napumsaka

[madhav.deshpande at um.cc.umich.edu]

     To add my understanding of the word napumsaka.  The Paninian
explanations of napumsaka by Cardona and others are indeed correct
Paninian explanations.  They may have been prompted by the kind of
passages referred to by M. Witzel.
     However, I have a feeling that the word napumsaka, outside of
the grammatical literature, is used more in the sense of an unmanly
man, and is used more in reference to a male (who is not a male).
Compare the use of klaibya in BhagavadGita:  Klaibyam maa sma gamaH
paartha.  The word napumsaka is hardly used to refer to an unwomanly
woman or an infertile woman, a vandhyaa.  Perhaps, the use of this
word in medical literature may shed more light on its true origins.
But, at present, I think it is worth considering the derivation of
napumsaka simply from na pumaan, rather than the Paninian na-strii-pumaan.
Any suggestions?
     Madhav Deshpande
 


> From KHARE at csvaxe.csuohio.edu 9 94 Aug EST 14:43:00
Date: 9 Aug 94 14:43:00 EST
From: Jitendra Khare <KHARE at csvaxe.csuohio.edu>
Subject: RE: napumsaka

Kindly remove my name from the list. 
Jitendra Khare