Amrita Collected Papers by A M Ghatage

SR No.: 006968
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Jitendra B Shah
Publisher: Kasturbhai Lalbhai Smarak Nidhi Ahmedabad
Total Pages: 530
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 10 MB

Page 408

Dictionary of Sanskrit on Historical Principles
399
standard dictionary of Sanskrit for English-knowing scholars and is often reprinted. The main entries are given both in Devanāgarī and in transliteration with the accents marked. Compounds are given under the entry of the first member to save space but verbs with different prefixes are given as separate entries. The strictly alphabetical order is set aside when words derived from the same root are brought together and cross references help the user when the words are very much separated from their alphabetical place. As a handy lexicon to be used for all purposes, it is useful but possesses no independent merit of its own.
The Practical Sanskrit-English Dictionary of V. S. APTE was intended to make available a lexicon in one volume of more than 1000 pages, compact printed, for, general use with words without transliteration and with quotations from well-known Sanskrit works to illustrate the meanings. More recently this work was revised and published in three volumes comprising 1768 pages and 112 pages of appendices containing rules of Sanskrit prosody, names of Sanskrit authors and their works, geographical names, list of Sanskrit kośas, maxims and grammatical terms and works. Vedic words and citations are given only sporadically and the arrangement of meanings is not based on any discernible principle. Traditional and modern interpretations are often mixed up which lowers its scientific value, and some of the shortcomings of the original work continue to mar the enlarged edition. Even then its usefulness for practical purposes cannot be denied and Indian scholars find it convenient to use it, particularly on account of its apt quotations and other sundry information about Sanskrit language and literature. It can hardly be considered a tool for research. It makes use of about 225 books as against 515 of MONIER-WILLIAMS. In spite of its larger number of pages it contains less information than the other work.
4. NATURE, SCOPE AND AIMS OF A HISTORICAL SANSKRIT DICTIONARY
Given the basic concepts of a historical dictionary, the lexical material available for it and the nature of the methodology used in the best attempts of this type, one may naturally raise the question 'What kind of a historical dictionary of Sanskrit can be attempted with the use of available resources to be completed within a reasonable period of time ?' Naturally the term *reasonable' is undefined and allows a large amount of latitude, making the nature of such a work flexible enough. But some basic facts and limitations are obvious and need a careful consideration, if only to avoid the charge of being impracticable. What is indicated in the discussion that follows are the