Indian Antiquary Vol 56

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Charles E A W Oldham, Krishnaswami Aiyangar
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 159

JULY, 1927]
VEDIC STUDIES
137
of robber'in 4, 50, 5 and 8, 32, 25. Hillebrandt suggests (Ved. Myth., 3, p. 262, n. 5) that phaliga is a dialectal form of the word sphatika, and Oldenberg (RV. Noten, I, p. 121), that it is another form of the word parigha,21 Bergaigne (Rel. Ved., II, p. 292; 320) interprets the word as 'reservoir' and Macdonnell (Ved. Reader, p. 87) as 'cave.'
Of these meanings mentioned above, it is improbable that phaliga denotes the name of a person in one out of the four passages in which the word occurs. It can also be readily seen that none of the meanings proposed, like 'cave', 'cloud,' 'robber'fits in in all the four passages. It is otherwise with the suggestions of Oldenberg (that phaliga=parigha) and Hillebrandt (that phaliga=sphatika). The latter is indeed the correct explanation ; but perhaps because it remained as a mere suggestion and was not followed by an exposition, in the light of that suggestion, of the passages in which the word occurs, it has not found favour with later writers (Oldenberg, Geldner in his RV. Glossar, Macdonnell) who have preferred to suggest other interpretations of their own.
Pischel, in his Prakrit Grammatik, p. 167, $ 238, has given references to many places where the Sanskrit word sphatika appears in Prakrit as phaliha with cerebral la. He has also noted the occurrence of the form phaliha with dental la. The dental la appears in the Pali form phalika also. I believe that the Vedic word phaliga is but another form of the abovementioned phalika, the surd ka of the latter being changed into the corresponding sonant in the former (for examples, see Pischel, op. cit., § 202). The course of transformation of the Sanskrit sphatika into Prakrit would therefore be as follows:
sphatika-phalika e phaliga (Vedic) (Sanskrit) (Pali)
Palis
?
phalihı (Prakrit)-phaliha (Prakrit) Similar is the case with the Sanskrit word parigha also. This, too, appears in Prakrit as phaliha (for references, see Pischel, op. cit., § 208); and an alternative form phaliga may with probability be posited for this phaliha also (for examples of the unaspirated sonant replacing an original sonant aspirate, see ibid., $ 213). And further, this meaning would fit in in all the passages where the word occurs. For, parigha, which originally means the pin of a door', has the sense of 'weapon' and of 'hindrance, obstacle', also. The last mentioned of these senses would be not unsuitable in 1, 62,4 ; 4,50,5; and 8, 32,25 (compare 1,51, 4 : tvám apa'm apidha'nå urnor ápa) while that of "weapon' would pass well in 1, 121, 10. This interpretation however is open to the objection that it is not in the least connected with the meaning mentioned in the Nighantu.
As this is not the case with the meaning sphatika (crystal ; quartz) which denotes a kind of stone and is therefore not improperly associated with the words adri, gotra, asman, parvata, etc., in the Nighantu, and as moreover 10, 68, 8 seems, as I shall show below, to point to this meaning, I believe that this is the correct meaning of phaliga. I shall now show that this meaning yields good sense in all the passages where the word occurs. 1, 62, 4: sá sushțúbhá sá stubha' saptá víprais
svarend'drim svaryò návagvaih saranyúbhih phaligám Indra sakra
valám rávena darayo dásagvaih || He, the roarer, with the well-praising, landing (throng), the seven seers, and the Navagvas, cleft the rock with his roar. Thou, O mighty Indra, hast with the Dasagvas, cleft the enclosure of crystal with thy roar.' There is a transition here from the third person in the first halfverse to the second person in the last which makes it necessary to supply the word addrayat with third person ending, in the first half. The word sah that occurs in it, I have here taken as referring to Indra who is mentioned in the third pâda. It is however possible to understand
31 This suggestion was originally made by M. Regnaud in the Revue de l'histoire des religions, 1890.