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The oldest extant lexical work in Sanskrit is the Vedic Nighantu, which has been commented on by Yaska in his Nirukta. A passage in the Nirukta (1.20) indicates the process of advancement of Vedic lore in ancient days. Yaska says that seers who had direct vision of reality, initiated through oral instruction the later persons who themselves did not possess direct vision in the secrets of mantras. The later generations declining in the power of comprehension, compiled this work, (i.e. the Nighantu) the Vedas and Vedangas for the sake of understanding. * As with the passage of time, the Vedic language became more and more difficult to understand, Vedic schools prepared several lists of select words (Nighantavas) (Niru.7.13). Many scholars wrote commentaries on these Nighantus. They are called Niruktas. According to Durga, (Niru.1.13) there were fourteen Nirukta texts. The Nirukta which has come down to us is of Yaska. The extant Nighantu consists of five chapters, the first three of which are called Naighantuka-kanda, the fourth chapter is known as Naigama-kanda and the last chapter is called Daivata-kanda according to Yaska.

in Every kanda is again divided into various sections. In the first three chapters the sections contain one thousand three hundred and fortyone words. The fourth chapter contains two hundred and seventy-nine aikapadika words in three groups and the fifth chapter has one hundred and fiftyone names of deities in six groups. A critical study of the Nighantu words on the basis of their arrangement in the Nighantu by tracing the words in the Vedas and in Yaska's Nirukta has been a desideratum in the field of Vedic studies. Here is an attempt to fill . up the lacuna of a critical study of the earliest known lexicon i.e. Nighantu, by tracing the meaning of the words in the Vedas in general and on the basis of the interpretation of Raveda given by Sayana in particular. I have arrived at the conclusion about the approach in the arrangement of words in the Nighantu, which can be a contribution to the study of Vedic lore. The eight chapters of the thesis are divided mainly into three parts: PART-I There are two chapters in this part: Ist Chapter: After giving a brief introduction about the Nighantu, a comparative study of the extant Nighantu 1

iv and the Kautsavya Nighantu (which belongs to AV) is made. Explanation on the classification of the words in the Nighantu is stated here. 2 nd Chapter: Authorship of the Nighantu: The word 'Nighantu' is examined in view of the observations made by various scholars. Quoting the opinions of ancient as well as modern scholars, authorship of the Nighantu is discussed in detail. After examining the opinions, it is concluded that Yaska is neither the author nor the rescompiler of the extant Nighantu. He wrote only the commentary called Nirukta on the available Nighantu text. PART-II This part contains the study of Nighanty words. The meanings of the words in the first four adhyayas of the Nighantu are traced in the Raveda on the basis of Sayana's interpretation. 5. 3 rd Chapter: This chapter deals with all the seventeen sections of the first adhyaya of the Nighantu. All the four hundred and fifteen words in these sections are traced in the Vedas, particularly in the Roveda. At the end of each section a tabular form is given about the number of times a word used in the Raveda and the number of places of its use in the sense assigned by the Nighantu. 0

4 th Chapter: This deals with the second adhyaya of the Nighantu. Fearing about the bulky size of the thesis, (as Durga too comments about the selection of words of Nighantu by Yaska), I have not dealt with the third and fourth chapters of the Nighantu, in detail as I did in 1 the first and second chapters. 5 th Chapter: This deals with the third adhyaya of the Nighantu, with all the thirty sections. All the four hundred and ten words are explained giving only one example for each word, which is traced in the Vedas. At the end a note of conclusion is given. 6 th Chapter: This starts with a critical introduction to the fourth adhyaya of the Nighantu. All the two hundred and seventy nine words which are listed in three groups are explained on the basis of the commentary of Durga on the Nirukta, and the interpretation of Sayana, in his commentary on the Raveda. A note of observation is added. The last two chapters are written in Sanskrit for the sake of convenience. A short essay on the fifth adhyaya of the Nighantu is also included in this chapter, in a separate section. 101

f VI PART-III This part deals with the conclusion of my study. 7 th and 8 th chapters are included here. The following topics are included in the 7 th chapter: (1) Division of the Nighantu with a critical approach; (2) Repetition of words in the Nighantu and Yaska's Nirukta. (3) Nighantu and Sayana's commentary on the Raveda. (4) A few suggestions for the re-arrangements of the words, listed in the Nighantu. The 8 th chapter deals with two topics: (1) the words of the Nighantu and their usage in later literature, and (2) words of the Nighantu and Amarakosa, a comparative study. It ends with a note of conclusion.