Page:Vedic Grammar.djvu/181

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.

171 (Karmadhāraya), less commonly dependent (Tatpurușa), and very rarely coordinative (Dvandva). The best name otherwise is 'possessive, as this is their meaning in the vast majority of instances. In a few examples, how- ever, the more general sense of 'connected with' (which may usually be ex- pressed more specifically) is required to explain the relation between the substantive and the Bahuvrihi which agrees with it; thus ásva-prstha- 'borne on horse-back', devá-psaras- ‘affording enjoyment for the gods', parjánya-retas- 'sprung from the seed of Parjanya', visvá-krsti- 'dwelling with all peoples', visvá-nara-² belonging to or existing among all men', vīrá-pastya- ‘belonging to the abode of a hero', šatá-śärada- 'lasting a hundred autumns', śúra-vīra- (AV.) 'characterized by heroic men' 'making men heroic' (amulet). V. COMPOUNDS. BAHUVRĪHIS. = 286. Attributive Bahuvrihis. The commonest form of Bahuvrihi is that in which an attributive noun is the first member. It is most fre- quently an adjective, as ugrá-bahu- 'powerful-armed', urvy-uti-³ 'giving wide aiď, jīvá-putra- 'having living sons', śukrá-varṇa- 'bright-coloured' 4. The first member is also often a past passive participle in -ta or -na, the action expressed by which is usually performed by the person denoted by the sub- stantive with which the Bahuvrihi agrees; e. g. práyata-dakṣina- 'he by whom the sacrificial fee has been presented', ratá-havis- 'who offers an oblation'5. The action is, however, not infrequently supposed to be performed by others, always in the case of hata 'slain'; e. g. hatá-vrsn-i- 'whose hus- band has been slain', hatá-mātr- 'whose mother has been slain'. Both senses appear in rātá-havya- 'he by whom' and 'to whom offerings have been made'. An outside agent is sometimes expressed by an additional member at the beginning of the compound, as jīvá-pita-sarga- 'whose streams have been drunk by the living"6. A present participle occasionally occurs as first member; e. g. ā-yád-vasu- (AV.) and sam-yád-vasu- (AV.) 'to whom wealth comes', bhrájad-rsti- 'having glittering spears', rúsad-vatsa- 'having a shining calf', sucád-ratha- 'having a brilliant car'7; also a perfect-participle in dadys- aná-pavi- 'whose felly is visible', yuyujaná-sapti- 'whose steeds are yoked'. a. The first member is further often a substantive used predicatively; e. g. áśva-parna- 'horse-winged' = 'whose wings are horses' (car); indra-satru- ,whose foe is Indra'; tad-id-artha-8 'having just that as an aim', drónāhāva- ,whose pail (ahāvá-) is a trough', siśná-deva- 'whose god is a phallus', súrodaka- (AV.) 'whose water is spirit' (súrã-). The final member is here sometimes a comparative or superlative (including pára-) used substan- tively: avaras-pará-9 (VS.) 'in which the lower is higher' 'topsy-turvy' 10, ásthi-bhuyams- (AV.) 'having bone as its chief part' 'chiefly bone', indra- jyestha- 'having Indra as chief', 'of whom Indra is chief', yamá-śrestha- (AV.) 'of whom Yama is best', sóma-śreṣṭha- (AV.) ‘of which Soma is best'. - - I For other names see WACKERNAGEL 2¹, p. 273 (107 a, note). 2 For several other examples formed with visvá- see WHITNEY 1294 b. = 6 Cp. WHITNEY 1299 a. 7 Cp. WHITNEY 1299 b. 8 Here a pronoun appears instead of a substantive in the first member. 3 Cp. p. 145, note 3. 4 Cp. WHITNEY 1298. 5 The sense is thus identical with verbal determinatives or verbally governing com- pounds such as vājam-bhará- and bharád- vaja 'bearing booty'. In viti-hotra- 'having an invitation sacrifice' 'inviting to sacri- fice', a stem in -ti is used almost like a past participle in -ta; cp. vitá-havya- as a 9, 2) p. 64. name. 9 Here the first member retains the -s of the nom. surviving from the use of the two words in syntactical juxtaposition; the first member also is used substantively in this compound. 10 On eka-pará- (said of dice) see now LÜDERS, Das Würfelspiel im alten Indien (Abh. d. K. Ges. der Wiss. zu Göttingen