Cattle Field And Barley Note On Mahabhasya

Author(s): A Wezler
Publisher: A Wezler

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CATTLE, FIELD AND BARLEY
it is hardly necessary to state explicitly with Nageśa12 that bhakṣayati is subsumed under the group of verbs denoting 'consuming' (pratyavasāna),13 and that Pan. 1.4. 52 could hence be applied to it.
2. 2.
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However, the grammatical description cannot in this case be confined to exempting the verb bhakṣayati as such from being subject to Pan. 1. 4. 52, as the usage of the object language clearly attests that, quite on the contrary, the agent of the noncausal action denoted by this verb sometimes becomes the object of the action if bhakṣayati is used as a causative. Katyāyana was evidently of the opinion that the condition under which this other construction is found in speech can be exactly described, viz. in terms of semantics: Pan. 1. 4. 52 has all the same to be applied to bhakṣayati if, but only if, the action denoted by this verb represents an act of himsā.
Yet, what precisely does he mean by himsā? As the semantic area of this word is comparatively broad, an answer to this question would be highly welcome.. In order to try to find it, there are two paths we are methodically bound to take, viz. to check whether this expression occurs in the Aṣṭādhyāyī itself or in the Vārttika at other places and, if so, to see if its meaning: can be determined more precisely. I do not, however, want to try the reader's patience and therefore content myself with stating the result of such an examination; himsa is used with reference to actions of wiping out, exterminating14 or of mauling, 15 but also to actions of