क्लैब्यं मा स्म गमः पार्थ नैतत्त्वय्युपपद्यते ।
क्षुद्रं हृदयदौर्बल्यं त्यक्त्वोत्तिष्ठ परन्तप ||||
i.e. o Arjuna, don’t behave like an impotent guy. This behaviour does not suit you. Please shade off this weakness of heart and arise (for action), o destroyer of enemies.

Interesting etymology of the japanese 莫迦ばか (baka) which means idiot is that possibly it derives from मोह moha illusion). but, maybe actually from বোকা bōkā (fool) from বাংলা https://www.tofugu.com/japanese/baka-meaning/#the-sanskrit-word-moha

Daṇḍin’s KĀ 1.66:

padasandhānavṛttyā vā vākyārthatvena vā punaḥ |
duṣpratītikaraṃ grāmyaṃ yathā yā bhavataḥ priyā || 1.66 ||

śakṛt !

dhik

Kāvyādarśa_ of Daṇḍin 1.62–67 on vulgarity. Term singled out is yabh, in fact effectively referred to as the “ya-word” at 1.65:
śabde [’]pi grāmyatāsty eva sā sabhyetarakīrtanam |
yathā yakārādipadaṃ ratyutsavanirūpaṇe || 1.65 ||
“In speech too [and not just in meaning], there certainly is [i.e., can be] vulgarity. It (sā) is a telling (-kīrtana) that is other-than-decorous (sabhya-itara-). For example: in illustrating (nirūpaṇe = prakāśane) of a festival of love, the word that begins with ya. (yabh means “to f$*k”)

धूर्त — sly, cunning and evil

भाण्ड — buffoon

पिशाच — disgusting, gross

अहल्लिक — literally a ghost, but probably used in the sense of a vampire or dark, nightly, unnatural

Words of Defamation in Sanskrit Legal Language

E. Washburn Hopkins

Journal of the American Oriental Society

Vol. 45 (1925), pp. 39–50 (12 pages)

Manu 6.47 ativādāṃs titikṣeta — one should patiently endure abuse — ‘ativād’ invokes the idea of one speaking too much

ekajātir-dvijātīṃstu vācā dāruṇāyā kṣipan. jihvāyāḥ prāpnuyāc-cedaṃ jaghanya-prabhavo hi saḥ

Although … worth considering… ekajātir-dvijātīṃstu vācā dāruṇāyā kṣipan. jihvāyāḥ prāpnuyāc-cedaṃ jaghanya-prabhavo hi saḥ

Manu 8.270. A once-born man (a Sudra), who insults a twice-born man with gross invective, shall have his tongue cut
out; for he is of low origin.

GautAA_2,3.6 / GautSt_12.8: śataṃ kṣatriyo brāhmaṇākrośe |

All these cases have to do with verbal assaults in the presence of the victim and witnesses, whereas paisuna is calumny in a less specific sense; as in Ap. ibid. 7, anaryavamn paisunam, are general faults, “ un-Aryan behavior and calumny.” 12 So

Gautama, 25, 7, pais’una is calumniating in general, like the admonition in G. 2, 19 to avoid sukctd vdcas, ‘sour words’; but such expressions, though not usual in the legal language, which is of course never wholly technical, sometimes occur even in formal legal phraseology.

For example, śuktavākyābhidhāne, ‘on calling bad names’ (one is to be fined) is a phrase used by Viṣṇu in the same category with 47 ākṣepe, ākrośane, kṣepe. 13 The combination of kruś with upa, which appears only in noun-formation in the lexicons (upakrośa, upakcrośana, upakroṣṭar) occurs in verbal form in Nār. 15, 30, upakruśya rājānam, ‘if a man censures the king’ (his tongue is to be cut out; a late form and rule)

manu 8.266–278

M 7, 51 discusses vākyapāruṣya — legal phrase from — sort of insult — paruṣam uktvā “speaking roughly” as opposed to daṇḍapāruṣya M.8.278 “abuse and assault”

Gautama recommends ‘sweet words’ śuktā vācaḥ // Gaut_2.25 // śuktāḥ niṣṭhurāḥ parasyogvegakāriṇvaḥ /
sarveṣāṃ varjayet // madyaṃ nityaṃ brāhmaṇaḥ // Gaut_2.26 //

Vi. dharma uttara purana 5.39 śuktavākyābhidāṇe ‘ on calling bad names’ in same category as ākṣepe, ākrośane, kṣepe (cf 5.37 . 36 — hīnavarṇākroṡane. G 12, 12

nteresting though how ‘yoga’ is defined in viṣṇudharmottara chap 6 as “proper application of a meaning of a sentence; yena vākyārthartho yuñjyate sa yoga” …. i wonder how many consumers of yoga today first think of this definition when asked what they think yoga means?

Although … worth considering… ekajātir-dvijātīṃstu vācā dāruṇāyā kṣipan. jihvāyāḥ prāpnuyāc-cedaṃ jaghanya-prabhavo hi saḥ
Manu 8.270. A once-born man (a Sudra), who insults a twice-born man with gross invective, shall have his tongue cut out; for he is of low origin. — — so, too 8.266–278 more or less defines “hate speech” — — M 7, 51 discusses vākyapāruṣya — legal phrase from — sort of insult — paruṣam uktvā “speaking roughly” as opposed to daṇḍapāruṣya M.8.278 “abuse and assault”

https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.311034/page/n33

yena vākyārthartho yuñjyate sa yoga / yo’rtho vi’dhi kṛta sūtrapade sa padārtha

interesting though how ‘yoga’ is defined in viṣṇudharmottara chap 6 as “proper application of a meaning of a sentence; yena vākyārthartho yuñjyate sa yoga” …. i wonder how many consumers of yoga today first think of this definition when asked what they think yoga means?

Sanskrit insults and idioms

My struggles with 2.1 continue, mostly due to a lack of time. But while studying, I was rather delighted to find some…

avagraha.wordpress.com

My struggles with 2.1 continue, mostly due to a lack of time. But while studying, I was rather delighted to find some examples of how Sanskrit was used as a natural language.

The form of Sanskrit found in most literature tends to follow the model of Patanjali, who likely studied Sanskrit after the language’s last native speakers had already died. According to S. D. Joshi, this would explain why Patanjali does not understand the idiomatic use of वा as a “preferable” condition, which led later tradition to treat वा, विभाषा, and अन्यतरस्याम् as essentially synonymous terms. But Panini was probably closely connected with the community of native speakers; perhaps he was a part of it himself. For that reason, many of his rules reflect certain idioms and expressions that we rarely see in later Sanskrit, except in highly elaborate forms.

Here I focus on rules 2.1.44, 2.1.47, and 2.1.48. These come in a section describing the use of locative (सप्तमी) तत्पुरुष compounds.

2.1.44 संज्ञायाम्
(Case 7 words are compounded with case-inflected nouns) in the sense of (providing) a name (and the result is called तत्पुरुष);
2.1.47 क्षेपे
(Case 7 words are compounded with case-inflected nouns) in the sense of abuse (and the result is called तत्पुरुष);
2.1.48 पात्रेसमितादयश्च
And words in the list starting with पात्रेसमित (are called तत्पुरुष when implying abuse).

Idioms

Sanskrit compounds are particularly handy for capturing idioms and natural expressions. Some of these are familiar already. For example, a king can be a नृप or नरप, a protector of men. Or he can be a नरेश or नरपति, a lord of men. Most Sanskrit students have probably seen words like this already.

But what is more remarkable is that these compounds can work in strongly idiomatic ways that are not always predictable from a non-Sanskrit perspective. The examples here are all instances of अलुक्समास:

अरण्येतिलकाः
(A person) like sesame seeds in the forest; a person who fails to live up to expectations
अरण्येमाषाः
(A person) like beans in the forest; a person who fails to live up to expectations
वनेकिंशुकाः
(Things) like किंशुक flowers in the forest; things found unexpectedly
वनेबिल्वकाः
(Things) like wood-apple trees in the forest; things found unexpectedly
कूपेपिशाचकाः
(Things) like demons in a well; things found unexpectedly

Insults

But I find the insults much more interesting. What qualities did Sanskrit speakers think were insulting? Wild action:

अवतप्तेनकुलस्थितं तवैतत्
You’re acting like a mongoose on hot ground.

polluting the natural order:

प्रवाहेमूत्रितम्
Like peeing in a stream

And perverting religious ritual:

भस्मनिहुतम्
Like offering in ashes

But the पात्रेसमित words are much more fun:

उडुम्बरमशकः
A fly for a certain type of tree; a person with limited interest.
मातरिपुरुषः
A man only with regard to his mother; “cowardly bully” (Monier Williams), “motherfucker” (S. D. Joshi).
पिण्डीशूरः , गेहेशूरः
A hero only with regard to a ball of food, or within his own home; a lazy bum

Sanskrit insults, expletives and idioms

words for settlement

Words of Defamation in Sanskrit Legal Language

Sanskrit insults and idioms

My struggles with 2.1 continue, mostly due to a lack of time. But while studying, I was rather delighted to find some…

Idioms

Insults

Written by Patrick McCartney