Madhuvidya

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

Page 210

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M. A. MEHENDALE
He also now rightly derives yāna- from Vya- "angehen, bitten" which use is well attested in Sanskrit.15
This particular meaning of vya- "to request, to implore" is so similar to that of Skt. Vyāc- that Yāska regards yāmi (RV. 1.24.11, 8.3.9) = *yācmi 18 That is the reason why in the Nirukta 2.1 he says: athāpi varnalopo bhavati tat två yāmi iti "Oder geht überhaupt ein Buchstabe verloren, z.B. in tat två jâmi" (Roth). According to the commentator Durga, the letter that has disappeared is c of Vyāc- (atra cakāralopah/ yācāmītyl7 evam etad drastavyam/). Thus in the opinion of Yaska yämi in this particular reference is to be derived not from v pā-, but from Vyāc.
The commentary of Skanda-Maheśvara, 18 however, does not take the above view of yāmi. In the view of this commentator the varnalopa intended by Yāska is not to be seen in yāmi but in tatva. Since this form is derived from v tan- it shows the loss of final -n. Then again, according to this author the instance cited by Yăska is not a Vedic quotation but one taken from the daily usage. But this view does not seem to be satisfactory for various reasons. In the first instance if Yaska had intended to give tatrā as an illustration of varnalopa he would have used only that word and not tatva yami which looks like a Vedic citation, Secondly this type of loss he has already pointed out in the forms like gatvā and gatam (from V gam-). Moreover the new explanation presupposes the reading tatvā instead of tat tvā for which there does not seem to be any manuscript evidence.
With reference to the remarks of Lentz on anāiš vå nõit ... yānāiš zaranaēma Y. 28.9 about vexing the god with repeated requests ("Den Dichter befällt nach den verschiedenen dringenden Bitten und Anrufungen plötzlich die Sorge, die man hat, wenn man einen vertrauten
15 W. Schmid, however, has shown that this Vya- "bitten" is to be separated from Vya- "gehen", cf. IF, 62 (1936), p. 219 ff. On p. 225 the author suggests to render Skt. avayāna- "Abbitte", although on p. 237 he favours not to connect Av. yanawith Vyas (<V*ya-sk-). He also mentions (p. 224) the possibility of connecting Sk. ydman- in some cases with this verb Vyd- "to implore". 20 W. Schmid, op. cit., p. 228 ff., also considers ✓ yac- as a k-extension of Vyd-, i.e. etymologically identical with it. On p. 228 he quotes Sayapa who renders yami as yăcămi or ydce, thus apparently following the view of Yăska referred to above. Schmid also shows that Av. Vyäs- is a sk-extension of vyd- "to implore". The same explanation, but from Vya- "to go" was given by Humbach, MSS, 8, p. 83. 11 What Yaska may have thought of is a form like yāc-mi and not yācāmi. This will answer the criticism in the commentary of Skanda-Maheśvara that yācāmi>yami shows the loss of two letters c and d and not one. 18 Published by L. Sarup (1931), pp. 10–11.
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