Jain Journal 1985 01

Author(s): Jain Bhawan Publication
Publisher: Jain Bhawan Publication

Page 34

JANUARY, 19.85
OS
Thus according to Hemacandra, vāsī means vrkşabhit or takşaņi. Vrkşabhit išietymologically explained as that which cuts the trees ; takşaņi as by which any thing is stripped off ; and väsi as which resides in the hand. Again quoting the rule of grammar, the learned lexicographer proves its formation and shows that it is spelled as vāsī as well as vāsi. This etymological explanation makes it dead-sure that väsī is a tool of carpenter used in cutting the wood.
(4) In another authoritative work on lexicography, Hemacandra mentions the word väsi as a synonym of the word mrtsā. The Anekārtha Samgraha giving the various meanings of mrtsā states the following verse :
satapuspāmadhuryosca mrtsā vāsī sumrttikā/ rasah svāde jale virye srmgārādau visedrave||
This verse states that the word mộtsä is used in the sense of vāsi as well as sumrttikā. Now, the commentator Mahendra Suri, pupil of the author, in his commentary called Kairvākara Kaumudi explains the word thus :34
väsi taksopakaranam sumrttikāyām yathal nihśalye samsk ste tatra mýtsāracita vedikā||
It means that mộtsa and vāsi denote a tool for cutting the wood. The other meaning of mrtsā is not useful for us here and therefore, we may omit its discussion.
(5) The modern lexicographer and a well-known scholar of Prakrit language, Pt. Hargovinddas T.Seth in his Pāia-Sadda-Mahaņņavo, a Prakrit Hindi Dictionary, mentions :35 vasi, strī (vāsī skt) vasülā, bhadhai kā ek' astra, na hi väsivaddhainam iham abhedo kahamcidavi, Dharmasamgrahaņi, 489/dekho vāsi.
Again, explaining the meaning of vāsi, he writes :38 vasi, stri (vāsī) vasülā, vadhai kā ek astra; (Panha 1,1; Pauma 14, 78; Kappa, Sur, 1, 28 Aupa.) väsimuha pu; (vāsimukha) vasule ke tulya muhvāla ek taraha kā kit dvindriya jantu ki ek jāti, Uttarādhyayana, 36,129.
34 Ibid., p.83. 35 Paia Sadda Mahannavo (A Comparative Prakrit-Hindi Dictionary with Sanskrit
equivalents, quotations and complete references) by Pandit Hargovinddas T.
Seth, pub by the author, Calcutta, 1928, p.949, 36 Ibid., p.949.