Essay name: Nighantu (critical study)
Author:
Gopalakrishna N. Bhat
Affiliation: Karnatak University / Department of Sanskrit
This is an English study of the Nighantu and its commentary called the Nirukta by Yaska. The Nighantu is an ancient Sanskrit lexicon dealing with the words of the Vedic language. This essay presents a detailed analysis of the extant five chapters of this text and examines it's authorship, tracing meanings of words through Vedic texts by providing a comparative study involving Sayana's interpretations and connections with other texts like Amarakosa.
Chapter 2 - Authorship of the Nighantu
11 (of 18)
External source: Shodhganga (Repository of Indian theses)
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1
In fact, the words in the Nighantu are not enlisted as
they are in the recensions. The author has taken the words
from recesions according to his own choice. So on this
ground of disorderely occurence of words of Vedic recensions
in the Nighantu one cannot say that Nighantu is not the
product of a single author,
t
18 Shri V.K.Rajwade also is of the opinion that Nighantu
is not the work of a single author and is anterior to Y膩ska.
His arguments are similar to those advanced by Prof. R.D.
Karmarkar, Dr.Laxman Sarup also does not accept Y膩ska as
the author of the Nighantu, nor does he accept single author-
ship. While commenting on Niru. 1.20 Durga states that the
authors of the Nighantu were ancient scholars, To support
their arguement, Dr. Sarup and Karmarkar quote the statement
which runs as "Upade艣aya glavanto-vare bilmagrahanaya ima峁�
grantha峁� samamn膩sisur Veda峁� ca Vedangani ca" (Niru.1.20)
17 丨賲乇
鞁�
18 Durga' and Sarup hold that 'imam grantha峁�' refers to
the extant Nighantu.
17. Nir懦.I.20. 'Seers had direct intuitive insight into
duty. They by oral instruction handed down the hymns to later
generations, declining in (power of) oral communication,
compiled this work, the Veda, and the auxiliary Vedic treaties,
in order to comprehend their meaning. Bilma = bhilma (division)
or illustration, (Translation by Laxman Sarup. The Nighantu
and Nirukta 1966, p.20.)
18. 啶囙ぎ啶� 啶椸啶班え啷嵿ぅ啶� 啶椸さ啶距う啶�-啶︵啶掂お啶む啶ㄠ啶え啷嵿い啶� (啶膏ぎ啶距え啶� 啶膏た啶粪啶�)
啶膏ぎ啶距ぎ啷嵿え啶距い啶掂え啷嵿い啶� 啷�
[ima峁� grantha峁� gav膩di-devapatnyanta峁� (sam膩n膩 si峁岣�)
sam膩mn膩tavanta岣� |
]
