Verse 1.46

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation by Ganganath Jha:

उद्भिज्जाः स्थावराः सर्वे बीजकाण्डप्ररोहिणः ।
ओषध्यः फलपाकान्ता बहुपुष्पफलोपगाः ॥ ४६ ॥

udbhijjāḥ sthāvarāḥ sarve bījakāṇḍaprarohiṇaḥ |
oṣadhyaḥ phalapākāntā bahupuṣpaphalopagāḥ || 46 ||

All those immovable brings that are produced by splitting (i.e., Plants) grow out of seeds and slips. those that, abounding in flowers, perish with the ripening of their fruit, are called ‘oṣadhis’ (‘Annuals’).—(46)

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

‘Udbhid’ stands for ‘udbhedana,’ the act of splitting; the ‘kvip’ affix having a nominal force;—‘those that are duced by splitting are ‘udbhijja’; they are so called because they come into existence by splitting the seed and breaking through the soil; and these are plants; all these plants ‘grown out of seeds and slips’ and become fixed in their places by means of roots and trunks and other such things.

‘Oṣadhyaḥ’—the right form is ‘oṣadhayaḥ’ (because the base ends in short i). Or we may take the word as a form of the base with the long ī; this lengthening of the vowel being explained, either as according to the Vārtika on Pāṇini 4.1.45, or as a Vedic anomily.

The natural characteristic feature of these oṣadhis—i.e., Annuals—is as follows: ‘They with the ripening of their fruit’;—i.e, the ripening of the fruit constitutes their end or perishing; as a matter of fact, the paddy and other such plants perish as soon as their fruit has ripened. They also abound in, are endowed with, many fruits and flowers.

What is stated in this verse is the distinguishing characteristic of oṣadhis (Annual plants), and what follows in the following verse, constitutes the distinguishing feature of Vṛkṣas (Perennial Trees); the characters mentioned being attributed to them in accordance with actual facts.—(40)

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

Medhātithi takes ‘udbhijjāḥ sthāvarāḥ’ as the subject, and ‘bījakāṇḍaprarohiṇaḥ’ as the predicate of the sentence. Buhler reverses this.