________________ As the meaning of the word 'nighantu' is not transparent, the word 'sangraha' gradually came to be employed in its place. 'Vyadisangraha' is an instance in point. This Vyadisangraha is a collection of nouns-a lexicon. In the Mahabhasya of Patanjali (1.1) there occurs a statementsangrahe etatpradhanyena pariksitam. While commenting on it Kaiyata obser. ves that by sangraha is here meant a particular work'. Nagesa, while explaining the words of Kaiyata, explicitly states that sangraha is a work of Vyali, the extent of which is one lac slokas 3. Afterwards such collec. tions of nours--lexicons were known by the term kosa. In the Vedas the term kosa has not been used in this sense. There it is employed in the sense of treasure-house, e. g. 'tasmim hiranmaye kose svargo jyotisa"vstah'. It seems that like the collections of Vedic nouns even the collections of the names of medicinal substances were came to be known by the term nighantu. Again, it is said that nighantu is that kind of work wherein synonyms are collected. 'ekarthavacinam paryayasabdanam sangho yatra prayena upadisyate tatra nighantusabdah prasiddhah' (Vacaspatyam, Vol. v). Thus nyms. In the Sabdakalpadruma etymology of the word nighantu is given. It is: nighantati sobhate iti (that which looks beautiful or shines is called nighantu). According to Ac. Hemacandra nighantu means a collection of nouns (namasangrahah iti hemacandrah). Srivallabhgani, the comme ntator of the presert work, Nigbantusesa, explains both the constituent terms of the title. While explaining the term nighantu he observes: nitaram ghant yante ekatra bhasyante sabda aneneti nighntuh, bhr-mp-ty-tsari. That is, that wbich fully explains, at one place, all the words is called nighantu. And he quotes the cominentator Vyadi-'arthan nighantayaty asman nighantuh pari. kirtitah pun-na pussakayoh sa syat. Further he states that the noun nighantu is akaranta also. And in support of this view he gives a quotation of Pt. Camunda, viz. yaduktam camunda panditena-iti varnanighanto'yam bijanari vacmi kincana, He explains the term sesa as follows : sis himsayam Sisyale vicitravana. spati-abhidhanajad yan himsyale anena iti va sesah. That is, the term sesa is derived from the root sis meaning to kill. That which kills or destroys the ignorance about the names of strange varied vegetables, plants, herbs, trees, etc. is called sesa. Ac. Heniacandra, who earned the title kalikalasarvajna due to his vast knowledge and deep scholarship, took up the difficult task of dispelling the darkness of ignorance pertaining to the names of vegetables, herbs, creepers, plants, trees, roots, etc. Before Ac. Hemacandra many Nighantus were composed. Among them the first and foremost is the 2. sangrahe granthavisese / 3. sangraho vyalikyto laksaslokasankhyo grantha iti prasiddhah |
