Part 13 - Etymology of the word Gāthā

Gāthā^[1] is etymologically root gāth, which might be early Vedic form corresponding to Avesta used by Zoroasthru. In Dhatukosa gāth is formed and that is distinct form take barth. In Prākṛt form gāthāi is also found. All this suggestion goes to sing or play a song etc. In this seance Sanskrit verb root gāi comes from gāyati. In Pāli gāthāti, early gāthāte is found.

Etymologically gāthā is derived from the root gāth; the Prākṛt root was presumably gā, alternatively gāy, referring to a Prākṛt dialect presented in tunes. In Sanskrit gāthā means a song or singing. Therefore gāthāka is a singer. Again gāthākāra ^[2] is a writer of Prākṛt verses. Its leaves a room to presuppose that gāthā had been in vogue either non-Vedic speaker who was probably named as gāthāka, singer of songs popularly performed in context of the Vedic Ṛk.

In this regard gāthā is mostly used in Prākṛt Jātaka legends in stanza style. Regarding the Jātaka stories [see notes below] as they have come in the present form might not be always in verse or gāthā. M. Monier-Williams however, shows that gāthā as a song. It may be mentioned that the many Buddhist sūtras are written entirely in verses. Although the present form of the Sutta Pitaka, particularly, Dighanikāya, Majjhimanikāya and Samyuttanikāya are in admixture of prose and verse.

Winternitz (1933:36) remarks,

"The verses are either ballad verses (as in Nos. 16, 18, 19, 21) or momentous utterances (as in Nos. 16, 17). Elsewhere we find (as in Nos. 30, 31) a constant interchange between prose and gāthās, such as we shall frequently come across in Sanskrit and half Sanskrit Buddhist texts.”

In this regard Tibetan equivalent of gāthā may be relevant here tshigs du bsad pa 'i sde. The phrase literary means ' to break the joint ' referring to metrical division, or rather metrical connection the train of verse.

Notes regarding Jātaka stories:

Every single Jātaka consists of the following parts:

(1) An Introductory story, Paccuppannavatthu, i. e. "story of the present time,"relating on what occasion the Buddha himself told the monks the Jātaka in question.,

(2) a prose narrative, Atītavatthu, i. e. "story of the past." In which a story of one of the former births of the Buddha, in other words a Bodhisattva story, is told;

(3) the Gāthā, i. e. stanzas, which, as a rule, form part of the "story of the past," but, which are very often, too, a part of the "story of the present time ",

(4) short commentary (Veyyākarana) in which the Gāthās are explained word for word and

(5) the "connection" (Samodhāna) in which, finally (again by Buddha himself) the personages of the "story of the present " are identified with those of the "story of the past. "

This huge narrative works in the form of a commentary, the Jātakatthavannanā, or elucidation of the meaning of the Jātakas.

Majjhimanikāya, Sutta 81, is a Jātaka, which does not occur in the Jātaka book. In the Milindapañha two or three Jātakas are mentioned, which cannot be traced in the collection; in the Dhammapada commentary, too, as well as in the Buddhist Sanskrit texts, there are some Jātakas, which are absent in the collection.

The commentary generally calls these verses Abhisambuddha-Gāthās, i. e., "verses spoken by the Buddha after his enlighten." Cf. Senar, J A 1901, ser. 9, t. XVII, p. 385 ff. "A History of Indian Literature. M. Winternitz. P - 111.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

M. Monier Williams shows that Gāthā, as, m. a song, RV. i, 1 67, 6 & ix, 11, 4; SV. (Gāthā), f. id, RV; a verse, stanza (especially one which is neither Ric, nor Sāman, nor Yajus, a verse not belonging to the Vedas, but to the epic poetry of legends or Akhyānas, such as the Śunaḥśepa -Akhyāna or the Suparn.), AV.; TS; TBr. SBr. & c.; the metrical part of a sūtra, Buddha; N. of the Ārya metre; any metre not enumerated in the regular treatises on prosody; (cf. rig -gāthā, riju -gāthā, yajna -gatha.) -pati (o tha -), m. lord of songs, RV. i, 43, 4. -sravas (o tha -), mfn. Famous through (epic) songs (Indra), viii, 2, 38.

[2]:

"Gāthāka, as m. (Pāṇini. iii, 1.146) a singer ( chanter of the Purāṇas), Pāṇini. I, 1,34, Kas. Rajat. Vii, 934; (ika) f. an epic song, Yajn. I, 45; MBh. Iii, 85, 30; Ratnav. ii, 5/6. Gāthin, mfn. Familiar with songs, singer, RV. i, 7, 1; MBh. Ii, 1450; (i), m. (Pāṇini. Vi, 4,165) N. of Viśva -mitra's father (son of Kushika), R Anukr. (inas), m. pl. the descendants of Gāthin, Ait Br. Vii, 18 (v. 1.); (ini), f., N. of a metre (containing 12+18+12+20 or 32+29 syllabic instants." Pp - 352. A Sanskrit English Dictionary by M. Monier -Williams, Motilal Banarsidass Publishers Private Limited. Delhi, Corrected Edition, 2002.