A History of Sanskrit Literature c28.s1.5

c28.s1.5

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.