A study of Acceptance of the Long Character ‘låu’ of Sanskrit Grammarians.

Abstract

The classical Sanskrit language has sixty-four characters, according to Panini. It has pluta‘ilu’ (3 matras) and without the long character of ‘ilu’. He has been removed the long character of ‘ilu’ from the language because it is not used in Sanskrit language. In Panini Shiksha, ‘pluta’ character of ‘ilu’ is mentioned separately. The "iluvarñasyadwādasha, tasyadīrghābhawāt" in Siddhāntakaumudiya indicates that there is not a long pronounced ‘ilu’ letter. The Chāndra scholar removes the long character of ‘ilu’ from the classical Sanskrit by using statement of bālāwabōdhana “iluvarñasyadīrghānasanti, tenasadwādasha”. It should beresearchedwhat prospect the long character of ‘ilu’ included to Sanskrit alphabet by the later grammarians of Mugdhabōdha, sāraswata and siddhāntachandrikā, but was not accepted by the ancient grammarians. Vōpadēva who wrote Mugdhabōdha indicates three types of five vowels (hraswa, dīrgha, pluta) in Sanskrit by the furmula “Āwatswarghaplu”. Anubhūtiswarūpa who wrote Sāraswata has agreed the idea of Vōpadēva scholar by two formulae that “A I U IRU ILU samānāh” and “Hraswadīrghaplutabhēdāhsawarñāh”. Teacher Pāñinī accepted the short and plutacharacters of ‘ILU’ which they areused very rare in Sanskrit language, but same long character of ‘ILU’ was not accepted. Therefore scholar, Durgasinghe says “yathānukarañehraswailukārōstitathādīrgōpyastītimatam.” If the both short and plutacharacters of ‘ILU’ are accepted, the long character of ‘ILU’ also should be accepted. According to this matter, later grammarians can not find a suitable solution for using of character ‘ILU’. So, the long character of ’ILU’ have to be accepted.