Here we have everything that is given by Sanskrit grammarians in place of what we should call the Chapter on the Infinitive in Greek and Latin. The only thing that has to be added is the provision, understood in Pâṇini’s grammar, that such suffixes as tum, etc., are indeclinable.
And why are they indeclinable? For the simple reason that they are themselves case terminations. Whether Pâṇini was aware of this, we cannot tell with certainty. From some of his remarks it would seem to be so. When treating of the cases, Pâṇini (I. 4, 32) explains what we should call the dative by Sampradâna. Sampradâna means giving (δοτική), but Pâṇini uses it here as a technical term, and assigns to it the definite meaning of “he whom one looks to by any act” (not only the act of giving, as the commentators imply). It is therefore what we should call “the remote object.” Ex. Brâhmaṇâya dhanam dadâti, he gives wealth to the Brâhman. This is afterwards extended by several rules explaining that the Sampradâna comes in after verbs expressive of pleasure caused to somebody (I. 4, 33); after ślâgh, to applaud, hnu, to dissemble, to conceal, sthâ,[31] to reveal, śap, to curse (I. 4, 34); after dhâray, to owe (I. 4, 35); spṛh, to long for (I. 4, 36); after verbs expressive of anger, ill-will, envy, detraction (I. 4, 37); after râdh and îksh, if they mean to consider concerning a person (I. 4, 39); after pratiśru and âśru, in the sense of according (I. 4, 40); anugṛ and pratigṛ, in the sense of acting in accordance with (I. 4, 41); after parikrî, to buy, to hire (I. 4, 44). Other cases of Sampradâna are mentioned after such words as namaḥ, salutation to, svasti, hail, svâhâ, salutation to the gods, svadhâ, salutation to the manes, alam, sufficient for, vashaṭ, offered to, a sacrificial invocation, etc. (II. 3, 16); and in such expressions as na tvam triṇâya manye, I do not value thee a straw (II. 3, 17); grâmâya gacchati, he goes to the village (II. 2, 12): where, however, the accusative, too, is equally admissible. Some other cases of Sampradâna are mentioned in the Vârttikas; e.g., I. 4, 44, muktaye harim bhajati, for the sake of liberation he worships Hari; vâtâya kapilâ vidyut, a dark red lightning indicates wind. Very interesting, too, is the construction with the prohibitive mâ; e.g. mâ câpalâya, lit. not for unsteadiness, i.e., do not act unsteadily.[32]
In all these cases we easily recognize the identity of Sampradâna with the dative in Greek and Latin. If therefore we see that Pâṇini in some of his rules states that Sampradâna takes the place of tum, the so called infinitive, we can hardly doubt that he had perceived the similarity in the functions of what we call dative and infinitive. Thus he says that instead of phalâny âhartum yâti, he goes to take the fruits, we may use the dative and say phalebhyo yâti, he goes for the fruits; instead of yashṭum yâti, he goes to sacrifice, yâgâya yâti, he goes to the act of sacrificing (II. 3, 14–15).
But whether Pâṇini recognized this fact or not, certain it is that we have only to look at the forms which in the Veda take the place of tum, in order to convince ourselves that most of them are datives of verbal nouns. As far as Sanskrit grammar is concerned, we may safely cancel the name of infinitive altogether, and speak instead boldly of datives and other cases of verbal nouns. Whether these verbal nouns admit of the dative case only, and whether some of those datival terminations have become obsolete, are questions which do not concern the grammarian, and nothing would be more unphilosophical than to make such points the specific characteristic of a new grammatical category, the infinitive. The very idea that every noun must possess a complete set of cases, is contrary to all the lessons of the history of language; and though the fact that some of these forms belong to an antiquated phase of language has undoubtedly contributed towards their being used more readily for certain syntactical purposes, the fact remains that in their origin and their original intention they were datives and nothing else. Neither could the fact that these datives of verbal nouns may govern the same case which is governed by the verb, be used as a specific mark, because it is well known that, in Sanskrit more particularly, many nouns retain the power of governing the accusative. We shall now examine some of these so-called infinitives in Sanskrit.
Datives in e.
The simplest dative is that in e, after verbal bases ending in consonants or â, e.g., dṛśé, for the sake of seeing, to see; vid-é, to know, paribhveê,[33] to overcome; śraddhé kám, to believe.
Datives in ai.
After some verbs ending in â, the dative is irregularly (Grammar, §§ 239, 240) formed in ai; Rv. VII. 19, 7, parâdái, to surrender. III. 60, 4, pratimái, to compare, and the important form vayodhái, of which more by and by.
Accusatives in am. Genitives and Ablatives in as. Locatives in i.
By the side of these datives we have analogous accusatives in am, genitives and ablatives in as, locatives in i.