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Sporadic Notes on Some Terms from the Nșttaratnävali
H. C. Bhayani
Numerous technical terms connected with drama, dance and music are quite obviously not Sanskritic. The source of their form and meaning was Prakrit, Apabharamsa or regional languages. But little has been written so far on the linguistic aspect of those terms.
Below a few such terms are discussed from the Nșttaratnävali (NR.)
अङ्गमोटन In the description of Argika Abhinaya, occurs the term 34612H (NR. P. 45, v. 177 ; p. 66, v. 341) 'turning the body aside and or stretching limbs' (in yawninig, laziness etc.) Pk. HES, HISAI etc. (CDIAL. 10186 under moțati). 74Hfs occurs in Apabhraṁsa. Compare Marathi 31741751 'yawning and stretching the limbs'. See R. Shriyam "A Critical Study of Mahāpurāņa of Puşpadanta', 1962. p. 73. no. 104)
कांस्यताल Among the musical instruments कांस्यताल or कांस्य is mentioned several times. (See NR. Index of Important Words). În verse 28 on p. 206 in the PTE-Ripifc- 4G-029501: the actual MS. reading is piliin on which Raghavan has remarked in the footnote: iflic is obscure.... the correct reading is likely to be opific restored above.
But AiRa can be explained as Sanskritization of Pk. of 2587 cymbal, (made of bell-inetal)'.
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छोटिका In the description of the Desi Nịtta Rāsaka is said that the dancuses dance giving rythmic clap in another's palm and giving छोटिकाs. Possibly छोटिका is the same as Hindi चुटकी 'clapping one's fingers'.
तम्बट्ट This musical instrument, mentioned in v. 147 on p.227 is a Copper drum, possibly the same as or allied to Pk. TOLER , Guj.
jalog
पैसार In the description of the Desi Nýttas Perani (Preraņi) and Deśi, one of the dance movements is called tort (NR., p. 211, V.60 ; p. 214, v.72). The form should be YÇAR. It is an Apabhramsa word meaning "entrance'. (See Paumacariu I, Index). It is a noun derived from 1548 (= your ), causal of 458< Sk. yrasIn NR., V. 60 and v. 72 the dancer is said to enter (प्रविश् ) in performing the पैसार . The verb पेसार and the corresponding noun HR are current in Modern Gujarati.
रिंगवणी, रिघोणी In the description of Peraņi and Desi, one of the dance movement is called fuauit (v. 59, 70) or fatuit (v. 71, 76).
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________________ 59 Pk. fir, fra, fi, fine, fic mean 'to crawl'. (See CDIAL. 10733, 10735, 10739). * fra and freta would be causal bases, verbal nouns would * fuqu , * freau (neuter) * fuauit, * frequit (feminine). These would develop as fequit friluft, fequit, faunt in the NIA-stage. (Compare Marathi fam 'to crawl'). In Prakrit there are instances in which a causal base is used in the same sense as the simple base, e.g. face, चिंतव् 'to think'. In the light of this रिंगवणी, रिघोणी can be taken to mean 'crawling movement?.* It should be noted that feminine verbal nouns in 3tus are a characteristic of the NIA-stage. Reference Works (1) H. C. Bhayani (ed.). Paumacariu of Svayambhu. (2) V. Raghavan (ed.). Nittaratnavali of Jaya Senapati, 1965. (3) R. L. Turner. Comparative Dictionary of the Indo-Aryan Languages (CIDAL). * Tech. But the The Desi Nima described after the Desi is called correct form is पेक्खण (Pk. ) < Sk. प्रेक्षण.