Madhuvidya

Author(s): S D Laddu, T N Dharmadhikari, Madhvi Kolhatkar, Pratibha Pingle
Publisher: L D Indology Ahmedabad

Page 114

ADHVAN ADHVARA M. A. MEHENDALE Deccan College, Poona
ABSTRACT: History of these two words is examined and findings supported from various texts.
The word ádhvan has been attested since the Rgveda. According to the lexicons it means 'a road, way, orbit'. Its cognate advan, adwan is available in the Avesta. The age of ádhvan can therefore be pushed back at least to the Indo-Iranian period.
The etymology of the word is in doubt. In the Upadi 4.117(565), it is derived from ad-'to eat' (ader dha ca). In this derivation we have to assume the replacement of d by dh. The relationship between the meanings of ad- and ádhvan is explained by the commentators as follows:
mamsasonitaviryayamsy attity adhva (vrtti of Svetavanavasin on 4.124), or atti balam ity adhva (Daśapadi vṛtti 6.71). The other Upadis suggest the derivation from at-'to be on more constantly' (satatyagamana). In this derivation we have to assume the replacement of t by dh. In the commentary of Devarajayajvan on the Nighaptu 1.3.12 adhvan is derived from the hypothetical root adh-'to go'. The same suggestion is made by Grassmann in his Wörterbuch zum Rgveda (s. v. adhvará"). Johansson connects it with Pali *andhati he goes' which verb he presumes on the basis of Pali andhitva (Jataka III. 505) which corresponds to parigantva (III. 506). But scholars are not agreed regarding the existence of Pali andhati.
An examination of the passages in the Rgveda (and the Atharvaveda) where the word ádhvan occurs indicates that it is used with reference to a watery course, river streams in which the sun moves for his daily course from morning till night.
The examples are:
(1) úd vam prksaso mádhumanto asthur à suryo arubac chukrám arpab/ yasma aditya ádhvano rádanti mitró aryama vafupo sajóşah //7.60.4.
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