Volume 1 - Grammer and Linguistics

5
√Kr in its Various Meanings
The Mahābhāṣyakāra has enunciated under the sutra 'bhūvādayo
dhātavaḥ' (1.3.1) the well-known principle of Sanskrit Semantics:
bahvarthā api dhātavo bhavanti. No other root illustrates this
better than √kr. Among the illustrations of the above principle
the Mahābhāṣyakāra gives a few from √ky too: karotir
abhūtaprādurbhāve dṛṣṭaḥ nirmalīkaraṇe capi vartate prstham
kuru, pādau kuru, unmṛdāneti gamyate, nikṣepaṇe capi varate
kate kuru, ghate kuru, aśmānam itaḥ kuru, sthāpayeti gamyate.
√Kr, which is found in the sense of 'to bring into being what did
not exist before,' is found in the sense of 'to rub off too, e.g.
,
prsthaṃ kuru, 'rub off the back', padau kuru, 'rub off the feet';
it is also to be met with in the sense of 'to put', 'to
place', e.g.,
kate kuru, ghate kuru, aśmānam itaḥ kuru 'put on the mat', 'put
on the pitcher','put the stone this side'. Sanskrit
literature
furnishes many more instances of the variety
of meanings that
this root signifies. And the reason for this is no
far to seek. √Kr
signifies, kriyāsāmānya, action in general. Since
all kriyāviseṣas,
actions in particular, are fundamentally
action, yathā
lingasarvanāma napumsakaṃ tathā kriyāsarvanāma
karotiḥ, √kr
comes to signify the various aspects of
action denoted by other
roots. The present paper is an attempt to
pinpoint some of the
more prominent and peculiar of these
kriyāviśesas, actions,
actions in particular,' that this root signifies
.
In the Rāmāyaṇa verse prabhātām rajanīṃ dṛṣṭvā cakre
sobhām parām punah2 √kr is used
in the sense 'to begin'
(ādikarma). In the Bhavabhūti verse
vitarati guruḥ prajñe vidyām
CC-0. Prof. Satya Vrat Shastri Collection, New Delhi. Digitized by S3 Foundation USA
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