THE VERB 354 class only in the position of the accent. In the passive this is on the suffix yd whereas in the fourth class it is on the root : many ate ' thinks but badhydte 1 is bound This distinction is secondary since roots in the fourth class appear in their weak form (isyati, tsyate) and this indicates original suffixal accent. Furthermore there are a few old intransitives (not passives) which are suffixally accented : mriydte 1 dies ', dhriydte * is stead- fast There is also fluctuation of accent in some passive and intransitive forms, mucyate and mucyate ' is released kstyate and kstyate r is destroyed jiyate and jiyate ' suffers loss pdcyate and pacydte * is cooked The passive in this form is found also in Iranian (Av. kir- yeinte — kriyante), but not elsewhere. It is an Indo-Iranian innovation based on the fourth present class, and its origin was due to the frequency of intransitive verbs in that class, par- ticularly with middle inflection : jay ate ‘ is born pdcyate ‘ be- comes ripe, cooked ', t-dpyate ' becomes hot etc. Since a number of these verbs had differently formed transitive presents beside them (tdpati ‘ heats etc.) they could easily form the nucleus from which the passive system developed. Differentia- tion was made by the retention in the passive of the old accent, for which in the fourth class presents radical accent has been substituted. The examples above in which there is variation of accent are mainly old intransitives which have been adopted as passives (: mucyate r gets loose etc.). The middle inflection is universal in Sanskrit (except for some late and incorrect Epic forms, drsyati ' is seen etc.), but active forms are not uncom- mon in Iranian : Av. hairy eiti 1 is carried O. Pers. Qahydmahy
- we are called etc. Probably to begin with the usage was
uncertain and the exclusive use of the middle later generalised in Indo-Aryan. The passive is inflected only in the present system. In the perfect and future the middle voice frequently functions as passive : cakri 1 was done karisyate * will be done In the aorist there is a passive 3 sg. of independent formation [dkdri) which has already been described. In the immediate pre- classical period there was a tendency, which did not go very far, to extend this by adding other forms. None are found in the Vedic literature, but the grammarians lay down, for roots ending in vowels and graft-, drs han-, special passive aorist forms based on the above, e.g. 1 sg. dddyisi , 3 pi. andyisata, etc. : 3 sg.
