Nighantu (critical study)

by Gopalakrishna N. Bhat | 1985 | 71,168 words

This is an English study of the Nighantu and its commentary called the Nirukta by Yaska. The Nighantu is an ancient Sanskrit lexicon dealing with the words of the Vedic language. This essay presents a detailed analysis of the extant five chapters of this text and examines it's authorship, tracing meanings of words through Vedic texts by providing a...

Part 2 - Hiranyanamani (Hiranya Nama)

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The following fifteen words are synonyms of Hiranya. Yaska, in his Nirukta (2.10) gives the derivation of hiranya.2 as "it is circulated (hryate) in a stretched form, (1.e. in the form of beautiful bracelets, necklace etc. according to Durga) or it is circulated from man to man (here Durga remarks: tena hi vyavaharah krivate (this shows that there was gold currency in Yaska's time) or it is useful and delightful or it may be derived from the root hary meaning to yearn after. 1 1. Hema: The word is heman a neuter noun. It occurs only once in the RV. (IX.97.1) in the instrumental form hemana, where Sayana renders it as hiranyena. (The word is not found in VS and AV). This word is also listed in udakanamani of the Nighantu. 1. 1. hema 2. candram 3. rukmam 7. krrsanam 8. lauham 12. amrtem 13. murutu 14 dartam 9. karnakam 4. ayah 5. hiranyam 6. .457: 10. kaka canam || bharma ' 15. jatarupam • 29 25 hiyata ayamyamanamiti va | | hitaramanam bhavatiti va | hrdayaramanam bhavatiti va haryaterva syat prepsakarmanah | hiyate janacjanamiti va |

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62 3 2. Candram: The word with its other derivatives occurs in forty one places. In twelve places Sayana renders it as hiranyam. In three places it is used as an adjective, though it occurs as (only) hiranya (IV.2.13; VIII.65.11 and IX. 97.50). In RV.III.31.15, Sayana interpretes it as hiranyan and Venkata as suvarnam. But in RV.X.107.7, where the words candra and hiranya both occur in the expression dadati daksina candram uta yaddhiranyam; Sayana explairs candram as hiranyam and curiously enough hiranyam as rajatam quoting TS.1.5.1.2. "rajatam hiranyam. * The plural fcrm candrani occurring in RV.V.42.3 and VI.69.10, sayana renders as hiranyani and ahladakani hiranyani, respectively. In the compounds like candravarnah, candram iva, candragrah etc., he takes candra in the sense of hiranya (RV.I.165.12; II.2.4 and V.41.14), bht elsewhere, he mostly translates candra by ahladakam ahladakaram. Yaska (Niru.11.5) while explaining the Rk.X.85.5, derives the word candrama. 4 3. candrah candramuivam, candrani, candrena candram, candra, candrabhih . candra'agah, candra agah, candranirnika, candra'budhah, candrarathah, candrara candra'vat candravata, candra, candra'va candra, candran candravarnah, candra ratham, candrarathah . 4. candrascandateh kantikarmanah | S T

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3.. Rukmam: The word occurs in the masculine form 5 rukmah. With other forms it occurs in the RV.in twenty- *** X nine places. Out of these, in most places Sayana renders it as hara or abharana made of hiranya.. Some times he explains it figuratively, and in some places he interpretes it as an adjective 'rocamanah.' Sayana explains the word rukma as rocamanam suvarnam iva, or suvarnam iva va, but Skandasvamin takes rukmah in the sense of the 'sun' (rocamana adityah tadvat). In the neuter form rukmam na (RV.I.117.5), the rendering of both Sayana and Mudgala is suvarnamya kabharanam iva, but Skandasvami, renders it simply by abharanam iva. 4. Avah: The word with its forms appears in twenty places in the RV. 63 The expression ave asya sthuna (RV.V.62.7) is explained by Sayana as ayah hiranya-namaitat, ayomaya, implying that 5. rukmah, rukmasah, rukmibhih, rukmi rukmebhih, rukmavasah, rukmaina, rukmaih, rukmesu rukmarvasah rukmah iva . 6. arthah 5 aggra, arthah apastih, arthah damstra, aryahstran aryah silah, aryah sisa, a s sthunam ayah'hatam, aryah shanuh, ayoh aryasah, ayese, ayasmayah, :

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of 64 the beam is made of gold. The compound avo-hatam (RV.IK.1.2) is explained both by Sayana and Venkata as hiranya hatan, but the same compound in RV. IX. 80,2 is rendered by Venkata as hiranmayena panina hatam. The compound ayah sprah is explained by sayana as ayovat sarabhutah siprah in RV.IV.37.4, but the expression hiranya-fiorah in RV.II.34.3 shows that here too ayah denotes hiranya. This may be taken as an evidence of Vedic rsis, having used the word ayah in the sense of 'gold. * But in the Kannada edition of RV. published by Mysore palace, interpretes it in V,62.7, as steel (ukku) and in the English translation it is explained as "its pillars are of iron," again that edition explains ayah as iron in the following places also: VI.75.15; X.99.6 p X.99.8; IV.37.4; VIII. 101,3; V.62.8. In six places it is interpreted as hiranya by Sayana, The form ayasah (VI.3.5; 47.10) and ayase (1.57.3; IV.21.7) are used as verbs. 7 5. Hiranyam: The word with its forms occurs in the RV. in eighty-nine places. 7. hiranyam'iva, hiranya, hiranyanam, hiranyani, hiranyena, hiranyaih

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The word is used in seventy-nine places in the sense of gold or 'made of gold.' In twenty-seven places the word is interpreted as 'hita ramaniya.' rajatam. The word hiranyam is interpreted in RV.X. 107.7 as Sayana also quotes TS 1.5.1.2 #rajatam hiranyam. In RV. II.15.9 the word is clearly interpreted as 'dhanam' and in some other places the word is an adjective to wealth, or ornaments. Hiranya-varnah in RV. II.35.9 is interpreted by Sayana as river (nadinamaitat hiranyavat nirmalarupa nadyah). 65 8 Contrary to this, Sadhuram in his article, says 'the words 'hiranya' evidently means 'gold. It should be noted that the word hiranya-varnah is listed in nadinamani (1.13.17) of the Nighantu. (1·13) 6. Pesah: Sadhuram opines that this word does not occur in the RV. But its form pesani is explained by 10 Sayana in RV.X,1.6 as 'gold. The word pesah is used in 8. Sadhuram, 'Words of Nighantu traced in the Vedas'; Adityanath Jha Commemoration Volume, 1976, pp.427-433. 9. Ibid. 10. pesah iti suvarnanama, hiranyavat hiranyasadrsani tejamsi | fy

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su the RV. in six places and pesamai in one place (1.92.4). As the word is also included in Eupanama (Nigh, 3.7.10), in all the places it means rupa. The other forms of the word with prefix 'su' and with some other words are used in the RV. In all, the forty-four places the word and its forms are interpreted as rupa. 66 + 1 1 7. Krsanam: The word occurs in the RV. in its two instrumental forms krsanaih (RV.I.35.4) and Krsanebhih (RV.X.68.11). On the former, Sayana comments: suvarnena, i on krsanam, loham iti suvarnanamasu pathat and Skandasvami remarks: hiranyaih hiranyanamaitat. In the second instance, Sayana and Venkata interpret krsanebhin as suvarnairabharanaih and Skanda as suvarna-sama-mandaniah. The word krsana-vatah (RV.I.126.4) and kkasaninah (RV.VII,18,23) occur in one place each. The former is interpreted as: suvarnabharanopetan and the other hiranyaalanikaravantah by Sayana. The word krsanam occurs with urdhva as urdhva-krsanam (RV.X#144.2. Sayana interpretes it as udgata taiksnyam etat-samjnan va yamayanam rsim. *2191 The word in its forms is used in four places and once

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in uttarapada. Except in uttarapada in all the places it is interpreted as 'gold.' 8. Loham: The word does not occur in the RV and the AV, In VS, 18.13 loham does occur and commenting on it Mahidhara remarks: ayo loham Syamam tamra-loham kamsvam rajatan, kankamari va and quotes "loham-kamsyavase sarvatejase jonigake pica. He merely gives the synonyms of loha after equating it with ayah which means 'kanakam here. 9. Kanakam, 10, Kancanam and 11) Bharama, are not found in any of the Vedas. 67 11 12. Amrtam: The word with its forms occurs in the RV. in two hundred and thirty-three places. But in RV. - 72.1, its plural form amrtani itsexplained by Sayana as hiranyani with the remark hiranyanamaitat, but Skandasvami renders it by harimayadini.. 11. amrtani, amrta, amrta, amurtah amrtasya amrtanamu, amrtesu amrtena, amrta, amrta amrta amrtah amrtah amrtita amrtota'iva amrtana amrtosa, amrtoya, amrtasu amrte, amrtem iti, amrtatvasya amrtatatve, amrtatvarya, amrte'bandhavah, amrtasah, amrtasah, amrtatvam, amrtebhih

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The word. is listed in udakanamani also (Nigh. 1.12.83). $ 1 The word with its form amrtasya is used in eighteen places in the sense of water. Amrtasu is used in one place, and explained bs apsarassu by Sayana (RV.X.95.9). Sayana explains amrtasya in RV. VII.4.6 as annam udakam va. In III.34,2 Sayana interpretes amrtaya as annartham and in X.20.10 amrtebhih havirlaksanaih annaih. The word amrean those have accent on a (amrta, amrtah), are used to mean amaranadharmana i.e. gods. While explaining amrttvaya in RV.V.55.4, Sayana says: mokse svarga ityarthah. explains amrtatvam in RV.IV.58.1 as moksam. In V. 4.10, Sayana explains amrtatvam as santati avacchedalaksanam and in RV.V.63.2 as svargam. m He In the rest of the places sayana interpretax it as either maranarahita or uses it as adjective to gods, mainly to agni and Soma. The form amrtanam occurs in six places. Sayana explains it in all the places as devanam in plural. It is interesting to note that Sayana explains amrtatvam in RV.X.107.2 as amaranadharamatyam devatvam and quotes amrtam vai hiranyam (TS.5.2.7.2) that means when yajamana gives hiranya, he gets amrtatva. 68 13. Marut: Marut is not used in the sense of hiranya in the Vedas; it does not occur in its singular form in VS.,

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69 and AV. The word is listed also in the III chapter of the Nighantu, under rupanamani (3.7.12). The word marutah is listed under rtvinanamani (3.18.6) and in the V thapter (5.5.8) of the Nighantu. 14. Datram: The word occurs in the RV only in one place (RY.III.36.9). Sayana explains datram as dhanam, but its plural datrani also occurs in one place in RV. VIII. 8.49 of the valakhilya hymn on which Sayana's commentary is not available.. But in the edition of RV with Savanabhasya published by the Vaidika Sambodhana Mandala, Poona in foot-note datrani is interpreted as hiranyadini dhanani. The other two forms i.e. datravan and datre appear in one place each and are interpreted as dhanavan and dhane respectively (VI.50.8; 17.6). In AV 20.51.2, datrani means 'gifts' and not 'gold' or gold pieces. In VS. datra does not occur. The word with its other three forms in all as above mentioned occurs in four places in the Roveda. 15. Jatarupam: The word does not occur in any of the three Vedas.

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1 The above study shows that out of the fifteen listed words, five are absent and five are rarely used in the sense assigned to them. form: The above discussion may be summarised in a tabular 70 Words No.of times they occur in the RV. No.of times used in the sense assigned Hema 1 1 2 Candram 41 12 3 Rukmam 28 14 J 4 Ayah 20 6 5 Hiranya 89 79 10 Pesah 44 7 Krsanam 5 4 8 Ioham 1 9 Kanakam 10 Kancanam 11 Bharam 12 Amrtam 233 1 13 Marut 14 Datram 4 15 Jatarupam + $

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