Kāraka (c): Karman

Pāṇini defines the Karman or the Object as karturīpsitatamaṃ karma (1/4/49). The participant in an action which the Agent prefers most to attain through the action is classed as Karman.

Bhartṛhari’s definition for Karman is as follows—

sāmānyaṃ kārakaṃ tasya saptādyā bhedayonayaḥ |
ṣaṭ karmākhyādibhedena śeṣabhedastu saptamī ||
nirvartyaṃ ca vikāryaṃ ca prāpyaṃ ceti tridhā matam |
tatrepsitatamaṃ karma caturdhānyattu kalpitam ||^[1]

According to him the Īpsitakarma is divided into three viz.

1. Nirvartya,
2. Vikārya and
3. Prāpya.

If the effect is different from the material cause, it is called Nirvartya. When one will not be able to see the difference between the material cause and the effect, it is called Vikārya. If by the action one neither sees nor infers any effect on the object, it is called Prāpya.

Anīpsitakarma is divided into four i.e.

1. Audāsīnaprāpya (that which attained in another way),
2. Anīpsita (that which is disliked by the Agent),
3. Akathita (that which the name of any other Kāraka cannot be given) and
4. Anyapūrvaka (that which has already another name).

audāsīnyena yat prāpyaṃ yacca karturanīpsitam |
saṃjñāntarairanākhyātaṃ yadyaccāpyanyapūrvakam ||^[2]

Now the study focuses on the treatment of Karmakāraka in Vāsudevavijaya It is already stated that the rules are arranged in the same order of Pāṇini and here Vāsudeva chooses the rule krudhadruhorupasṛṣṭayoḥ karma (1/4/38) primarily to illustrate as according to Paninian order.

The verse for the illustration of this rule is as follows:—

nādeyatoyāgamadurnivāraḥ paurastyapākāhatidṛṣṭakarmā |
krudhyannahetāvapi nātha sadbhyo mābhidruhattvāṃ sahasā sa kaṃsaḥ || (Vāsudevavijaya 3.32)

Here the word tvām is used in Dvitīyāvibhakti as it possesses the name Karman. kaṃsaḥ tvāṃ mā abhidruhat; in this sentence, the root druh is preceded by the prefix abhi. As per the rule krudhadruhorupasṛṣṭayoḥ karma (1/4/38) the person against whom the anger is directed is called Karman, when the roots krudha and druh preceded by prepositions. Here the yuṣmacchabda is Karman because of satisfying these two conditions. As it got the name Karman, it is used in the second case according to the rule karmaṇi dvitīyā (2/3/2).

Vāsudeva takes the rule divaḥ karma ca (1/4/43), which means that which is especially auxiliary in the accomplishment of the action, of the verb diva to play is called Karman, as well as Karaṇa.

The rule is illustrated in the verse:—

āḍhyambhaviṣṇuḥ pramadena gacchan pathā priyambhāvukatāṃ gatena |
sa nandagoṣṭhāya dadarśa mārge dīvyantamūrmīn yamunāpravāham || (Vāsudevavijaya 3.37)

In this verse, ūrmīn dīvyantam is the example for Karman and here ūṛmī is the auxiliary in the accomplishment of the action i.e. the root diva. Hence it got Karmatva and Karaṇatva by this rule. Vāsudeva used this as Karman and thus it is used in the Dvitīyāvibhakti.

The third aphorism is adhiśīṅsthasāṃ karma (1/4/48), meaning the one which is the site of the verbs śī to lie down, stha to stand, āsa to sit, when preceded by the preposition adhi, is however called Karman.

In Vāsudevavijaya, the following verse is given as example for this rule.

adhyāsta yaṃ nakrakulaṃ sthavīyo dvipo'pyamaṅktvā na yamuttatāra |
nabhaspṛgūrmistitarīṣato'sya harerdadhasyaikapadīmadātsaḥ || (Vāsudevavijaya 3.38)

In this verse, yam adhyāsta is the part illustrated by the rule adhiśīṅsthasāṃ karma (1/4/46). Here the site of the root āsa which is preceded by the prefix adhi, is the yacchabda, hence it is the Karman by this rule.

In the same way, Vāsudeva takes the next rule i.e. abhiniviśaśca (1/4/47) and gives example for this in the following verse as:—

tāvajjanitvā vrajanāthapatnyā manojanasyābhiniviśya devyā |
abhāji nidrācchalato'rthabodhaḥ śaktyā hareḥ prāgaśiṣadyathā saḥ || (Vāsudevavijaya 3.39)

The site of the verb abhi-ni-viś to enter i.e. manaḥ is called Karman by this rule and the word is used in the second case.

The next rule taken to illustrate is upānvadhyāṅvasaḥ (1/4/48) and the meaning of this is the site of the verb vas to dwell, when preceded by the prefixes upa, anu, adhi and āṅ is called Karman.

In the verse,

gatvā dadhṛg dhāma tataḥ svapatnyā nidhāya palyaṅkatale śiśuṃ tām |
viratya kṛtyannigalārpitāṅghriḥ sukhī sa tatpūrvavadanvavātsīt || (Vāsudevavijaya 3.41)

Dhāma anvavātsīt is the example for the above mentioned rule. Here the root vas is preceded by anu, hence the site of the root i.e. dhāma is called Karman.

Then comes the main definition of the Karman i.e. karturīpsitatamaṃ karma (1/4/49) and other sūtras viz. tathāyuktaṃ cānīpsitam (1/4/50), akathitaṃ ca (1/4/51), gatibuddhipratyavasānārthaśabdakarmākarmakāṇāmaṇikartā sa ṇau (1/4/52)

.The following verse holds the examples for all these rules.

nālokayat kiñcana nāśṛṇodvā na cāvadat kiñcana kañcanāpi |
jātatvarābhītirupetya kaṃsaṃ prābūbudhat sa prasavaṃ bhaginyāḥ || (Vāsudevavijaya 3.43)

In the verse, the main portion is saḥ bhaginyāḥ prasavaṃ kaṃsaṃ prābūbudhat | Here the word prasavaṃ is Īpsitakarma as it is satisfied by the rule karturīpsitatamaṃ karma (1/4/49). This is the word which is most desirable to be obtained by the Agent (saḥ) by the action (prābūbudhat). Hence it is used in second case as per the rule karmaṇi dvitīyā (2/3/2). The next word is kiñcana nālokayat, here kiñcana is in second case and it is Anīpsitakarma by the rule tathāyuktaṃ cānīpsitam (1/4/50). It is not intended to be most affected by the act, but similarly connected with the action, hence called Karman. The word kañcana is also Karman but by the rule akathitaṃ ca (1/4/51) as it is a Kāraka which is not spoken of as coming under any one of the relations of ablation etc. Likewise the word kaṃsaṃ have got Karmatva by the rule gatibuddhipratyavasānārthaśabdakarmākarmakāṇāmaṇi kartā sa ṇau (1/4/52). The meaning of the rule is that which was Agent of the Non-causal verb becomes the Karman of the causal verb, when the verb has the sense of Gati (to move) buddhi (to know), pratyavasāna (to eat), śabdakarma (to make sound) or is an intransitive verb. Here prābūbudhat is a causal verb and the root budh means to know. Kaṃsa is the agent of the non-causal verb and it becomes the Karman here in the causal verb.

One more rule is there in Pāṇinīya to state the Karmakāraka i.e. hṛkroranyatarasyām (1/4/53) which means the Agent of the verb in its non-causal form, in the case of the roots hrī to lose and krī to make is optionally called Karman when these verbs are causal. Vāsudeva in v.3.46^[3] which is stated before to show the example of Kartṛkāraka gives the instance for this rule also. lālapā sā taṃ kṛpāṃ na acīkarat; here the word tam is Karman because of the association of the root krī in its causal state.

Here almost all Sūtras regarding Karmakāraka is included and well explained by Vāsudeva but it is essential to note his reluctance to include the Vārtikas. He does not give much importance to the illustration of Vārtikas. Nevertheless, he explains some Vārtikas not intentionally but as a matter of context. By the same reason the Vārtikas explained by Vāsudeva do not have any definiteness in its order and fullness. For instance in the following verse an example for the Vārtika abhivādidṛśorātmanepada upasaṃkhyānam is included but it is accidentally happened.

However the author explains this Vārtika in his auto commentary of the poem.

prayuṅkṣva kālyān phalinānupāyān priyāṇi mitrāṇi ca darśayasva |
saṅkṣṇuṣva buddhiṃ śṛṇu bhokṣyase tvaṃ naivānyathā rājyasukhaṃ cirāya || (Vāsudevavijaya 2.35)

Here priyāṇi mitrāṇi ca darśayasva the root dṛś is used in Ātmanepada and according to the Vārtika the subject of this verb i.e. mitrāṇi is in Dvitīyā.

Another aspect which also to be included in respect to this section is the second case i.e. Dvitīyāvibhakti. There are some rules regarding the second case and those also subject to discuss here.

The rule antarāntareṇa yukte (2/3/4) is going to be discussed here. The meaning of this rule is that the word joined with antarā or antareṇa takes the second case affix.

The example given for this in Vāsudevavijaya is as follows:—

kartā dviṣāṃ paribhavaṃ nikaṣā sthitaṃ svaṃ grastojjhitodurupalambhanijānubhāvaḥ |
saṅgṛhya kaṃsamatasarvadurīṇamīśaḥ cañcvoradārayadamuṃ śramamantareṇa ||(Vāsudevavijaya 5.44)

In this verse śramam antareṇa is the example and here the word governed by antareṇa is and śramam, as a result it is used in the second case as per this rule. Here Vāsudeva shows some more examples for the second case. The rule—karmaṇi dvitīyā and the Vārtika—abhitaḥparitaḥsamayānikaṣāhāpratiyoge'pi are also exemplified here. amum and svam (nikaṣaḥ) are respective instances for the above rules.

Similarly, kālādhvanoratyantasaṃyoge (2/3/5) is illustrated and it means that after a word denoting time or place by its length the second case affix will be employed when denoting the full duration.

The verse runs as follows:—

ādhitsato nighasamasya savatsakāste peṣṭuḥ prasahya bahudhā vighasāśanānām |
vaktraṃ mahīdharaguheti tadāvayantaḥ prāpuḥ prahasya bata yojanamāyatasya || (Vāsudevavijaya 5.47)

Here the word yojanamāyatasya is example for the rule, the word yojanam denotes the length in full duration and thus the word is used in dvitīyā.

Another rule enapā dvitīyā (2/3/31) has given example in the verse:–

yavyamaudgīnaśāleyatilyān deśānavasthitam |
ārāryantottareṇāmī vanaṃ tālaughadanturam || (Vāsudevavijaya 6.24)

In association with the word ending with the affix enap the second case affix is employed as well as the sixth. Here uttareṇa is the word with enap in its ending, hence the word deśān is used in the second case.

Afterwards, the rule dūrāntikārthebhyo dvitīyā ca (2/3/35) is illustrated in another verse.

abhyarṇaṃ tasya vartiṣṇurdeśasya dhvāntasannibhaḥ |
sāhāyyarasikānekadhṛṣṭacakrīvadāvṛtaḥ || (Vāsudevavijaya 6.26)

Here deśasya abhyarṇaṃ vartiṣṇuḥ means nearby the place and abhyarṇa [abhyarṇaṃ] is the word with the sense near. So that word is used in the second case.

Thus the rules regarding the Karmakāraka and Dvitīyāvibhakti are well arranged and explained by Vāsudeva and it is evident that he strictly follows the Paninian order to compose his work. Almost all Sūtras are illustrated here but he does not include all the Vārtikas.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

K.A.Subramania Aiyer,op.cit.v.44,45.

[2]:

Ibid v.46

[3]:

sukarmaṇaḥ kṣmāvibudhāṃhavirdughāstathārjunīrgāḥ sma nihanti satkaṣam |
anānnasutrāmakakāṅkṣitāpadaṃ na lālapā sā tamacīkarat kṛpām || Prof. Vijayapal Sastri.opcit.v.3.46)