After this, a more general rule is given, or, more correctly, a more comprehensive observation is made, viz. that under all circumstances initial a is elided, if the preceding word ends in aye, ayah, ave, or avah. As might be expected, however, so large a class must have numerous exceptions, and these can only be collected by quoting every word ending in these syllables, or every passage in which the exceptions occur. Before these exceptions are enumerated, some other more or less general observations are made, providing for the elision of initial a. Initial a, according to Sûtra 142, is to be elided if the preceding word is vah, and if this vah is preceded by â, na, pra, kva, kitrah, savitâ, eva, or kah. There is, of course, no intelligible reason why, if these words precede vah, the next a should be elided. It is a mere statement of facts, and, generally speaking, these statements are minutely accurate. There is probably no verse in the whole of the Rig-veda where an initial a after vah is elided, unless these very words precede, or unless some other observation has been made to provide for the elision of the a. For instance, in V, 25, 1, we find vah preceded by akkha, which is not among the words just mentioned, and here the Samhitâ does not elide the a of agnim, which follows after vah. After all these more or less general observations as to the elision of