MacDonnell II - Wilbourhall.org

kasmai213] PEKFECT. IMPERFECT. AORIST 345in certain jmrts of the AB. (vi-viii) and the SB. (i-v ; xi, xii, xiv),while the impf. is used elsewhere in B. ^MS., TS., K.,TB., PB., AB. i-v ;SB. \i-x, xiii;. Thus iii the former nvhoa, said and devas ca^dsurasca pasprdhire ihe gods and theAsuras icere in conflict, in the latter abravitand aspardhanta would be used. There are, of course, exceptions inboth groups.B. The imperfect is the past tense of narration, neverhaving any relation to the present as the perf. and the aor.have ; e. g. ahann ahim . . .pra vaksana abhinat parvatanamJie sleiv the serpent; lie pierced the hellies of the mountains(i. 32\) ;na vai tvam tad akaror yad aham abravam youdid not do luhat I said (SB.). The impf. has also to do dutyfor the pluperfect, as in the relativeclause of the precedingexample, which is equivalent to what I had told you,C. The aorist iud. expresses that an action has occurredin the past with reference to the present. It neitherdescribes nor indicates duration, but simply states a fact.It may nearly always be translated by the English presentperfect.The aor. usually expresses the immediate past ; e. g. pratidivo adarsi duhita the daughter of heaven has appeared(iv. 52') ; yasmad du§vapnyad abhaisma^^^apa tad uchatvilet her (Dawn) drive aivay tvith her light the evil dream that ivehave feared (viii.47^^).a. In B. three uses of the aor. ind. may be distinguished: 1. itexpresses what has occurred in the speaker's experience, verycommonly in tlie statement made by the witness of an action ;e. g.tato ha gandharvah sd.m iidire :jyok va iydm urvasi manusyesvavatsit tlten the Gandharvas spoke together : this Urvasi has dwelt long amongmen {SB.). As compared with the impf. it never narrates ; e.g. yajnovai devebhya ud akramat; te deva abruvan :yajno vai na udakramit the sacrifice went away from the gods ; the gods then said : the sacrificehas gone axvaij from us (AB.) ;tam yd.d dprchant sabravid: adya^am^ta^_^lti lohen they askt'd her, she said : he has died to-day (MS.) t^m;:aprchan tvam ahausir iti they asked him : to tohom have yousacrificed? (MS.); t^m deva abruvan: mahan va ayam abhiid yovrtrdm dvadhid iti the gods said of him : he has shotvu. himself great who hasslain Vrtra (TS.) ; t6 ha^ucur : agndye tistha^iti tatas tasthav, agnayeva asthad iti tam agnav a,juha,vnh they said : stand still for Agni ; then