Amreditas and related constellations in the Rigveda.

• Author: Klein, Jared S.

In discussions of compound types in the Vedic language, the category that is typically placed at or near the end and given only cursory treatment is the amredita. (1) It is easy to see why this is so. Formally, an amredita consists of two adjacent identical complete words. The only feature distinguishing the amredita qua compound is that only the first of the repeated words is provided with an accent. (2) In the padapatha text the two members are regularly separated by an avagraha, as is normally the case with compounds, but the samhita text transmits the members together just as it would any two adjacent words, applying whatever sandhi rules may be relevant. In this study we will follow the procedure of Aufrecht (1877) and cite amreditas with a hyphen between their members, except where vowel sandhi is operative between the two constituents. Thus, agnim-agnim, dhiyam-dhiyam, iheha, etc.

Semantically, amreditas were recognized already by Panini as signalling durative and distributive values, i.e., the notions of undelimited continuation ('over and over, again and again') and singulatim repetition ('one by one, one after the other'), which, when applied to all members of a set, may attain universality ('every'). (3) But, as we shall see, the semantics of this category as a whole shows nuanced variation depending on the part of speech class of the individual amreditas.

[section]1. Amreditas are by no means rare in the Rigveda. I have located 132 different forms occurring 291 times, not counting another twelve exact pada-repetitions. (4) This figure represents, to my knowledge, the first complete tabulation of these forms. (5) Amreditas are fashioned from forms belonging to six different parts of speech: nominals (including both nouns and adjectives) (94 forms, 211x + 5 repetitions), pronominals (15 forms, 31x + 5 repetitions), adverbials (8 forms, 17x[.sup.6] + 1 repetition), preverbs (7 forms, 20x), numerals (7 forms, 11x), and verbs (1 form, 1x + 1 repetition). Because these forms have never been listed in their entirety, I provide a complete listing in Appendix 1. Where nominal types (taken in the broadest sense to include nouns, adjectives, pronouns, and numerals) are concerned, all case forms but the vocative are represented. Moreover, with the single exception of the adjectival amredita navya-navyah, all nominal amreditas are morphologically singular. A partial exception to this is the (improper) numeral amredita ekam-eka, where the second member has been assimilated to a following term (cf. [section]15). Nevertheless, numeral amreditas such as dva-dva (2x), panca-panca (1x), and sapta-sapta (2x) do occur, the latter two indifferent to morphological number and the first obligatorily dual. Similarly, personal pronoun amreditas include first person plural forms vayam-vayam (1x) and asman-asman (1x). A single example of the pronominal neuter plural ta-ta is also attested. The fact that non-singular amreditas are limited to numerals, pronouns, and adjectives suggests that amreditas associated with these parts of speech are to be interpreted at least in part differently from those involving nouns, a suspicion which will be confirmed in what follows.

In [section][section]2-7 we shall provide a rapid general survey of the Rigvedic amreditas along part-of-speech lines, focusing on formal and lexical features. We shall then turn to a more detailed investigation of these forms, again by grammatical category, in which semantics will play a central role ([section][section]8-16). Following this we shall investigate various constellations which, while not themselves amreditas, seem to be formally related to this type ([section][section]17-22).

[section]2. The order of relative frequency of nominal case forms represented among noun and adjective amreditas in the Rigveda is: locative (29 forms, 64x + 1 repetition), accusative (32 forms, 59x + 3 repetitions), (7) dative (4 forms, 54x), (8) genitive (10 forms, 13x), instrumental (8 forms, 9x), nominative (7 forms, 7x + 1 repetition), (9) and ablative (4 forms, 4x). In addition, one form (samit-samit: 1x) is morphologically nominative but semantically instrumental. This form will be given special treatment in [section]9, as will vise-vise and dive-dive, two forms which, despite their dative appearance, have been treated normally or frequently as locative in the literature.

[section]3. Moving on to pronominals, we note that the most frequent word appearing in amreditas is anya-(4 forms, 10 occurrences), followed by the ta-pronoun (3 forms, 9 occurrences + 1 repetition), the ya-stem (4 forms, 8 occurrences + 4 repetitions), personal pronouns (3 forms, 3 occurrences), and forms of ayam (1 form, 1 occurrence). (10) On the semantics of these, cf. [section]12.

[section]4. Under adverbials we include amreditas formed from pure adverbs, such as iha (8x + 1 repetition), punah (2x), etc. as well as most adverbially employed nominative/accusative neuter forms, such as idam (2x), bhuyah (1x), and sasvat (1x). For more on these forms, cf. [section]13.

[section]5. Preverb amreditas show little that is remarkable from a formal perspective other than the predominance of pra-pra which, while one of seven different forms, accounts for sixty percent of the total preverb amreditas (12/20). In fact, the only other preverb amredita to occur more than once is upopa (3x). The semantics of preverb amreditas will be discussed in [section]14.

[section]6. Similarly, numeral amreditas are dominated by forms of eka- (4 out of 7 forms, 6 out of 11 occurrences), although dva-dva and sapta-sapta each occurs twice. The only other attested numeral amredita is panca-panca (1x). These forms are treated in more detail in [section]15.

[section]7. Finally, the only verbal amredita treated as such in the padapatha text is the imperative piba-piba (piba-pibed) (1x + 1 repetition). However, it appears arbitrary that stuhi stuhi (stuhi stuhid) (VIII.1.30a) should not be treated in the same way. (11) The semantics of these forms is discussed in [section][section]16 and 17.

[section]8. Having discussed in very general terms the formal and lexical aspects of the Rigvedic amreditas, let us now turn to the semantics of these forms. One would of course expect such constructions to possess iconic semantics, plurality or iteration of form being matched by a sememe of plurality or iteration. This is indeed the case. The grammars and handbooks emphasize the intensive, distributive, and repetitional meaning of these forms (e.g., Whitney 1889: 488). To these Brugmann adds the notions of "Verschiedenheit" (idam-idam 'here and there, in different places') and "Eindringlichkeit" (iheha 'precisely here') (1906: 56-57). However, the relevant nuance of the iterative semantic feature differs in subtle ways from word-class to word-class. In the case of nouns this nuance may be said to involve unlimited but usually individuated repetition. (12) This absence of delimitation easily passes over into a notion of universality or totality. This is illustrated in (1a-g), where we provide an example of an amredita involving each case form represented, in order of frequency:

(1) a. V.43.2cd pita mata madhuvacah suhasta / bhare-bhare no yasasav avistam "Let father (sc. heaven) (and) mother (sc. earth), she of sweet speech, of good hands, the glorious ones aid us in battle after battle / in every battle."

2. VII.74.1d visam-visam hi gachathah "For you two go unto clan after clan / unto every clan."

3. X.37.8 mahi jyotir bibhratam tva vicaksana / bhasvantam caksuse-caksuse mayah // ... / vayam jivah prati pasyema surya "Thee, O broadly-seeing one, the one possessing radiance, the one bringing great light, a balm for every eye ... might we behold while alive, O Surya."

4. III.31.8ab satah-satah pratimanam purobhur / visva veda janima ... "The equal of every existing thing, the one standing at the front, he (viz. Indra) knows all the races."

5. IX.65.2 pavamana ruca-ruca / devo devebhyas pari / visva vasuny a visa "O purified (soma), with radiance after radiance enter into all the good things(?), as a heavenly one (coming forth) from the heavenly ones."

6. VII.90.2d jato-jato jayate vajy asya "Every son of his is born a victor in battle."

7. VI.19.13ab vayam ta ebhih puruhuta sakhyaih / satroh-satror uttara it syama "May we be higher than every rival through these friendships of thine, O often invoked one."

   The above passages illustrate normal, nonproblematic employments of amreditas to convey the notions of universality or totality. We now turn to particular instances showing less frequent or unusual values. These are seen particularly among accusative amreditas. Thus, the single clear instance of distributive value among nominal amreditas is the following:

   (2) X.15.11ab agnisvattah pitara eha gachata / sadah-sadah sadata supranitayah "Sweetened by the fire, come hither, O fathers. Sit ye each in his own seat, ye who provide good leading."

   Here the fathers are not being summoned to sit without further qualification in every seat, but rather each is invited to what must be thought of as a place individually prepared for him.

   A special case of an accusative amredita is janam-janam. The sense 'folk after folk' easily comes to mean 'every man, everyone' (3a), and this in turn, under the scope of negation, may mean 'no man, nobody' (3b):

   (3) a. V.15.4ab mateva yad bharase paprathano / janam-janam dhayase caksase ca "When, spreading out, thou dost bear like a mother every man for nourishment and seeing ..."

2. X.91.2c janam-janam janyo nati manyate "The one belonging to men (sc. Agni) despises no man."

   The most important special circumstance among nominal amreditas is when the form is a proper name or clearly refers to a singular, unique individual. For in such instances the meaning cannot be 'every ...'. Cf. the following passage:

   (4) VIII.12.19ab devam-devam vo (a)vasa / indram-indram grnisani "Over and over again the heavenly Indra will I sing...