Jonarāja as commentator: specialized literature, philological effort, and poetic interpretation

From the Aṣṭādhyāyī

ŚKC 4.26–27

mānasāskandanapaṭuḥ spṛśann utkaṭakāntatām |

dadhānaḥ sukhadaṃ rūpaṃ siddhasādhyagaṇāśritaḥ ||

sālakāntasthitir nīlakaṇṭhādhyāsanapāvanaḥ |

ya ivābhāti yaccitram ahar yakṣais tu sevyate ||

Vigorously ascending lake Mānasa, or over the Mind,

with the summits of his ridges extending upwards, or with his immense beauty shaken,

with his pleasant valleys, or with his gorgeous appearance,

frequented by Siddhas, Sādhyas, and Gaṇas, or surrounded by groups of Siddhasādhya,

standing beautifully for [i.e., as the backdrop of] the Sāla trees, or staying within the borders of Alakā,

being the pure abode of peacocks, or becoming Śiva’s pure seat,

he shines, as if he were wonderfully venerated

not only by the lions, [but] continuously by the Yakṣas.

J. comm. […] ahar iti ‘kālādhvanor atyantasaṃyoge dvitīyā’ […]

Pāṇini, Aṣṭādhyāyī 2.3.5: kālādhvanor atyantasaṃyoge

“A dvitīyā occurs after stems denoting kāla ‘(measure of) time’ or adhvan ‘(measure of) path, road’ when atyantasaṃyoga ‘continuous connection’ is signified”.^[46]

In Maṅkha’s verse: the stem ahar should be read as the neuter accusative (dvitīyā) singular ahan, in the sense of “continuously”.

ŚKC 6.23

dvijādhirājena gavāṃ prasādāt pratikṣapaṃ kārita bhūmisekaḥ |

pānthapriyāṇam ṛtacakravartī netreṣv avagrāham apācakāra ||

Night after night, Spring, the emperor of seasons,

removed the obstacle [to the tears] in the eyes of the travelers’ lovers,

with the earth made exceptional by the Moon through the brightness of its rays;

[at the same time] he removed the obstacle [to the lack of rains]

by sprinkling [his] reign with the prasāda of cow milk

distributed by the chief of the Brahmins.

J. comm. (1) […] ‘hṛkror anyatarasyām’ iti pākṣikaṃ kartṛtvam […]

Pāṇini, Aṣṭādhyāyī 1.4.53: hṛkror anyatarasyām. N

“A kāraka which serves as the agent of hṛN ‘to carry’ or DUkṛN ‘to do, make’ not used with ṆiC, optionally is termed karman when used with ṆiC”.^[47]

In Maṅkha’s verse: Jonarāja stresses the anomaly (yet still a possibility, as Pāṇini’s sūtra confirms) of kārita° (causative past participle of the verb √kṛ, “caused someone to do something”), whose agent is, in this case, not the usual accusative, but the instrumental dvijādhirājena.

J. comm. (2) […] ‘ave graho ^[48] varṣapratibandhe’ iti vā ghañ […]

Pāṇini, Aṣṭādhyāyī 3.3.51: ave grahaḥ varṣapratibandhe

“Affix GHaN optionally occurs after verbal root grahA to denote bhāva, and a kāraka other than kartṛ, when the root cooccurs with a nominal pada which contains ava and the derivate denotes varṣapratibandha ‘lack of rain in season’”.^[49]

In Maṅkha’s verse: the affix a is added to the verbal root ava+√grah in the word avagrāham, meaning the obstacle that consists of lack of rain.

ŚKC 6.40

saṃkocitāyavyaya eva yaḥ prāganehasā puṣpa mita ṃ pacena |

tadā sa kiṃjalkamahāsubhikṣe līlāḥ śiśikṣe kati na dvirephaḥ ||

The black bee, who was deprived of giving and receiving because of the previous season,

[winter,] which is poor of flowers,

how many games would not learn now,

during the [time of] the kiñjalka tree’s great opulence?

J. comm. […] ‘mitanakhe ca’ iti khaś […]

Pāṇini, Aṣṭādhyāyī 3.2.34: mitanakhe ca

“Affix KHaŚ also occurs after verbal root ḌUpacAṢ when the root cooccurs with a nominal pada which contains mita ‘measured, limited’ and nakha ‘nails’ as karman”.^[50]

In Maṅkha’s verse: Jonarāja comments on the word mitaṃpaca° as composed of mita + √pac + affix a, meaning “miser, limited”, with the augment m added to the preceding word (mita + m).

ŚKC 6.41

dikṣu kṣatasvāparasair aśokaiḥ kṛtapratāpānalasūtrapātaḥ |

gāḍhābhimānagrahilo jaganti tṛ ṇ āya mene na jhaṣāvacūlaḥ ||

Having measured the fire of his ardor against that of the aśoka,

whose [once] inert nectar was scattered in all directions,

the fish-bannered Kāma, absorbed into his deep pride,

did not consider the worlds as something worthless. (6.41)

J. comm. […] ‘manyakarmaṇi–’ iti caturthī […]

Pāṇini, Aṣṭādhyāyī 2.3.17: manyakarmaṇy anādare vibhāṣā’ prāṇiṣu

“A caturthī optionally occurs to express the object of manĀ ‘to consider, treat’ provided that such an object is not expressed otherwise, that it does not denote prāṇin ‘living being’, and that disrespect is expressed”.^[51]

In Maṅkha’s verse: Jonarāja comments on tṛṇāya mene, where tṛṇāya is the neuter dative (caturthī) singular of the word tṛṇa° (“blade of grass”, a symbol of worthlessness), which follows the verb mene (third-person singular of the perfect ātman. of √man).

ŚKC 6.49

vikoṣakaṃdarpakṛpāṇadhāmnā vyañjan samalabdham ivāṅgamaṅgam |

jalpākatotsekam iyāya cūtasaurabhyasabhyo madhupāyilokaḥ ||

As if each one of their members was carrying the luster

of Kandarpa’s unsheathed sword,

the group of nectar-drinking bees,

[royal guards] at the court of the mango-tree fragrance,

increased their customary yelling. (6.49)

J. comm. […] ‘jalpabhikṣakuṭṭa–’ iti ṣākan […]

Pāṇini, Aṣṭādhyāyī 3.2.155: jalpabhikṣakuṭṭaluṇṭavṛṅaḥ ṣākan

“Affix ṢākaN occurs to denote kartṛ after verbal roots jalpA ‘to speak’, bhikṣA ‘to beg’, kuṭṭA ‘to cut, censure’, luṇṭhA ‘to steal’ and vṛṄ ‘to be shattered’ when the agent performs the action at the current time because of his nature, sense of duty, or skill”.^[52]

In Maṅkha’s verse: Jonaraja comments on the word jalpāka°, formed by jalpa and the affix aka in the sense of “a person who has a habit of chatting, loquacious”.

ŚKC 6.55

rasāyur utsaṅganilīna jānir anaṅgabhogāvalipāṭhabandī |

kiṃjalkatalle ‘jani sāhakāre nimajjanonmajjanakelikāraḥ ||

See transl. above, p. 7

J. comm. […] ‘jāyāyā niṅ’ iti niṅ […]

Pāṇini, Aṣṭādhyāyī 5.4.134: jāyāyā niṅ

“The form niṆ comes in place of the final of a bahuvrīhi compound which ends in jāyā ‘wife’”.^[53]

In Maṅkha’s verse: °jāni replaces °jāyā at the end of the bahuvrīhi compound utsaṅganilīnajānir.

ŚKC 6.63

pṛṣṭhabhramatsajavaṣaṭpadacakracihnaṃ

yatprocchvasatkusumam āvirabhūl latānām |

mānasya pakṣmaladṛśāṃ sahasaiva peṣṭuṃ

tatspaṣṭamānmathagharaṭṭavilāsam āsīt ||

When the circle of the speedy bees appeared,

buzzing behind the blossomed buds of the creepers,

these, [the buds], became Love’s grindstone,

as if to crush the pride of the long-lashed women. (6.63)

J. comm. […] peṣṭum iti ‘jāsiniprahaṇa-’ iti karmaṇi ṣaṣṭhī […]

Pāṇini, Aṣṭādhyāyī 2.3.56: jāsiniprahaṇanāṭakrāthapiṣāṃ hiṃsāyām

“A ṣaṣṭhī occurs after a nominal stem to express, as a remainder, the object of an action denoted by the verbal roots jasU ‘to wish harm to, to torment’ and han ‘to smite’, used with the preverbs ni and pra,

naṭ ‘to injure’ and krāth and pis, they mean ‘to wish harm to’”.^[54]

In Maṅkha’s verse: Jonarāja comments on the fact that the object of the infinite peṣṭum (from verb √piṣ) is the genitive mānasya.

ŚKC 6.65

ye gātre yayur adhvagotpaladṛśām aṅgāravarṣaprathāṃ

ye saṃbhogarasālasālasavadhūnetrāñcalair añcitāḥ |

śrīkhaṇḍādriguhāgṛhāntarabhuvaḥ śṛṅgāriṣu pronmiṣac-

chāpānugrahaśaktayo vavṛdhire te ’haṃyavo vāyavaḥ ||

They were famous for the charcoal rain on the lotus-eyed women of the travelers,

[and] honored by the sidelong glances of the young wives,

entirely [too] exhausted for the game of lovemaking:

these, the arrogant Winds, coming from inside

the house caves of the sandalwood mountain,

ascended over the men in love, with their luminous powers of [conferring] gifts or curses. (6.65)

J. comm. […] ‘ahaṃśubhamor yus’ iti yus […]

Pāṇini, Aṣṭādhyāyī 5.2.140: ahaṃśubhamoḥ yus

“The taddhita affix yuS occurs to denote the sense of matUP after syntactically related nominal stems aham ‘ego’ and śubham ‘auspicious’ when they end in nominative”.^[55]

In Maṅkha’s verse: Jonarāja explains the formation of the compound ahaṃ-yu° as “possessing himself” in the sense of “full of himself, arrogant, haughty”.

ŚKC 17.5

bibhrāṇo vapur ahimāli luptatāpaṃ

pratyuptām akhilagaṇair divādi sārām |

āścaryaṃ caritam udañcayann apūrvāṃ

śarvāṇīdayitatamaḥ sabhām avāpat ||

Displaying his body adorned with snakes, without any sign of frost,

[and] without the pain [of rebirth], without any heat,

showing [his] astonishing deeds with all [his] troops at daybreak,

provided with all the roots, but with its quintessence in div,

Śarvāṇī’s most beloved entered that extraordinary assembly. (17.5)

J. comm. […] ‘diva ut’ iti divaśabdasyotvaprāpteḥ […]

Pāṇini Aṣṭādhyāyī 6.1.130: diva ut

“The final sound segment of a pada, namely div, is replaced with uT.^[56]

In Maṅkha’s verse: Jonarāja is explaining the exceptional nature of Śiva, Śarvāṇī’s most beloved, by explaining that he is composed of all the roots, but his essence is div, the verbal root that indicates the brightness of the divine and etymologically forms the word “god” (deva) (J. comm. ad 17.5: […] gaṇair bhvādibhir yuktāṃ divādir eva dhātupāṭhacchedaviśeṣaḥ sāro yasyā ity apūrvatvam […]). The commentator quotes a related passage from Patañjali’s Aṣṭādhyāyī (J. comm. ad 17.5: […] ‘diva ut’ iti divaśabdasyotvaprāpteḥ […]) almost at the end of the passage. This quotation is not strictly necessary for interpreting Maṅkha’s verse, but it is used by Jonarāja to support his own interpretation versus that of others (J. comm. ad 17.5: […] kecit tu […]).

ŚKC 17.20

dhiṅ mūḍhā vitatham udāsana svabhāvaṃ

bhāṣante puruṣa tava trilokabhartuḥ |

kartrī cet prakṛtir iyaṃ karotu kiṃcit

kaivalyaṃ bhavadadhiroham antareṇa ||

O Puruṣa, shame on the fools who wrongly state that your essence,

you who are the sustainer of the three worlds, is inactive.

If this Nature [really] is the agent, let’s see if she can do anything in a liberated state

without leaning on you! (17.20)

J. comm. […] nandyāditvāl lyuḥ […]^[57]

Pāṇini, Aṣṭādhyāyī 3.1.134: nandigrahipacādibhyo lyuṇinyacaḥ

“Affixes Lyu, ṆinI and aC occur after verbal roots enumerated in the group headed by nandI ‘to please’, grahI ‘to take, accept’ and pac ‘to cook’ respectively”.^[58]

In Maṅkha’s verse: Jonarāja is trying to explain the unusual word udāsana° with the aforementioned Pāṇinian sūtra by listing the verbal root ud + √ās among those headed by nandI. The affix lyuṭ, i.e., that of the nomen actionis -ana, is added to udās by Maṅkha, who prefers it to the more common udāsīna.

ŚKC 17.51

saṃtaṣṭaṃ niśitatapoviśeṣamayyā vāsyā

vaḥ sakalam apīha gātratantram |

yuṣmabhyaṃ varam aham īpsitaṃ pradāsye

bho vatsā khalu viracayya tadvratāni ||

The whole warp of [your] limbs has been thinned out now

by the knife of your extremely sharp ascesis.

Sons, enough with [these] austerities!

I will grant you the boon you desire! (17.51)

J. comm. […] ‘alaṃkhalvoḥ’ iti ktvāpratyayaḥ […]

Pāṇini, Aṣṭādhyāyī 3.4.18: alaṅkhalvoḥ pratiṣedhayoḥ prācāṃ ktvā

“According to the Eastern grammarian, affix Ktvā occurs after verbal roots used in conjunction with alam and khalu when prohibition (pratiṣeha) is denoted.^[59]

In Maṅkha’s verse: Jonarāja comments on the absolutive suffix ya (instead of tvā when the verb has a prefix) added to the verb vi+√rac and preceded by khalu, meaning “enough! stop!”.

From the Amarakośa

ŚKC 17.57

mattas taṃ varam iti dīptam āptavantas te yuktyā matim ativartituṃ yamasya |

trīṃ llokān atha ca pṛthak pṛthaṅ niroddhuṃ saṃnaddhā vyadhiṣata nūtna yatnasiddhim ||

After they received such a splendid boon from me,

these, [the three demons], even though they were ready to attack the three worlds one after another,

decided to accomplish a new deed to artfully elude Death’s design.

J. comm: […] ‘navīno nūtano navaḥ | nūtnaś ca’ iti koṣaḥ […]

Amarakośa 3.1.158–159: pratyagro ‘bhinavo navyo navīno nūtano navaḥ (3.1.158) nūtnaś ca sukumāraṃ tu komalaṃ mṛdulam mṛdu (3.1.159)

In Maṅkha’s verse: Jonarāja explains the adjective nūtna° as a synonym of navīna “new, young, fresh”, as specified in the Amarakośa.

Jonarāja as a philologist

ŚKC 4.28

kvacit kavacitaḥ sāndranavāmbudakadambakaiḥ |

yo vimudrayati droṇīr añjanādrimadadruhaḥ ||

Armored here and there with flocks of dense, rainy clouds,

he is unsealing [his] caves, rivals of the pride of the [black] mountain Añjana.

J. comm. […] ‘kavalitaḥ’ ity apapāṭhaḥ […]

Jonarāja notes that the variant kavalitaḥ (“devoured”) in place of kavacitaḥ (“armored”) is a corruption (apapāṭha), possibly coming from a witness of the mūla text we no longer possess. The available manuscripts do not contain the variant kavalitaḥ, although some of the witnesses present the nominative plural kavacitāḥ (kavacitaḥ] Eds. B₂ J₂ L₁ O P₂ P₄; kavacitāḥ J₁ P₁ P₃ Ś₁) as a variant.

ŚKC 6.14

śaśāka no yaḥ kimapi grahītum adhyāpyamāno ’pi varāṅganābhiḥ |

udyānalīlānyabhṛtas tadānīṃ sa siddhasārasvatatāṃ prapede ||

This cuckoo, [once] unable to learn anything,

not even [if] trained by the most excellent women,

now, [at springtime], playing in the royal gardens,

achieves the most perfect eloquence.

J. comm. […] ‘purāṅganābhiḥ’ iti vā pāṭhaḥ | […]

Jonarāja conjectures purāṅganābhiḥ (“by the women of the city”) as a variant of varāṅganābhiḥ (“by the most excellent women”; see J. comm. varā uttamā). The commentator’s variant fits the meaning of the verse in the sense that only the educated women from the city and court, not the rustic ones from the villages (see J. comm. […] nagarastrībhiḥ | na tu grāmyābhir ityarthaḥ […]), can possibly teach the cuckoos how to sing.

Most manuscripts present a third variant, namely purāvadhūbhiḥ, possibly a wrong reading for puravadhūbhiḥ (“by the female courtesans”), more in line with Jonarāja’s interpretation (varāṅganābhiḥ] Eds. J₂ P₄; purāvadhūbhiḥ B₁ B₂ J₁ L₁ P₁ P₂ Ś₁ Ś₅; purāṅganabhiḥ corr. ex purāvadhūbhiḥ P₃). In these manuscripts, however, the originally short ă of puravadhūbhiḥ must have been lengthened by the scribe due to metrical reasons, as the verse in question is an Upajāti and usually requires a long (guru) syllable on the eighth position of the second pāda.

ŚKC 6.64

paṅktiḥ puṣpalihām aśeṣavanitāmānāvasānakriyā-

garvonnaddhavasantabaddha vitata śmaśruśriyaṃ bibhratī |

ālānāpasaratsmarebhavidhutāyaḥśṛṅkhalollekhabhūr

visrabdhaṃ katham apy aho virahibhir na prekṣituṃ cakṣame ||

How could the men whose lovers are afar possibly observe, without fear—oh!—

this swarm of bees who have the luster of Spring’s thick beard, tied [into a dense bunch],

arrogant in the destruction of all women’s pride,

[and this] earth, marked by the metal chains

tossed about by that elephant of Smara, unleashed from [his binding] pole?

J. comm. […] ‘saṃdhā’ iti vā pāṭhaḥ | saṃdhā pratijñā | […]

Jonarāja records the variant reading °saṃdhā° in place of °vitata°, meaning in this context that the “wide/diffused beard of Spring” (°vitataśmaśru °) is also the “vow/promise/announcement” (saṃdhā = pratijñā) of the coming season. The word saṃdhā, however, is unmetrical in that position, as the verse is a Śārdūlavikrīḍita.

ŚKC 17.4

bhraśyadbhir damarendramauliratnair niryatnaprakaṭitanūtanopakārām |

velladbhir guhaśikhinaḥ śikhaṇḍakhaṇḍair ārabdhapravitatatālavṛnta vṛttām ||

With the fresh flower offerings effortlessly scattered [on the ground]

thanks to the gems fallen from the bowing head of the best of the immortals

[and] the waving of the palm-leaf fan commenced by the swirling tail-tufts of Guha’s peacock.

J. comm. […] ‘nṛttam’ iti vā pāṭhaḥ | nṛttaṃ spandanam […]

The proposed variant °nṛttam (“dance, movement in the sense of quivering”) is not possible in this verse. All the manuscripts present °vṛttām (“revolving”) as the only possible option, in accordance with the meter, Praharṣiṇī, which requires a long thirteenth syllable in each of the four pādas.

ŚKC 17.53

ity asmadgiram adhiropya karṇavīthīṃ nedīyaḥ pramada rasokṣitekṣaṇās te |

mām evaṃ vinayamayākṣarāntaraṅgapronmīlatpadam agadan vinamrakaṇṭham ||

[Having] pricked up their ears nearby at my speech [and] with their eyes moistened by tears of joy,

in this manner, with their heads bent, these, [the three demons], spoke to me

with words that showed their intentions through their humble syllables.

J. comm. […] ‘rasokṣaṇakṣaṇāḥ’ iti vā pāṭhaḥ […]

Along with the first interpretation of the verse (i.e., “with their eyes moistened by tears of joy”), Jonarāja’s variant rasokṣaṇakṣaṇāḥ is intended in the sense of “These, [the three demons], having occasion (°kṣaṇāḥ) for ablutions (°ukṣaṇa°) [performed] with the juices (°rasa°) of joy (pramada°), i.e., with sacred tears of joy”. This reading is possible, although none of the manuscripts present any significant variants ([pramadarasokṣitekṣaṇās] Eds. B₂ J₁ J₂ L₁ P₁ P₂ P₄ Ś₁ Ś₅; pramadarasokṣitīkṣaṇās Ś₄; pramadarasokṣitekṣiṇās Ś₆).