Page:The Indian Antiquary Vol 2.djvu/49

 February, 1873.] VAISHNAVA POETS OF BENGAL. 41 In rare cases, however, the modern Bengali kt occurs: Kanu£« bujhai— “ Having explained to Kanh.” The genitive is most usually left unmarked, the word which governs it being placed after it, in the manner of a Sanskrit Tatpurusha com¬ pound. This practice is universal with the early Hindi poets, as taila bindu—“a drop of oil;” rasa gdna—“ song of delight,” and the like. Bidyapati’s favourite method of forming the genitive is, however, by the addition of the syllable ka; thus— Sujanafo* piriti pashana sama reha— “ The love of a good man is firm as stone.” Marama£a dukha kahite hay laja— “ To tell the grief of (my) heart is shame (to me).” Premaka guna kahaba sab koi— “ Every one will say (it is) the effect of love.” This form, in which the final a is not always pronounced, is a shortening of the fuller form ifcara or kar} which is found—(1) in Bidyapati’s pronouns, as tdkara bachana lobhdi, “ having longed for his voice ;” (2) in the pronouns of the modern Bhojpfiri dialect, as ikard, okard ; (3) in a few Bengali words, as djkar kdlikar, “ belonging to, or of, to-day, to-morrow,” &c.; (4) in the plural genitive of Oriya, both in nouns and pronouns, as rdjdnkar, “ of kings,” ambhan- kar, “ of us,” where the rejection of the final r is also common, so that they say and write rdjanka, ambhanka; (5) in Marathi surnames, as Chiplun- Jbar=of or from Chiplun. There are several pas¬ sages in Chand in which the genitive seems to be thus expressed by the addition of k only; the context is, however, so obscure, that I fear to quote-them in support of the form itself. In the passage quoted above, ropiyd premer bija, we have the modern Bengali genitive in er; but this is, I think, an intentional modernization of the copyist. The line would run just as well if we read premak, and this would be more in keeping with Bidyapati’s usual style. It is very unusual in his poems to find the genitive in er. The instrumental and locative cases are both indicated by e. Jo preme kulabati kulata hoi— “That a virtuous woman should become un¬ chaste through love.” Mane kichhu na ganalu o rase bhola— “In (my) mind I nothing considered, being foolish through that love.” Supurukha* parihare dukha bichari— “ On account of the absence of the lover, having experienced grief.” Ambare badana chhapai— “ Hiding (her) face in (her) garment.” Dipaka lobhe Salabha janu dhayala— “ From desire of the lamp as a moth has run” (i. e., flown). Occasionally the Hindi se, 1 with,’ occurs, but rarely, as it is liable to be mistaken for the Bengalise, * he/ E sakhi kahe kahasi anuyoge, Kanu se abhi karabi premabhoge— “ Ah, dearest! why dost thou question (me)? Even now thou shalt enjoy love with Kanh.” Here again the e is added to the objective; kahasi anuyoge, “thou dost speak a question karabi prema bhoge, “ thou shalt make an enjoy¬ ing of love.” Kole leyaba tuhunka priya— “ Thy love shall take (thee) in his arms.” Other postpositions are used with the genitive in ka, as majh, 1 in,* sang, ‘ with,’ thus : Hatha safie paithaye 6rabana£a majh— “ Suddenly it penetrates into the ear.” Phutala bandhuli kamala£a sang— “ The bandhuli has flowered with the lotus.” Sometimes we have the old Hindi form in hi, which is there used for all cases of the oblique, though properly a dative, as in the line quoted in a former article (/. A., Yol I. p. 324). Jamini banchasi ana hi sdta— “ Thou passest the night with another.” There is no distinctive form for the plural. When it is necessary to express the idea of plu¬ rality very distinctly, words like sab, ‘ all,’ anek, ‘ many,’ and the like, are used. Occasionally also we find gana, 1 crowd,’ as a first faint indication of what was subsequently to become the regular sign of the plural in Bengali. We may now draw out our noun thus— N. Prema, love, (emphatic) preme. A. id. D. id. Instr. preme, by love. Gen* premaka, of love. Abl. premaka majh, sang,&c., with, by love. Loc. preme, in love. Crude form, p r e m a h i. In the case of nouns ending in short i or t/, no special inflections have yet been observed. The
 * 1. mpwrutha, ‘good man,’ used tot Krishna, the lover of R&dh& ; kh tot th as usual in Hindi, though not in Bengali.