THE PARTICLE KILA/KIRA in SANSKRIT, 'PRAKRIT and the PALI JATAKAS W Categories A--D in the Use of the Particle Kila/Kira Four Ca
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LEENDERT A. VAN DAALEN THE PARTICLE KILA/KIRA IN SANSKRIT, 'PRAKRIT AND THE PALI JATAKAS w INTRODUCTION w Categories A--D In the use of the particle kila/kira four categories must be distinguished. Emeneau recognized one category only: cat. A (see w Ickler recognized two categories, which very much correspond to my categories A and B (see w The aim of this article is to give a survey of categories A and B (w to defend the thesis that two more categories must be recognized (w and to draw attention to some particulars (w In categories A and B the particle is used because the speaker has some reservation towards the facts stated, since he is not quite sure of them. In cat. A he uses it when he passes on something he has heard, but which he cannot check himself: he has his knowledge from hearsay only. In cat. B he uses the particle when he expresses an expectation or a conclusion which he is not quite sure of. Cat. C is concerned with the particle in a pair of antithetical sentences; here, it is easily translatable into English. Cat. D is kila hetau, kila expressing the cause, the ground; in a number of cases 'for' will do as a translation. As far as categories A and B are concerned the English language has no ready word to express what the particle conveys; it has to use periphrases or, as they are styled here: translation-aids. CATEGORY A -- kila/kira in reported speech: the person speaking passes on (in some cases: repeats to himself or others) some information he has from hearsay, but which he cannot check himself. This information may be an account of some event, some news, a letter, a message to him or others, a rumour, etc. Cf. e.g. Bhbh. URC 1,30+: in the picture-gallery Rama, Sitfi and Laksmana have come to the picture of Lake Pampfi, Sitfi says: ettha kila ajjauttena . pamukkakantham, run. n. am dsi, "C'est 1~, re'a-t- on dit, que mon dpoux..., 6clata en sanglots ..."; transl. Stchoupak, who adds in a note: "kila: les 6vdnements dont il est maintenant question se sont pass6s aprbs l'enl6vement de Sitfi, elle ne les connait que par oui-dire." "M'a-t-on dit" is a good translation-aid: 'I've been told'. Other translation- aids, dependent on the context, are: 'he/she says', 'they say', 'it is said' and similar expressions, cf. w and see w Indo-lranian Journal 31 (1988), 111--137. 1988 by Kluwer Academic Publishers. 112 LEENDERT A. VAN DAALEN CATEGORY B -- kila/kira is used in sentences expressing expectations, suppositions, conclusions which are not entirely warranted by the evidence, in short any statement the speaker is not quite sure of. Or, approaching the particle from the opposite side, we can say that it would be surprising to find it being used in the phrasing of a positive mathematical proof. Kill. gak. 2,2 is an instance. At gak. 2,1ff. the king is tormented by conflicting thoughts as to whether gakuntalil reciprocates his love or not. At 2,1 he thinks she does, but he corrects himself at 2,1+. 2,2: Her glances, gait, her quick rebuke addressed to her companion, sarvam tat kila matparglyan,am. aho kdmi svatdm, pa~yati, "all that indeed (I fancy) had reference to me. Ah! A lover sees his own self everywhere!" (transl. Kale). ~ Substitute 'I think', 'no doubt', 'I fancy', or a similar expression, for "indeed (I fancy)"; "indeed" must be deleted. See further w CATEGORY C -- The particle in either member of a pair of antithetical sentences: the particle in the prior member: the contextual translations 'it is true', 'to be sure', 'certainly' or sire. are adequate. Cf. e.g. Kill. Mill. 3,0,24 duve vi kila dgamin, o paoaniun, d a, kim du sissdgun, avisesena un.n. amido ganadgtso, "They are, both of them, experts in the science and proficient in execution to be sure, but G. was ranked higher on account of the special merits of his pupil." the particle in the posterior member: the contextual translations are 'yet', 'notwithstanding (this)' or similar expressions. Cf. e.g.J.6,414,21: mama putto pand. ito pafisanthdrakusalo imingt kira saddhim n'eva patisanth6ram akdsi ... iti, "... (the king) thought to himself: 'My son is wise and knows well how to be courteous; yet he would not speak courteously to this man ...'" (tr. Cowell). 'Yet'; -- Dutch (stressed) 'toch'. See further w CATEGORY D -- kila hetau, where the particle is excellently translated by Dutch (unstressed, and never at the head of a sentence) 'toch' or 'immers', German 'doch' or j , the nearest Skt. word being hi. The English language may use 'for' or it may leave the particle untranslated. The language meets with the same difficulty in translating Skt. hi or Latin enim. J.l,116,16 is an instance: a brother could not learn a single ghthil, consisting of four lines, in four months; imam ekam gdtham catuhi mdsehi gan. hitu.m ndsakkhi, so kira Kassapasammdsambuddhakdle pabbajitvd pafifiavd hutvd afihatarassa dandhabhikkhuno uddesagahan, akdle parihdsakelim, akdsi. "He could not learn that single gfithil in four months." Tr. Cowell: "For, we are told, in the Buddhahood of Kassapa this little Wayman, having himself attained to knowledge as a brother, laughed to scorn a dull brother who was learning a passage by heart." The sentence with kira informs us of the .