1.1.16
Mīmāṃsā Sūtra / Adhyāya 1 / 1.1.16
वर्णान्तरमविकारः
varṇāntaram avikāraḥ
The line
Another phoneme is not a modification.
नेपालीमा
अर्को वर्ण विकार होइन।
Where it sits
This answers prakṛti (प्रकृति) and vikṛti (विकृति) from 1.1.10. The phoneme is still the subject. Avikāra (अविकार) refuses the claim that one sound is the changed state of another.
Split: varṇa-antaram (वर्ण-अन्तरम्) + avikāraḥ (अविकारः)
Sanskrit, in depth
The words
| Word | Grammar | Sense |
|---|---|---|
| varṇa-antaram (वर्ण-अन्तरम्) | nominative singular, neuter | another phoneme |
| avikāraḥ (अविकारः) | nominative singular, masculine | a non-modification |
The phrases
In dadhy atra the y is another phoneme, not a changed i. A speaker who pronounces y is not thereby taking up i, the way a man who wants a mat takes up the grass.
Mere likeness does not make one thing the original and the other its modification. Two white lumps are not parent and offspring. So the sandhi pair is not a proof that the phoneme changes and therefore perishes.
Sanskrit in this line
Varṇāntaram (वर्णान्तरम्) is neuter and avikāraḥ (अविकारः) is masculine. The sūtra (सूत्र) puts them together as subject and predicate across that difference of gender. Vāraṇa (वारण) is a speech-sound.
Say it back
Say that y is another letter, not a changed i.
Next
1.1.17. The increase belongs to the resonance, not to the word.