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Grammatical Riddles from Jain works
281
How does the word pavadanada denote 'fire', 'wind', 'scorching heat', ‘barbarian', 'worship', 'praise', 'house', 'play', 'oblation', 'universe', 'quick' ? - Once it starts with pā, pa, da, ya, se, sta, bha, de, ha, bhu or ja and once it is deprived of pa and da (pa-pa-da-ya-se-sta-bha-de-ha-bhu-jādi vi-padam): pavadanada pāvana, pavana, davana, yavana, sevana, stavana, bhavana, devana, havana, bhuvana and javana.
* tvamaladaya-pada vā āśrayābhāva-mürcchā
kataka-nagavićeşān kīdrg āmantrayeta ? (āvipravamādyatvamadam; JP 39)
How would the wordtvamaladaya refer to‘abode', 'inexistence', 'fainting', 'bracelet' and a specific mountain in the vocative?—Once it starts withā, vi, pra, va orma and once it is deprived oftva, ma and da (a-vi-pra-va-mādy a-tva-madam): tvamaladaya →ālaya, vilaya, pralaya, valaya and Malaya.
*ura-sabdah kalyanada-bala-hima-śrngān vadati kīdrk ? (ādiśyantaravaviśikhānuḥ; JP 11)
How does the word 'sheep' denote 'bestowing prosperity', 'army', 'cold' and 'summit' ?-Once it starts with si, has in the middle va, vi, si or kha, and once it is deprived of u (ādi-si-antara-va-vi-si-kha-an-uh): ura → śivara (ra, agent noun built on the root rā 'to give'), sivira 'military camp', śiśira and śikhara.
Finally, substitution of syllables is also one process at work. It can be expressed either through the pregnant use of the locative case in conformity with the process applied in the grammatical metalanguage or through a compound (va-ņā, JP 54, below; and ga-jam, JP 85, see above):
* ravaravaka-varnāli kīdrg bravīti gatāratim ? (aparāvanā; JP 54)
How does the sequence ravaravaka denote somebody who has no regret ?-Once it is preceded by a and once it has ņā instead of va (a-parā va-nā) : ravaravaka → a-ranaranaka.
* paścădudbhava-jānusambhava-narān daityāntya-damstrāngajān
Mandań ca kramaso muja-dhvanir agāt kīdrk kva kasmin sati ? (ajāmadahatabhāpūrvomene; JP 22)
How does the word muja denote respectively 'one who is born after', 'coming from the knee', 'man', 'demon', 'tusk', 'born from one's own body', 'Saturn', what being where ?-Once it starts with a, jā, ma, da, ha, ta, or
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