VI. DECLENSIONS. NOUNS. VOWEL STEMS. 267 vāśrásas 'roaring', vidūnásas¹ 'being found', vydhasas 'helping', a-suṣāṇāsas ² 'stimulating', sughanásas 3 'swift', sámmitasas (AV.) 'corresponding', smáyamanāsas 'smiling', hávamānāsas 'calling' 4. A. This case is formed with the normal ending -as which coalesces with the final of the stem to -äs, e. g. sünŕtas. It is very frequent, being made from more than 160 stems in the RV. Examples of the commonest forms mayás (22), pŕtanäs (13) 'battles', usrás (12) 'dawns', dhárās (11), usriyas (10) 5. Two instances occur of forms in -äsas being wrongly used as A. pl. f.: samvidanásas (x. 30¹4) 'united' and aram-gamásas (AV. XIII. 233) 'ready to help'. I. This case is always formed by adding the ending -bhis directly to the stem, e. g. sunita-bhis. It is made from over 80 stems in the RV. Examples of the most frequent forms are: mayábhis (13), citrábhis (8), dhárābhis (7), hítrābhis (7) ‘libations', ilabhis (6). The form drághisthabhis (111. 62¹) 'for longest times'6 is used adverbially. D. Ab. These cases are formed with the same ending -bhyas (sometimes to be read as two syllables) added directly to the stem. In the RV. only 4 datives and 11 ablatives occur from nominal stems7. The forms occurring are: D. aghnyábhyas, usriyabhyas, ducchúnabhyas, devátabhyas (TS. Iv. 2. 96) 'deities', vrtábhyas 'movements'. - Ab. ádharabhyas 'lower', ásabhyas 'regions', úttarābhyas, uṣṇihābhyas ‘nape of the neck', kikasābhyas 'cartilages of the breast-bone', gúdabhyas intestines', grīvábhyas, damsánabhyas 'wondrous powers', dhisánabhyas 'Soma bowls', vaksánabhyas 'bellies', syavyàbhyas 'darkness'. G. This case being made with the abnormal ending -num is identical in form with the G. pl. m. of the a- declension. It is formed in the RV. from 22 stems. There is no certain example here of forms with the normal ending -am which is found in a few genitives of the a- declension (372). There are only a couple of instances in which the resolution of the final syllable as -aam seems required by the metre 8. The G. of kanyà- 'girl' always appears in the contracted form of kanínām (occurring five times) in the RV. ¹0 The forms actually occurring are: ákṣarānām 'speech', ághnyānām, a-niveśanánām affording no place of rest', á-bhayānām 'free from danger', áśma-vrajānām 'whose pen is a rock', ásanām (TS. Iv. 4. 12³), urvárāṇām 'arable fields', usrāṇām, usriyāṇām, káṣṭhānām, kṛtyánām (Kh. Iv. 53º), jihmánām 'transverse', divyánām 'heavenly', důghānām ‘milch kine', devátānām (Kh.11.4¹), deva-senánam 'hosts of the gods', dhişáṇānām, návānām, navyinām 'navigable rivers', pastyànām 'abodes', manīṣáṇām, rámyāṇām nights', sámānām 'years', sūnŕtānām 'songs of joy', stiyānām 'still waters'. L. This case is formed by adding the ending -su directly to the stem. The final - though always combined with a following vowel both at the end of an internal Pada or within a Pada, is invariably to be read with hiatus ¹ Participle middle, with passive sense, of vid- 'find'. 2 Participle middle of Vivas. 3 This word (AV.) is of uncertain deri- vation. 4 There are besides two or three doubtful instances which may be m.; see LANMAN 362. 5 In several instances -ās is most probably to be read where the Pada text has 7, see LANMAN 363. In a few forms the resolution of -as as -aas or -aas seems necessary; LANMAN 1. c. 6 Cp. aparibhyas 'for future times'. 7 There are also the pronominal forms abhyás aud abhyas, tábhyas, yábhyas. 8 dhanánām in VIII. 5912 and pŕtanānām in VIII. 59¹. In sūnýtānām (1. 3¹¹) the metre seems to require the shortening of the final of the stem: sunýtănām; Lanman 364. 9 This is a form of some importance as showing how the suffix - arose from -ya-, 10 It also occurs once in Kh, 1, 57.
