The Ramayana: A Linguistic Study

The Ramayana is always a fascinating study. This Adi Kavya coming from the pen of one of India's greatest poets has exercised a very powerful influence on the life and thought of millions of people of India over the ages. A voluminous work like the Ramayana can certainly be expected to be a good repertory of all kinds of information, historical, social, religious and cultural. So can it be a good index of the language as it obtained in contemporary society.

The present study is the first attempt of its kind analysing and critically evaluating the language of the Ramayana in all its varied aspects and, therefore, fulfils a long-felt desideratum. The twenty-four thousand verses of this great epic of India have been given here the most searching treatment and fresh ground broken in more ways than one. The study of the Ramayana synonyms, phonetic tendencies, onomatopoeia, prepositional verbs, usage, etymologies and un-Paninian forms, to mention only a few of the many topics dealt with exhaustively here, is bound to interest students of Sanskrit language in general and Linguistics in particular. The treatment of the subject is scientific throughout. The work is well-documented.

Preface
Foreword by Dr. Suniti Kumar Chatterji
Introduction by Dr. Siddheshwar Varma

Some Preliminary Observation

Valmiki - The Immortal Bard
Some Linguistic Peculiarities of the Ramayana

Rare Words or Words with Unfamiliar Meaning

Synonyms

Some Phonetic Tendencies

1. Anaptyxis
2. Syncope
3. Haplology
4. Metathesis
5. Interchange of d and l and r and l
6. Phonetic Variants in Proper Names
7. Metrical Interference with Quality of a Vowel
   1. Shortening of Long Vowels
   2. Lengthening of Short Vowels

The Onomatopoeic or Descriptive Words

Ellipsis

Usage

The Use of Some Roots in Peculiar Meaning
Karakas
Repetition or Superfluity
Verbs with a Cognate Object
Idioms and Proverbs
The Use of Words in Secondary Meaning
Short Forms for Complete Expressions
Chapter VII

Prepositional Verbs

Chapter VIII

Etymologies

The Un-Paninian Forms and Other Anomalies
Sandhi

1. Vowel Sandhi : Internal
   Vowel Sandhi : External
   1. Hiatus in Two Padas
      1. Absence of Savarnasandhi
      2. Absence of Gunasandhi
      3. Absence of Vrddhisandhi
      4. Absence of Other Vowel Sandhis
   2. Hiatus in the Same Pade
      1. Absence of Savarnasandhi
      2. Absence of Gunasandhi
      3. Absence of Yansandhi
2. Consonant Sandhi
3. Double Sandhi

Nouns
Compounds
Numerals
Taddhitas
Feminine Forms
Verbs

1. Atmanepada and Parasmaipada
2. Verb Formations
3. Confusion in Ganas
4. Set and anit
5. Omission of Augments at and at
6. Causal Forms

1. Present Participles
2. Past Participles

1. Gender
2. Interchange of Case, Voices and Tenses
3. Concord : Gender
   Concord : Number