19. More on avyaya (indeclinables)

Following on the sutra 1.1.37 that introduced avyaya (indeclinables) (see previous post), additional groups are added to the category.

1.1.38 taddhitaś cāsarvavibhaktih̨

Word division: taddhitah̨ (1/1) ca (0, zero, indicating an avyaya, indeclinable!) asarvavibhaktih̨ (1/1),

and supplying, by anuvŗtti from 1.1.37:

(avyayam #37), the paraphrase or expansion of the sutra is as follows:

Vŗtti: taddhitāntah̨ śabdah̨ or śabdo’ (word in taddhita affix ending) ca (and) a-sarva-vibhaktih̨ (not-all-case ending, i.e. not declined in all cases)  avyaya-samjñah̨ (samjño) (indeclinable word) bhavati (is, constitutes).

Points to note includes the close attention required to be given to the sandhi rules in unpicking the individual words, in cāsarvavibhaktih̨. It is not ca sarva etc., but the exact opposite, ca asarva etc. Words with a taddhita affix that do not take all the seven case endings are also avyaya, indeclinable. Examples supplied are tatra ‘there’ , yatra ‘where’, tadā ‘then’, etc. The sutra requires the condition of taddhita suffix to be satisfied, which prevents attaching of all the vibhakti (case) endings, and hence makes them avyaya, indeclinable.

The explanation introduces further categories like the taddhitāntāh̨ (words ending in taddhita affixes). There is a whole raft of conditions governing the taddhita suffixes which we will encounter later; we will have to wait till the appropriate sutra occurs (4.1.76 taddhitāh̨). Then we have the vibhakti endings; these are the seven case-endings, nominative (name by itself, as a subject), accusative (as an object) instrumental (by), dative (to), ablative (from), possessive (of), locative (in), and vocative (hi!). They are known technically as the sUP endings, sup-antāh̨, where the UP is a marker (iT), and the ending is represented by –s, expressed as a – h̨: rāmah̨ from rāmas (like remus), dāmas (like domus). Sometimes the ending is expressed as an –r, similar to the –r- sound introduced in English speech between two vowels, e.g. Lisa-r-and-Angela (no friends of mine!). The case endings, of course, are what we learn in the basic tables of declension:  rāmah̨ rāmau rāmāh̨,  rāmam rāmau rāmān, rāmeņa rāmābhyām rāmaih̨, etc. The case endings are known as sUP (U as in German unten, not English sup! Nothing is ever straight-forward!).

Here’s another category of avyaya (indeclinable):

1.1.39 kŗn mejantah̨

Word division: kŗt (1/1) mejantah̨ (1/1); and adding by anuvŗtti

(avyayam #37), we have the explanation

Vŗtti: kŗd (kŗt, without the sandhi)  yo (yah̨)  makārāntah̨ (kŗt- which ends in -m) ejantaśca  (ejantah̨ ca) (and eC-ending) tadantam (that ending) śabda-rūpam (word-form) avyaya-sam̨jñam̨ (avyaya-word, indeclinable) bhavati (is).

Again, there are two new terms here. One is a kŗt ending: apparently we have to go to 3.1.93  kŗd atiŋ to get the definition (note also how the last letter in kŗt changes according to rules of sandhi, t> d before a voiced sound, t>n before a nasal m). These kŗt  may be termed agent words for the present; they are a-tiŋ, not-tiŋ, where tiŋ stands for verb (declension) endings, obviously on the analogy of he ending –ti s in bhavati, is (3^rd person, singular). They are derived from verbs, but not verbal forms. Additionally, these kŗt endings have to also end in –m or one of the eC vowels (e, o, ai, au – remember the siva-sutras ending in ouch!). Examples of kŗt affixes ending in m are:

Svādumkāram bhunkte ‘he eats after sweetening’

lavaņamkāram bhunkte ‘he eats after salting’

Examples in –eC ending vowels are said to be prevalent in Vedic:

Vakșe rāyah ‘for naming the wealth’,

from vac ‘to say (cognate with vox, voice)’, plus ending –se which is transformed to vak- șe. The –se has the import of the affix –tum, the desiderative ‘to do something’: kartum, to do, for instance. The ending –tum (denoted technically as tumUN with the iT added) is itself a kŗt affix ending in –m, hence is avyaya ‘indeclinable’. In Vedic, there are forms like vakșe giving the sense of –tum, ‘to say’ (or vaktum, if I am not mistaken).  Other such affixes listed in the explantions are ŅamUL, KamUL, and KHamUÑ, which are –am suffixes coming from different angles,  hence differentiated by different iT markers (the rules for these affixes are in other parts of the Ashtadhyayi). (One of the questions I hope to find an answer to is: whether there is a logic to Panini’s choice of the precise letters for the iT markers; does it have anything to do with the specific transformations the marker itself would undergo when juxtaposed to different affixes?).

The next is another cryptic clue to avyaya ‘indeclinable’:

1.1.40 ktvātosunkasunah̨

which is a noun (1/3, nominative or 1^st vibhakti, plural according to Sharma). By anuvŗtti, we add

avyayam (#37) from 1.1.37. The expansion is interpreted as:

vŗtti: ktvā tosun kasun (the affixes Ktvā tosUN kasUN) ityevam (iti evam, and thus, respectively) antam (ending) śabda-rūpam (word-form) avyaya-sam̨jñam̨ (avyaya-word, indeclinable) bhavati (is).

What are the three types of affixes specifies here? Ktvā is a familiar ending -tvā, denoting a past participle, kŗtvā ‘having done’, pītvā ‘having drunk’. This is an indeclinable, it does not take noun endings although it looks like a qualifier or attributive (adjective) that could well change according to gender and number and case (it doesn’t). The affix tosUN refers to -toh̨, the affix KasUN  refers to -ah̨, as in the examples given by Sharma (who has got them from the vārttika):

purā sūryasyodetoh̨ (sūryasya udetoh̨) ‘before the rising of the sun’.

purā krūrasya visŗpah̨ ‘befor the cruel one gets away’

The purpose of assigning them to avyaya is to facilitate deletion of noun endings sUP.  A final category of avyaya is given by

1.1.41 avyayībhāvaśca

Aunvrtti: (avyayam #37)

The avyayībhāvah̨ is a special kind of samāsa ‘compound’ (2.1.5 avyayībhāvah̨) which has a meaning that is an indeclinable (a somewhat circular chain of definitions!):

vŗtti: avyayībhāva- samāso (the avyayībhāva-compound) ‘(a)vyaya-sam̨jño (avyaya-word, indeclinable) bhavati (is).

Note all the different ways sandhi transforms the terminal - ah̨ (masculine, singular) ending, since samāsah̨ is obviously masculine singular. Examples:

Pratyagnim ‘in front of the fire’

Upāgnim ‘near the fire’

Here’s another explanation of the purposes which assignment to the avyaya category serves. One, as already described, is to block the attachment of noun declension endings (sUP). The second reason is to block assignment of the high pitch accent (udātta) in a bahuvrīhi compound with mukha (which need not concern us here), The third is to block transformation of terminal visarga -ah̨ to –as, technically termed upacāra. Thus,

*ayah̨-kārah̨ ‘one who makes iron, blacksmith’ would become ayaskārah̨ by changing to - h̨ to –s, but

upa-payah̨-kāmah̨ ‘he who is near the one desirous of milk’ does not make this change, as the first part upa-payah̨ is itself an avyayībhāva compound, hence the correct form of the whole compound is upapayah̨kāmah̨. (I am a bit leery of this reasoning, as I feel the division should be payah̨-kāmah̨, ‘the one desirous of milk’, which is not itself an avyayibhava, but let it go for now!).

This concludes the section on avyaya, indeclinable.