An epenthetic vowel may be inserted between an initial sibilant and r Example: śrī → sirī The sequence ry generally becomes riy (i influenced by following y), but is still treated as a two-consonant sequence for the purposes of vowel-shortening Example: ārya → arya → ariya, sūrya → surya → suriya, vīrya → virya → viriya a or i is inserted between r and h Example: arhati → arahati, garhā → garahā, barhiṣ → barihisa There is sporadic epenthesis between other consonant sequences Examples: caitya → cetiya (not cecca), vajra → vajira (not vajja) Other changes Any Sanskrit sibilant before a nasal becomes a sequence of nasal followed by h, i.e. ṣṇ, sn and sm become ṇh, nh, and mh Examples: tṛṣṇa → taṇha, uṣṇīṣa → uṇhīsa, asmi → amhi The sequence śn becomes ñh, due to assimilation of the n to the preceding palatal sibilant Example: praśna → praśña → pañha The sequences hy and hv undergo metathesis Examples: jihvā → jivhā, gṛhya → gayha, guhya → guyha h undergoes metathesis with a following nasal Example: gṛhṇāti → gaṇhāti y is geminated between e and a vowel Examples: śreyas → seyya, Maitreya → Metteyya Voiced aspirates such as bh and gh on rare occasions become h Examples: bhavati → hoti, -ebhiṣ → -ehi, laghu → lahu Dental and retroflex sounds sporadically change into one another Examples: jñāna → ñāṇa (not ñāna), dahati → ḍahati (beside Pali dahati) nīḍa → nīla (not nīḷa), sthāna → ṭhāna (not thāna), duḥkṛta → dukkaṭa (beside Pali dukkata), granthi→ gaṇṭhi, pṛthivī → paṭhavī/puṭhuvī (beside Pali pathavī/puthuvī/puthavī) Exceptions There are several notable exceptions to the rules above; many of them are common Prakrit words rather than borrowings from Sanskrit. ārya → ayya (beside ariya) guru → garu (adj.) (beside guru (n.)) puruṣa → purisa (not purusa) vṛkṣa → rukṣa → rukkha (not vakkha) Writing Emperor Ashoka erected a number of pillars with his edicts in at least three regional Prakrit languages in Brahmi script, all of which are quite similar to Pali. Historically, the first written record of the Pali canon is believed to have been composed in Sri Lanka, based on a prior oral tradition. According to the Mahavamsa (the chronicle of Sri Lanka), due to a major famine in the country Buddhist monks wrote down the Pali canon during the time of King Vattagamini in 100 BCE. Bilingual coins containing Pali written in