[Advaita-l] ata eva paSavah

[Siva Senani Nori]

Subrahmanian mahodaya
 
I half agree with you, specifically with the part: "I think a blade of grass is indicated by the word 'tRNam' "; but beg to differ on the other part, namely: "and not 'tRnaH'"
 
For support, I quote Panini, II.4.31: ardharcaah pumsi ca. 
English vritti given by Ram Nath Sharma: "Items enumerated in the list headed by ardharca 'half a hymn' are  both neuter and masculine in gender"
English translation of S C Vasu: "The words 'ardharca' &c. are spoken of in masculine and neuter."  
 
There is a gana called 'ardharcaadi gana' given in the ganapaaTha. There amongst many words, triNa occurs. The previous two and the latter two words are in this order: valaya, kusuma, triNa, pa~Nka, kuNDala.

Having said that, I agree that a complete explanation of the exchange should include the mention of usage in neuter. Thanks for pointing out the same.
 
Regards
Senani
From: V Subrahmanian <v.subrahmanian at gmail.com>
>To: Siva Senani Nori <sivasenani at yahoo.com>; A discussion group for Advaita Vedanta <advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org>
>Sent: Saturday, September 24, 2011 10:35 PM
>Subject: Re: [Advaita-l] ata eva paSavah
>
>
>Senani ji,
>
>I think a blade of grass is indicated by the word 'tRNam' and not 'tRnaH'. The Apte dictionary mentions तृणं .  As such the plural should be 'tRNAni'.  
>
>श्रावयेत् सपुरूहूतपुराधिपत्य भाग्यं लभेत रिपवश्च तृणानि तस्य ||
>See also this:
>http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E0%A4%A4%E0%A5%83%E0%A4%A3
>Here the word is shown as a neuter gender. 
>
>Regards,
>subrahmanian.v
>
>
>On Sat, Sep 24, 2011 at 10:15 PM, Siva Senani Nori <sivasenani at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>In another forum (BVP), there has been a discussion involving Naiyaayikaas and VaiyaakaraNas and my teach Br. Ve. Prof. K. Subrahmanyam garu mentioned this exchange between Naiyaayikaas and VaiyaakaraNas.
>> 
>>V: naiyaayikaah paSavah - "the followers of Nyaya are animals".
>> 
>>N: vaiyaakaraNaah triNavah - supposed to be understood as "the followers of grammar are blades of grass". However, there is a problem: triNa, ending in a, takes the form 'triNaah' in nominal plural (prathamaa-bahu-vacanam), not triNavah. paSu being a noun ending in u declines differently. Since the Naiyaayikaas do not grasp this difference, the VaiyaakaraNas retort:
>> 
>>V: ata eva paSavah - "that is why, they are animals".
>> 
>>Just for laughs.
>> 
>>Senani
>>
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