A History of Sanskrit Literature c28.s1: 1. The Origin and Characteristics of Sanskrit Lexicography
A History of Sanskrit Literature c28.s1
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1. The Origin and Characteristics of Sanskrit Lexicography
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THE oldest lexicographic work¹ carried out in India is recorded in the *Nighaṇṭavas*, collections of Vedic terms, of which the most important are the lists handed down to us with the *Nirukta* of Yāska.² These, however, differ in many respects from the Koças of classical literature. They were drawn up for practical purposes like the latter, but in the case of the Nighaṇṭu literature the purpose was essentially interpretation of sacred texts which were becoming more and more obscure, while the Koças were prepared to help poets to a supply of words. In accord with this we find dictionaries attributed to such poets as Bāṇa, Mayūra, Murāri, and Çrīharṣa, who composed one of terms for use in double meanings, *Çleṣārthapadasaṁgraha*.³ The Nighaṇṭus further contained not merely nominal but also verbal forms, the Koças only nouns and indeclinables, and while the former dealt with one special text, the latter are not based on any special text. In keeping with the new spirit the Koças are in verse, usually Çlokas but also Āryās, and, by incorporating expressions from many of the arts which a poet was expected to have mastered, they saved him labour. The composition of such works may have been fostered by the existence of the Dhātupāṭhas and other lists of the grammarians, but this is conjectural.
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¹ On the subject see Th. Zachariae, *Die indischen Wörterbücher* (1897). Koça and Koṣa both occur.
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² See S. Varma, *POCP.* 1919, ii. 68 ff. Cf. R. D. Karmarkar, *ibid.*, 62 ff.
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³ Burnell, *Tanjore Catal.*, pp. 48 ff. Similarly Amara appears as a poet, Thomas, *Kav.*, p. 22; cf. above, p. 339.
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Of lexica two main classes exist—synonymous, in which words are grouped by subject-matter, and homonymous (*anekārtha*, *nānārtha*), but the important synonymous dictionaries usually include a homonymous section. As the books were intended, not for reference, but for learning off by heart, the principle of alphabetic order was not considered essential; they are, accordingly, divided on various principles, often on more than one; thus the longer articles may come first, or the arrangement may be by the final consonants or the initial letters or the two combined, or the number of letters; in some cases information is given as to gender, sometimes with an appendix on it, and gender occasionally is taken into account in fixing the order. Synonyms, of course, appear in the nominative, compounded or otherwise as metre and convenience dictate; homonyms may be treated in the same way, or the different senses may be put in the locative. The older writers, of whom we have but fragments, were indifferent to order and willing to give long definitions; the later are extremely unwilling to waste space and are proportionately obscure. Moreover, the text of the lexica is seldom in a satisfactory condition.