nArANa, the Bengali word for nArAyaNa

[Jogesh Panda]

nArANa [pronounced naaraana], the Bengali word for nArAyaNa [samsad bAGgAlA
abhidhAn =   shangshad baangaalaa (sic) abhidhaan] is glossed as the
apabhramza form of Skt [and tatsama] word nArAyaNa. 

But is it possible [ as my high school headmaster Khagendranath Dasgupta
thought] to derive nArANa [a veritable proto-Bengali word, attested in
place-names etc.] from Santali nAr, "to cheat", "to deceive" [nArAyaNa being
the great deceiver, mohinI and all that]. The -ANa ending is attested in words
like gAyANa [=gAyen], bAyANa [bAyen] etc. 

Or [the moral of the story] is it not comparable to inviting Yaska to preside
over an etymological debate ? And construe a whole cultural universe based on
the perennial Nirukta ?

Best wishes.

Jogesh Panda


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