356. 1st person of the present (laṭ) employed as an imperative.

Instead of the 1st persons of the imperative, classic Sanskrit often uses the present (laṭ), sometimes when having the nature of a hortative, as gacchāmaḥ when = „let us go,” but especially in dubitative interrogations: kiṃ karomi kva gacchāmi (what shall I do, where shall I go?)

a.) present with hortative meaning. R. 2, 96, 20 athavehaiva tiṣṭhāvaḥ saṃnaddhāvudyatāyudhau (let us stand still here —), Panc. 86 tasyāt ma śarīradānaṃ kurmaḥ (let us present him with our body), Prabodh. II p. 29 bhavatu / asminn āsane samupaviśāmi [= -viśāni], R. 3, 61, 18 vanaṃ sarve vicinuvaḥ (let us search through the whole forest). (*1) — The idiom is regular with tāvat. Çâk. I bhavatu / pādapāntarita eva viśvastāṃ tāvadenāṃ paśyāmi (well, I will look on her —), Mudr. IV, p. 138 Malayaketu to Bhâgurâyaṇa tannopasarpāvaḥ śṛṇuvas tāvat (therefore, let us not approach, let us rather listen), Panc. 261 atraiva durge sthitastāvad vedya ko’yaṃ bhaviṣyati. Cp. yāvat with present 478 al. 2.

b) present in dubitative interrogations: Panc. 40 kiṃ… śastreṇa mārayāmi kiṃ vā viṣaṃ prayacchāmi kiṃ vā paśudharmeṇa vyāpādayāmi (shall I kill him with a weapon, or give him poison or put him to death as one kills a beast?), Hit. 95 kva yāmaḥ kiṃ vā kurmaḥ, Mhbh. 1, 155, 42 kiṃ karomy aham āryāṇāṃ niḥśaṅkaṃ vadatānaghāḥ (friends, tell me frankly, what shall I do for you = kiṃ karavāṇi-). An instance of this idiom in the passive voice may be Panc. 37 tatkiṃ kriyate [sc. āvābhyām] »what shall be done by us?”

(*1)
If these instances occurred only in verbs of the 1st conjugation, where the formal difference between the endings of the present and those of the imperative is a slight one, one could account for them in a satisfactory way by supposing errors of the copyists. But, in reality, instances being likewise found among the verbs of the 2d conjugation, it must be recognized, as we do, that the present instead of the imperative is idiomatic for the 1st person. Such phrases as kurmaḥ, śṛṇuvaḥ = kṛṇavāma and śṛṇavāva should have moved Cappeller in his edition of the Ratnâvalî in Boethlingk’s Chrestomathy to leave intact the presents of the kind, be has changed into imperatives.

356. Ipv.として用いられるPres.1st.（laṭ）

古典サンスクリットは、Ipv.1st.の代わりとしてしばしば現在時制（laṭ）を用い、時にgacchāmaḥ（私達を行かせてくれ）のように勧奨法的性質をもつ場合がある。特に疑いを表す疑問文では以下のようになる：kiṃ karomi kva gacchāmi (what shall I do, where shall I go?)

a.) 勧奨の意味を帯びるPres.
R. 2, 96, 20 athavehaiva tiṣṭhāvaḥ saṃnaddhāvudyatāyudhau (let us stand still here —)
Panc. 86 tasyāt ma śarīradānaṃ kurmaḥ (let us present him with our body)
Prabodh. II p. 29 bhavatu / asminn āsane samupaviśāmi [= -viśāni]
R. 3, 61, 18 vanaṃ sarve vicinuvaḥ (let us search through the whole forest) （*1）

この語法はふつうtāvatを伴う。
Çâk. I bhavatu / pādapāntarita eva viśvastāṃ tāvadenāṃ paśyāmi (well, I will look on her —)
Mudr. IV, p. 138 Malayaketu to Bhâgurâyaṇa tannopasarpāvaḥ śṛṇuvas tāvat (therefore, let us not approach, let us rather listen)
Panc. 261 atraiva durge sthitastāvad vedya ko’yaṃ bhaviṣyati

Pres.を伴うyāvatの用法を確認せよ（478 al. 2）。

b.) 疑いを表す疑問文でのPres.
Panc. 40 kiṃ… śastreṇa mārayāmi kiṃ vā viṣaṃ prayacchāmi kiṃ vā paśudharmeṇa vyāpādayāmi (shall I kill him with a weapon, or give him poison or put him to death as one kills a beast?)
Hit. 95 kva yāmaḥ kiṃ vā kurmaḥ
Mhbh. 1, 155, 42 kiṃ karomy aham āryāṇāṃ niḥśaṅkaṃ vadatānaghāḥ (friends, tell me frankly, what shall I do for you = kiṃ karavāṇi-)

この語法の受動態における用例は以下の通り：
Panc. 37 tatkiṃ kriyate [sc. āvābhyām] »what shall be done by us?’’

（*1）
もしこれらの用例が第1類の動詞でのみ起こるのであれば、Pres.の語尾とIpv.の語尾との形式的な違いがわずかである場合、それが筆写した人のミスであると想定すると、満足のいく方法で説明することができる。けれども、実際には、第2活用の動詞にも同様の例が見られるので、1st.の場合にはPres.がIpv.に代わる、ということがイディオム的であることを認めねばならない。kurmaḥ、śṛṇuvaḥ＝kṛṇavāma、śṛṇavāvaのような語句は、BöhtlingkのSanskrit-Chrestomathie所収Cappeller校訂版Ratnāvalīにおいて、その種のPres.をそのままにしておくべきであったところをIpv.に訂正されてしまっている。