Upasarga is a term used in Sanskrit grammar for a special class of twenty prepositional particles prefixed to verbs or to action nouns.[1] In Vedic, these prepositions are separable from verbs; in classical Sanskrit the prefixing is obligatory.
The twenty prefixes (in Indic alphabetical order) are recognized in Pāṇini‘s Aṣṭādhyāyī at 1.4.58-59,[2] and are enumerated in the gaṇapāṭha (#154):[3]
- ati– “beyond”
- adhi– “over”
- apa– “away”
- api– “proximate”
- abhi– “to, towards”
- anu– “after”
- ava– “off, down”
- āṅ– “near”
- ut-/ud– “up(wards)”
- upa– “towards, near”
- dus-/dur– “bad, difficult, hard”
- ni– “down”
- nis-/nir– “away”
- parā– “away”
- pari– “round, around”
- pra– “forth”
- prati– “against”
- vi– “apart, asunder”
- sam-/saṃ– “with”
- su– “good, excellent”
By the usual rules of euphonic combination the two prepositions ending in visarga, niḥ and duḥ, have the alternative forms nis-/nir– and dus-/dur– respectively. The gaṇapāṭha listing has these variants, not the forms in pausa, and thus has twenty-two items in all.
A versified form of this list may be found in modern primers or textbooks:
praparāpasamanvavanirdurabhivyadhisūdatinipratiparyapayaḥ
upa āṅiti viṃśatireṣa sakhe upasargavidhiḥ kathitaḥ kavinā pra_parā_apa_sam_anu_ava_nir_dur_abhi_vi_adhi_su_ud_ati_ni_prati_pari_apayaḥ(api)
upaḥ āṅ iti viṃśatiḥ eṣa sakhe upasarga_vidhiḥ kathitaḥ kavinā
Notes
References
- Monier-Williams, M., A Sanskrit English Dictionary, (reprint) New Delhi, Motilal Banarsidass 2005 ISBN 81-208-3105-5
- Katre, Sumitra M., Aṣṭādhyāyī of Pānini, New Delhi, Motilal Banarsidass 1989
External links
The dictionary definition of उपसर्ग at Wiktionary
