The Uses of átas and átra in the Maitrayani Samhita

Abstract

The Vedic pronominal adverbs átas and átra have often been assigned to the paradigm of idám, the pronoun of proximal deixis. It is not possible, however, always to understand them in the sense of ‘from here’ and ‘here’. The Vedic pronominal system is constituted by three pronouns of contextual reference (sá-/tá, esá-/etá-, ena-/a-) and two pronouns that refer to space (proximal idám, distal adás). The adverbs tátas and tátra belong to the paradigm of sá-tá-; itás and iha to that of idám; amútas and amútra to that of adás. But esá-/etá- and ena-/a- are without formally corresponding ablative and locative adverbs. On the other hand, átas and átra must have their proper place somewhere in the pronominal system.A survey of all the 61 examples for átas (26) and átra (35) in the MaitrayaniSamhita has led to the following result: The sentences including átas and átra often play the same role as the sentences with the ‘anamnestic’ pronoun esa-/eta-. Typically, they give the reason of a contextually evident ritual act.In many átra examples (26 of 35), no preceding noun is found to which the adverb could refer, and a meaning ‘in this (ritual) situation (evident from the context)’ is strongly suggested. One example of átas refers to something that is not explicitly mentioned by a preceding noun, but can be understood from the context. This particular usage is reminiscent of the way in which ena-/a-is used. This usage will be discussed as a case of ‘anaphoric-associative’ reference.