DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.44481#0013
PREFACE.
XV
Mahendra’s commentary is quite a unique work and, there-
fore, of the greatest importance for Sanskrit lexicography. It is,
in fact, the only complete commentary on one of the larger Anekar-
thakosas that up to the present date has come to light. Of the
Mankha-tika two-thirds only have come down to us. Besides, the
Mankhakosa does not cover as large a ground as Hemachandra’s
glossary. A Visva-tika certainly seems to exist, for it is quoted.
But it has not yet been recovered. If it existed before Mahendra’s
time, it probably formed his principal source.
Considering tbe great importance of Mahendra’s commentary
I should have liked to, but I could not give it in its entirety. How-
ever, the first Kanda has been printed, as it stands in the MSS., to
serve as a specimen of the whole. For the rest of the commentary,
I had to confine myself to extracts. Although a comparison of the
first Kanda with the rest would show what has been omitted and
what has been retained, I give the following particulars. I have
omitted, as a rule : —
(1) The etymologies and quotations from Hemachandra’s
grammatical works. But I have always taken into consideration
the etymologies where the MSS. differ and where it was necessary
to decide for one form.
(2) The statements referring to the classification of the words
as adjectives or substantives and to their gender; in the Extracts
from the Commentary, too, the genders have only been distinguish-
ed when this was absolutely necessary.
(3) The explanations of the meanings, the
Intr., verse 8, except where they differ from those given in the Pe-
tersburg Dictionary. But I have retained miscellaneous remarks
of the commentator, whenever they furnish interesting and to my
knowledge new matter, likewise glosses whenever the words em-
ployed are of rare occurrence or elsewhere stated to be provincial
terms. The additional meanings, mostly taken from the Mahkha-
kosa, have been given without exception, together with the
examples quoted for them.
(4) Examples ( ) for meanings which are well-known
and the occurrence of which has been shown by Bohtlingk in his
Dictionaries, except when they seemed to me better and older than
those quoted by him. The great number of apparently useless
XV
Mahendra’s commentary is quite a unique work and, there-
fore, of the greatest importance for Sanskrit lexicography. It is,
in fact, the only complete commentary on one of the larger Anekar-
thakosas that up to the present date has come to light. Of the
Mankha-tika two-thirds only have come down to us. Besides, the
Mankhakosa does not cover as large a ground as Hemachandra’s
glossary. A Visva-tika certainly seems to exist, for it is quoted.
But it has not yet been recovered. If it existed before Mahendra’s
time, it probably formed his principal source.
Considering tbe great importance of Mahendra’s commentary
I should have liked to, but I could not give it in its entirety. How-
ever, the first Kanda has been printed, as it stands in the MSS., to
serve as a specimen of the whole. For the rest of the commentary,
I had to confine myself to extracts. Although a comparison of the
first Kanda with the rest would show what has been omitted and
what has been retained, I give the following particulars. I have
omitted, as a rule : —
(1) The etymologies and quotations from Hemachandra’s
grammatical works. But I have always taken into consideration
the etymologies where the MSS. differ and where it was necessary
to decide for one form.
(2) The statements referring to the classification of the words
as adjectives or substantives and to their gender; in the Extracts
from the Commentary, too, the genders have only been distinguish-
ed when this was absolutely necessary.
(3) The explanations of the meanings, the
Intr., verse 8, except where they differ from those given in the Pe-
tersburg Dictionary. But I have retained miscellaneous remarks
of the commentator, whenever they furnish interesting and to my
knowledge new matter, likewise glosses whenever the words em-
ployed are of rare occurrence or elsewhere stated to be provincial
terms. The additional meanings, mostly taken from the Mahkha-
kosa, have been given without exception, together with the
examples quoted for them.
(4) Examples ( ) for meanings which are well-known
and the occurrence of which has been shown by Bohtlingk in his
Dictionaries, except when they seemed to me better and older than
those quoted by him. The great number of apparently useless