain writers are replete with references to
eighteen such dialectsor "attharas bhasa", of which Kashmiri must have
been one.
Features of early Kashmiri that
appear in Chumma Sampraday in a nascent form become more developed and distinct
in Mahanay Prakash, which displays a definite tendency of Prakritization.
Banasur Katha, on the other hand, is a record of that state of Kashmiri when the
language had just emerged from the Prakrit-Apabhramsha egg-shell. The language
of Sukha-dukha Charit is relatively closer to modern Kashmiri while sharing most
of the characteristics of Banasur Katha. Being a record of the Kashmiri language
as it was spoken in the 15th century, the last two works shed useful light on
its medieval development and are greatly helpful in tracing earlier forms of a
good number of Kashmiri words. For instance, various forms of the auxiliary verb
chhu occur as ksho, kshi, kshem, kshoh, kshiyiy etc, suggestirg that these have
originated from the Sanskrit root kshi, meaning 'to be'. Similarly we find the
original sh retained in words like shiki, shit; shiton of which the
corresponding modern forms are heki, kyath, 'hyotun', Skt. sh generally changing
to h in Kashmiri. Shot is another word of this kind, its modern form being hot,
'throat' This is precisely what we find in the Poguli dialect which even today
preserves the original sibliant. 'Dittho' (modern Ksh. dyuth) Skt. drishtwa and
ditto (mod, Ksh. dyut) < Skt. dattah are among the many intermediary forms of
modern Kashmiri words that occur in Banasur Katha.
Most of the phonetical changes one
comes across in Mahanay Prakash (M.P), Banasur Katha (B.K) and Sukha-dukha
Charit (COC) take place much the same way as they do in Prakrit and Apabhramsha.
Many of these changes have crystallized to form words which are used in
present-day Kashmiri. For instance, of elision of independent consonants ch, t d
and p, there are many examples in these works, the elided consonant being
replaced by a glide, y or v: vachan>vayan, lochan>loyan, gatah> gav
vady>vay, avaptam>vato, sthapayitva>thavet. In modern Kashmiri too,
excepting the elision of ch in vachan and loyan, we have several examples of
this as gav, vay, vot and thevith. In Apabhramsha Skt. r changes to a, i and u.
In M.P, B.K. and S.D.C., r>i and a: prithvi>pithiv (M.P), Pithvu (B.K);
prakriti > pakiti (M.P), pakit (B.K), trn > tin, mrtyu>mitya,
drdha>dado (B.K), drstva>dittho, nrtya>nats etc. In modern Kashmiri
this tendency can be seen in words like dor< dridha, nats. It will be
interesting to note that a good number of grammatical and lexical items are
quite similar in B.K., S.D.C. and modern Kashmiri, the apparent phonetlc
differenes being mostly due to orthographical limitaticns. Another feature that
needs to be noted is that several wcrds occuring in B.K. and S.D.C. are found in
Hindi and some other north Indian languages but not in present day Kashmiri. For
instance we have: jalo (Hindi jala) pado (Hindi para), chados, chadet (Hindi
charha, charhe), piya (Hindi piya), guade (Hindi ghore; modern/standard Kashmiri
gur, rural Kashrniri gur). In B.K., the word eshen occurs at one place having
beeing been used in the sense of 'they came'. Cursiously, this appears to be a
Bengali word, the mod. Kashmiri word being ayi (Hindi aye). These do not appear
to be loan words. Their occurrence in 15th century Kashmiri lends further
support to the view that the lines of development of Kashmiri and other modern
Indo-Aryan languages must have been similar in the initial phases.
Yet another linguistically
singificant trait is that in B.K. as well as S.D.C., both 15th century works,
several words occur in more than one form. For instance, we have tav and tam,
kshyo and chho, ko and kus i and yi. One of these forms appears to be older and
unstable whereas the other is relatively new. This shows that the language at
that time was more or less in a state of flux and word forms had not yet
crystalised. Interestingly enough there are words in contemporary speech also
which exist in more than one form. One such word is navid, barber, which is
derived from Skt. napita and occurs in the form of nayid (Hindi nai) also, the
two forrns denoting two different stages of development: napita>navid, nayid.
This makes Kashmiri an interesting subject for study in the Indian linguistic
context.
Metrics
These early Kashmiri texts also shed
singificant light on Kashmiri metrics. While in Chumma Sampraday and Maharlay
Prakash the metre used approaches Vakh and Shruk(J)' derived probably from
Sanskrit Shloka or Prakrit Gaha metres, in Banasur Katha Sanskrit metres like
Vasantatilakam. Mandakranta, Narkataka, Sriagdkara have been used straightaway
together with what appear to be original Kashmiri meitres like Thaddo, Phuro and
Dukatika. We find the author of Sukha-dukha Charit also using these very
Sanskrit and indigenous metres and that is the last we see of them.
The above study, based on written
evidence of the state of Kashmiri language as it was used from the 11th to late
15th century, should be enough to indicate the broad lines of its development in
the light of the phonetic changes that can be seen to have taken place during
this period. It should surely make it easier for us to go back in time and note
for ourselves that this process has been hardly different from the one that has
led to the development of other Aryan languages of India. For those who care for
facts, this is something that is quite valuable for ascertaining and relocating
the position of Kashmiri in the Indian linguistic context. One thing is certain,
the roots of Kashmiri do not lie hidden somewhere in the Dardic soil, but can
now, more clearly than ever before, be traced to a land that formed a part of
the Vedic world. Surely, there is a wide area that has still to be explored, but
the direction of this exploration is no longer hazy or uncertain.
APPENDIX I
Kashmiri
|
English
|
Sanskrit/Prakrit
|
val
|
hair
|
vala
|
kali
|
head
|
kapalah
|
buth, mkh
|
face
|
mukh
|
shondi (archaic)
|
shunda
|
|
aes
|
mouth
|
asya
|
dyak
|
forehead
|
Pkt. dhika (Guj-daka-throat;
doku-head)
|
gal
|
cheek
|
galla
|
aechh
|
eye
|
akshi
|
nas/nast
|
nose
|
nasa/nast
|
vuth
|
lip
|
oshtha
|
dand
|
teeth
|
danta
|
bum
|
eyebrow
|
bhru
|
kan
|
ear
|
karna
|
zyav
|
tongue
|
jivha
|
tal
|
palate
|
talu
|
hongany
|
chin
|
hanu
|
vachh
|
chest
|
vaksha
|
katsh
|
armpit
|
kakshah (Hindi kankh)
|
yad
|
belly
|
Pkt. Dhidh (Panj. tid)
|
mandal
|
buttocks
|
mand, alah
|
naf
|
navel
|
nabhi
|
athi
|
hand
|
hastah
|
khonivath
|
elbow
|
kaphoni+vatah (c.f. Hindi kohni)
|
ongij
|
finger
|
anguli
|
nyoth
|
thumb
|
angustha (c.f. Sh. aguto)
|
zang
|
leg
|
jangha
|
khwar
|
feet
|
khurah / kshurah (-a cloven
hoof- Note the change in meaning)
|
pad
|
feet
|
pada
|
tali-pod
|
sole of a foot
|
padatala
|
nam
|
nails
|
nakham
|
tsam
|
skin
|
charma
|
rath
|
blood
|
rakta
|
aedij
|
bone
|
adda
|
daer
|
beard
|
danstrika
|
naer
|
vein, artery, blood vessel
|
nadika
|
maz
|
flesh
|
mamsah
|
aendram
|
intestines
|
antram
|
bwakivaet
|
kidney
|
vrikka+vatah (c.f. Hindi bukka)
|
rum
|
|
hair of the body roma
|
nal
|
tibia
|
nalah, nalam (Pkt nalo)
|
ryadi
|
heart
|
hrday
|
And here are some words relating to
various physical states and conditions:
Kashmiri
|
English
|
Sanskrit
|
zuv
|
life
|
jiva
|
zyon
|
to take birth
|
Vedic jayate
|
asun
|
to laugh
|
hasam
|
rivun
|
to weep
|
rodana
|
mandachh
|
shyness
|
manda+akshi
|
volisun
|
to feel joy, alacrity
|
ullasah
|
bwachhi
|
hunger
|
bubhuksha (c.f. Hindi 'bukh')
|
shwangun
|
to sleep
|
shayanam
|
nendir
|
sleep
|
nidra
|
tresh
|
thirst
|
trsa
|
As for names of close relatives are
concerned Kashmiri 'mol' (father) and 'maej' (mother) are said to be of Dardic
origin. 'Mol' is, however, derived from Skt. 'mahal', meaning 'the great one'.
Other words are clearly of Sanskrit origin.
Kashmiri
|
English
|
Sanskrit
|
pot(h)ur
|
son
|
putrah
|
gobur
|
garbharupah
|
|
kur
|
daughter
|
kumari/kaumari (Pkt. kunwari,
Kauri, Panj. kudi, Kaur)
|
boy
|
brother
|
bhrataka (Hindi: bhai)
|
beni
|
sister
|
bhagini
|
petir
|
uncle (father's brother)
|
pitravya (Guj.pirai pitrayun)
|
mas
|
aunt (mother's sister)
|
matushvasa (Pkt. Mausi, Hindi
mausi, masi)
|
pwaph
|
aunt (father's sister)
|
pitushvasa (Hindi phuphi)
|
mam
|
maternal uncle
|
mamakah (Hindi mama)
|
mamany
|
wife of maternal uncle
|
mamika
|
nwash
|
daughter-in-law
|
snusa (Panj. nuh)
|
zamtur
|
son-in-law
|
jamatr (Pali jamatar, Hindi
jamai)
|
hyuhur
|
father-in-law
|
shvasur (note the change of 'sh'
to 'h')
|
bemi
|
brother-in-law (sister's
husband)
|
bhama
|
zam
|
sister-in-law (husband's sister)
|
jama (Pk. jami)
|
zaemi
|
sister-in-law's husband
|
jamipati
|
zaemizi
|
sister-in-law's daughter
|
jameya
|
benthir
|
sister's son (wife's sister)
|
bhagniputra syali
|
run
|
husband
|
ramanah (Pkt. ramano ravannu)
ranu, ravan (dialect)
|
vyas
|
female friend
|
vayasi
|
methir
|
friend
|
mitrah
|
shaethir
|
foe
|
shatruh
|
Common animals, birds and even worms and
insects have names which are derived from Sanskrit. Examples:
Kashmiri
|
English
|
Sanskrit
|
sih
|
a lion, tiger
|
simha (Pkt. siha)
|
hos (t)
|
an elephant
|
hasti
|
shal
|
a jackal
|
shrigalah (Pkt. siala)
|
sor
|
a pig
|
shukarah
|
gav
|
a cow
|
gau (gava)
|
votsh
|
a calf
|
vatsah
|
hun
|
a dog
|
shvanah, shun
|
vandur
|
a monkey
|
vanarah
|
gur (rural dialect gud)
|
a horse
|
ghotakah
|
bachheri
|
a colt
|
vats+ika+ra
|
tshavul
|
a he-goat
|
chhagalah
|
haput
|
a bear
|
shvapadah
|
vunth
|
a camel
|
ustrah
|
hangul
|
a stag
|
shrgalah
|
maesh
|
a buffalo
|
mahisah
|
nul
|
mongoose
|
nakulah
|
kaechhavi
|
a tortoise, a turtle
|
kachhapah
|
krim
|
a tortoise, a turtle
|
kurmah
|
vodur
|
a weasel
|
udrah
|
sarup(h)
|
a snake
|
sarpah
|
tsaer
|
a sparrow
|
chatkah (Hindi chiriya)
|
kav
|
a crow
|
kakah
|
kukil
|
a cuckoo
|
kokil
|
kwakur
|
a rooster, cock
|
kukkutah
|
aenz
|
a swan
|
hamsah
|
har
|
starling, mynah
|
shari
|
kakuv
|
the muddy goose
|
chakravakah
|
grad
|
a vulture
|
grdrah
|
brag
|
a heron
|
bakah
|
titur
|
a patridge
|
tittirah
|
byuch
|
a scorpion
|
vrschikah
|
maech
|
a housefly
|
makshika
|
kyom
|
a worm
|
krmi
|
pyush
|
a flea
|
plushi (Hindi pissu)
|
bumaesin
|
earthworm
|
bhumisnu
|
Words for Colours:
Kashmiri
|
English
|
Sanskrit
|
chhot
|
white, bleached
|
shvet
|
kruhun
|
black
|
krisnah (cf. Hindi kanha)
|
shyam
|
black
|
shyamah
|
nyul
|
blue
|
nilah
|
lyodur
|
yellow
|
haridra
|
vwazul
|
red
|
ujjvalah
|
katsur
|
brown
|
karchurah
|
gurut
|
fair
|
gaura
|
Names of days of the week:
Kashmiri
|
English
|
Sanskrit
|
athvar
|
Sunday
|
adityavarah (Hindi itvar, Sh.
adit)
|
tsandrivar
|
Monday
|
chandravarah
|
bomvar
|
Tuesday
|
bhaumavarah
|
bodvar
|
Wednesday
|
budhavarah
|
brasvar
|
Thursday
|
brhaspativarah
|
shokrivar
|
Friday
|
shukravarah
|
batavar
|
Saturday
|
bhattarakavarah
|
Names of edibles:
Kashmiri
|
English
|
Sanskrit
|
nun
|
salt
|
lavanam
|
til
|
oil
|
tailam
|
tomul
|
rice
|
tandulam
|
danyi
|
paddy
|
dhanyam
|
kinikh
|
wheat
|
kanikah
|
bati
|
cooked rice
|
bhaktam
|
dwad
|
milk
|
dugdham (Hindi dudh)
|
gyav
|
ghee
|
ghrtarn
|
pony
|
water
|
pamyam
|
hakh
|
pot-herb
|
shakam
|
vangun
|
brinjal, egg-plant
|
vangan
|
oluv
|
potatoe
|
alukah
|
muj
|
radish
|
mulika
|
gazir
|
carrot
|
garjaram (Pkt. gajjaram)
|
palak(h)
|
spinach
|
palankah
|
ruhun
|
garlic
|
lashunam
|
mithy
|
fenugreek
|
methika
|
kareli
|
bittergourd
|
karvellakah
|
al
|
the bottle-gourd
|
alabu
|
hyambi
|
beans
|
shimbi (c.f. Hindi chhimi)
|
nyom
|
lime, lemon
|
nimbukah
|
kel
|
bannana
|
kadali (Pkt. kelao, Hindi kela)
|
amb
|
mangoe
|
amram (Pkt. ambam)
|
aeen
|
pomegranate
|
dadim
|
dachh
|
grapes
|
draksha
|
tang
|
pear
|
tanka
|
khazir
|
datepalm
|
kharjurah (Pkt. khajjuro)
|
narjil
|
coconut
|
narikelah
|
ael
|
cardamom
|
aila
|
tel
|
sesamum seed
|
tila
|
rong
|
clove
|
lavang
|
marits
|
black pepper
|
maricha
|
martsivangun
|
chilli
|
maricha+vangana
|
mong
|
a species of pulse
|
mudgah (Pkt. muggo)
|
chani
|
gram, chick-pea
|
chanakah
|
mah
|
a bean
|
masha
|
muth
|
a kind of pulse, vetch
|
mayasthah, makushthah
|
makey
|
corn, maize
|
markaka (Pkt. makka+ika)
|
machh
|
honey
|
maksha
|
khyatsir
|
a dish of rice and split pulse
|
krsharah (Hindi khichari)
|
ras
|
juice, gravy
|
rasah
|
layi
|
parched grain
|
laja
|
shakkar
|
unrefined sugar
|
sharkara
|
shonth
|
dried ginger
|
shunthi
|
zyur
|
cumin seed
|
jirakah
|
yangi
|
asfoetida
|
hingu
|
gor
|
molasses
|
gudah (Hindi gur)
|
rot
|
a sweet cake offered to a god
|
rotah
|
Names of the minerals also show the same
tendency:
Kashmiri
|
English
|
Sanskrit
|
swan
|
gold
|
swarna (Hindi sona)
|
rwap(h)
|
silver
|
raupya
|
tram
|
copper
|
tamra
|
shastir
|
iron
|
shastrakah
|
parud
|
mercury
|
pardah
|
kenz
|
brass, bellmetal
|
kansya
|
Names of objects of common use are mostly
of Sanskrit derivation:
Kashmiri
|
English
|
Sanskrit
|
kapur
|
cloth
|
kalpatah (Pkt. kappado, Hindi
kapra)
|
pot
|
woollen cloth
|
patah
|
sitsan
|
needle
|
suchika
|
raz
|
rope
|
rajju
|
sithir
|
cotton thread
|
sutrah
|
trakir
|
balance
|
tarkari
|
parmani
|
weights
|
parimana
|
prang/palang
|
couch
|
paryankah
|
bani
|
utensils
|
bhajana (Pkt. bhayana, Guj.
bhanun, bhanen, Sindh banu)
|
vokhul
|
mortar
|
ulukhalah
|
kazul
|
collyrium
|
kajjalam
|
kath
|
wood
|
kastham
|
kammal
|
blanket
|
kambalam (Pkt. kammal)
|
mokhti
|
pearls
|
mukta
|
nav
|
boat
|
nava (Vedic)
|
dungi
|
a canoe, a large boat
|
drona+kah (c.f. Hindi donga)
|
shup
|
winnower
|
shurpa
|
baehaets
|
a large boat
|
vahitra, vohittha (c.f. Hindi
bohit)
|
thal
|
a large plate of metal
|
sthalam (c.f. Hindi thal)
|
gasi
|
grass
|
ghasam (Hindi ghas)
|
kangir
|
a portable fire-pot, brazier
|
kastha+angari+ka, ka+angari+ka
|
dand
|
a staff
|
dandam
|
zal
|
a net
|
jalam
|
baji
|
a musical instrument
|
vadya+kah (Hindi baja)
|
vaejy
|
a ring
|
valaya
|
kofur
|
camphor
|
karpuram
|
gadvi
|
a water vessel
|
gadukah
|
sranipath
|
a loincloth
|
snanapattam
|
ganti
|
bell
|
ghanta
|
sendir
|
vermilion
|
sindurah
|
kapas
|
cotton
|
karpasam (Pkt. kappasam)
|
toh
|
chaff
|
tusa
|
turi
|
claironet
|
turya
|
bin
|
lute
|
vina (Hindi bin)
|
vaenk
|
braid
|
venika
|
vag
|
bridle
|
valga (Hindi bag)
|
baety
|
wick
|
vartika
|
kangany
|
comb
|
kankatika
|
mal
|
garland necklace
|
mala
|
bungir
|
bangle, bracelet
|
vank+diminutive affix ri (c.f.
Hindi bangri, bangri; Marathi bangrya)
|
pulihor
|
a shoe of grass or straw
|
pula+kah (Hindi pula)
|
Names of different seasons are peculiarly
Sanskritic:
Name of the season
|
Kashmiri
|
Sanskrit
|
spring
|
sont(h)
|
vasanta
|
summer
|
grishim
|
gris, ma
|
rainy season
|
vaehrat
|
varsa+ rituh (Hindi 'barsat')
|
autumn
|
harud
|
sharad
|
winter
|
vandi
|
varsant
|
Etymology of words relating to physical,
natural and environmental phenomena is quite interesting:
Kashmiri
|
English
|
Sanskrit
|
siri (Muslim Kashmiri 'akhtab')
|
sun
|
suryah
|
tsaendir, tsaendram
|
moon
|
chandra, chandra+mas (Hindi
'chandrama')
|
tarak(h)
|
stars
|
tarakah
|
nab
|
sky
|
nabhah
|
samsar
|
the universe, world
|
samsarah
|
thal
|
land
|
sthalah
|
vav
|
air
|
vayuh
|
tap(h)
|
sunlight
|
atapah
|
gash/pragash
|
light
|
prakash
|
anigati
|
darkness
|
andha-ghata
|
obur
|
cloud
|
abhra
|
vuzimali
|
lightening
|
vidyut+mala
|
gagiray
|
rumbling, thunder
|
gargara
|
saedir
|
sea, ocean
|
samudrah
|
sar
|
lake
|
sarah
|
kval
|
stream
|
kulya
|
van
|
forest
|
van
|
sangar
|
shrnga
|
mountain
|
sangarmal
|
shrnga+mala
|
peaks
|
bunyul
|
earthquake
|
bhu+chala (Hindi bhuchal)
|
Kashmiri numerals
Of particular interest in this context are
Kashmiri numerals, cardinals as well as ordinals, which are amazingly
Indo-Aryan, retaining old Sanskritic elements as hardly any other modern
Indo-Aryan language does. In the Dardic languages Sanskrit sh does not change to
h though in Prakrit/Kashmiri has a full fledged numeral system which by no
stretch of imagination can be said to have any links with Dardic where counting
is done in twenties. Siddheshwar Verma has very clearly shown that Kashmiri
follows the Sanskrit-Pali pattern in its numerals[17]. Let us consider a few
examples. Kashmiri is the only modern Indo- Aryan language that retains the
Sanskrit dvi in the form of du) in numerals that come after ten (barring
twelve). Thus we have, duhaeth (Skt. dva-shasthi, Pali dvasatthi, Pkt.
basatthi); dusatath (Skt. dvisaptati, Pali dvasattati), dunamath (Skt
dvanavati). In all other Indo-Aryan languages including Prakrit, d>b, as in
Hindi basath, bahattar, banave. In the same way Kashmiri shunamath retains the
sh of Sanskrit sannavati, whereas in other Indo- Aryan languages sh>chh,
Hindi chhiyanave, Bengali chhevanabbe, Sindhi chhanave etc. Again, Kashmiri
"satath" is closer to the Sanskrit-Pali pattern and not to Prakrit in
which the terminal t of saptati changes to r:Prakrit sattari', Hindi, Punjabi,
Bengali, Marathi sattar, Sindhi satari.
It is amazing that Kashmir deh
(Muslim Kashrnir dah) and hath derived from Sanskrit dash and shat respectively,
with sh and some other Indian languages like Marathi it does: (Skt. dashamukha
Pkt. dahamuho; Marathi daha- ten) In the Dardic, and even Kafir languages, sh is
generally retained. Thus we have: Kalash dash, Gwarbati dash, Garwi dash.
Torwali dash, Shina dai, Maiya dash. In Kashmiri shat (h) as well hath are used
for hundred hath for numbers below seven hundred and shat for numbers above it.
But in Dardic languages sh is generally retained or changed to s as in Hindi and
other modern Indo-Aryan languages: Kalash shor, Garwi 'So, Torwali 'So, Maiya
shal, Shina shal.
The following table will make the position
of Kashmiri numerals more clear:
Numeral
|
Kashmiri
|
Sanskrit
|
one
|
akh
|
ekah
|
two
|
zi
|
dvi
|
three
|
tre
|
tri
|
four
|
tsor
|
chatur
|
five
|
pantsh
|
pancha
|
six
|
she
|
sastha
|
seven
|
sat(h)
|
sapta
|
eight
|
aeth
|
asta
|
nine
|
nnv
|
nava
|
ten
|
daeh
|
dash
|
twenty
|
vuh
|
vimsha
|
thirty
|
trih
|
trimsha
|
forty
|
tsatiji(h)
|
chaturvimshata
|
fifty
|
pantsah
|
panchashata
|
sixty
|
sheth
|
shastih
|
seventy
|
satat(h)
|
saptatih
|
eighty
|
shith
|
ashitih
|
ninety
|
namath
|
navatih
|
hundred
|
hath/shath
|
shata
|
thousand
|
sas
|
sahasra
|
lakh
|
lachh
|
laksha
|
crore
|
karor
|
kotih
|
APPENDIX II
Some Examples of Conjunction
(1) k+t > tt: shakti > shatta,
bhakti > bhatta, rakta > ratta; Mod. Kaihmiri: rakta 'rath', 'bhakta
(-rice) > bati, saktum > (parched rice) > sot.
(2) p+t tt/t: sapta > satta, avaptam > vato. Mod.
ksh.: sapta > sath, avaptam > vot, tapta > tot.
(3) t+y ch: nrtya- > nachha - Mod. Ksh nrtya >
nats, atyeti > Pkt. achei > Ksh. ats
(4) d+y jj: adya > ajja, vadyanti vajjan, Mod. Ksh:
adya > az, vadyanti vazan.
(5) g+dh > dh: dagdha > dadho, dadhos. Mod. Ksh.
dagdha > dod, dodus.
(6) dh+y > jj: madhya > majj (Pkt. majh, Hindi
manjh); budhyate > bujje (Pali bujjhati, Pkt. bujjhai). Mod. Ksh: Madhya
> manz, budhyate > bozi.
(7) h+v > jj: dahyati > dajji Mod. Ksh: dahyati
> dazi
(8) d+v > b: dwitiva > Pkt. belya, bhiya, Mod.
Ksh. beyi, dwadash > bah (Hindi barah) dwar > bar (Punjabi bari)
(9) g+n > gg: lagnah > laggo Mod. Ksh. lagnah >
lagun, log
(10) g+n > nn: naghah > nanno Mod. Ksh. nagnah
> non
(11) t+m > p: atman > pan (Pkt. appa, Hindi ap,
Sindhi, pan, u)
In conjuncts with sibliants, the sibliant
generally elides:
(1) s+t > th, tth: stana > than,
hastat > attha Mod. Ksh: stana > than, stabmbh > tham, hasta >
athi
(2) s+th > th: sthal > thal (Pali thal', Pkt.
'thal', Punj. 'thal' Assamese 'thal', Guj, 'thal', Marathi 'thal', Hindi
'thal' Skt. stha piyitva > thavet, sthan > than, Mod. Ksh: 'sthal' >
thal, sthapanam > thavun, sthal > thal.
(3) s+ph > ph: 'sphotayah > photiy; Mod. Ksh:
'sphotyati' > phuti
(4) s+m > s: 'smar' > sar, saret (Pali 'sar' -,
Pkt. 'sar'-, Mod. Ksh: 'smar' > sar
(5) sh+t/th > ttha: drstva dittho (Pali dittha, Pkt.
datt,ha, dittha, Guj. Dithun, Awadhi: ditha), pristha > pittha, nistha >
nittha, upavista > bittha; Mod. Ksh: dristwa dyut,h; prishtha > pyath,
pith; kostha > kuth; oshtha > wuth; asta > ae: th kashtha > kath
(Hindi kath) musti > mvath pusta > puth, jyestha > zyuth (Hindi
jetha), bhrasta breth; upavista > byuth.
Another point of similarity between
phonology of M.P., B.K. S.D.C. and Prakrit-Pali-Apabhramsha is elision of 'r' in
r'-conjunction. The present writer was pleasantly surprised to come acorss the
word 'piya' (-beloved) in one of the most beautiful songs of Banasur Katha-piya
ma gatsh marnay.
(1) k+r > k. krodhe > kodhe,
krur > kur, Mod. Ksh: krur > kur
(2) k+k > kk: chakra > chakka, shakra > shakka;
Mod. Ksh: chukra > tsok, nakrashira > Pkt. nakkasira- > Mod. Ksh.
naser
(3) t+r > t: > tatra tatte, tati; yatra >
yatti, yati; atra > ati, trasen > trase, tri- > ti.
Mod. Ksh. tatra > tati; yatra > yeti, atra >
ati, ratri > rath, kutra > kati
(4) r+n/n, > n (n): varna > vanna; suvarna >
suvanna, varnaya > vanno, (a) karne > akannet. Mod. Ksh.: karna >
kan, swarna > swan, parna > pan, churna > tsin,
(5) r+m > mm; m; karma > kamma, marma > mamma
charma > chamma Mod. Ksh: karma > k aem, charma > tsam
(6) r+p > pp: darpa > dappa; arpit > appu; Mod.
Ksh: shurpa > shup; karpasa > kayas
(7) r+h > ll, 1: yarhi > yille, tarhi > tille,
Mod. Ksh: yarhi > yeli, tarhi > teli
When 'r' is the second member of a
conjunct, however, it does not elide, but is retained with a vocalic release:
(1) Agre > agari, agra; abhrat >
abhra; sahasra > sass; nirgatah > niret, niri, nirim; sparsa >
parshet, Mod. Ksh: abhra > obur, sahasra > sas, nirgatah > ner;
sparsha > phash (Pkt. phassa)
The consonant 'r' is, however, generally
retained in modern Kashmiri in initial, medial or final positions. The doubled
consonants formed as a result of its elision have been simplied in course of
further development of the language in case of words where it has been elided.
There is no compensatory elongation of the vowel in Kashmiri for the words so
formed, as usually happens in Hindi and other modern Indo-Aryan languages. Thus
karna > kan and not kan (as in Hindi), swarna > swan and not sona.
The joint letter ksh changes mostly
to chh or chchh, but in some cases it changes to kh as happens in Mod. Ksh. too.
Here are same examples:
(1) Ksh > chchh/chh: kshut. >
chchot; akshi > achchi Mod. Ksh: kshut > tshot, akshi > achh,
mandakshi > mandachh, bubhuksha > bochhi, laksha > lachh, vaksha >
vachh, raksha > rachh, paksha > pachh, kaksha > kachh, taksha >
tachh, yaksha > yachh, draksha > dachh, maksha > machh, kshalava >
chhal, shiksha > hechh, veksha > vuchh (Punj. vekh)
(2) ksh > kkh/kh: tikshna > tikkho Mod. Ksh:
Lakshmi > lakhymi, sukshma > sikhim, paksha > (-wing) > pakh,
kshama > khyama
The sibliants 'sh', 's' (cerebral 'sh')
and 's' generally change to 'h' in Kashmiri though there are several exceptions.
(1) sh/s > h: dasha > daeh,
ekadasha > kah, chaturdasha > chuddah, nashan > nahen Mod. Ksh: dasha
> clah, ekadasha > kah, chaturdasha > tsodah, nashan > nahvun,
sharad > harud, shat > hath, shuska > hokh, krisna > kruhun,
chusana > tsihun, pesanam > pihun, vestana > vatun, visam > veh,
tus > toh, manusya > mohnyuv, upavisha > beh; shun/shwan > hun;
shari > haer, mashkah > moh.
(2) sh/s remains unchanged: shobha > shub, maihisa
mash, shurpa > shup, pusa/puspa > posh, asha > ash, tris. > tresh,
mris. mash-, lesha > lish, prakash > gash.
Initial 'h' changes to 'a' in Kashmiri. There are only a
few examples of this in M.P. B.K. aild S.D.C.: hastat > attha, hasti >
asis
Mod. Ksh: hasta > athi, hasan > asun, ha,dda >
adda
Vowel changes occur in modern Kashmiri
almost along the same lines as in M.P. B.K. and S.D.C. Examples of some of these
are given below:-
(1) a > a: sahara > sass,
saphal > saphul, nibhrit > nibhara, rakshaka > rakshe, sahit >
sate, priya > piya, nashya > nah. Mod. Ksh: sahasra > sas, raksha
> rachh-,. nashya- > nah;
(2) a > u: Medial 'a' often changes to 'u' in
Kashmiri nominative singular. This tendency is equally strong in M.P., B.K.
and S.D.C.
Examples: Janaka > januk, anal > anul, varsana
> varshun, tapodhana > tapodhun, sanrakshaka > sanrakshuk, Narad >
Narud, Madhava > Madhuv. Mod. Ksh.: balak > baluk, varsan, a >
varshun, rakshaka > rakhyuk, takshaka > takhyuk, Narada > Narud,
sarpah > sarup, bhramrah > bombur
(3) a > a: Like Maharashtri, Jain Maharashtri, Ardha-
Magdhi Prakrits and Apabhramshas, a > a in fem. nom. sing. in M.P., B.K.,
and S.D.C. Modern Kashmiri also exhibits this tendency. Examples: Puja >
puj, katha > kath, bala > bal, Usha (proper name) > Ush, mata >
mat Mod. Ksh.: Puja > puz, katha > kath, bala > bal, Usa (proper
name) > Ushi, mala > mal, sthala > thal
(4) i > a: narpati > narpat, dinapati >
dinapat, nayika > nayak, rishi > rish, rashi > rash, rashmi >
rashm, buddhi > buddh, shakti > shatta, bhakti > bhatta, agni >
agna. Mod. Ksh.: rsi > ryosh, ganapati > ganapat, rashi > rash,
budcdhi > bwadh, gati > gath, prati > prath.
(5) i > u: jiva > juv (Sindhi jiu, Panj, jiu,
Kumanoni jyu, ziu, Bengali jiu, Marathi jiu, Hindi jiu) Mod. Ksh.: zuv
(6) u > a: tribhuvan > tibhavan, Shambhu >
Shambh, ashru > asra, kutah > katto, asur > asar, shatru > shatra,
Visnu > vi,sn,a.
Mod. Ksh.: ashru > osh, kutah > kati, shatru >
shathir Vishnu > veshin
APPENDIX III
Abbreviations
Skt.
|
Sanskrit
|
Pkt.
|
Prakrit
|
Ksh.
|
Kashmiri
|
Mod.Ksh.
|
Modern Kashmiri
|
IA
|
Indo-Aryan
|
OIA
|
Old Indo-Aryan
|
MIA
|
Mid Indo-Aryan
|
Panj.
|
Panjabi
|
Guj.
|
Gujrati
|
M.P.
|
Mahanay Prakash
|
B.K.
|
Banasur Katha
|
S.D.C.
|
Sukha-Dukha Charit
|
REFERENCES
1. Siddheshwal Verma, The Antiquities of
Kashmiri: An Approach. p. 7.
2. See his Detailed Report of a Tour in Search of
Sanskrit Manuscripts Made in Kashmir, Rajputana and Central Asia p. 89.
3. Journal Asiatic Society of Bengal, p. 280.
4. Tour in Search of Sanskrit Manuscripts, p. 83.
5. Monier Williams, Sanskrit Dictionary, p. 844.
6. The Antiquities of Kashmiri: An Approach, p. 4.
7. S.K. Toshkhani, "Some Important Aspects of
Kashmiri as a Language", The Lala Rookh, August 1967, p. 50.
8. G.A. Grierson, "The Linguistic Classification of
Kashmiri", Indian Antiquary XLIV, p. 257.
9. The Linguistic Survey of India Vol. VIII. Part II. p.
259.
10. S.K. Chatterji, Languages and Literatures of Modern
India. p. 256.
11. The Lingusitic Survey of India Vol. VIII, Part IV:
The Introduction p. 8.
12. Quoted by Murray B. Emenau in AnL VIII. No. 8, p.
282-83.
13. Ibid.
14. G.A. Grierson, The Linguistic Survey of India Vol.
VIII, Part II, 251- 2.
15. See T. Grahame Bailey, Grammar of the Shina
Language, Royal Asiatic Society, London, 1924.
16. Help has been taken of Turners' Comparative
Dictionary of Modern Indo-Aryan Languages' for etymology of most of the words.
17. Siddheshwar Verma, The Antiquities of Kashmiri: An
Approach, p. 5-6.
18. Beams, A Comparative Grammar of the Modern Languages
of India. p. 291.
19. Tour in Search of Sanskrit Manuscripts, p. 86.
20. Ibid. p. 86.
21. G. A. Grierson, The Language of Mahanay Prakash,
Para 274.
Excerpts from:
Jammu,
Kashmir & Ladakh - Linguistic Predicament
Edited by: P. N. Pushp and K.
Warikoo
Himalayan Research and Cultural Foundation
Har-Anand Publications
|