कर्ता स्वतन्त्रित्युक्तो हेतुकर्ता प्रयोजकः ।
प्रयोजकाधीनकर्ता प्रयोज्य इति स त्रिधा ॥
kartā svatantra ity ukto hetu-kartā prayojakaḥ |
prayojakādhīna-kartā prayojya iti sa tridhā ||
(Hari-nāmāmṛta-vyākaraṇa-vṛtti: 930)
“A kartā (agent) is called the svatantra (the independent agent), a hetu-kartā (causative agent) the prayojaka (the engaging agent)m and a prayojakādhīna-kartā (an agent under the control of a prayojaka) the prayojya (an engaged agent). Thus he [i.e., a kartā (agent)] is of three types [i.e., an agent can be (1) an independent agent who both causes and performs an action, (2) an engaging agent who causes an action to be performed but does not perform it personally, and (3) an engaged agent who does not cause the action to be performed but performs it under the control of an engaging agent].”