avyayakośa /11
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FOREWORD
The 'indeclinable' in Samskrit is a broad classifica-
tion that comprehends a number of parts of speech
adverb, preposition, conjunction, particle and interjee-
tion which have the common feature that the form
of the word remains unchanged in all the genders-
numbers and cases. Look at the following verse from
Bhoja's Ramayana Champu which contains a dozen
indeclinables: "Uchchair-gatir-jagati siddhyati dharma-
tas-chet, tasya pramã cha vachanaih krtaketarais-chet ;
teshām prakāśana-dasa cha mahisurais-chet tan
antarena nipatet kva nu mat-pranamah". Here 'uch-
chais' is an adverb used adjectivally; 'tas' is a
suffix that forms an adverb; 'chet' is a conditional
conjunction; cha is a copulative conjunction; 'antarena
is an example of the instrumental case-form used as
an adverb; 'kva' is another adverb; and 'nu is
a conjunction that goes into such combinations as 'kva
nu', 'kva nu khalu' etc., while 'pra' is a prefix to a
substantive While there are very few independent
prepositions, such as 'vina' and 'rte', the 'upasarga' is
an indeclinable prefixed to verbs and their derivatives
and it often very considerably modifies the meaning of
the words to which it is prefixed. A familiar example is
the impressive change rung upon the single word
"vada" by adding to it different prefixes eg. "pra",
"vi"', "sam", "anu" and 'apa'. Examples of particles
are "sma" and "chit" (as in 'kim-chit') and of inter-
jections, "ha", "dhik" etc.
-
The importance of the indeclinables derives not
only from the fact that, appearing in a predominantly
inflected language, they serve to some extent to lessen
the stiffness of the linguistic structure. The preposi-
The 'indeclinable' in Samskrit is a broad classifica-
tion that comprehends a number of parts of speech
adverb, preposition, conjunction, particle and interjee-
tion which have the common feature that the form
of the word remains unchanged in all the genders-
numbers and cases. Look at the following verse from
Bhoja's Ramayana Champu which contains a dozen
indeclinables: "Uchchair-gatir-jagati siddhyati dharma-
tas-chet, tasya pramã cha vachanaih krtaketarais-chet ;
teshām prakāśana-dasa cha mahisurais-chet tan
antarena nipatet kva nu mat-pranamah". Here 'uch-
chais' is an adverb used adjectivally; 'tas' is a
suffix that forms an adverb; 'chet' is a conditional
conjunction; cha is a copulative conjunction; 'antarena
is an example of the instrumental case-form used as
an adverb; 'kva' is another adverb; and 'nu is
a conjunction that goes into such combinations as 'kva
nu', 'kva nu khalu' etc., while 'pra' is a prefix to a
substantive While there are very few independent
prepositions, such as 'vina' and 'rte', the 'upasarga' is
an indeclinable prefixed to verbs and their derivatives
and it often very considerably modifies the meaning of
the words to which it is prefixed. A familiar example is
the impressive change rung upon the single word
"vada" by adding to it different prefixes eg. "pra",
"vi"', "sam", "anu" and 'apa'. Examples of particles
are "sma" and "chit" (as in 'kim-chit') and of inter-
jections, "ha", "dhik" etc.
-
The importance of the indeclinables derives not
only from the fact that, appearing in a predominantly
inflected language, they serve to some extent to lessen
the stiffness of the linguistic structure. The preposi-