यूनिवर्सिटी ऑफ़ मिशिगन
Notes on V + डाल-
in the expression of hasty or violent action
Composed of the non-finite form of the
main (or polar) verb followed by the inflected form of a
vector, compound verbs are a frequently occurring feature of
Hindi-Urdu. In (1) कह is the polar and
दो is the imperative form of the
vector दे :
1. कह दो,
कह दो, जो कहना चाहते हो।
'Say it! Whatever you want to say. Say
it!'
(from आधे अधूरे by मोहन राकेश , p. 28 )
Of the four vectors most commonly used to form compound verbs ( जा, दे,
ले, and डाल ), vector डाल occurs the least frequently. Along with the
sense of completeness that is common to all compound verbs, it is almost
always the case that vector डाल reveals
the speaker's attitude toward an action or expresses his or her overall
evaluation of it. To some extent the central meanings of its polar (or
non-auxiliary) counterpart डाल (viz.
'throw; pour') are recognizable in the ways in which vector डाल is used in compound verbs. While speakers may or
may not be making such mental connections when using compound verbs in
डाल, they can still be useful to students
of Hindi in getting a handle on what kinds of combinations come easily to
native speakers. Let us see how often compound verbs in डाल can be thought of as expressing 'thrown' or
'poured' actions.
A. Pouring (out) or throwing (away) as
getting rid of something, becoming free of it, willingly or not:
2. औरर
क्या-क्या बात रह गयी है
कहने को बाक़ी ? वह
भी कह डालो जल्दी से।
'What other things do you have left to
say? Hurry up and say them, too!'
(from आधे अधूरे by मोहन राकेश , p. 20 )
3. उसने तो
खेत-बारी सब
बेच-बाच डाली अैर अब
भगवान ही जाने उसका निबाह कैसे होगा
?
'He had sold off all his fields and
farm and only God knew how he would manage.'
(from Chapter Thirty-six of
गोदान. See context.)
4. " हाँ,
मतई के ब्याह का क्या
हुआ ? हमारी सलाह
तो है कि उसका ब्याह कर डालो। अब तो बड़ी
बदनामी हो रही है। "
'..."Where are things with
Mataï's marriage? My advice would be for you to marry her off.
People are beginning to talk."
(from Chapter Twenty-three of
गोदान. See context.)
B. Pouring out or throwing away as
tossing off. Use of डाल to suggest
casual, inattentive, or careless action, action done for the sake of
getting something done, or "over and done with":
5. नाटक कोई अच्छा न
मिला। कोई तो इतना लंबा कि शायद
पाँच घण्टों में भी ख़तम न हो
औरर कोई इतना क्लिष्ट कि शायद यहाँ एक व्यक्ति भी
उसका
अर्थ न समझे। आख़िर मैंने स्वयम एक
प्रहसन लिख डाला, जो
दो घण्टों में पूरा हो
जायगा।
'I couldn't find any good play. One
would be so long it would take five hours to perform; another was written
in such stilted language that no-one in the audience here would understand
it. Finally I myself dashed off a satirical review that will take only
two hours to perform.'
(from Chapter Six of गोदान. See context.)
In (6) the use of vector डाल suggests
that the speaker does not intend a very elaborate remembrance of his
titular master, the नवाब of Lucknow:
6. मीर ने
कहा -- आइए नवाब साहब
के मातम में एक मरसिया कह डालें।
'Said Mîr, "Come, let us recite
a marsiyâ in memory of the Navâb."'
(from Section N of प्रेमचन्द 's story शत्रंज के खिलाड़ी. See context.)
C. Pouring or throwing as inducing
rapid acceleration: Vector डाल is often
used to express hurried, even hasty completion of action.
7. तुमने जल्दी
में सोचा कि इसे खा डाला जाय !
'In your haste you thought, "Let's eat
this up!"'
(from अण्डे के छिलके by मोहन राकेश, p. 34 )
D. Throwing as forceful propelling.
Vector डाल may be used to
express violent performance of an action:
8. तू देख रहा
है बेटा, तेरी
माँ को जूते मारे जा रहे
हैं ! यों
विलाप करके उसने अपने क्रोध के साथ
होरी के क्रोध को भी क्रियाशील बना डाला।
आग को फूँक-फूँक कर उसमें ज्वाला पैदा कर
दी।
'"As you can see, Son, your Mom is
being beaten with shoes!"
Calling out this way, she turned her
own rage and Hori's rage into violent action. Blowing on the fire she
turned it into a conflagration.'
(from Chapter Four of गोदान. See context.)
Vector डाल occurs frequently in the
expression of inherently violent acts such as those denoted by तोड़ 'break', फोड़ 'smash', जला 'burn up', भस्म
कर 'incinerate', X का सर्वनाश
कर 'destroy X utterly', X की
बोटी-बोटी कर 'cut X to
pieces', कुचल 'trample on; crush',
पीस 'grind up, crush', etc.
9. वह ज्ञान जो
मानवता को पीस डाले, ज्ञान नहीं है, कोल्हू है।
'The knowledge that crushes humanity
is not knowledge. It is a grinding machine.'
(from Chapter Eighteen of गोदान. See context.)
10. फिर तो
उसमें इतनी शक्ति आ गयी कि उसने एक झटके
में पति की हथकड़ी तोड़ डाली . . .
'Then so much power flowed into her
that with a single jerk she broke the handcuffs that had been put on her
husband's hands . . .'
(from Chapter Ten of गोदान. See context.)
The compatibility of डाल with
polar verbs of violence and destruction carries over into the
corresponding causatives:
11. बस तू यहाँ
से चली जा ! . . . अगर
अब जाने में देर करेगी तो
कुत्तों से नुचवा
डालूँगा।
'That's it! You get out here. . . .
And if you don't leave right now, I'll have the dogs tear you apart.'
(from बयान 7 of Part Three of खत्री 's चन्द्रकान्ता )
The power of डाल to suggest violent
action and destructive force commonly lends itself to figurative use:
12. औरर ये रुपए
तुमसे औरर तुम्हारे भाइयों
से वसूल किये जाते हैं,
भाले की नोक पर।
मुझे तो यही आश्चर्य होता है कि
क्यों तुम्हारी आहों का दावानल
हमें भस्म नहीं कर डालता।
'And we extract this money from you
and your fellows at sword-point. I for one am astonished that the fire of
your tortured cries does not simply turn us to ash!'
(from Chapter Two of गोदान. See context.)
E. Throwing as a hostile act. In many
instances the use of डाल rather than some
other vector indicates that the speaker views an act as hostile, hence
undesirable:
13. मैं नहीं
कहता, देवियों
को शक्ति की ज़रूरत नहीं। है औरर
पुरुषों से अधिक; लेकिन वह विद्या औरर वह शक्ति
नहीं, जिससे
पुरुष ने संसार को हिंसाक्षेत्र बना डाला है। अगर वही
विद्या औरर वही शक्ति आप भी ले
लेंगी, तो
संसार मरुस्थल हो जायगा।
'I'm not saying that women do not need
power. They do and even more than men do. But not the knowledge and power
with which men have turned the world into a killing-field. If you women
also go after that same knowledge and power, then the world will become a
desert.'
(from Chapter Fifteen of गोदान. See context.)
From the notion of undesirable action emerges the consequent idea of
misguided action:
14. पहली स्त्री पाँच
लड़के-लड़कियाँ छोड़कर
मरी थी। उस समय इनकी अवस्था पैंतालिस के
लगभग थी; पर आपने
दूसरा ब्याह किया औरर जब उससे कोई सन्तान न
हुई, तो तीसरा ब्याह कर डाला। अब इनकी
पचास की अवस्था थी औरर दो जवान पत्नियाँ घर
में बैठी हुई थीं।
'His first wife had died leaving him
with five children. At the time his age was about forty-five, but he went
ahead and married again and when this resulted in no child he went and
married a third time. Now he was fifty years old with two young wives
sitting at home.'
(from Chapter Eleven of गोदान. See context.)
The possibility of using vector
डाल in compound verbs expressing
misguided action puts डाल in direct
competition with vector बैठ. In
both (14) and (15), for instance, the subject, enraged, calls someone
names. In (14) with main verb कह we find
vector डाल; in (15), बैठ :
15. अभी ज़रा देर
पहले धनिया ने क्रोध के आवेश
में झुनिया को कुलटा औरर
कंलकिनी औरर कलमुँही न जाने
क्या-क्या कह डाला था।
'Just a little while before in a fit
of rage Dhaniya had called Jhuniya a slut and a disgrace and a black sheep
and God knows what else.'
(from Chapter Eleven of गोदान. See context.)
16. अक्सर क्रोध
में गोविन्दी को अपशब्द कह बैठता . .
.
'In a rage he would often call Govindi
bad things.'
(from Chapter Eighteen of गोदान. See context.)
Indeed, either vector can be used to express regrettable actions in a
कहीं-clause:
17. उसके प्राण
सूखे जाते थे कि कहीं सिल्लो सब
कुछ कह न डाले।
'He was terrified that Sillo might
divulge everything.'
(from Chapter Thirty of गोदान. See context.)
18. हरदम थर-थर काँप रही है कि कहीं धनिया
कुछ कह न बैठे।
'She was constantly trembling in fear
that Dhaniya might say something to her.'
(from Chapter Eleven of गोदान. See context.)
How can vectors बैठ and डाल be distinguished from one another?
Vector डाल is wider in scope than बैठ. While almost all the instances of vector
बैठ occur in compound verbs
expressing some human act that is misguided or mistaken, डाल can be used in compound verbs with non-human
subjects [see exx (8), (9), (12)] as well as human ones. And unlike
बैठ, vector डाल can be used in several distinct meanings. Only
one of those "competes" with vector बैठ. Thus, the sequence ब्याह कर डाला in (14) could be replaced by its
counterpart in बैठ with very little
change in meaning, whereas the sequence ब्याह कर
डालो in (4) cannot be. The only way to make sense of this
difference is to recognize that there is more than one distinct
attitudinal meaning or connotation adhering to vector डाल.
Other differences: Compound verbs in
डाल can occur in the passive voice while
those in बैठ cannot:
19. जब तक समाज की व्यवस्था
ऊपर से नीचे तक बदल न डाली जाय, इस तरह की मण्डली से कोई फ़ायदा न
होगा।
'Unless and until the structure of
society is completely changed from top to bottom, there will be nothing to
show for associations of this kind.'
(from Chapter Thirty-two of
गोदान. See context.)
Vector डाल can occur with the
- ए of insistence. (See notes.) Vector बैठ cannot:
20. मुझसे अब तक
जितनी तपस्या हो सकी, मैंने की; लेकिन अब नहीं सहा जाता।
मालती मेरा सर्वनाश किये
डालती है। मैं अपने किसी शस्त्र से उस
पर विजय नहीं पा सकती।
'I have stood as much torture as I can
stand and I cannot stand any more. Mâlatî is gradually
destroying me. I have no weapon to defeat her.'
(from Chapter Eighteen of गोदान. See context.)
Other sections dealing with compound verbs:
General functions.
Marked
compound verbs ( कहे देता
हूँ ! )
Vector
बैठ .
Vector
पड़ .
Compound-compound verbs ( गमीर् मारके रख देती है।
)
To index of grammatical notes.
To index of मल्हार.
Drafted and posted 29-30 Apr 2001. Continued 1-2 May 2001.