A Grammar of Epic Sanskrit (Indian Philology and South Asian Studies, 5)

The two great epics of (old) India, the Mahabharata and the Ramayana, are written in a language, which differs from so-called classical Sanskrit in many details. Both texts still are of an enormous importance in India and other countries. Because of this, a grammar describing all the different characteristics of epic Sanskrit has been missed until now. The Grammar of Epic Sanskrit will now close this gap. Introduction 23 I. Sandhi 57 1.1. Absence of sandhi 57 1.2. Special cases of sandhi 78 1.3.Sandhi of pragṛhya-vowels 85 1.4. Sandhi of eṣa(ḥ) 88 1.5. Sandhi of /-ar/ 89 1.6. -ai ’- < /-ai a-/ 89 1.7. -au ’- < /-au a-/ 90 1.8. Double sandhi 90 1.9. Consonantal sandhi 105 1.10. (Non)-cerebralisation of n and s 107 II. The nominal system 109 2.1. a-stems 110 2.2. ā-stems 113 2.3. i- and u-stems 113 2.4. sakhi- 115 2.5. pati- 116 2.6. (f.) i- and u-stems 116 2.7. (n.) u-stems 118 2.8. (°)bhrū- 118 2.9. strī- 119 2.10. ī- and ū-stems 119 2.11. tandrī- 121 2.12. ṛ-stems 121 2.13. (Kinship) ṛ-stems 122 2.14. (m. / f.) ā-/ī-/ū-stems 123 2.15. go- 124 2.16. (n.) °as-stems 124 2.17. (m.) °as-stems 124 2.18. Present participles in °ant- 125 2.19. Reduplicated and ‘aerodynamic’ participles 126 2.20. mahānt- 126 2.21. °mant-stems 127 2.22. °an-stems 128 2.23. (n.) ̣oan-stems 128 2.24. °(C)m/van-stems 128 2.25. maghavan- / yuvan- 129 2.26. °in-stems 130 2.27. Comparative in °īyāṃs- 130 2.28. Perfect Participle 131 2.29. ahar- 132 2.30. path- 132 2.31. ap- 132 2.32. puṃs- 133 2.33. anaḍuh- 133 2.34. div- 133 2.35. °han- 134 2.36. pūṣan- 134 III. Transfer of stem 135 3.1. oi-stem ← oī-stem(f.) 135 3.2. oi-stem ← oī-stem (m.) 138 3.3. ostem ← oi-stem 138 3.4. oin-stem ← oi-stem 141 3.5. oū-stem ← oū-stem(f.) 143 3.6. oa-stem ← oṛ-stem 143 3.7. oā-stem ← oṛ-stem 143 3.8. o(ār)a-stem ← ṛ-stem 144 3.9. oan-stem ← oa-stem 144 3.10. o(m)a-stem ← o(m)an-stem 144 3.11. o(m)ā-stem ← o(m)an-stem 145 3.12. oāna-stem ← oan-stem 145 3.13. oa-stem ← oas-stem 146 3.14. oā-stem ← oas-stem 148 3.15. oasa-stem ← oas-stem 149 3.16. oasā-stem ← oas-stem 149 3.17. oas-stem ← oas-stem 150 3.18. oi-stem ← oin-stem 150 3.19. oi-stem ← ois-stem 152 3.20. ou-stem ← ous-stem 153 3.21. oma-/ ova-stem ← omant-/ ovant-stem 153 3.22. Thematicization of consonant stems 154 IV. Pronouns 156 4.1. Personal pronouns: First person singular 156 4.2. Personal pronouns: Second person singular 159 4.3. Personal pronouns: First person dual (āvām as genitive) 162 4.4. Personal pronouns: Second person dual (vām as nom.) 162 4.5. Personal pronouns: First person plural 162 4.6. Personal pronouns: Second person plural 163 4.7. Three-gender pronouns 165 V. Numerals 169 5.1. Cardinals 169 5.2. Ordinals 183 VI. The Verbal System (I) 185 6.1. The use of the voices 185 6.2. Use of modes and tenses 188 6.3. The verbal endings 226 6.4. The augment 233 6.5. Constructions with mā 240 6.6. Present classes 245 6.7. Crossings of roots 258 6.8. Secondary roots 260 VII. The Verbal System (II): Aberrant forms of the individual present classes 262 VIII. The verbal system (III): Non-present tenses and moods 272 8.1. The perfect 272 8.2. The aorist 280 8.3. The precative 286 8.4. The future 288 8.5. The periphrastic future 293 8.6. The conditional 296 8.7. The passive 296 8.8. The causative 302 8.9. The desiderative 312 8.10. The intensive 314 8.11. The denominative 315 IX. The verbal system (IV): The verbum infinitum 317 9.1. The present participle 317 9.2. The future participle 324 9.3. The perfect participle 324 9.4. The verbal adjective 325 9.5. The gerundive 328 9.6. Infinitive 330 9.7. The absolutive 335 X. Syntax 345 10.1. The use of the numbers 345 10.2. Syntactical irregularities 346 10.3. Syntax of cases 360 10.4. Excursus: Nominal composition 415 10.5. Pre- and postpositions of Epic Sanskrit 422 10.6. Absolutives used as pre- and postpositions 433 XI. The roots and verb forms specific to Epic Sanskrit 439 XII. Abbreviations and literature 607 XIII. Indices and concordances 641 Review text: "In the estimation of the current reviewer, this work can proudly sit next to works of the likes of Wackernagel and Edgerton."M. M.D. in: Journal of the American Oriental Society 128.1/2008 "Il doit donc figurer dans la bibliothèque de tout département d'indologie."Georges-Jean Pinault in: Indo-Iranian Journal 2008 "Thomas Oberlies' book is an excellent study of the variety of Sanskrit attested in the epics, which has not been sufficiently described up to now. This is an exhaustive synchronic description ofdistinctions betwenn Epics and Paninian Sanskrit, which consistently pays special attention to the diacrony, both retrospective (from Epic back to Vedic Sanskrit) and prospective (from Epic to Middle and New Indo-Aryan). Many new interpretations are suggested by the author, and discussions of crucial problems are based on the new scholary literature. That all makes the book a deep source of knowledge for both indologists and general linguists."Holger Diessel in: Studies in Language 1/2006 "This is an extremly valuable and interesting work, and its publication is most welcome."Stephanie W. Jamison in: Kratylos 50/2005 "A Grammar of Epic Sanskrit will be extremely useful: it draws together a great deal of material that was previously scattered through a large number of disparate sources, and in some cases had not been noted at all. Oberlies's interpretations, though inevitably sometimes open to argument, are clear and well-referenced. Compiling this book must have been very laborious, and we must all be gratefull to Oberlies for his efforts."John D. Smith in: School of Oriental and African Studies 2/2004 "In sum, Oberlies' Grammar of Epic Sanskrit is a fascinating look at the language of the Sanskrit Epics, and should prove to be an invaluable resource for anyone interested in either that particular stage of language's history, or in the overall development of the Indic languages."Hope C. Dawson in: Orientalische Literaturzeitung, 106 Die beiden großen Epen des (alten) Indiens, das Mahābhārata und das Rāmāyaņa, sind in einer Sprache verfaßt, die sich in vielen Einzelheiten von der Hochsprache des (sog.) klassischen Sanskrit unterscheidet. Die Grammar of Epic Sanskrit bietet nun zum ersten Mal, und dies auf der Grundlage der beiden kritischen Editionen, eine (möglichst) vollständige Zusammenstellung solcher Abweichungen. In aller Regel ist dabei der Kontext, in dem eine unregelmäßige Form oder Konstruktion steht, im Originaltext und in Übersetzung gegeben. Damit transparent wird, wie es zur Entstehung der phonologischen, morphologischen und syntaktischen Besonderheiten des epischen Sanskrit gekommen ist, sind in jedem einzelnen Falle sprachwissenschaftliche Erklärungen beigegeben. Darüber hinaus finden sich in einem Anhang all die Verbformen (unter Angabe der Textstellen) verzeichnet, die innerhalb des Sanskrit zum ersten Mal im Epos belegt sind. Umfangreiche Indizes erschließen das Werk. Durchgehend angebrachte Verweise auf die entsprechenden Paragraphen der Standard-Grammatiken des Sanskrit erhöhen den praktischen Wert des Buches für den Benutzer