niruktha

Nirukta

Nirukta (Sanskrit: �नरुक्त, IPA: [n̪irukt̪ə], "explanation, etymological

interpretation") is one of the six Vedānga disciplines of Hinduism,

treating etymology, particularly of obscure words, especially those

occurring in the Vedas. The discipline is traditionally attributed toYāska,

an ancient Sanskrit grammarian. Yāska's association with the discipline is

so great that he is also referred to as Niruktakāra or Niruktakrit ("Maker

of Nirukta"), as well as Niruktavat ("Author of Nirukta"). In practical use,

nirukta consists of brief rules (sūtras) for deriving word meanings,

supplemented with glossaries of difficult or rare Vedicwords.

Nirukta is also the name given to a celebrated commentary by Yāska

on the Nighantu, an even older glossary (dated before 14th Century CE)

which was already traditional in his time. Yāska's Nirukta contains a

treatise on etymology, and deals with various attempts to interpret the

many difficult Vedic words in the Nighantu. It is in the form of

explanations of words, and is the basis for later lexicons and dictionaries.

The Nighantu is now traditionally combined with the Nirukta as a unified

text.

A critical edition of the Nighantu and the Nirukta was published by

Lakshman Sarup in the 1920s.

Etymology

Nirukta (Sanskrit) from nir "forth, out" and the verbal root vac- to

speak, utter. Uttered, pronounced, expressed, defined; as a noun, the

etymological interpretation of a word, also the name of such works.

Use in rhetoric

The related Sanskrit noun niruktiḥ means "derivation", or in

rhetoric, an "artificial explanation of a word."

Flourishes of rhetorical skills in the art of nirukta were considered a

mark of commentorial authority. As a result, many Sanskrit

commentaries include elaborate variations on possible word derivations,

sometimes going far afield of obvious meanings in order to show hidden

meanings. The nature of Sanskrit grammar, with its many contractions,

gave rise to ample opportunities to provide alternate parsings for words,

thus creating alternative derivations.

Many examples of the rhetorical use of nirukta occur

in Bhaskararaya's commentaries. Here is an example from the opening

verse of his commentary on the Ganesha Sahasranama.

The opening verse includes Gaṇanātha as a name for Ganesha. The

simple meaning of this name, which would have seemed obvious to his

readers, would be "Protector of the Ganas", parsing the name in a

straightforward way as gaṇa (group) + nātha (protector). But Bhaskararaya

demonstrates his skill in nirukta by parsing it in an unexpected way as

the Bahuvrīhi compound gaṇana + atha meaning "the one the

enumeration (gaṇanaṁ) of whose qualities brings about auspiciousness.

The word atha is associated with auspiciousness (maṅgalam)." This

rhetorical flourish at the opening of the sahasranama demonstrates

Bhaskaraya's skills in nirukta at the very beginning of his commentary on

a thousand such names, including a clever twist appropriate to the

context of a sahasranama.

The philosophies of Sanathana Dharma, whether Nyaya or

Vaiseshika, whether Sankhya or Yoga or whether Poorva or Uthara

Meemamsa, are higly dependent on the Sanskrit Language. The

philosophies assume an eternal connection between the Sanskrit word

and its meaning. This was mentioned in an earlier lesson in this series

where we quoted from the Mahabhashya, the words "siddhe shabdartha

sambhandhe"

The philosophies assert that just as creation is a cycle, the Sanskrit

words are also created in cycles so that their meanings are essentially

eternal. This is the reason why no origin or root for sanskrit can ever be

found.

How does the language of Sanskrit utilize this concept in its day to day

use?

The language is wholly derived from some fundamental root

syllables which denote basic concepts like the five elements, movement,

energy, space etc.. The five elements are collectively termed as, pancha

maha boothaha and individually as

Prithivi, Aapaha, Analaha, Vaayu, Akaashaha

standing for the earth, water, fire, air and the ether respectively. The

vedanga which deals with the subject matter of root words occurring in

the vedas is termed as Niruktam and is credited (or traced) to the

rendition of sage Yaska. Niruktam is divided into three portions in the

first of which root words each signifying a simple concept are grouped or

classified together. For instance, the words

Aapaha, udakam, jalam, neeram, vaari etc.,

All of which denote water, are put under a group along with other words

not mentioned above, and the group termed udakanaamaani.

In the second branch of Niruktam, Yaska gives a derivation of these

names from their roots. In the third branch of Niruktam, Yaska proceeds

to give the meanings of some specific mantras from the Vedas.

It will be obvious to our readers that this feature of the Sanskrit language

is wholly unique and is not seen in other languages of the world, whether

ancient or modern.

This lends credence to the belief that Sanskrit is the oldest of all the

languages of the world.

At the end of this article, we have appended a figure to highlight this

aspect of the language in which, we trace the names for water in different

languages of the world to their corresponding words in the Sanskrit

language.

Nirukta of sage Yaska, a Vedanga, likened to the nose of Veda PuruÀa,

dealing with epistemological, exegetical, phonological, morphological and

semantic aspects of Vedic literature with a dictionary of 1773 vedic

words, fully derived and explained with examples, giving out criteria for

such an analysis, containing 12 chapters, 49 quarters and 3 major

Sections, in prose order;

Yaska's Nighantu and Nirukta is the earliest available technical

treatise ever in the history of human civilisation after Vedic texts and is

hailed as the best treatment of linguistic and exegetic aspects pertaining

to accented, phonetic forms of Vedic literature. Its study, owing to the

rigorous efforts involved, is almost become extinct, except for a very few

traditional scholars who are past their prime. Even publications of

research in this important field have been very rare, only a couple of

them in this century.

The Computational Study of Nirukta will benefit students of

Sanskrit Etymology in particular and Linguists in general, regarding

various exegetic aspects of systematic, phonetic languages like Sanskrit

from the Vedic texts to current colloquial speech.

Kashyapa was the father of Indra, and a nephew of vasiSTa, the rshi

of the 7th Mandala of the Rg vEda. I believe that his list of synonyms, his

nighantu or his thesaurus if you will, best matches the vedic times (trEtA

yuga) than those of the later authors. So it is my desire to study this

nighantu a bit at a time.

Niruktha :

1. Please note that gouh, aditih and pUSa mean earth, in addition

to the other words in the list.

2. Please note that candrama, loha, amrta also mean gold. We are

used to translating them as moon, iron and nectar respectively. Also

note that the word rukmam could have been the origin of the kannada

word meaning rokka or money. ayah is another word translated,

nowadays as iron, but could have meant as gold in those days.

3. bhUh, barhih,puSkaram, samudram. adhvaram are all given as

synonyms for antahrisksha., which we translate as sky today.

Sri Aurobindo told us that the word gouh means much more than

just cow! In the list below – we can see that for ourselves : gouh is a

synonym for sky, height, heaven… and also for ray of light. In the

previous post we have seen that it is a synonym for earth.

It is also interesting to see that the Saptarishis can mean the rays of

light! The word aas’aah which means hope today meant directions too.

We have an exciting set of words, the vedic sanskrit words with modern

english meanings in brackets so we can see how the words have changed

in meaning.

1. Synonyms for ratrI (night) : doSa (defect), tamah (darkness),

rajah (brightness), ghRtAcI (an apsara, mother of Drona and Suka),

payah (water), himA (ice).

2. Synonyms for uSas (dawn) : vibhAvarI (night), citrAmaghA

(names of stars Chitra and Makha), vAjinI (horse).

3. Synonyms for ahna (day) : dyuh, bhAnu (sun), ghrNA (anger),

divedive (daily)

4. Synonyms for mEghA (cloud) : adri (mountain), gOtra, rouhiNa,

raivata, ahi (snake), odana (cooked rice), vRtra (Indra slayed vRtra),

asura (mighty, enemies of devas)

Synonyms for Vacha and Udaka

Da in yajurvEda becomes La in Rg vEda

My Veda Guru says :

1. Da in yajurvEda becomes La in Rg vEda : for eg iDA in yajurveda

is iLA in Rg Veda

2. In one yajur veda mantram ‘bRhatE’ becomes ‘mahatE’ in Rg

vEda.

Also when the ra in saraswati is swarita it is usually prathama vibhakti

and when it is udAta, then it is sambodhana prathamA vibhakti.

Notes :

Source : “The world’s first-known and extant thesaurus

is Nighantu, a glossary of 1,800 Vedic words, arranged subject-wise. Its

compiler, Kashyap, was bestowed with the lofty title of Prajapati, the

progenitor. Nirukt, the sage Yaska’s treatise on Nighantu, may have been

the world’s first dictionary-encyclopaedia; it gives words and their

meanings which are elaborated upon in great detail.

There were several subsequent compilations of Sanskrit

dictionaries. The Shabdakalpadrum, a Sanskrit dictionary of an unknown

date, lists twenty-nine such works, most of which were arranged subject-

wise and were, in a broad sense, thesauruses.

Amar Kosh is the bible of all the Sanskrit thesauruses. Its

author, Amar Singh (AmarSimha in Roman Devanagari) gave his work the

title of Namalinganushasan (the Discipline of Names and Genders). It was

also called Trikaand, because it was divided in three hierarchical cantos

with twenty-five chapters having a total of 8,000 words in

1,502 shlokas or verses. It is popularly known as Amar Kosh to

acknowledge the achievement of its author.

Yaska’s Nirukta is a Vedic commentary on the Nighantus (including

Kasyapa’s). A Nighantu is a glossary of difficult and rare Rg Vedic terms.

The Naighantuka kanda of the Nighantus consists of 3 lists of synonyms.

The Naigama (Aikapadika) kanda consists of a list of isolated and difficult

words. The Daivata kanda contains a classification of devatas. These lists

are followed by Yaska’s rules.

Yaskacharya, the commentator (Source)

Based on the Nighantu, Yaska compiled the Nirukta text. Yaskacharya is

the oldest and pioneer commentator of the Vedas. The commentators who

followed him used his text as the basis. ‘The Nirukta is included in the

ten holy texts that a Brahman (priest) endowed with the title of

Rugvedi Dashagranthi (knower of the ten holy texts) should study.

The Nirukta is a commentary on the Nighantu. But from the very

beginning the Niruktaand Nighantuhave both been termed as

the Nirukta.

In the Nirukta words have been described comprehensively. It is not a

mere explanation of the meaning of words but also elucidates the origin of

the word associated with that particular meaning. In other words every

word is minutely analysed.

They emphatically proclaim that though such a grammatically ruled word

is not proven from a root of similar meaning one should not bother about

it. Ignoring the rules of grammar one should firmly adopt the meaning

suggested by the Name.

Wholeheartedly obeying this directive Yaska and the authors of

the Nirukta before Him, created new words. Vedic words should be

interpreted according to the context and the same origin of the word

should be given when it is used with the same meaning; however when it

is used with a variety of meanings different origins may certainly be

given.

“सनत्मेव अथर्म ्आयय�त गमयती�त सतय्म ् means that which imparts true

knowledge about the existing objects is the ultimate truth”.

Through various ideas Yaska has clearly proclaimed that all names are

derived from a root. The present day linguistics too has accepted this

doctrine. (Panini’s era came later than 700 B.C. From this it appears

that Yaska’s era must have been from 800 to 1000 B.C. – these dates are

given by the source and not yet verified by me – Satya)

One who simply recites the Vedas without understanding their meaning is

but a pillar (sthanu). The one who has understood their meaning will be

endowed with happiness in this world and the worlds beyond. A word

devoid of meaning and knowledge cannot enlighten a person. No matter

how dry a wooden log is if it is not thrown into the fire then of what use is

it ? This is Yaska’s quote. It is from this quote that the evolution of His

spiritual intellect (pradnya) can be realised. He says, “अथ� वाच: पुषप्फलम ्

which means that a meaning is both the blossom as well as the fruit of

speech” (1.20). By writing the Nirukta he showed an easily

accomplishable path to the study of the Vedas.

He proved false Kautsa’s quote that the Vedas are devoid of meaning.

When taunting Kautsa in the (Nirukta 1.16) he says,

नैष सथ्ाणोरपराधो यदेनमनध्ो न पशय्�त ।

पुरुषापराध: स भव�त ।

Meaning: If a blind man cannot see a pillar then it is not the pillar’s fault,

rather that of the man.

Sayanacharya followed Yaska and compiled commentaries on the Vedas.

Sayanacharya explains the connection of words in the Vedic verses

(rucha); however Yaska does not do so. Hence one does not know how he

would interpret the verses.”

Nighantu. Naighantaka. Naigama and Daivata kandas. 1-5 Adhyayas.

This adopts the following division of Nighantu into kandas, Adhyayas

and Khandas:-

I. Naighantuka kanda First Adhyaya 1-17 Khandas.

I. Naighantuka kanda Second Adhyaya 1-22 Khandas.

I. Naighantuka kanda Third Adhyaya 1-30 Khandas.

II.Naigama kanda Fourth Adhyaya 1-3 Khandas.

III.Daivata kanda Fifth Adhyaya 1-6 Khandas.

Nirukta , both a bhasya on the Naighantuka, Naigama and Daivata

Kandas and an independent treatise on Vedic Etymology, by Yaska

himself. It consists of 13 Adhyayas, mainly divided into

Purvasatka and Uttarasatka.

First Adhyaya = 1-20 Khandas.

Second Adhyaya = 1-28 Khandas.

Third Adhyaya = 1-22 Khandas.

Fourth Adhyaya = 1-27 Khandas.

Fifth Adhyaya = 1-28 Khandas.

Sixth Adhyaya = 1-36 Khandas.

Seventh Adhyaya = 1-31 Khandas.

Eighth Adhyaya = 1-22 Khandas.

Ninth Adhyaya = 1-43 Khandas.

Tenth Adhyaya = 1-47 Khandas.

Eleventh Adhyaya = 1-50 Khandas.

Twelfth Adhyaya = 1-46 Khandas.

Thirteenth Adhyaya =1-50 Khandas.