Adjectives declined pronominally.
522. A number of adjectives — some of them coming from pronominal roots, others more or less analogous with pronouns in use — are inflected, in part or wholly, according to the pronominal declension (like त ta, 495), with feminine stems in ā. Thus:
523. The comparatives and superlatives from pronominal roots — namely, katará and katamá, yatará and yatamá, and ítara; also anyá other, and its comparative anyatará — are declined like ta throughout.
a. But even from these words forms made according to the adjective declension are sporadically met with (e. g. itarāyām K.).
b. Anya takes occasionally the form anyat in composition: thus, anyatkāma, anyatsthāna.
524. Other words are so inflected except in the nom.-acc.-voc. sing, neut., where they have the ordinary adjective form am, instead of the pronominal at (ad). Such are sárva all, víçva all, every, éka one.
a. These, also, are not without exception, at least in the earlier language (e. g. víçvāya, víçvāt, víçve RV.; éke loc. sing., AV.).
525. Yet other words follow the same model usually, or in some of their significations, or optionally; but in other senses, or without known rule, lapse into the adjective inflection.
a. Such are the comparatives and superlatives from prepositional stems: ádhara and adhamá, ántara and ántama, ápara and apamá, ávara and avamá, úttara and uttamá, úpara and upamá. Of these, pronominal forms are decidedly more numerous from the comparatives than from the superlatives.
b. Further, the superlatives (without corresponding comparatives) paramá, caramá, madhyamá also anyatama (whose positive and comparative belong to the class first mentioned: 523).
c. Further, the words pára distant, other; pū́rva prior, east; dákṣiṇa right, south; paçcima behind, western; ubháya (f. ubháyī or ubhayī́) of both kinds or parties; néma the one, half; and the possessive svá.
526. Occasional forms of the pronominal declension are met with from numeral adjectives: e. g. prathamásyās, tṛtī́yasyām; and from other words having an indefinite numeral character: thus, álpa few; ardhá half; kévala all; dvítaya of the two kinds; bā́hya outside — and others. RV. has once samānásmāt.
