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

Page 25

Grammatical Riddles from Jain works
293
And which is the word used in the meaning of accumulation though not actually stated ?- "And" ca
And which is the root that is used in the meaning “to insult” ?–The root bhas" bhas
And which is the sūtra that the clever Viśrāntavidyadhara taught ?-- The sūtra jhasy ekāco basah sdhvoś ca bhas
The lexicographical niceties of this stanza require some explanation : jhasi is the vocative of the feminine word jhasi; i for Lakşmi and A (here in the locative E) for Visnu are some of the ekáksara-words Jinavallabha likes best; kācah is the accusative plural of an artificial tatpuruşa compound of etymological value made of ka ("head") + añ)c (root noun meaning "which worships", cf. añc pūjane, Dhātup.) > kāc; va-śah is the nominative masculine singular of a tatpuruṣa compound made of U-U-A ( > va through sandhi) + sah (cf. so tanūkarane, Dhātup.), where U is an ekakşara-designation for Brahma and then for Śiva. One could also consider that the designation for Śiva is Ū (also found in Ekāksarakosas with this meaning).
Further, the stanza is also a small collection of individual grammatical questions of the types we saw earlier scattered in different verses :
—there is a question on a synonymic root : bhas bhartsane, see for instance Hemacandra, Dhātup. 1.521; Palsule 1955, 187.
— The statement defining ca is well-known from the Kāśikā : ca-kāro 'nukta-samuccayārthah (Kaś, on 2.4.18, etc.: Abhyankar 1961 p. 21; F.Kielhorn, "Notes on the Mahābhāsya : 7. Some devices of Indian grammarians”, Ind. Antiquary 1887, p. 251 = Kleine Schriften, ed. W. Rau. Wiesbaden, 1969, p. 240).
Finally, one is asked a question concerning grammatical metalanguage and requiring familiarity with Pānini's sūtra 7.2.78 : (iţ, implied by anuvrtti from 7.2.66) ida-janor dhve ca, where ca implies the recurrence of se from the sütra just coming before :
"(i is added before se (including the substitute sva]) as well as before dhve [including the substitute dhvam) in roots to praise' and 'to be born 35."
Like in other instances of the sautra-jāti, the question about the sūtra is the last of the riddle. The source is indicated, but is hardly palpable because