Page:Vedic Grammar.djvu/173

163 a. By far the commonest verbal nouns occurring as final member are the past participles in -ta, which are compounded with nouns as well as prepositions and other indeclinables. The meaning is mostly passive. It is, however, sometimes active, but in the RV. almost exclusively when a pre- position precedes, as úd-ita- 'risen'; when a noun precedes, only in sárga- takta- 'speeding with a rush' and sárga-pratakta- ‘darting forth with a rush'. In the AV. a noun appears also in uda-plutá- 'swimming in the water'; occa- sionally even transitively governing the first member in sense: krtá-dviṣṭa- (AV.) 'hating what has been done' (by another) ¹. b. The past participle in -na is less frequent and occurs in the RV. only compounded with prepositions, a(n)- and su-; e. g. pári-cchinna- ‘lopped around'; á-bhinna- 'not split'; sú-purna- 'quite full'. But it is found a few times in the later Samhitãs with a preceding substantive: agni-nunna- (SV.) 'driven away by fire', resmá-cchinna- (AV.) 'rent by a storm'; and with active (transitive) sense gara-gīrṇá- (AV.) 'having swallowed poison'. 5. There are besides some verbal adjectives in -ra or (after a vowel) -tra, -la and -ma, the first of which occurs compounded with nouns as well as prepositions: á-sk-ra- 'united'², ni-mrg-ra- ‘attached to', tanú-śubh-ra- ‘shining in body', hári-scand-ra- 'shining yellow'; vi-bhr-tra- 'to be borne about in various directions'; á-mis-la-, ni-mis-la-, sám-mis-la- 'commingling'; áva-kṣā-ma- (AV.) 'emaciated', úc-chus-ma- (TS. 1. 6. 22) 'hissing upwards', ní-sus-ma- (TS. 1. 6. 22) 'hissing downwards'. 6. Comparatives and superlatives in -īyāms and -iştha having originally been verbal adjectives are found in composition with prepositions and sám- when they still retain their verbal meaning: úd-yamīyāms- 'raising excessively', pári-ṣvajīyāms- (AV.) 'clasping more firmly', práti-cyavīyāms- 'pressing closer against', ví-kledīyāms- (AV.) 'moistening more'; a-gamistha- 'coming quickly, śám-bhavistha- 'most beneficial. V. COMPOUNDS. DETERMINATIVES. First member in verbal determinatives. 274. a. Prepositions. At the beginning of determinatives prepositions are employed in accordance with their use in verbal forms; e. g. pra-ni- and prá-nīti- 'furtherance', pra-net- 'leader', prá-nīta- ‘furthered', pra-není- 'guiding constantly. Even in the many instances in which the corresponding verbal com- bination has not been preserved, it may be assumed to have existed; e. g. in abhi-pra-múr- 'crushing' and abhi-pra-bhangin- 'breaking'. Occasionally, how- ever, the preposition has a meaning which otherwise occurs only before non- verbal nouns; e. g. ati-yajá- 'sacrificing excessively'. A preposition belonging to the second member is once prefixed to the first in sam-dhana-ji-t (AV.) 'accumulating (= sam-ji-t-) 'wealth'. b. Adverbs. Various kinds of adverbs occur in this position, as puro- yávan- 'going before', akṣṇaya-drüh- 'injuring wrongly'; amutra-bhuya- (AV. VS.) 'state of being there' (i. e. in the other world). The privative a(n)- though belonging in sense to the final member always precedes the first; e. g. án- agni-dagdha- 'not burnt by fire'; á-paścãd-daghvan- 'not remaining behind'; á-dāra-sṛ-t (AV.) ‘not falling into a crack'. c. Nouns. The first member, when a noun, expresses various relations to the last. ¹ Cp. WACKERNAGEL 2¹, p. 195; but also WHITNEY on AV. VII. 113¹. 2 From sac- 'be associated'. 3 In TS. II. 5. 44 (B.) ati-yaj- means 'to pass over in sacrificing'. 11*