Kumarila Bhatta's criticism of false etymologies
Sudalaimuthu Palaniappan
Palaniappa at AOL.COM
Fri Jan 15 21:21:57 UTC 1999
In a message dated 1/15/99 1:19:13 PM Central Standard Time,
lsrinivas at YAHOO.COM writes:
> "As for example, in the Dravida language, though all words are used as
> ending in the consonant, yet the Aryas are found to assume in them the
> affixes, &c., that can be appended only to words ending in vowels, and
> thence make the words give a sense, in accordance with their own
> (samskrta), language. For instance, when the Dravidas call 'rice',
> "'cor,'the Arya reads in it his own word 'cora' (thief), and
> comprehends the meaning accordingly. And when the Dravidas call the
> road 'atar', he reads it as 'atarah', and declares that as the road is
> difficult to cross, it is really 'atara' (uncrossable). Similaly they
> call the snake 'pAp,' and he takes it as 'pApa' (evil), and argues
> that the snake is really an evil animal. So, too, in the case of the
> word 'mAl' which they use in the sense of the woman, the word is
> taken as 'mAlA'. The word 'vair', used by them in the sense of the
> stomach, is taken as 'vaira' (enemy); and the use is justified on the
> ground of the hungry man being capable of doing many sinful deeds,
> which proves that the stomach is an enemy of the man."
>
> From KumArila bhaTTa's TantravArttika (Vol. I, p 219), transl by Mm
> Ganganatha Jha, Sri Satguru Publications, Delhi, 1983. ]
>
Thanks a lot. Any specifics on his KB's date and place?
Regards
S. Palaniappan
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