The Orion, or Researches into the Antiquity of the Vedas c11.91

c11.91

The latter part of the verse literally means "and come to our house from *nediyas*." Now *nediyas* is again a word which neither Yâska nor Sâyaṇa seem to have properly understood. Pāṇini (*v*. 3. 63) tells us that *nediyas* is the comparative of *antika*. Now *nediyas* cannot possibly be derived from *antika* by any change in the form of the latter word. Pāṇini therefore considers *neda* to be a substitute for *antika*, when the comparative form is to be derived. This is equivalent to saying that 'bet' is to be substituted for 'good' in deriving the comparative form of 'good' in English. I need not say how far such an explanation would be regarded satisfactory. My own view is that *nediyas* had lost its positive form in the times of Pāṇini, or perhaps its positive form was never in use like that of 'superior' in English. But Pāṇini, who, as a grammarian, felt bound to account for all the forms, connected *nediyas* with *antika*, probably because the ordinary meaning of *nediyas* in his time was the same as that of the comparative form of *antika*. But we cannot infer from this that *nediyas* might not have meant anything else in the days of Pāṇini. Pāṇini might have taken into account only the most ordinary sense of the word, and finding that a positive form was wanting connected it with the word which expressed the ordinary meaning in the positive form. The fact that Pāṇini considers *nediyas* as the comparative of *antika* does not therefore preclude us from assuming, if we have other grounds to do so, that *nediyas* originally meant something else *in addition* to its present sense; for Pāṇini speaks of the *form* and not of the meaning of *nediyas*. Having thus shown that the authority of Pāṇini is not against me, I shall now give my meaning of *nediyas*. I think it means lower, being akin to *neath*, *beneath*, *nether*¹ and corresponding words in other languages. The suggestion, I know, will be received by some with surprise and suspicion, and I must give my grounds for proposing a new meaning. There is no passage in the Rigveda where the use of nediyas might be considered as definitely deciding its meaning. In Rig. v. 52. 6, viii. 26. 10 and x. 101. 3, nedishtha or nediyas might be supposed to mean lowest or lower. But the passages are not conclusive on this point, as the word there used might also be understood to mean 'nearest,' 'nearer,' according to Pāṇini. In the Brāhmaṇas we, however, meet with more decisive passages. Thus in the Aitareya Brāhmaṇa vi. 27 nediyas is contrasted with uparishṭhāt.* Bohtlingk and Roth give a passage from the Kāṭhaka recension of Yajurveda (28. 4), which says, "he ascends (ārohati) to the heavens from the nethishṭha world."† Here the word 'ascend' clearly shows that the netishṭha world must be understood to mean the 'lowest world,' 'world at the bottom.' In the Tāṇḍya Brāhmaṇa (iii. 4, 2, 13, 2) there occurs a passage where the directions for lowering