PRASAD P. JOSHI
Deccan College Postgraduate and Research Institute prasad.joshi@dcpune.ac.in
THE DEVĪMĀHĀTMYA IN THE MĀRKAṆḌEYAPURĀṆA: SOME OBSERVATIONS OF GRAMMAR AND STYLE
The Mārkaṇḍeyapurāṇa occupies an important place among the eighteen Mahāpurāṇas. It is particularly famous for the Devīmāhātmya forming 13 chapters in its text which has been recited in all parts of India and represents a living tradition. The language of Devīmāhātmya exhibits some verbal and nominal forms which are remarkable. They deviate from Pāṇinian rules and show some patterns. Some lexical items like medhas, samastasuratā are lone representatives of concerned grammatical category or they are of very rare usage. The use of gerund (like ādāya, kṛtvā) in the text mark distinct features of syntax. The use of particle ca (and) added after the clause is notable for determining the scope of the coordinative item. So far as the stylistic features are concerned, discontinuous adjective, shared predicate verb and use of interrogative adverb kim in rhetoric questions are remarkable. At the same times, long compounding of the words, employment of various metres, etc. stand for the high poetic composition of the classical period. The study of these grammatical and stylistic features of the Devīmāhātmya deserves a separate treatment. The present paper is an attempt to bring forth the linguistic peculiarities of the Devīmāhātmya while comparing them with occurrences in the rest of the Mārkaṇḍeyapurāṇa and the other literature. It is hoped that the study would be helpful to ascertain the place of the Mārkaṇḍeyapurāṇa in the general course of the language history of Sanskrit.