Today we will look at the form दृढभक्तिः mNs from रघुवंशम् 12.19.

दृढभक्तिरिति ज्येष्ठे राज्यतृष्णापराङ्‍मुखः । मातुः पापस्य भरतः प्रायश्चित्तमिवाकरोत्॥ १२-१९ ॥

मल्लिनाथ-टीका
ज्येष्ठे दृढभक्ती राज्यतृष्णापराङ्‍मुखो भरत इति पूर्वोक्तानुष्ठानेन मातुः पापस्य प्रायश्चित्तं तदपनोदकं कर्माकरोदिव इत्युत्प्रेक्षा । दृढभक्तिरित्यत्र दृढशब्दस्य ‘स्त्रियाः पुंवत्’ – इत्यादिना पुंवद्भावो दुर्घटः । ‘अप्रियादिषु’ इति निषेधात् । भक्तिशब्दस्य प्रियादिषु पाठात् । अतो दृढं भक्तिरस्येति नपुंसकपूर्वपदो बहुव्रीहिरिति गणव्याख्याने दृढभक्तिरित्येवमादिषु पूर्वपदस्य नपुंसकस्य विवक्षितत्वात्सिद्धमिति समाधेयम् । वृत्तिकारश्च दीर्घनिवृत्तिमात्रपरो दृढभक्तिशब्दो लिङ्गविशेषस्यानुपकारकत्वात् स्त्रीत्वमविवक्षितमेव, तस्मादस्त्रीलिङ्गत्वाद्दृढभक्तिशब्दस्यायं प्रयोग इत्यभिप्रायः । न्यासकारोऽप्येवम् । भोजराजस्तु – कर्मसाधनस्यैव भक्तिशब्दस्य प्रियादिपाठाद्भवानीभक्तिरित्यादौ कर्मसाधनत्वात् पुंवद्भावप्रतिषेधः, दृढभक्तिरित्यादौ भावसाधनत्वात् पुंवद्भावसिद्धिः पूर्वपदस्येत्याह ।। १९ ।।

Translation – Bharata, who had a firm devotion to his elder [brother] and was averse to the greed for the kingdom, thus made, as it were, atonement for the sin of his mother.

(1) दृढं भक्तिर्यस्य सः = दृढभक्ति: (भरत:) – He (Bharata) who had a firm devotion.

(2) दृढ सुँ + भक्ति सुँ । By 2-2-24 अनेकमन्यपदार्थे – Two or more terms having the designation पदम् and ending in the nominative case may optionally compound to yield a बहुव्रीहि: compound provided the terms are employed to denote the sense of another पदम् (which is not part of the compound.)

(3) By the सूत्रम् 1-2-43 प्रथमानिर्दिष्टं समास उपसर्जनम् – the term ‘दृढ सुँ’ as well as ‘भक्ति सुँ’ gets the designation उपसर्जनम् because in the सूत्रम् 2-2-24 अनेकमन्यपदार्थे (which prescribes the compounding) the term अनेकम् ends in the nominative case. And hence 2-2-30 cannot help us in deciding which term to place in the prior position in the compound.

The adjective ‘दृढ सुँ’ is placed in the prior position in the compound as per the सूत्रम् 2-2-35 सप्तमीविशेषणे बहुव्रीहौ – In a बहुव्रीहि: compound the पदम् which ends in a seventh case affix or is an adjective takes the prior position.

Note: ‘दृढ सुँ + भक्ति सुँ’ gets the designation प्रातिपदिकम्‌ by 1-2-46 कृत्तद्धितसमासाश्च। This allows 2-4-71 to apply in the next step.

(4) दृढ + भक्ति । By 2-4-71 सुपो धातुप्रातिपदिकयोः – A सुँप् affix takes a लुक् elision when it is a part of a धातुः or a प्रातिपदिकम्।

Note: By 6-3-34 स्त्रियाः पुंवद्भाषितपुंस्कादनूङ् समानाधिकरणे स्त्रियामपूरणीप्रियादिषु – A feminine adjective which does not end in the feminine affix ‘ऊङ्’ (ref. 4-1-66 ऊङुतः etc) and is formed from a masculine base denoting the same meaning becomes masculine-like when it is followed by a feminine final member (of a compound) which has समानाधिकरणम् (same locus/reference) but not if the final member denotes an ordinal number or belongs to the class of words ‘प्रिया’ etc.
In the present example the feminine final member ‘भक्ति’ of the compound belongs to the प्रियादि-गणः। Hence if we were to analyze the compound as दृढा भक्तिर्यस्य स: we would get the final form as ‘दृढाभक्ति’ (which is also a valid form) but not the form ‘दृढभक्ति’ used in the verse. The exclusion ‘अप्रियादिषु’ (mentioned in the सूत्रम् 6-3-34) would prevent ‘दृढा’ from taking its masculine-like form ‘दृढ’। This is the reason for analyzing the compound as दृढं भक्तिर्यस्य सः in order to get the form ‘दृढभक्ति’। The use of the neuter form दृढम् is justified by the maxim सामान्ये नपुंसकम् – the neuter gender is used to refer to something in general terms. In order words, neuter is the default gender. When a word is not intended to be gender-specific it is used in the neuter gender. That is how दृढम् has been used in the विग्रह: – दृढं भक्तिर्यस्य सः।

See question 2.

= दृढभक्ति ।

The gender of a बहुव्रीहि: compound matches that of which it qualifies. In the present example दृढभक्तिः is qualifying भरतः । Hence we assign the masculine gender to the compound प्रातिपदिकम् ‘दृढभक्ति’। It declines like हरि-शब्द:।

The विवक्षा is प्रथमा-एकवचनम् ।

(5) दृढभक्ति + सुँ । By 4-1-2 स्वौजसमौट्छष्टाभ्याम्भिस्ङेभ्याम्भ्यस्ङसिँभ्याम्भ्यस्ङसोसाम्ङ्योस्सुप्।

(6) दृढभक्ति + स् । अनुबन्ध-लोपः by 1-3-2 उपदेशेऽजनुनासिक इत् and 1-3-9 तस्य लोपः।

(7) दृढभक्ति: । रुँत्व-विसर्गौ by 8-2-66 ससजुषो रुः and 8-3-15 खरवसानयोर्विसर्जनीयः।

Questions:

1. In verses 5-10 of Chapter Six of the गीता can you spot a बहुव्रीहिः compound in which the पूर्वपदम् has taken पुंवद्भाव:?

2. Commenting on the use of the form दृढम् (in दृढं भक्तिर्यस्य सः) the तत्त्वबोधिनी says – अदार्ढ्यनिवृत्तिमात्रपरत्वेनात्र दृढशब्दप्रयोगान्न लिङ्गविशेषविवक्षा। Please explain.

3. The seventh case affix in the form ज्येष्ठे used in the verse is prescribed by the सूत्रम् 2-3-36 सप्तम्यधिकरणे च because ‘ज्येष्ठ’ has the designation अधिकरणम् as per the सूत्रम् 1-4-45 आधारोऽधिकरणम्। आधारः is of three kinds (i) औपश्लेषिक: involving contact or proximity (ii) वैषयिक: involving a subject matter (iii) अभिव्यापक: involving pervasion. Which one (of these three) is it here?

4. In which word in the commentary has the affix ‘खल्’ been used?

5. Where has the सूत्रम् 6-4-65 ईद्यति been used in the commentary?

6. How would you say this in Sanskrit?
“Knowledge and renunciation come only to the one whose devotion is firm.” Use the verbal root √इ (इण् गतौ २. ४०) preceded by the उपसर्ग: ‘उप’ for ‘to come to (to approach.)’

Easy questions:

1. In which word in the verses has the सूत्रम् 6-1-111 ऋत उत्‌ been used?

2. Can you spot the affix ‘उ’ in the verses?