Grammatical Riddles from Jain Works

Author(s): Nalini Balbir
Publisher: Z_Nirgranth_Aetihasik_Lekh_Samucchay_Part_1_002105.pdf and Nirgranth_Aetihasik_Lekh_Samucchay_Part_2

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Grammatical Riddles from Jain works
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How does the word 'fibrous root' denote Laksmi?-Once it is deprived of śa and of the fifth letter, starting with da (vi-sa-da-pañcamah), i.e. pha : sipha > ita > Ya, one of the several synonymic monosyllables for Laksmī.
The same process is applied to a word which is partly meaningful and partly made of a sequence of phonemes created ad hoc :
* kidrg bhūmiśubhāsa-sabda iha bho viśrambha-vācī bhavet ? (atanavamadaśamah; JP 55)
How does the word bhumiśubhāsa denote 'trust'?-Once it is deprived of the ninth and the tenth letters, starting with ta (a-ta-nava-dasamah), i.e. bha and ma : bhümiśubhāsa > *uiśuasa > visvāsa.
* nayanagati - padaṁ kidrk pujayatiti artham abhidhatte ? (apaprathamangajam; JP 85)
How does the word nayanagati express the meaning 'to worship'?Once it is deprived of the first letter before pa (i.e. na) and once it has ja instead of ga (a-pa-prathamam ga-jam): nayanagati → yajati.
In several cases, the starting point is clearly a mere phoneme or a phonetic sequence without any meaning. A rather simple instance involving only one type of modification, namely an addition, is :
*... atha silpi-šikya-dehān udāharati kā-dhvanir atra kidrk ? (jinadantarucayah; JP 2)
How does the sound kā denote 'a craftsman', 'a rope', 'a body'?-- Once it ends (respectively) with ru, ca or ya (anta-ru-ca-yah) : kā kāru, kāca, käya.
An illustration for modification through removal of a syllable is :
* nasthātavyańca-śabdo'yam pradosan kidrśaḥ ? (vitathavacanah; JP 62)
How does the word 'and it should not be stated' denote evening ?' — Once it is deprived of ta, tha, va, ca and na (vi-ta-tha-va-ca-nah) : nasthātavyamca → sāyam.
In the following riddle, the syntactic pattern is not a bahuvrīhi as is usual, and instead of forming a long compound, the answer is extremely short, leading to an effect of surprise, which is also a part of riddle-games :