CHAPTER V.
NOUNS AND ADJECTIVES.
321. a. The accordance in inflection of substantive and adjective stems is so complete that the two cannot be separated in treatment from one another.
b. They may be classified, for convenience of description, as follows:
I. Stems in अ a;
II. Stems in इ i and उ u;
III. Stems in आ ā, ई ī, and ऊ ū: namely, A. radical-stems (and a few others inflected like them); B. derivative stems;
IV. Stems in ऋ ṛ (or अर् ar);
V. Stems in consonants.
c. There is nothing absolute in this classification and arrangement; it is merely believed to be open to as few objections as any other. No general agreement has been reached among scholars as to the number and order of Sanskrit declensions. The stems in a are here treated first because of the great predominance of the class.
322. The division-line between substantive and adjective, always an uncertain one in early Indo-European language, is even more wavering in Sanskrit than elsewhere. There are, however, in all the declensions as divided above — unless we except the stems in ṛ or ar — words which are distinctly adjectives; and, in general, they are inflected precisely like noun-stems of the same final: only, among consonant-stems, there are certain sub-classes of adjective stems with peculiarities of inflection to which there is among nouns nothing corresponding. But there are also two considerable classes of adjective-compounds, requiring special notice: namely —
323. Compound adjectives having as final member a bare verbal root, with the value of a present participle (383 a ff.): thus, su-dṛ́ç well-looking; pra-búdh foreknowing; a-drúh not hating; veda-víd Veda-knowing; vṛtra-hán Vritra-slaying; upastha-sád sitting in the lap. Every root is liable to be used in this way, and such compounds are not infrequent in all ages of the language: see chapter on Compounds, below (1269).
