The Pāṇinian dhātu’s value in helping us reconnect to the civilizational code is, in our opinion, as yet underexplored. Exercises in dhātubhiḥ vyutpattiḥ- or etymology from dhātus- are exercises of synaptic reconnection to Indian civilizational consciousness¹. This is understood better by applying the technique to the word dhātu itself, which reveals it as a formation of the root √dhā with the tumun pratyaya- or purpose-giving affix- to make it “for the purpose of √dhā.” And √dhā here means to give, or provide. A dhātu is thus for the purpose of giving, but giving what? Meaning, or definition, of course, but this is the surface level purpose. Contextualised within the ontological framework of Dharma, a dhātu is for the purpose of cognition and understanding, ie, for illumination/insight. In other words, it is an instrument for the purpose of following a civilizational imperative- asato mā sadgmaya tamaso mā jyotirgamaya. From untruth to truth, from darkness to light, the dhātu can come to our aid.
As we learn and marvel at such ontology, we ask ourselves- what rooting could we give to our organisational purpose and being? What dhātus capture the essence we strive for? And what deeper meanings could such dhātus enable us to draw from? In this essay we share our musings with you. A preamble- this is not an exercise in the grammatical exactitudes of Saṃskṛta, and we aren’t wearing grammarian hats here. What we don, best we can, is the garb of cognitive linguistics- an approach that takes language as an in-road to cognition and workings of the human mind. In doing so, what emerged was an elegant symmetry that was invisible to us before taking the dhātu’s aid. It assured us of our intent, and even gave clarity we could translate over the long term in matters organisational and brand. Pāṇini stated that √dhā evokes dhāraṇa and poṣaṇa- holding/bearing, and nourishment. We humbly agree, and can explain this through a brief exegesis on three dhātus in specific- √bṛh, √bhū, √bhṛ (बृह्, भू, भृ).
√bṛh - बृह्
We posit that making the connection affirms a central truth to Dharma- it has Mind/Conscious Intent at its core. The expansion or increment of Mind is bṛh + man, or brahman, doubly affirmed by the connection of bṛh to speech- for Vāc is brahman’s first vibration. Deed, performance or creation, kṛ, when done with Conscious Intent, is kṛ + man, or karman. The established, stable, supporting Mind- dhṛ + man- yields dharman. This gives us personal significance, for what we aim to manifest, make real, is a civilizational intent. The dhātu √bṛh thus gives us more than just our name. It directs us to what we must draw from, what must guide us- the dhārmika core.
Footnotes:
¹ - or Bhāratīya Sāṃskṛtika Cetanā. The exercise we conduct here, when done to these three words, uncovers a significant bloom of synaptic reconnection. Watch out for our work at Project Bhārata for more on this.
² - or, alternately, from the root √bṛṃh (बृंह्). Pāṇini lists 3 roots- √bṛh, √bṛṃḥ and √barḥ that are similar in phonetic form, classification, meaning and are declined similarly. The derivation of words as cardinal as brahman from these is given in Pāṇini’s Uṇādi Sūtras, which evidences that the words were archaic even by his time- and the derivation thus purely formal and not related to the words’ actual meaning. In this essay we take at least the first two of these roots as interchangeable.
³ - Derived as अत्-मनिण्, is usually understood as ‘one who breathes on its own.’ Alternately, if rendered as आत् + मन्, it yields ‘the coming, or descent of Mind.’ Even in the first derivation, who/what was the first to breath on its own? Mind of course, or Brahman.