क 1. the first consonant of the alphabet, and the first guttural letter (corresponding in sound to
k in
keep or
king).
क 2कस्,
का,
किम्, interrog.
pron. (See
किम् and 2.
कद्, and
cf. the following words in which the interrogative base
क appears,
कतम,
कतर,
कति,
कथम्,
कदा,
कर्हि,
का, &c.), who? which? what? In its declension
क follows the pronoun
तद् except in
nom. acc. sing. neut., where
किम् has taken the place of
कद् or
कत् in classical
Sanskṛt; but the old form
कद् is found in the
वेद (See,
[Gram. 227] );
क [
cf. Zd. ka,
kô,
kÂ,
kat;
Gk. πόθεν,
πῶς, (
Ion. κόθεν,
κῶς,)
τίς,
τί;
Lat. quis,
quid;
Lith. kasक॑;
Goth. hvas,
hvô,
hva,
Angl.Sax. hwā,
hwaet;
Eng. who,
what.]
क The interrogative sentence introduced by is often terminated by
इति (
e.g. कस्य स पुत्र इति कथ्यताम्, let it be said, ‘whose son is he?’), but
इति may be omitted and the sentence lose its direct interrogative character (
e.g. कस्य स पुत्रो न ज्ञायते, it is not known whose son he is). with or without √
1.अस् may express ‘how is it possible that?’ ‘what power have I, you, they, &c.?’ (
e.g. के मम धन्विनोऽन्ये, what can the other archers do against me?
के आवाम् परित्रातुम्, what power have we to rescue you?) is often connected with a demonstrative
pron. (
e.g. को ऽयम् आयाति, who comes here?) or with the potential (
e.g. को हरिं निन्देत्, who will blame
हरि?) is sometimes repeated (
e.g. कः को ऽत्र, who is there?
कान् कान्, whom? whom?
i.e. which of them?
cf. Gram. 54), and the repetition is often due to a kind of attraction (
e.g. केषां किं शास्त्रम् अध्ययनीयम्, which book is to be read by whom? Gram. 836.
अ). When
किम् is connected with the inst.
c. of a noun or with the indecl. participle it may express ‘what is gained by doing so, &c.?’ (=
कोऽर्थस्); (
e.g. किं विलम्बेन, what is gained by delay?
किम् बहुना, what is the use of more words?
धनेन किं यो न ददाति, what is the use of wealth to him who does not give? with inst. and
gen. ,
नीरुजः किम् औषधैः, what is the use of medicine to the healthy?)
क is often followed by the particles
इव,
उ,
नाम,
नु,
वा,
स्विद्, some of which serve merely to generalize the interrogation (
e.g. किम् इव एतद्, what can this be?
क उ श्रवत्, who can possibly hear?
को नाम जानाति, who indeed knows?
को न्वयम्, who, pray, is this?
किं नु कार्यम्, what is to be done?
को वा देवाद् अन्यः, who possibly other than a god?
कस्य स्विद् हृदयं ना-स्ति, of what person is there no heart?)
क is occasionally used alone as an indefinite pronoun, especially in negative sentences (
e.g. न कस्य को वल्लभः, no one is a favourite of any one;
ना-न्यो जानाति कः, no one else knows;
कथं स घातयति कम्, how does he kill any one?) Generally, however, is only made indefinite when connected with the particles
च,
चन॑,
चिद्,
वा, and
अ॑पि, in which case may sometimes be preceded by the relative
य (
e.g. ये के च, any persons whatsoever;
यस्यै कस्यै च देवतायै, to any deity whatsoever;
यानि कानि च मित्राणि, any friends whatsoever;
यत् किंच, whatever). The particle
चन, being composed of
च and
न, properly gives a negative force to the pronoun (
e.g. यस्माद् इन्द्राद् ऋते किंचन, without which
इन्द्र there is nothing), but the negative sense is generally dropped (
e.g. कश्चन, any one;
न कश्चन, no one), and a relative is sometimes connected with it (
e.g. यत् किंचन, anything whatsoever). Examples of
चिद् with the interrogative are common
वा and
अपि are not so common, but the latter is often found in classical
Sanskṛt (
e.g. कश्चिद्, any one;
केचिद्, some;
न कश्चिद्, no one;
न किंचिद् अपि, nothing whatsoever;
यः कश्चिद्, any one whatsoever;
केचित् -
केचित्, some - others;
यस्मिन् कस्मिन् वा देशे, in any country whatsoever;
न को ऽपि, no one;
न किमपि, nothing whatever). may sometimes be used, like 2.
कद्, at the beginning of a compound. See
क-पूय, &c.
क m. 3.m. (according to native authorities)
N. of
प्रजापति or of a
प्रजापति,
[VS. xx, 4; xxii, 20] ;
[TS. i] ;
[ŚBr.] &c.
of
ब्रह्मन्,
[MBh. i, 32] ;
[BhP. iii, 12, 51; xii, 13, 19; 20] of
दक्ष,
[BhP. ix, 10, 10] of
विष्णु,
[L.] of
यम,
[L.] of
गरुडthe soul,
[Tattvas.] a particular comet,
[VarBṛS.] the sun,
[L.] fire,
[L.] splendour, light,
[L.] air,
[L.] a peacock,
[L.] the body,
[L.] time,
[L.] wealth,
[L.] sound,
[L.] a king,
[L.] काम-ग्रन्थि = (?)
क n. n. happiness, joy, pleasure,
[ChUp. iv, 10, 5] ;
[Nir.] &c.
water,
[MaitrS. i, 10, 10] ;
[ŚBr. x] ;
[Yājñ.] &c.
the head
hair, a head of hair,
[L.] क n. n. (also regarded as
ind.;
cf. 1.कम्.)
क 4. a
तद्धित affix (much used in forming adjectives; it may also be added to nouns to express diminution, deterioration, or similarity
e.g. पुत्रक, a little son;
अश्वक, a bad horse or like a horse).