नाट्यशास्त्रम् (प्रथम भाग - अभिनवभारती एवं हिन्दी टीका सहित)

252 THE NATYASASTRA [ XV. 23-

22. The characteristics of vocables have been mentioned in detail by the ancient masters. I shall again discuss those characteristics briefly when an occasion will arise¹.

The noun

23. The noun¹ has its functions determined by the case-endings such as 'su' and the like, and by special meanings derived therefrom²; and it is of five³ kinds and has a basic meaning (prātipadikārtha) and gender⁴.

24. It (the noun) is known to be of seven¹ classes and has six cases, and [sometimes] it is well-established (prathita)² and

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22 (C.22; B. foot-note 5 in p. 231).

23 (C.25; B XIV.28). ¹ This couplet has evidently been misplaced in C. as well as B. Begin it as svādyādyā?.

² The second hemistich should be emended as follows : प्रातिपादिकार्थलिङ्ग-युक्तं पञ्चविधं नाम ज्ञेयम्. (mss. लिङ्गयुक्तं, ॰विधमिदं ज्ञेयम् ).

³ The five kinds of noun have been enumerated as follows : उणाद्यन्तं मदन्तं च तद्धितान्तं समासजम् । शब्दानुरूप्यं चैव नाम पञ्चविधं स्मृतम् ॥ Goyīcandra, Saṃkṣiptasāra-vivaraṇa (Ref. Haldar, Itihāsa, p. 174).

⁴ There is a difference of opinion about the number of basic meanings (prātipadikārtha) of a word. According to Pāṇini they are two : charcteristics of a species (jāti) and object (dravya). Kātyāyana adds one more to the number which is gender (liṅga). But Vyāghrapāt—a rather less known ancient authority—took their number to be four. According to him they are : characteristics of a species, object, gender and number (saṃkhyā). Patañjali however considered them to be five in number, e.g. characteristics of a species, object, gender, number and case (kāraka). (Haldar, Itihāsa p. 447-48.

24 (C.23; B.XIV.25b-26a). ¹ The seven classes probably relate to the seven groups of case-endings.

² The words prathita and sādhya as grammatical terms are scarcely well-known. Prathita seems to relate the well-known words as a whole, which cannot be conveniently analysed into component parts. (Uṇādi derivation should in this connexion be considered as the most artificial). It may be in contrast to these that the words which can be built up from the verbal roots and affixes etc. are known as sādhya (to be made). These two terms may therefore be taken as synonymous with rūḍha and yaugika respectively.