Indological Studies

Author(s): H C Bhayani
Publisher: Parshva Prakashan

Page 14

Literary and Performing Arts
found in Prakrit (and Sanskrit) anthologies. But still the question remains what is the etymological origin of this vajjā and how did it come to have the meaning adhikāra or paddhati? Outside of the usage of the anthologies, these meanings remain unattested from the rest of Prakrit and Sanskrit literatures. Luckily a remark of Hemacandra helps to solve the problem.
In his commentary on Desinäma-mālā 6,1 Hemacandra has observed that of the three Prakrit words having the same phonological shape pajja, only the one meaning 'ladder' is Deśya. The other two with the meanings 'adhikara' and 'mārga' derive respectively from Sanskrit paryaya 'a type of composition' and padyā 'track'. Now Prakrit pajjā and vajjā both meaning adhikara cannot be different words. Sanskrit p, when medial and intervocal, corresponds to Prakrit v. When pajjā formed the latter member of a compound as in vasamta-pajjā, asai-pajjā etc., its p could be treated as medial and so be changed to v. Thus pajjā and vajjā both meaning adhikāra 'topic, section' derive from Sanskrit paryāya through the inermediate form pajjāa paryāya->pajjāa>vajjā. Vrajya is nothing but false Sanskritization or a sort of back formation devised by Sanskritists who lost sight of the connection between Sanskrit paryāya and Prakrit vajjā. Feeling some insecurity about the coinage vrajyā, Ratnadeva has offered padyā ( = paddhati, sarani) as an alternative explanation of Pk. vajjā and sought some justification for it from the Amarakosa. Hemacandra clearly states that paryaya, the source of Prakrit pajjā, had the meaning of prabandhabheda 'a type of literary composition'. Anandavardhana is the earliest authority to refer to the paryaya type as paryāyabandha. The Locana defines it as a verse composition consisting of independent units given to describing a single subject like the spring season. This definition is borrowed by Hemacandra and the Agnipurāna, but they have paryā and paryābandha in the place of paryaya and paryayabandha. Parya is just a syllable-to-syllable Sanskritization of the later Prakrit form pajjā. The various Sanskrit and Prakrit forms of the name of the genre Paryayabandha are to be correlated as under: