Sanskrit Prakrit Jain Vyakaran aur Kosh ki Parampara

Author(s): Chandanmalmuni, Nathmalmuni, Others
Publisher: Kalugani Janma Shatabdi Samaroha Samiti Chapar

Page 569

Semantic Changes, in Kita, Treta, Dvapai and Kalı 77
bull. Here the Sudra's kingship indicates that the order of the castes had suffered reversion The cow and the bull being tormented are the symbol of righteousness So what is suggested here is the disorder of Kalı age The king washing to restore order aimed an arrow at Kali and subjugated him But Kalı entreating for a shelter, he bade him live in gambling drinking, women, murder and gold The places of shelter indicate that here two meanings of kalı vız the losing throw in the game of dice and strife are at the focus Kalı lives in gambling in the form of the losing throw and also in the form of strife strife has always been an usual feature of the game of dice Since drunken people, women, murderers and those covetous of gold are all prove to lighting, Kalı lives in them in the form of strife Strife a denotation of Kalı may be a figurative one and derived from its primary meaning in the game of dice-association of strife with this game is very natural, the more so with the throw Kali which is the worst in the game
Besides the main semantic transition from the context of the game of dice to that of the reckoning of time, the words Kita etc have had some derivatives associated with their primary meanings Thus the word kitava clever, shrewd, may be a Prakritization of Krtavid<Krti=one who is skilled in obtaining krta in the game of dice, by unfair mean as well 'Kitava's' essential association with the game of dice is a well established fact. The Pali expression 'kaṭañ alāto ganhāti Kītavā sikkhitô Jāthā' (Jātaka VI-228) evidently connects it with Kata (Sanskrit Krtā) The hybrid Sanskrit from Kṛtāvın (Divyāvdāna-58-28, 10013, 442-9)=having worldly skills, too, seems to have evolved from Krta in the same process The word, 'Catura'=skilled, may be a syncope of 'Caturvāna the possessor of the four VIZ Krta for Krta in the game of dice stands for four and its multiples In the Rgveda (I-41-9) it has been said that 'one should fear him who holds all four The text runs as follows
Caturas cid dadamānāt bibhīyād
The scholiast explains it as
Catur oksan dharayath Kitavat Here it seems that the