§50.1.Case compounds

Case compounds vibhaktitatpuruṣāḥ are those in which the relationship between the head and the dependent can be expressed analytically as a relationship between two case-forms. What distinguishes these case compounds from coreferential compounds is that the constituent words in a case compound do not refer to the same thing, but rather express a relationship between two different things.

In theory, the relationship between the two constituents can be expressed by any of the cases, since all of the cases can, in theory, express a relationship between two nouns. In practice, however, the genitive is by far the most common case for expressing a relationship between nouns — indeed, that is its primary grammatical function — and therefore the ṣaṣṭhītatpuruṣaḥ is the most common of these case compounds. Among the other cases, the nominative and the accusative are not generally used adnominally, but rather to mark core arguments of the sentence (the subject and the object, respectively). Adnominal usages of these cases, however, do occur, and therefore case compounds can be formed.

Nominative case compounds prathamātatpuruṣāḥ are, as noted above, quite uncommon, since the nominative case does not generally express an adnominal relationship. (As noted above, if the two words actually refer to the same thing, they are coreferential and hence the compound will not be considered a case compound, or vibhaktitatpuruṣaḥ, but a coreferential compound, or karmadhārayaḥ.) Nominative case compounds are allowed by Aṣṭādhyāyī 2.2.1 and Aṣṭādhyāyī 2.2.2, when compounding a word with another word expressing a part thereof. In the analytic expressions, the word expressing a part is in the nominative, and the word expressing that of which it is the part is in the genitive.

• ardhapippalī ← ardhaṁ pippalyāḥ “half of a black pepper”
• pūrvakāyaḥ ← pūrvaṁ kāyasya “the forepart of the body”
• uttarakāyaḥ ← uttaraṁ kāyasya “the top part of the body”

Accusative case compounds dvitīyātatpuruṣāḥ are usually formed when a verbal adjective enters into a compound with an accusative object.

• grāmagataḥ ← grāmaṁ gataḥ “having gone to the village”
• kr̥ṣṇaśritaḥ ← kr̥ṣṇaṁ śritaḥ “having taken refuge in Kr̥ṣṇa”

As can be seen from these examples, the verbal adjective is usually a past participle in -ta that expresses the agent of the action, which is often the case in verbs of motion, and the noun with which it is compounded is usually the patient of the action, which in the case of verbs of motion is generally the destination.

Instrumental case compounds tr̥tīyātatpuruṣāḥ are formed whenever a nominal form can take a modifier in the instrumental case, which might express accompaniment, instrumentality, or a characteristic, or, in the case that the head is a verbal adjective, the agent or instrument of the verbal action.

• guḍamiśrāḥ ← guḍena miśrāḥ “mixed with jaggery”
• asikalahaḥ ← asibhiḥ kalahaḥ “a fight with knives, a knife-fight”
• māṣōnaḥ ← māṣēṇa ūnaḥ “short by a gram”
• yatnakr̥taḥ ← yatnēna kr̥taḥ “produced with effort”
• lakṣmaṇasahitaḥ ← lakṣmaṇēna sahitaḥ “together with Lakṣmaṇa”

Dative case compounds caturthītatpuruṣāḥ are permitted by Aṣṭādhyāyī 2.1.36 when one noun is said to be “for the purpose of” another, and particularly when used with the words arthaḥ “purpose,” baliḥ “offering,” hitaḥ “beneficial,” sukham “pleasure,” and rakṣitam “protection.”

• yūpadāruḥ ← yūpāya dāruḥ “wood for a sacrificial post”
• brāhmaṇārtham ← brāhmaṇēbhyō ’rtham “for the sake of Brāhmaṇas”
• kubērabaliḥ ← kubērāya baliḥ “an offering to Kubēra”
• gōhitam ← gōbhyō hitam “beneficial to cows”
• gōrakṣitam ← gōbhyō rakṣitam “protection for cows”

Ablative case compounds pañcamītatpuruṣāḥ are permitted by Aṣṭādhyāyī 2.1.37, to express fear of something, and Aṣṭādhyāyī 2.1.38, when the latter word is a verbal adjective implying separation (although Pāṇini says that these are only rarely compounded). Furthermore, Aṣṭādhyāyī 2.1.39 allows certain ablative forms with an adverbial meaning to be compounded with a following verbal adjective.

• vr̥kabhayaḥ ← vr̥kēbhyō bhayaḥ “fear of wolves”
• apētadōṣaḥ ← dōṣēbhyō ’pētaḥ “free of faults”
• svargapatitaḥ ← svargāt patitaḥ “fallen from heaven”
• kr̥cchralabdhaḥ ← kr̥cchrāl labdhaḥ “obtained with difficulty”

Genitive case compounds ṣaṣṭītatpuruṣāḥ are the most common type of case compound. Most often they have a possessive meaning, although nearly any other type of relationship between the two nominal forms is possible. When the final word expresses a verbal action, the genitive is permitted in the sense of the patient.

• rājapuruṣaḥ ← rājñaḥ puruṣaḥ “the king’s man”
• daśāhētuḥ ← daśāyā hētuḥ “the cause of the condition”
• ōdanabhōjanam ← ōdanasya bhōjanam “the eating of rice”
• dēvaguruḥ ← dēvānāṁ guruḥ “the teacher of the gods”

Locative case compounds saptamītatpuruṣāḥ, like their corresponding analytic expressions, are used to express location and reference, as well as some expressions of time.

• girigrāmaḥ ← giriṣu grāmaḥ “a village in the mountains”
• lalāṭalōcanam ← lalāṭē lōcanam “eye in the forehead”
• saṁvatsaradēyam ← saṁvatsarē dēyam “to be given within [one] year”
• sthālīpakvaḥ ← sthālyāṁ pakvaḥ “cooked in a plate”
• akṣapravīṇaḥ ← akṣēṣu pravīṇaḥ “skilled at dice”

In the analytic paraphrase vigrahavākyam of such compounds, the first element is simply expressed in the appropriate case-form, followed by the second member, which is usually expressed in the nominative singular, as in the above example.

§50.2.Coreferential compounds

Coreferential compounds karmadhārayáḥ are those in which the two constituents refer to the same thing (Aṣṭādhyāyī 1.2.42 tatpuruṣáḥ samānā́dhikaraṇaḥ karmadhārayáḥ). This relationship is called “coreferentiality” (sāmānādhikaraṇyam). In these compounds, as endocentric compounds more generally, the final member is the head of the compound, which is modified by the first member. Hence the compound as a whole is inflected exactly in the same way as its final member, regardless of whether it is a noun or an adjective.

Generally, in the analytic paraphrase of such a compound, an anaphoric pronoun (such as tád, idám, or adáḥ) is employed in order to show that the two constituents describe the same thing, as shown in the examples below demonstrate.

One very common category of coreferential endocentric compounds is that in which the first constituent is an adjective. Although this is not made explicit in the analytic expression, the first constituent will almost always qualify the second—even if the second is also an adjective. Usually the most accurate translation is “y that is x.” In such cases the adjective takes its basic stem form, that is, it uses the masculine/neuter stem (e.g., sundara-) rather than a stem with a feminine suffix (e.g., sundarī-).

• nīlōtpalam ← nīlaṁ ca tad utpalaṁ ca “a lotus that is blue,” “blue lotus”
• lōhitakr̥ṣṇaḥ ← lōhitaś ca sa kr̥ṣṇaś ca “black that is red,” “reddish-black”
• sajjanaḥ ← sañ ca sa janaś ca “a person that is good,” “good person”
• vicakṣaṇastrī ← vicakṣaṇāś ca sā strī ca “a woman that is clever,” “clever woman”

Another type involves two substantives that are combined. Once again, the first constituent qualifies the second.

• brahmarākṣasaḥ ← brahmā ca sa rākṣasaś ca “a Rākṣasa that is a Brahman”
• rājarṣiḥ ← rājā ca sa r̥ṣiś ca “a sage that is a king,” “a royal sage”

A large number of coreferential compounds cannot be analyzed “in their own words” (hence they are said to be asvapadavigrahaḥ, “not having an analytic paraphase that uses the same words”), because their first member is a “bound form” which can only occur when followed by another form. This category includes the following:

• nañtatpuruṣaḥ, negative endocentric compounds;
• prāditatpuruṣaḥ, coreferential compounds beginning with a prefix, among which are counted the standard prefixes that are also affixed to verbal forms (prādi) as well as a few special prefixes that are only used for nouns, such as ku;

A nañtatpuruṣaḥ is simply formed by prefixing the negative suffix nañ, which generally takes the form a- before consonants and an- before vowels, to a nominal form. The resulting compound has the opposite meaning of the negated term, which may be either a noun or an adjective:

• abrāhmaṇaḥ ← na brāhmaṇaḥ “a non-Brāhmaṇa”
• apitā ← na pitā “a non-father”
• anāraktaḥ ← nāraktaḥ “not attached”
• aprasaktaḥ ← na prasaktaḥ “not relevant

They are considered karmadhārayáḥ because the negative particle, although not inflected, directly modifies the head of the compound. As can be seen from these examples, the analytic expression generally employs the word nañ in its independent form, as the prepositive particle na.

The prāditatpuruṣāḥ are formed by prefixing one of the indeclinable prefixes (prādi, see verbal prefixes above) to the head. In some cases, they function exactly like adjectives, and are generally rendered as adjectives in an analytic paraphrase. These adjectives generally incorporate the indeclinable prefix.

• supuruṣaḥ ← śōbhanaḥ puruṣaḥ “a good person”
• atipuruṣaḥ ← atiśāyitaḥ puruṣaḥ “a first-rate person”
• durjanaḥ ← duṣṭō janaḥ “a bad person”

Note that most of these prefixes are also used as the first element of “governing compounds” upapadatatpuruṣāḥ, that is, as adverbial modifiers of the verbal action expressed the second member of the compound, when that is a verbal noun or adjective (see below). I discuss those compounds below. Here, we are concerned only with compounds wherein the two members are coreferential.

The prefix ku and its substitutes are used with a perjorative sense that is often paraphrased as kutsitaḥ “blamed, found fault with.”

• kukaviḥ ← kutsitaḥ kaviḥ “a bad poet”
• kāpuruṣaḥ ← kutsitaḥ puruṣaḥ “a bad person”
• kaduṣṭraḥ ← kutsita uṣṭraḥ “a bad camel”
• kāmadhuraḥ ← kiṃcin madhuraḥ “slightly sweet”

§50.3.Governing compounds

While most compounds—except for dvandvas and, arguably, karmadhārayas—involve the “governing” of one word by another, the term “governing compound” (upapadasamāsaḥ, lit. “a compound involving a subordinate word”) is reserved for a special class of tatpuruṣa compounds, wherein the relation of the head and its dependent cannot be expressed through a case-relationship between two independently-occurring nominal forms, because the head is a bound form which cannot occur outside of a compound. A parallel in English is chimney sweep, since the word sweep is not used as an agent noun in its own right.

In the Aṣṭādhyāyī, such compounds are generally taught by specifying

1. the first member, or dependent (in the locative case), sometimes with additional specifications regarding the thematic role that the dependent has in relation to the action designated by the verbal root;
2. the second member, or head, which will always be a bound form (in the sense that it does not occur outside of such compounds) and will also be a primary nominal derivative of the verb, and hence is taught by Pāṇini as consisting of:
1. the verbal root (in the ablative case);
2. the primary derivational suffix (i.e., kr̥t).

Because the head is a bound form, the analytic expression vigrahavākyam) corresponding to an upapadasamāsaḥ will usually take the form a sentence involving a conjugated verb. Examples will be given below.

• vr̥traghnaḥ ← vr̥tram hanti “Vr̥tra-slayer, slayer of Vr̥tra”
• sōmasut ← sōmaṁ sunōti “Sōma-presser, priest who presses the Sōma”
• jaladaḥ ← jalaṁ dadāti “water-giver, cloud”

Since such compounds are the only context in which certain types of primary derivatives occur, I provide here a list of the most common primary derivational suffixes that are used to form upapadasamāsāḥ, along with examples.

• aṆ Aṣṭādhyāyī 3.2.1. A very general suffix used to form compounds with Ṇ-gradation in the root.
  • kumbha- + kr̥- + aṆ- ( + sU) → kumbhakāraḥ “pot-maker” (= कुम्भं करोति)
• aṬ Aṣṭādhyāyī 3.2.16. Another suffix that is simply -a-, but this one requires guṇa of the root. The effect is that the suffix is -a- with zero grade of the root. The feminines formed with this suffix use the suffix ṄīP Aṣṭādhyāyī 4.1.14.
  • puraḥ- + sr̥- + aṬ- ( + sU) → puraḥsaraḥ “one who goes in front” (= पुरः सरति)
  • śōka- + kr̥- + aṬ- + ṄīP ( + sU) → śōkakarī “one who causes sorrow” (= शोकं करोति)
• KhaL Aṣṭādhyāyī 3.3.126. The suffix -a, with guṇa, attached to roots when preceded by the indeclinable prefixes īṣad, su, and duḥ. This suffix has a patientive meaning by Aṣṭādhyāyī 3.4.70
  • duḥ + tr̥- + KhaL ( + sU) → duṣtaraḥ “difficult to cross” (= तरितुमशक्यः)
  • duḥ + labh- + KhaL ( + sU) → durlabhaḥ “difficult to obtain” (= लब्धुमशक्यः)
• ṬaK Aṣṭādhyāyī 3.2.8. Actually identical to aṬ, but taught after roots that historically ended in laryngeals. The effect is that the suffix is -a- with zero grade of the root. The feminines formed with this suffix use the suffix ṄīP Aṣṭādhyāyī 4.1.14.
  • sāman- + gai- + ṬaK- ( + sU) → sāmagaḥ “sāman-singer” (= सामानि गायति)
  • surā- + pā- + ṬaK- + ṄīP ( + sU) → surāpī “drinker of wine” (= सुरां पिबति)
• Ḍa Aṣṭādhyāyī 3.2.48. The suffix a, replacing the vowel and any consonants that follows; taught for the roots ending in nasals, like gam and han.
  • pāra- + gam- + Ḍa- ( + sU) → pāragaḥ “one who goes to the furthest shore”
• KhaC Aṣṭādhyāyī 3.2.38. Thus suffix induces the augment mUM (Aṣṭādhyāyī 6.3.37).
  • priya + vad- + KhaC ( + sU) → priyaṁvadaḥ “one who speaks kindly”
• KhaŚ Aṣṭādhyāyī 3.2.28. This suffix also causes the affixation of the augment mUM, but the root takes the form that it takes in the present system, i.e., reduplication and present-stem forming suffixes are used.
  • jana- + ēj- + KhaŚ (( + sU) → janamējayaḥ “making the people tremble”
  • paṇḍita- + man- + KhaŚ (( + sU) → paṇḍitaṁmanyaḥ “one who thinks he is learned”
• KviN Aṣṭādhyāyī 3.2.58. A zero affix, which causes the root to take its zero-grade form. Taught for a small class of words.
  • r̥tu- + yaj- + KviN ( + sU) → r̥tvik “one who sacrifices at the proper moment”
• KviP Aṣṭādhyāyī 3.2.61. A zero affix, which causes the root to take its zero-grade form; in addition, if the root is a light syllable, the augment t is affixed to it in order to make the root-syllable heavy.
  • śatru- + ji- + KviP ( + sU) → śatrujit “victorious over enemies” (śatrūñ jayati)
• Ṇvi Aṣṭādhyāyī 3.2.62. A zero affix, which causes the root to take its “Brugmann” form (induced by Ṇ).
  • ardha- + bhaj- + Ṇvi ( + sU) → ardhabhāk “getting half a share” (ardhaṁ bhajatē)

§50.4.Adpositional compounds

Adpositional compounds are what I call avyayībhāvaḥ, compounds that “become indeclinable” and function as adverbs. Like many other adverbs, they take the form of a neuter singular nominal. In these compounds, the first member is usually an indeclinable word—often an adposition karmapravacanī́yaḥ—and the second word is a nominal form that functions as its dependent. Thus, in this type of compound, the first member is the syntactic head.

Sometimes such compounds can be analytically paraphrased as two independent words, that is, as a karmapravacanī́yaḥ governing a case-form of the dependent:

• ābrahma ← ā brahmaṇaḥ “starting from Brahma”

Most often, however, these compounds cannot be analytically paraphrased in their own words asvapadavigrahaḥ. This is because the indeclinable first member does not generally govern a case-form, or does not govern one in the given sense. Avyayībhāvaḥ compounds with práti, for example, generally have a distributive sense, whereas as an adposition, práti most often conveys the sense of a goal of motion.

• pratidinam ← dinē dinē “every day”

In many other cases, other paraphrases must be found:

• yathāśakti ← śaktim anatikrāmya ”in proportion to one’s power”
• upanadi ← nadyāḥ samīpē “near the river”
• anujyēṣṭham ← jyēṣṭhānupūrvēṇa ”in order of age”