Prakrit Avvo

Author(s): Paul Dundas
Publisher: Paul Dundas
Catalog link: https://jainqq.org/explore/269666/1

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PAUL DUNDAS PRAKRIT AVVO Although interjections and exclamations occupy an understandably minor place in the study of Middle Indo-Aryan dialects, they are not without their difficulties. For not only is there often uncertainty about their precise semantic significance but, in addition, the interdependence and mutual conditioning of these words can make an accurate unravelling of their etymology and relationship to each other extremely awkward'. Tempting though it is to regard all exclamations as basically onomatopoeic, Thieme has shown that for at least one Indo-Aryan example a cogent derivation can be made 2. This short paper has been prompted by one such word, the Prakrit exclamation avvo. The grammarian Vararuci glosses avvo at Prakrtaprakasa3 9.10 stating that it is used << in the sense of distress, indication or reflection >> (duhkhasucanasambhavanesu). Hemacandra in his Prakrit grammar 2.204 expands this considerably: << avvo is used in the sense of indicating, distress, (in) conversation, (with regard to) an offence, (in the sense of) astonishment, joy, respect, fear, vexation, depression or repentance >> (avvo sucanaduhkhasambhasanaparadhavismayanandadarabhayakhedavisadapascattape). The tenth-century lexicographer Dhanapala in his Paiyalacchi 5 verse 275 glosses avvo by kheyaisu, << in the sense of vexation etc. >> while the glossary (s.v.) states <<< interject. ho. >>. The Paiasaddamahannavo (s.v.) repeats Hemacandra's gloss while Ratnachandraji, 1. COLLETTE CAILLAT, Pour une Nouvelle Grammaire du Pali, Torino, 1970, pp. 18-9. 2. PAUL THIEME, Der Fremdling im RgVeda, Leipzig, 1938, pp. 3-6, for observations on are and re. 3. Ed. P. L. Vaidya, Poona, 1931. 4. Ed. R. Pischel, Halle, 1877. 5. Ed. G. Buhler, Gottingen, 1879. 6. Ed. Hargovind Das T. Sheth, Varanasi, 1963.

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164 Paul Dundas Ardha-Magadhi Dictionary 7 (s.v.) states that the word occurs in the Suparsvanathacarita as a particle expressing sorrow >>. avvo is not infrequent in Prakrit literature, although it is often only possible to assign meaning to it on the basis of the context of the passages in which it occurs. A verse in the Vasudevahindi 8 describes eight Jaina monks sitting at the bottom of a kapistha tree and being struck by falling fruit: avvo 'tti vaharanti hasanti ca sisa, << they said avvo and their pupils laughed at them >>. The Sattasai' contains several examples of avvo (verses 273, 306, 475, 536, 581, 746, 748 corrupt: abbo, 821, 892 and 910), all occurring in verses in which the speaker refers to a (generally unhappy) love affair, with the exception of verse 821 which I quote: avvo na ami chettam khajjau sali vi kiranivahehim janamta avi pahia pucchamti puno puno maggam << avvo! I'm not going to the field! Let the rice be eaten by the swarms of insects! The travellers, although they know it, continually ask me the way >>. The commentators on the Sattasai gloss the occurrences of avvo in the anthology variously: duhkhasucanayam, ascaryacamatkare, kaste, sambuddhiduhkhayon, khede. The word also occurs in Kouhala's (9th century?) Maharastri kavya, the Lilavai 10, verse 464: paricimtiy' amhi avvo katto sa mayanabanataviyamgi, <>. After being released by Ayala, Muladeva reflects (p. 103, line 28): avvo kaham appanam paccoggayaayasakalamkiyam nayarayanam dayemi, << avvo! how can I show myself, stained by my present shame, to the city people? >>. When, before entering the forest, he sees a dhakka brahman, Muladeva says (p. 103, line 31): avvo imassa sambalen' aham pi mahalavim lamghissami, << avvo! I will get through the forest by means of this mans provisions >>. At the end of the journey, Muladeva, who has not received any food from the brahman, exclaims (p. 104, line 3-4): avvo eyassa mahanubhavassa asae mae adavi volina, << avvo! I crossed the forest hoping to get something) from this generous man >>. When he sees a Jaina monk, Muladeva says (p. 104, lines 7-8): avvo bahupunnapavanijjo esa mahappa visesao masaparanae, << avvo! the 7. Ajmer, 1923. 8. Quoted by J.C. JAIN, The Vasudevahindi, an Authentic Jaina Version of the Brhat katha, Ahmedabad, 1977, p. 215. 9. Ed. A. Weber, Leipzig, 1881. 10. Ed. A. N. Upadhye, Bombay, 1966. 11. Ed. L. B. Gandhi, Bombay, 1949.

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Prakrit Avvo 165 noble man is full of holiness, especially at the end of a month-long fast >>. Finally, meeting Ayala again, Muladeva thinks (p. 105, line 24): avvo katth' ittha Ayalo, << avvo! how is Ayala here?>>. avvo is also found in Apabhramsa. The tenth-century writer Puspadanta employs it in his Nayakumaracariu 12 while it also occurs in Somaprabha's Kumarapalapratibodha 13. No doubt other occurrences of the form could be adduced. The interlocking relationship of Middle Indo-Aryan exclamations dictates that avvo cannot be considered in isolation from other forms of a similar nature. The lending -o is found in exclamations such as amo, ambho, hambho, and bho 14 and is presumably derived from -ah 15. However, a simple comparison with amo, ambho etc. cannot provide a full explanation for the origin of avvo. According to the Critical Pali Dictionary (s.v.), ambho is << a particle of exclamation (1) used to attract attention, (2) in the sense of reproach, rejection or warning, (3) sometimes, expressive of appreciation or admiration >>. I take this form to be an expansion of ama/amo, << an interjection of assent or recollection, "yes","indeed " >> 16, the equivalent of Sanskrit am, << an interjection of assent or recollection >> 17. While it might be possible to derive avvo from amo if a development of -m->-V-18 with compensatory gemination was assumed, the word has a broader field of semantic significance than mere << affirmation or assent >>, as an examination of the grammarian's glosses and the examples given above will show. It seems worthwhile to broaden this consideration of exclamation to include a form similar to amasamo but clearly different in meaning, namely, ammo. Charpentier, commenting on Uttarajjhayanasutta 19.10 19, mentions Pischel's view that ammo contains the particle u but himself suggests that the < is an old dual *ammau, <>. In fact, a cursory examination of a few examples demonstrates that ammo is a vocative with the sense of <>, the ending - no doubt occurring by analogy with other Middle Indo-Aryan exclamations. In the Uvasagadasao 20, a man addresses his mother (pp. 78-9): evam khalv ammo na janami, << truly, mother, I do not know >>. In the 12. Ed. Hiralal Jain, Berar, 1937, glossary (s.v.). 13. Ed. Ludwig Alsdorf, Hamburg, 1928, p. 141. Cf. the latish Kathakosa ed. 1. Hoffman, Munich, 1974, p. 11, for the same verse. 14. Note also Magadhi hamgho discussed by G. ROTH, Beitrage zur Indienforschung, Berlin, 1977, pp. 424-30, and Pali abbhu, the opposite of bho and <-V- see R. PISCHEL, A Comparative Grammar of the Prakrt Languages, 1965, paragraph 251. 19. The Uttaradhyayanasutra ed. Jarl Charpentier, Upssala, 1922, p. 348. 20. Ed. R. Hoernle, Calcutta, 1890.

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166 Paul Dundas Vasudevahindi", a boy addresses his mother (p. 11, line 17): ammo ajuttam bhe janamanehim kayam ti, a mother, you have acted wrongly in full knowledge >>; a cow is spoken to by her calf (p. 13, lines 16-17 tena vacchena manustvauae bhaniya gavi, ammo eso ko vi puriso amejjhalittam se payam me uvarim phusati, << the cow was addressed by the calf in human speech, "Mother, this man is rubbing his filthy foot on me ">>; a girl addresses her mother (p. 32, lines 9-10): maya ya nae bhaniya ammo anehi tava alattayam, << she addressed her mother, "Mother, bring me the lac ">>. In one of the Avasyaka stories 22, a boy speaks to his mother: kim ammo ruyasi, << why are you weeping, mother? >>. In his vrtti on the Akhyanikamanikosa of Nemicandra, the twelfth-century writerAmradeva employs the word ammo when a daughter is addressing her mother (p. 40, verse 65) 24. << The possibility of a connection between the exclamation avvo and the vocative ammo is given greater weight by adducing the well-attested Dravidian forms avva used in the sense of << mother, grandmother, old woman >> 25 and amma, << mother, matron, lady; exclamation of pity, surprise or joy >> 26. Without attempting to delineate in a precise manner the relationship between these forms, it nevertheless seems reasonable to suggest that there was originally a Middle Indo-Aryan vocative *avva << O mother! >> (cf. Pali amma) which was << conditioned >>>, to use Caillat's expression, by the group of interjections amo, ambho etc. A development from an original specialised sense of << mother>> to the broad spectrum of meaning given by Hemacandra and apparent in our examples may seem unlikely but, in fact, the invoking of one's mother to convey alarm, distress or astonishment is not unknown in other languages. A Supplement to the Oxford English Dictionary Volume II 27 states that << mother >> can be used as an exclamation of surprise, dismay etc. Compare also the Italian mamma mia, << goodness gracious! >> 28 It might be thought worth considering whether avvo ever occurs with the same concrete vocative sense as ammo. The Sattasai, which 21. Ed. Caturvijaya and Punyavijaya, Bhavnagar, 1930. 22. E. LEUMANN, Die Avasyaka Erzahlungen, Leipzig, 1897, p. 13, line 33. 23. Ed. Punyavijayaji, Varanasi, 1962. 24. Note in addition Vasudevahindi, p. 46 line 11: sa vi ya Samadatta oyariya rahato padiya ammopaesum, << S. was helped down from the chariot and fell at her mother's feet >>. It is unclear whether ammo here is a genuine stem form or a simple misprint. 25. BURROW and EMENEAU, Dravidian Etymological Dictionary, Oxford, 1961, paragraph 232. 26. Ibid., paragraph 154, where a comparison is made with Sanskrit amba and the Prakrit interjection of surprise, ammo/ammahe although, according to the Paiasaddamahannavo, the evidence for the latter form seems to derive solely from Hemacandra's grammar and the dramatic Prakrits, a notoriously unreliable source. WEBER, ZDMG 27, 1874, p. 416, mentions some Dravidian parallels in the sense of << father>> provided by Stevenson. 27. Oxford, 1976, p. 1048, s.v. mother. 28. Cambridge Italian Dictionary, Cambridge, 1962, s.v. mamma.

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Prakrit Avvo 167 contains several examples of the word, is a text traditionally associated with the Deccan, the intersecting point of Indo-Aryan and Dravidian culture, and the poets of the anthology might be expected to have been sensitive to the Dravidian word avva. Kinship terms are of some importance in the Sattasai, often helping to define the emotional context of a verse 29, and most of the verses in which avvo occurs are very similar in tone to those in which a girl addresses her mother or an older, more experienced confidante (the terms of address generally being mae, << mother! >>, maua, << mothers! >>, mami, << auntie! >>) about some problem which is vexing her. However, the occurrence of avvo followed by a masculine vocation in verse 273 30 shows that in one verse at least the word can only be an exclamation. Nevertheless, the chronology and circumstances of the composition of the Sattasai are still fairly obscure and it is not beyond the bounds of possibility that some of the verses preserve the original vocative sense of avvo. 29. Compare especially verses in which the brother-in-law (deara) and the mother-in-law (atta) are participants. 30. avvo dukkaraaraa puno vi tattim karesi gamanassa ajja vi na homti sarala venia taramgino cihura << avvo! doer of the difficult! you are preoccupied with going off again. Even on this day, the dishevelled hair of my braid does not become straight >>.