nā ’sti dhanyataro mama (R.) there is no one more fortunate than I (i.e. my superior in fortune); putram mama prāṇāir garīyasam (MBh.) a son dearer than my life.
d. Occasionally, an ablative is used instead of a partitive genitive: thus, mithunād ekaṁ jaghāna (R.) he slew one out of the pair; tebhya ekam (KSS.) one of them.
293. The ablative is used with a variety of prepositions and words sharing a prepositional character (1128); but all these have rather an adverbial value, as strengthening or defining the from-relation, than any proper governing force. We may notice here:
a. In the Veda, ádhi and pári are much used as directing and strengthening adjuncts with the ablative: as, jātó himávatas pári (AV.) born from the Himalaya (forth); samudrā́d ádhi jajñiṣe (AV.) thou art born from the ocean; cárantam pári tasthúṣaḥ (RV.) moving forth from that which stands fast.
b. Also purā́ (and purás), in the sense of forward from, and hence before: as, purā́ járasaḥ (RV.) before old age: and hence also, with words of protection and the like, from: as çaçamānáḥ purā́ nidáḥ (RV.) securing from ill-will.
c. Also ā́, in the sense of hither from, all the way from: as, ā́ mū́lād ánu çuṣyatu (AV.) let it dry completely up from the root; tásmād ā́ nadyò nā́ma stha (AV.) since that time ye are called rivers. But usually, and especially in the later language, the measurement of interval implied in ā́ is reversed in direction, and the construction means all the way to, until: as, yatī́ giríbhya ā́ samudrā́t (RV.) going from the mountains to the ocean; ā́ ’syá yajñásyo ’dṛ́caḥ (VS.) until the end of this sacrifice; ā ṣoḍaçāt (M.) till the sixteenth year; ā pradānāt (Ç.) until her marriage.
294. Uses of the Genitive. a. The proper value of the genitive is adjectival; it belongs to and qualifies a noun, designating something relating to the latter in a manner which the nature of the case, or the connection, defines more nearly. Other genitive constructions, with adjective or verb or preposition, appear to arise out of this, by a more or less distinctly traceable connection.
b. The use of the genitive has become much extended, especially in the later language, by attribution of a noun-character to the adjective, and by pregnant verbal construction, so that it often bears the aspect of being a substitute for other cases — as dative, instrumental, ablative, locative.
295. The genitive in its normal adjective construction with a noun or pronoun is classifiable into the usual varieties: as, genitive of possession or appurtenance, including the complement of implied relation — this is, as elsewhere, the commonest of all; the so-called partitive genitive; the subjective and objective genitives; and so on. Genitives of apposition or
