1. Akkhaṇa
wrong time, bad luck, misadventure, misfortune. There are 9 enumerated at DN.iii.263; the usual set consists of 8; thus DN.iii.287; Vv-a.193; Sdhp.4 sq. See also khaṇa-vedhin (adj. n.) a skilled archer, one who shoots on the moment, i.e. without losing time, explained as one who shoots without missing (the target) or as quickly as lightning (akkhaṇa = vijju). In var. combinations; mostly as durepātin a. AN.i.284 (+ mahato kāyassa padāletā), AN.ii.170 sq. (id.), AN.i.202; AN.iv.423, AN.iv.425; Ja.ii.91 (explained as either avirādhita-vedhī or akkhaṇaṃ vuccati vijju: one who takes and shoots his arrows as fast as lightning), Ja.iii.322; Ja.iv.494 (C. explains aviraddha-vedhin vijju-ālokena vijjhana-samattha p. 497). In other combination at Ja.i.58 (akkhaṇavedhin + vālavedhin); Ja.v.129 (the 4 kinds of archers: a., vālavedhin, saddavedhin & saravedhin).
In BSk. we find akṣuṇṇavedha (a Sanskritised Pāli form cp. Mathurā kṣuṇa = Sk. kṣaṇa) at Divy.58, Divy.100, Divy.442 (always with dūrevedha), where MSS. however read akṣuṇa˚; also at Lal.178. See Divy Index, where translation is given as “an act of throwing the spear so as to graze the mark” (Schiefner gives “Streifschuss”).
Note. The explanations are not satisfactory. We should expect either an etym. bearing on the meaning “hitting the centre of the target” (i.e. its “eye”) (cp. E. bull’s eye), in which case a direct relation to akkha = akkhi eye would not seem improbable (cp. formation ikkhana or an etym. like “hitting without mishap”, in which case the expression would be derived directly from ak khaṇa (see prec.) with the omission of the neg. an-akkhaṇa in the meaning of “lightning” (Ja-a.ii.91) is not supported by literary evidence.
a + khaṇa, BSk. akṣaṇa Avs.i.291 = Avs.i.332