Sanskrit अमन्दी or आमन्दी in शङ्खायनश्रौतसूत्रम् , 17, 14, 6

[Kobzar]

Hello, everybody! I am trying to translate a passage of the शङ्खायनश्त्रैतसूत्रम्, 17, 14. Its sixth sentence begins with the sequence यत्तैवोद्गातामन्दीमधिरोहत्यथ, which we think it can be analyzed as follows: यत्र एव उद्गाता अमन्दीम् (or आमन्दीम्) अधिरोहति अथ. Our problem lies in the word अमन्दीम् (or आमन्दीम्), apparently accusative singular of a noun of feminine gender, or accusative singular feminine of an adjective. So far we have only found out an adjective अमन्द, "lively, not slow," but we cannot be sure as to whether its feminine form is actually अमन्दी, and we do not understand which sense it may have with the verb अधिरोहति ("to ascend"). An adverbial form? An adjective used as a noun? To which ir whom may it refer? Any help will be appreciated.
Best regards.

 

[Dib]

I missed this interesting pair of messages from earlier in the year. Have you found a solution to them?

I don't have a solution but can add something. In Sanskrit, adding an आ- prefix to an adjective often attenuates its force. So, आमन्द could presumably mean "a bit slow(ly)". The problem, as you have correctly identified is whether (1) it would form a feminine form आमन्दी, and (2) whether it is being nominalized here. To (1), I believe it would be unlikely since मन्द has the feminine form मन्दा rather than *मन्दी; but still it is not a 0% chance. To (2), it is not impossible. In any case, it seems to be some sort of a terminus technicus in this context. Probably, if you can contact someone more familiar with Vedic sacrifices and the associated chanting practices, they would be able to set you on the right track.

 

[Kobzar]

Thank you, Dib! I shall look for my notes, and let you know.

 

[Kobzar]

I missed this interesting pair of messages from earlier in the year. Have you found a solution to them?

I don't have a solution but can add something. In Sanskrit, adding an आ- prefix to an adjective often attenuates its force. So, आमन्द could presumably mean "a bit slow(ly)". The problem, as you have correctly identified is whether (1) it would form a feminine form आमन्दी, and (2) whether it is being nominalized here. To (1), I believe it would be unlikely since मन्द has the feminine form मन्दा rather than *मन्दी; but still it is not a 0% chance. To (2), it is not impossible. In any case, it seems to be some sort of a terminus technicus in this context. Probably, if you can contact someone more familiar with Vedic sacrifices and the associated chanting practices, they would be able to set you on the right track.

Hello and than you, again, Dib: I have looked for my notes, and I see that I found a solution to this conundrum: I had followed the edition that can be found and downloaded from the "Vedic Reserve" website, on p. 155 of which I thought we could isolate *अमन्दीम् (or *आमन्दीम्), which posed a problem for me. Then I consulted other online editions, and I found that the text on Śāṅkhāyanaśrautasūtra (GRETIL) reads "āsandīm," accusative singular of "āsandī," = "chair," which makes sense (we could translate "when the ‘udgātṛ’ actually climbs up to his chair..."). Therefore, there was a typo in the "Vedic Reserve" edition: आमन्दीम् instead of आसन्दीम्, due to the visual similarity of the letters म and स.