MABS 68 I Reading in Buddhist

Sanskrit Texts I: Grammatical

Foundation
Past Passive Participles, Gerunds, Possessive suffix -in
23/10/2021
 Past Passive Participles (PPP)
• We have seen that to express a past action, one way is to simply use the present tense
verb and then add the indeclinable particle sma.
Ø bhagavān śrāvastyām (sg,f,loc) viharati (‘dwells’) sma | The Fortunate One dwelt in Śrāvastī.

• Another way of expressing a past action is by the use of the past passive participle
which is very common in Sanskrit.
Ø ayam dharmaḥ buddhena deśitaḥ | (deśitaḥ qualifies dharmaḥ)
sg,m,nom sg,m,nom sg,m,inst PPP,sg,m,nom

This sentence can be rendered as:

‘This doctrine has been taught by the Buddha’; or
‘This doctrine was taught by the Buddha’; or
expressed in the active sense:
‘The Buddha taught this doctrine’. (‘taught’ as equivalent to a finite verb in the past tense)
 Past Passive Participles (PPP)
• A past passive participle expresses the completion of an action, and the sense is passive, except for
necessarily intransitive verbs.
• It is important to understand that besides having a verbal function, the PPP (and for that matter, any
type of participle) also functions as an adjective.
Ø sarvasaṃjñā-apagatāḥ buddhāḥ | (apagatāḥ is adjectival to buddhāḥ)
PPP, pl,m,nom pl,m,nom

Buddhas are freed from all ideations.

• As an adjective, a PPP functions to qualify a substantive, and the sense is not necessarily past.
Ø iṣṭam (‘wished’, PPP < √iṣ sg,n,nom) phalam |
A fruit which has been desired. Or simply: A desirable fruit.
Ø dṛṣṭe (PPP, ‘seen’) dharme vipākaḥ (‘retribution’) | (dṛṣṭe dharme: 現法, 於現法中 ‘in the present (visible) life’)
A retribution [experienceable] in the present life.
 Past Passive Participles (continued)
• Even though a PPP is usually passive, i.e. it describes the object of the verb it denotes, when a PPP is
formed from an intransitive verb, especially those conveying the sense of movement, i.e. a verb like
‘go’ (√gam), ‘come’ (ā-√gam), ‘enter’ (pra-√viś), ‘stand’ (√sthā), etc, that has no object, a PPP actually
has an active meaning.
Ø sarvaḥ (adj) grāmaḥ āgataḥ | (āgataḥ qualifies the subject, grāmaḥ)
The whole village has come.
Ø bhikṣavaḥ grāmam praviṣṭāḥ | (praviṣṭāḥ qualifies bhikṣavaḥ)
The monks entered (/have entered) the village.
Ø sa kulaputraḥ agārāt pravrajitaḥ |
The (/that) son of good family went forth (/has gone forth) from the house.
Ø sthitā sā dharmatā |
The (/that) nature of things remains (‘has stood’/ is abiding).
 Past Passive Participles (continued)
• PPP are formed by adding the suffixes -ta, -ita, or -na. The roots are not strengthened.
• For verbs taking -ta, their roots are usually in their weakest forms.
Ø √vac (‘speak’) → uk + ta → ukta |
Ø √vap (‘sow’) → up + ta → upta |
Ø √gai (‘sing’) → gī + ta → gīta |

• Final -m or -n is lost when -ta is suffixed

Ø √gam (‘go’) → ga + ta → gata |

Ø √han (‘kill’) → ha + ta → hata |

 Past Passive Participles (continued)

• There are some PPP which are irregularly formed.

• √dā (‘give’) → datta |

• √grah (‘grasp’) → gṛhīta |

 Past Passive Participles (continued)
• Class X verbs and those with -aya- ending stems, including causative verbs,
form PPP by replacing -aya with -ita.

Ø cintayati ‘thinks’ (√cint X) → cintita

Ø vedayati(/vedayate) (√vid II, caus) ‘causes to know’/‘announces’ → vedita

Ø darśayati (√dṛś I, caus) ‘shows’ → darśita

Ø cārayati ‘causes to go/move’ (√car I, caus) → cārita ‘caused to be moved/done’

(contrast carita: 'moved/practised')
 Past Passive Participles (continued)
• Some verbs, when combined with the PPP suffix, undergo changes that
may not make the resulting PPP easily recognizable.

• √budh + ta → buddha: ‘awakened’, ‘enlightened’;

• √labh + ta → labdha: ‘obtained’.

 PPP as an impersonal passive verb
• PPP in its neutral form, is a common construction used as an impersonal
passive verb.

Ø tena (‘by that’/‘therefore’) evam uktam | (uktam is impersonal)

(PPP < √vac, sg,n,nom, ‘spoken’)

On that account (/because of that), it was spoken thus.

Ø evam mayā (‘by me’) śrutam (‘heard’) | (śrutam is impersonal)

sg,1st,inst of mad sg,n,nom, PPP < √śru

Thus it has been heard by me. (Thus have I heard 如是我聞)

 Parasmaipada (Pa) and ātmanepada (Āt) verbs
• The verbs we have learned so far are parasmai-pada (‘word for another’) verbs,
distinguishable by the present 3rd, sg ending -ti. There is another type of Sanskrit
verbs called ātmane-pada (‘word for oneself’), distinguishable by the present 3rd,
sg ending -te.

• Traditionally, the distinction between the two is this: an action expressed by a

parasmaipada (Pa) verb affects (/benefits) another person, whereas that by an
ātmanepada (Āt) verb affects (/benefits) the subject (i.e., the agent of the action).
The latter, therefore, originally conveyed a reflexive significance.
Parasmaipada (Pa) and ātmanepada (Āt) verbs (continued)
• From √yaj ‘sacrifice’, we have two forms: yajati (Pa) and yajate (Āt):
Ø brāhmaṇaḥ agniṃ yajati |

The Brahmin priest offers fire (in the ritual — for the sake of another
person).

Ø devadattaḥ agniṃ yajate |

Devadatta offers fire (for his own benefit).

Parasmaipada (Pa) and ātmanepada (Āt) verbs (continued)
Ø devadattaḥ atithaye kaṭam karoti (Pa) |
sg,m,dat of atithi ‘guest’ sg,m,acc ‘straw mat’ √kṛ ‘do’/‘prepare’

Devadatta prepares a mat for the guest.

Ø devadattaḥ kaṭaṃ kurute (Āt) | Devadatta prepares a mat (for himself).

• But in the course of time, this distinction had become very blurred and is
rarely observed. What we need to know is that some verbs have only the
parasmaipada form, some only the ātmanepada form, and some both
forms, with little or no distinction in meaning.
Paradigm for Āt Conjugation: √bhāṣ (I, ‘speak’)
Person sg du pl
3rd bhāṣate bhāṣete bhāṣante

2nd bhāṣase bhāṣethe bhāṣadhve

1st bhāṣe bhāṣāvahe bhāṣāmahe

Paradigm for Pa Conjugation: √budh (I, ‘know’)

Person sg du pl

3rd bodhati bodhataḥ bodhanti

2nd bodhasi bodhathaḥ bodhatha

1st bodhāmi bodhāvaḥ bodhāmaḥ
 Gerund (= absolutive/indeclinable participle)
• Gerunds are indeclinable, thus they are also called the indeclinable
participles, or absolutives. They are fairly commonly used in a
complex sentence describing more than one action: Having done the
first action, the same subject does another action. In such a sentence,
while the last action is expressed by a finite verb, all actions prior to it
are denoted by gerunds.
Ø bhikṣuḥ pātra-cīvaram ādāya grāmaṃ praviśati |
The monk, taking (having taken) the bowl and the robe, enters the
village.
 Gerund (continued)
• Gerunds are formed by adding -tvā, -ya or -tya.
• -tvā is added to the weak form of the root, which is generally the same form
before adding the PPP suffix (-ta, -ita, -na).
Ø √gam (I ‘go’) → ga + tvā → gatvā ‘having gone’ (PPP: ga-ta)
Ø √vac (II ‘speak’) → uk + tvā → uktvā ‘having spoken’ (PPP: uk-ta)
Ø √jñā (IX ‘understand’) → jñā + tvā → jñātvā ‘having known’ (PPP: jñā-ta)
Ø √dṛś (I ‘see’) → dṛś + tvā → dṛṣṭvā ‘having seen’ (PPP: dṛṣ-ṭa)
Ø √dhā (III ‘put’) → (d)hi + tvā → (d)hitvā ‘having put aside’ (PPP: hi-ta)
 Gerund (continued)
• For Class X verbs, -tvā, preceded by an inserted -i-, replaces the final -a
of the present stem. Note that for these verbs, the stem to which the -tvā is
added and that for forming the PPP are not the same.

Ø √gaṇ (gaṇayati ‘counts’) → gaṇayitvā (PPP: gaṇita)

Ø √cint (cintayati ‘thinks’) → cintayitvā (PPP: cintita)

Ø √tul (tolayati ‘weighs’) → tolayitvā (PPP: tolita)

 Gerund (continued)
• When a root has a prefix, -ya, and not -tvā, is added.
Ø ā + √dā → ādā + ya → ādāya ‘having taken’

Ø abhi + √jñā → abhijñā + ya → abhijñāya ‘having known (through higher

knowledge)’

Ø pari + √jñā → parijñā + ya → parijñāya ‘having known fully’

Ø vi + √bhaj → vibhaj + ya → vibhajya ‘having distinguished’

(Vibhajyavāda 分別說(部) refers to the school/doctrine which analyses,
or to the ‘distinctionist’ school which distinguishes (/which asserts having
distinguished) the ontological status of the tri-temporal dharma-s).
 Gerund (continued)
• If a root has a prefix and ends in a short vowel, -tya is used instead of
-ya (i.e., a -t- is inserted, before adding -ya).

Ø pra + √i (II ‘go’) → pra + i + tya → pre + tya → pretya ‘having gone’

Ø sam + ā + √śri (I ‘rely’) → sam-ā-śri + tya → samāśritya ‘having (fully)

relied on’

Ø Note that ā + √gam → āgamya or āgatya ‘having come/arrived’

 Gerund (continued)
• For the un-prefixed causative verbs, -itvā replaces the final -a of the
present stem, as in the case of the Class X verbs.

Ø gamayati (√gam) → gamayitvā ‘having caused to go’

Ø darśayati (√dṛś) → darśayitvā ‘having shown’

Ø deśayati (√diś) → deśayitvā ‘having taught/demonstrated’

Ø sthāpayati (√sthā) → sthāpayitvā ‘having established’

 Gerund (continued)
• For the prefixed causative verbs, -ya directly replaces the final -aya- of
the present stem.

Ø pra-jñāpayati (√jñā) → prajñāpya ‘having made known’

Ø pra-vartayati (√vṛt) → pravartya ‘having set into motion’

Ø prati-ṣṭhāpayati (√sthā) → pratiṣṭhāpya ‘having established’

Ø pari-nirvāpayati (< nirvāti ‘enters into nirvāṇa’) → parinirvāpya

‘having led (beings) into complete nirvāṇa’
 Gerund (continued)
• Sometimes, a gerund may also express a passive sense, as shown in the following
example:

Ø abhidharmaḥ ... kātyāyanīputra-prabhṛtibhiḥ piṇḍīkṛtya sthāpitaḥ ... | (AKB, 3)

‘The abhidharma, having been gathered together by Kātyāyanīputra and

others, was established …’

In this sentence, the subject is abhidharma, and the gerund, piṇḍīkṛtya, expresses
a passive action, ‘having been gathered together’ (‘having been made into a
collection’).
 Possessive suffix -in
• The suffix -in expresses the sense of ‘having/possessing’, and makes a
noun an adjective.

Ø pakṣa (‘wing’) → pakṣin: ‘having wings’ (= a bird)

Ø sukha (‘happiness’) → sukhin: ‘having happiness’, ‘happy’
Ø bodhisattvo ... yathāvādī tathākārī ... bhavati ... | (Aṣṭa-Vaidya, 222)
= The bodhisattva practices what he speaks/preaches. (‘in which
manner he speaks (yathā-vādī, < yathā-vādin), in that manner he does (tathā-
kārī, < tathā-kārin )’)