[Y-Indology] A query regarding the tiger in the RV

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Le 14 mai 05, à 11:20, Francesco Brighenti a écrit :

 

>

>

> Dear List,

>

> I am trying to analyze the following R.gvedic zloka (transliteration

> simplified):

>

> RV 8.75.9:

> maa.nah.samasya.duuDhyah.paridveSaso.amhatih/

> uurmir.na.naavam.aa.vadhiit//

 

Hello Francesco

 

I analyse the sentence as being in injunctive mode, obtained by

prohibitive maa with aorist

without augment, here aavadhiit (root vadh used in place of han for

aorist avadhiit,

with preverb aa) = destroy.

But here because of iva there is coordination between two clauses, and

the first has ellipsis of the verb,

so aavadhiit (destroy) is shared between two pairs of (destroying

agent, destroyed entity), governed respectively

by nominative and accusative, like in the main clause,

(naavam,uurmir)=(wave, boat);

In the first clause the entity is na.h enclitic for vayam=us.

In English, reversing the order, I will do the ellipse in the second

clause, and use the passive:

So "Let us not be destroyed by ... like the boat by the wave"

Now we fill the ... with a noun phrase, formed by nominative

hati.h=blow and several genitives applied to the

blow-giver: sarvasya durdhy.ah paridve.sasya i.e. any evil-minded

ennemy. En français:

Que nul coup d'un ennemi hostile ne nous abatte, comme la vague le fait

du navire.

 

Here paridve.sasya is the genitive of pari-dve.sa, a bahuvrihi - the

one who has hatred around.

 

Putting everything back together with sandhi, we should get:

maana.hsarvasyadurdhya.hparidve.sasyahati.h |

uurmir.na.naava.maa.vadhiit ||

 

I do not see any tiger, except in a metaphoric sense perhaps.

 

Gérard

 

PS I hope you and your son recovered fully from your health problems

last winter in Orissa.

Let me proffer an injunction to prevent such mishaps to you in the

future:

maava.hsarvasyadurdhya.hparidve.sasyahati.h |

uurmir.na.naava.maa.vadhiit ||

:-)