Simple Sanskrit – Lesson 10

Simple Sanskrit – Lesson 10

सरलं संस्कृतम् – दशमः (१०) पाठः |

Towards the end of previous Lesson 9, three aspects were mentioned for proceeding further. I propose to proceed with आत्मनेपदी धातु-s.

As mentioned in previous lesson, धातु-s in Sanskrit are परस्मैपदी, आत्मनेपदी or उभयपदी. Actually these names of classes of धातु-s have some meaning. The meaning can be deciphered as follows –

• परस्मैपदी धातु-s mean such धातु-s, whereby effect of the “action” is seen to influence someone or something else.
  • In the word परस्मैपदी there are two parts परस्मै and पदी. परस्मै means unto another. पदी can be interpreted to mean “having influence”. So परस्मैपदी would mean “having influence unto another”.
  • For example when saying अहं पाठशालां गच्छामि (I go to school), the school is going to have a new element there, i.e. myself.
  • Even when saying अहं वदामि (I say) my saying is going to cause new reverberations in the environment around me.
• आत्मनेपदी धातु-s mean such धातु-s, whereby effect of the “action” is seen to influence  the doer, the subject.
  • The word आत्मनेपदी also has two parts आत्मने and पदी. आत्मने means unto oneself and पदी as above can be interpreted to mean “having influence”. So आत्मनेपदी would mean “having influence unto oneself.
  • When saying चन्द्रः क्षीयते वर्धते च (moon waxes and wanes) the actions of waxing and waning influence the moon, the subject itself.
• In turn उभयपदी धातु-s mean such धातु-s, whereby effect of the “action” is seen to influence either the doer, (i.e. the subject) or someone (or something) else.
  • Eminent example of उभयपदी धातु is धातु ‘कृ’ (to do). An action of doing something has an influence both on doer and on something, that is done.
  • This brings to mind a line from गीता where it is said, “करणं कर्म कर्तेति त्रिविधः कर्मसंग्रहः” (१८-१८) meaning, “the tools, the action itself and the doer are three types of repositories of action”.
• The idea in citing the quote from गीता, is simply to detail that the consideration of which धातु is परस्मैपदी, आत्मनेपदी or उभयपदी seems to be very, very subtle. The nomenclatures परस्मैपदी, आत्मनेपदी, उभयपदी do have specific meaning. But it is difficult, at least for me to explain the concept very clearly. But there is no problem once one accepts whatever the पद of a particular धातु is. Practise will make it easier. Couple of examples given above are my own attempt to understand the concept. Admittedly the examples provide some help to understand the concept, but do not make it entirely clear.
  • For example it is difficult to explain how the verbal root स्था in सः तिष्ठति or सः उत्तिष्ठति is परस्मैपदी.

We have studied inflections of some 25 परस्मैपदी धातु-s in simple present, imperative and लिट् and लङ् past tenses. Here are inflections of a commonly used आत्मनेपदी धातु “लभ्”.

Table 10-1

Inflections of आत्मनेपदी धातु “लभ्”

No.	धातु (गण)	Meaning	काल / अर्थ	पुरुष	एकवचनम्	द्विवचनम्	बहुवचनम्
1	लभ् (१)	To get, to obtain, to gain	लट्-वर्तमान	प्रथम मध्यम उत्तम	लभते लभसे लभे	लभेते लभेथे लभावहे	लभन्ते लभध्वे लभामहे
			लोट्-आज्ञार्थ	प्रथम मध्यम उत्तम	लभताम् लभस्व लभै	लभेताम् लभेथाम् लभावहै	लभन्ताम् लभध्वम् लभामहै
			लिट्-भूतकाल	प्रथम	लेभे	लेभाते	लेभिरे
			लङ्-भूतकाल	प्रथम मध्यम उत्तम	अलभत अलभथाः अलभे	अलभेताम् अलभेथाम् अलभावहि	अलभन्त अलभध्वम् अलभामहि

Actually at http://tdil-dc.in/san/skt_gen/generators.html# they have facilitated obtaining inflexions for a large number of धातु-s in ten types of काल / अर्थ options, known as लकार-s. Of these ten लकार-s four are noted above under the column काल / अर्थ.

The ten लकार-s are described in Table 10-2.

Table 10-2

The ten लकार-s

No.	लकार	काल / अर्थ	Tense or mood
1	लट्	वर्तमान	Simple Present
2	लङ्	अनद्यतन भूतकाल	Simple Past
3	लिट्	परोक्ष भूतकाल	Past unseen by the speaker
4	लुङ्	तृतीय भूतकाल	Aorist (or Imperfect) Past
5	लृट्	द्वितीय-भविष्यत्काल also known as ‘स्य’-भविष्यत्काल	Simple future or future with certainty of action
6	लुट्	प्रथम-भविष्यत्काल also known as ता-भविष्यत्काल	Future indicating ‘likelihood’ of action
7	लृङ्		Conditional mood ‘might’
8	लोट्	आज्ञार्थ	Imperative
9	विधिलिङ्	विध्यर्थ	Potential mood ‘should’
10	आशीर्लिङ्	आशीर्वादार्थ	Benedictive mood i.e. ‘may’ as in “May God bless you”

I could not find an apt Sanskrit explanation for item 7 लृङ्. Actually various tenses and moods detailed above indicate only their general usages. There are also optional usages.

For example Simple present has optional usage

1. for Immediate past, e.g.
   • “When did you come ?” कदा त्वं आगतोऽसि
   • “Here I am” अयमागच्छामि
2. and also for immediate future e.g.
   • “When will you go to town ?” कदा ग्रामं गमिष्यसि ?
   • “Here I go” एषः गच्छामि
3. Both these optional usages are not just colloquial, but very much endorsed by Sanskrit grammar by Panini’s aphorism वर्त्तमानसामीप्ये वर्त्तमानवद्वा (पा. सूत्रम् ३-३-१३१) meaning “when present is close-by” or “when tense is similar to present tense”.
4. The लकारार्थप्रकरणम् (chapter on meanings of लकार-s) in आशुबोध-व्याकरणम् by तारानाथ तर्कवाचस्पति discusses as many as 49 सूत्र-s detailing various usages of different लकार-s. I wonder whether there is a readily available translation of such a useful and important chapter as this.
5. Actually the usages will be clearer when clarified by examples. The examples under para (1) are from this very book आशुबोध-व्याकरणम्

शुभमस्तु |

-o-O-o-

Simple Sanskrit – Lesson 9

Simple Sanskrit – Lesson 9

सरलं संस्कृतम् – नवमः (९) पाठः  |

Mention of past tense was made in the previous Lesson 8,

1. in the context of the question, “How many people were there ?” कति जनाः आसन् ?
2. also in the context “The proposal was accepted by some people.”  प्रस्तावः कतिभिश्चित् जनैः स्वीकृतः |
3. There is past tense also in the sentence विष्णुः त्रेधा निदधे पदम् i.e. विष्णु put his foot at three places.
4. Also in “I had wings grown on me” संजातपक्षः अभवम् |
5. Also in “In how many pieces did the wood-cutter break the log ?” दारुकर्मिणा दारुः कतिशः विभक्तः ?

Past tense in these five examples can be classified into 2 classes,

• In sentences 1, 3 and 4 there is a verb inflected in past tense.

• In sentences 2 and 5, स्वीकृतः (= was accepted) and विभक्तः (literally, ‘was broken’) are verbal derivatives, which serve the function of verb. Hence no verb is explicit.

This concept of verbal derivative धातुसाधित is a great concept. It makes the construction so crisp and simple !

As can be seen, स्वीकृतः (= was accepted) and विभक्तः (literally, ‘was broken’) have passive voice in-built. Such verbal derivative धातुसाधित with past tense and passive voice in-built is called as Past Passive Participle (ppp). Even in sentence 4 there is a ppp संजात. Use of ppp’s is quite commonplace in Sanskrit. It is often readily recognizable from the ending त. The word धातुसाधित is itself a ppp 🙂 !

In passive voice actual doer, the subject of active voice is mentioned with the preposition ‘by’. For example,

• “The proposal was accepted by some people.” The subject doing ‘accepting (or acceptance)’ is ‘some people’. In passive it gets the preposition ‘by’. So, here we have ‘by some people’.
• In Sanskrit, function of the preposition ‘by’ is served by Third case तृतीया विभक्ति. कतिभिश्चित् जनैः are in Third case, here plural.
• In “दारुकर्मिणा दारुः कतिशः विभक्तः ?” (In how many pieces was the log broken by the woodcutter ?) ‘by the woodcutter’ दारुकर्मिणा also is in Third case.

As can be seen, ppp’s are adjectives.

• In प्रस्तावः कतिभिश्चित् जनैः स्वीकृतः the ppp स्वीकृतः is adjective of प्रस्तावः.
• In दारुकर्मिणा दारुः कतिशः विभक्तः the ppp विभक्तः is adjective of दारुः.
• Between adjective and qualified noun the rule यल्लिङ्गं  यद्वचनं  या  च  विभक्तिर्विशेष्यस्य । तल्लिङ्गं  तद्वचनं  सा  च  विभक्तिर्विशेषणस्यापि ।। applies.
• As I have been emphasizing, in प्रस्तावः कतिभिश्चित् जनैः स्वीकृतः the noun प्रस्तावः is at the beginning and the adjective स्वीकृतः is at the end. But that does not matter. Which noun is qualified by the adjective is obvious from the fact that both प्रस्तावः and स्वीकृतः are masculine, first case, singular.
• Likewise, in दारुकर्मिणा दारुः कतिशः विभक्तः both दारुः and विभक्तः are masculine, first case, singular.

Another interesting point about ppp. Will there be a ppp of an intransitive verb ? The question arises, because in English, there cannot be passive voice of intransitive verbs. This is no problem in Sanskrit ! A commonplace example is of verb ‘to go’. In English ‘to go’ is intransitive. Sanskrit धातु for ‘to go’ is गम्. Its ppp is गत. In Sanskrit the place which is gone to or the way or path which is gone by are taken as objects. For example, for the sake of understanding the charm of Sanskrit ‘I went to school’ should be put in passive voice as ‘The school was gone to by me’. Then it becomes simple to put it in Sanskrit. मया पाठशाला गता | So we have a sweet, simple sentence in Sanskrit for translation of ‘I went to school’ by using a ppp, combining therein the past tense and the passive voice.

This brings to mind an interesting quote महाजनो येन गतः स पन्थाः This quote has been discussed in detail in Lesson No. 58 at http://slabhyankar.wordpress.com/ In the context of ppp, we have in this quote गतः which is adjective of पन्थाः. Actually this quote is interesting, because except for येन, all the other 4 out of 5 words are masculine, first case, singular पुंल्लिङ्गम् प्रथमा विभक्तिः एकवचनम्.
महाजनो येन गतः स पन्थाः –

• महाजनो = महाजन: masculine, first case, singular of noun महाजन
• येन = masculine, third case, singular of pronoun यत्
• गतः = masculine, first case, singular of ppp गत
• स = स: = masculine, first case, singular of pronoun तत्
• पन्थाः = masculine, first case, singular of noun पथिन्. Note this is a consonant (न्)-ending प्रातिपदिक, meaning ‘path, way’

Meaning of महाजनो येन गतः स पन्थाः can be interpreted in two different ways, depending upon two different modes of syntax or two different sequences for arranging the words.

1. महाजनो येन गतः, स पन्थाः = The path or the way, the great people went, is (the path).
   • meaning The way (to go by) is the way (by which) great people went.
2. महाजनो येन स पन्थाः गतः = Great is the person, who went that way.

The quote is actually from an episode in श्रीमन्महाभारतम् It is the answer given by युधिष्ठिर in reply to a question “कः पन्थाः ?” by यक्ष, who claimed to be the master of a lake and would not allow thirsty युधिष्ठिर to partake of the water, unless युधिष्ठिर would answer a few questions. Complete answer of युधिष्ठिर was –

तर्कोऽप्रतिष्ठः श्रुतयो विभिन्नाः ।

नैको मुनिर्यस्य मतं प्रमाणम् ।

धर्मस्य तत्त्वं निहितं गुहायाम् ।

महाजनो येन गतः स पन्थाः ॥

(Meaning – Science of Logic is not definitive; the scriptures are many and varied; there is no one sage, whose saying can be taken as the norm; code of righteous conduct is enshrined in cave (or in mystery). Hence the way to go is the way a great person has gone by.)

Is this too much of ppp and the passive voice in-built therein ? One need not be overawed by the passive voice of ppp. Sanskrit provides an option of an active voice participle also, and in past tense. Active Past Participle (app) is derived from ppp by affixing a suffix वत् to the ppp. For example गतवत् is app derived from ppp गत. The procedure is simple.

Table 9-1

Use of ppp and app

English active voice	English passive voice	Using ppp	Using app
I went to school	School was gone to by me	मया पाठशाला गता	अहं पाठशालां गतवान्

Note

• in मया पाठशाला गता the noun-adjective pair is पाठशाला गता
• In अहं पाठशालां गतवान् the noun (or pronoun)-adjective pair is अहं गतवान्.
• This is perfectly according to the passive and active voice constructs.
• गतवान् is masculine, first case, singular of गतवत्.
• गता is feminine, first case, singular of गत.
• गत, गता, गतवत्, गतवान् seem to be similar to ‘gone’ in English. However there is a difference. In English ‘gone’ is not complete by itself, nor can it stand by itself. It is an appendage as in “is gone”, “has gone”, etc. As against this, गत, गता, गतवत्, गतवान् when inflected are complete; they can stand by themselves. They are adjectives. I do not know what ‘gone’ is in English grammar. Possibly ‘gone’ is a participle. In Sanskrit dictionaries also गत is mentioned as a participle, pp, possibly following the style set by English grammarians.
• Truly speaking गत is an adjective कर्मणि-भूतकालवाचक-धातुसाधित-विशेषणम् (क. भू. धा. वि.) Certainly क. भू. धा. वि. is far better refined than a ‘participle’. That is what Sanskrit is – ‘refined’ ! Note, कर्मणि stands for Passive (Voice प्रयोग)
• By that token, गतवत् is कर्तरि-भूतकालवाचक-धातुसाधित-विशेषणम् (क. भू. धा. वि.). Note, कर्तरि stands for Active (Voice प्रयोग)

Having said, “gone’ is an appendage as in ‘is gone’, ‘has gone’ etc. brings into discussion the aspect that in English all tenses, Past, Present, Future have four sub-types, such as Present Simple, Present Continuous, Present Perfect and Present Perfect Continuous. Now that we are discussing Past Tense, question arises about Sanskrit equivalents of Past Simple, Past Continuous, Past Perfect and Past Perfect Continuous.

Table 9-2

Sanskrit equivalents of Past Simple, Past Continuous,

Past Perfect and Past Perfect Continuous

No.	Type of Past Tense	Example in English	Sanskrit equivalents
1	Past Simple	He went	सः अगच्छत् or कति जनाः आसन् or संजातपक्षः अभवम्
2	Past Continuous	He was going	सः गच्छन् आसीत्
3	Past Perfect	He had gone	सः गतवान् आसीत् or सः गतः आसीत्
4	Past Perfect Continuous	He had been going	सः गच्छन् आसीत्

As can be seen the four types of Past Tense still do not cover the Past Tense as in विष्णुः त्रेधा निदधे पदम्
Actually there is a fundamental conceptual difference in Sanskrit connotation of types of Past Tense. This is one reason why my attempt at giving Sanskrit-equivalents for Types 2 and 4 in above table led me to coin them identical.

It comes to mind that possibly English type ‘Past Continuous’ implies some continuity of another action apart from given one of ‘He was going’. For example, ‘As he was going, his friend came by.’ सः गच्छन् आसीत् तदा एव सुहृदः आगतः or तस्य गच्छतः सुहृदः आगतः The latter style तस्य गच्छतः सुहृदः आगतः wherein तस्य and गच्छतः are both in Sixth case is called as सत्-षष्ठी construct.

If one action has already just happened and another action takes place, e.g. ‘He went and his friend came by.’ or ‘After he went, his friend came by’, or ‘As he went, his friend came by’; then one would say, तस्मिन् गते सुहृदः आगतः Here, तस्मिन् and गते both are in Seventh Case. This is called as सति-सप्तमी construct.

As can be seen, both सत्-षष्ठी and सति-सप्तमी constructs are equivalents of the sub-clauses ‘As he was going’, ‘After he went’. As can be seen, ‘he went’ is Past Simple. But significance of ‘After’ in ‘After he went’ is not brought out in the Types of Past Tense in English.

We should bear in mind that every language has some unique concepts. So, exact equivalent of every other construct in one language may not be available in another language.

In Sanskrit there are three types of Past Tense

1. अनद्यतन (also called as लङ्) e.g. He went (in recent past) सः अगच्छत्
2. परोक्ष (also called as लिट्) e.g. He went (long ago) सः जगाम
   1. Dictionary meaning of परोक्ष is out of or beyond the sight (of the speaker).
   2. For example, if I should be telling “Pandava-s went to forest”, the way to say would be पाण्डवाः वनं जग्मुः
   3. In Mahabharata, Muni Vyasa would have written पाण्डवाः वनं अगच्छन् using अनद्यतन (or लङ्) past tense, because he had himself seen it all.
   4. At this initial stage of learning ‘Simple Sanskrit’, one need not worry much about the fine difference between अनद्यतन (or लङ्) past tense and परोक्ष (or लिट्) past tense.
   5. Even when saying so, it comes to mind that the concept of परोक्ष (or लिट्) past tense, “out of or beyond the sight (of the speaker)” is improbable for first person (I, we) and second person (you) pronouns. So, inflections in परोक्ष (or लिट्) past tense are irrelevant for these pronouns. That makes learning परोक्ष (or लिट्) past tense also simple. One needs to primarily learn the three inflections of only the third person.
3. लुङ् (for which English grammarians have given the name Aorist) e.g. सः अगमत्. Use of Aorist past is rare in Sanskrit itself. So, one need not worry much about it, at least at this initial stage of learning ‘Simple Sanskrit’.

At this initial stage of learning ‘Simple Sanskrit’, it is adequate to learn only the अनद्यतन (or लङ्) past tense and the three inflections in परोक्ष (or लिट्) past tense for third person pronouns. The detailing here is primarily to appraise of these details, so that one would not become askance, if one comes across these usages when reading Sanskrit literature.

All inflections in अनद्यतन (or लङ्) past tense have an adjunct अ. Now, here is an interesting logic that comes to mind for अ to have been chosen as an adjunct. The letter अ is used as an adjunct also to make opposites, antonyms of positive concepts, e.g. असत्य (untruth, falsehood) is negative, opposite, antonym of सत्य (truth). When plotting a time-scale, if we place zero for ‘now’ or for the present tense, everything of the past would be plotted on the negative side of ‘zero’. So past tense is negative side the अ-side of present tense. So, अ becomes a good adjunct to obtain inflections in अनद्यतन (or लङ्) past tense !

It would be good to enlist three परोक्ष (or लिट्) inflections and all nine inflections in अनद्यतन (or लङ्) past tense for all the 25 धातु-s listed in Lesson 1 and 2.

Table 9-3

Inflections in लिट् and लङ् past tenses for 16 धातु-s listed in Lesson 1

No.	Verbal root धातु	Meaning	Inflections in लिट् and लङ्
1	गम्	to go	लिट् – जगाम जग्मतुः जग्मुः लङ् प्र. पु. – अगच्छत् अगच्छताम् अगच्छन् म. पु. – अगच्छ: अगच्छतम् अगच्छत उ. पु. – अगच्छम्  अगच्छाव अगच्छाम
2	वद्	to say, to speak	लिट् – उवाद ऊदतुः ऊदुः लङ् प्र. पु. – अवदत् अवदताम् अवदन् म. पु. – अवद: अवदतम् अवदत उ. पु. – अवदम्  अवदाव अवदाम
3	आ + गम्	to come	लिट् – आजगाम आजग्मतुः आजग्मुः लङ् प्र. पु. – आगच्छत् आगच्छताम् आगच्छन् म. पु. – आगच्छ: आगच्छतम् आगच्छत उ. पु. – आगच्छम् आगच्छाव आगच्छाम
4	प्रति  + गम्	to go towards, to go unto	लिट् – प्रतिजगाम प्रतिजग्मतुः प्रतिजग्मुः लङ् प्र. पु. – प्रत्यगच्छत् प्रत्यगच्छताम् प्रत्यगच्छन् म. पु. – प्रत्यगच्छ: प्रत्यगच्छतम् प्रत्यगच्छत उ. पु. – प्रत्यगच्छम् प्रत्यगच्छाव प्रत्यगच्छाम
5	प्रति + आ + गम्	to return	लिट् – प्रत्याजगाम प्रत्याजग्मतुः प्रत्याजग्मुः लङ् प्र. पु. – प्रत्यागच्छत् प्रत्यागच्छताम् प्रत्यागच्छन् म. पु. – प्रत्यागच्छ: प्रत्यागच्छतम् प्रत्यागच्छत उ. पु. – प्रत्यागच्छम् प्रत्यागच्छाव प्रत्यागच्छाम
6	कृ	to do	लिट् – चकार चक्रतुः चक्रुः लङ् प्र. पु. – अकरोत् अकुरुताम् अकुर्वन् म. पु. – अकरोः अकुरुतम् अकुरुत उ. पु. – अकरवम् अकुर्व अकुर्म
7	खाद्	to eat	लिट् – चखाद चखादतुः चखादुः लङ् प्र. पु. – अखादत् अखादताम् अखादन् म. पु. – अखादः अखादतम् अखादत उ. पु. – अखादम् अखादाव अखादाम
8	पा	to drink	लिट् – पपौ पपतुः पपुः लङ् प्र. पु. – अपिबत् अपिबताम् अपिबन् म. पु. – अपिबः अपिबतम् अपिबत उ. पु. – अपिबम् अपिबाव अपिबाम
9	अस्	to be	लिट् – बभूव बभूवतुः बभूवुः लङ् प्र. पु. – आसीत् आस्ताम् आसन् म. पु. – आसीः आस्तम् आस्त उ. पु. – आसम् आस्व आस्म
10	भू	to be, to become, to be present	लिट् – बभूव बभूवतुः बभूवुः लङ् प्र. पु. – अभवत् अभवताम् अभवन् म. पु. – अभवः अभवतम् अभवत उ. पु. – अभवम् अभवाव अभवाम
11	उप + विश्	to sit	लिट् – उपविवेश उपविविशतुः उपविविशुः लङ् प्र. पु. – उपाविशत् उपाविशताम् उपाविशन् म. पु. – उपाविशः उपाविशतम् उपाविशत उ. पु. – उपाविशम् उपाविशाव उपाविशामि
12	स्था	to stand, to halt, to stop	लिट् – तस्थौ तस्थतुः तस्थुः लङ् प्र. पु. – अतिष्ठत् अतिष्ठताम् अतिष्ठन् म. पु. – अतिष्ठ: अतिष्ठतम् अतिष्ठत उ. पु. – अतिष्ठम् अतिष्ठाव अतिष्ठाम
13	उत् + स्था	to stand up	लिट् – उत्तस्थौ उत्तस्थतुः उत्तस्थुः लङ् प्र. पु. – उदतिष्ठत् उदतिष्ठताम् उदतिष्ठन् म. पु. – उदतिष्ठ: उदतिष्ठतम् उदतिष्ठत उ. पु. – उदतिष्ठम् उदतिष्ठाव उदतिष्ठाम
14	दा	to give	लिट् – ददौ ददतुः ददुः लङ् प्र. पु. – अददात् अदत्ताम् अददुः म. पु. – अददाः अदत्तम् अदत्त उ. पु. – अददाम् अदद्व अदद्म
15	ग्रह् or गृह्	to take, to receive, to accommodate	लिट् – जग्राह जगृहतुः जगृहुः लङ् प्र. पु. – अगृह्णात् अगृह्णीताम् अगृह्णन् म. पु. – अगृह्ण: अगृह्णतम् अगृह्णत उ. पु. – अगृह्णम् अगृह्णाव  अगृह्णाम
16	ज्ञा	to know, to become aware	लिट् – जज्ञौ जज्ञतुः जज्ञुः लङ् प्र. पु. – अजानात् अजानीताम् अजानन् म. पु. – अजानी: अजानीतम् अजानीत उ. पु. – अजानाम् अजानीव  अजानीम

Before proceeding with the balance 9 धातु-s listed in Lesson 2, we should make note of some interesting and important observations.

1. Whereas the inflection of गम् is अगच्छत्् that of आ + गम् is आगच्छत्. This is because the adjunct अ is always to be affixed closest to the main verb, i.e. after the prefix उपसर्ग such as आ. So आगच्छत् is actually आ + अगच्छत्. One can appreciate that आ + अगच्छत् becomes आगच्छत््
2. Similar is the case with
   1. प्रत्यगच्छत् which is प्रति + अगच्छत्
   2. उपाविशत् which is उप + अविशत्
   3. उदतिष्ठत्  for the verb उत् + स्था. It is to be appreciated that उदतिष्ठत् is उत् + अतिष्ठत्.
3. These are all sandhi-s. In formation of verb-forms, especially for forming लङ्-inflections of verbs with prefixes, it is compulsory to form the sandhi-s.

Table 9-4

Inflections in लिट् and लङ् past tenses for 9 धातु-s listed in Lesson 2

No.	Verbal Root	Meaning	Inflections in लिट् and लङ्
17	चर्	to move about, to go about, to conduct oneself	लिट् – चचार चेरतुः चेरुः लङ् प्र. पु. – अचरत् अचरताम् अचरन् म. पु. – अचरः अचरतम् अचरत उ. पु. – अचरम् अचराव अचराम
18	मिल्	to meet	लिट् – मिमेल मिमिलतुः मिमिलुः लङ् प्र. पु. – अमिलत् अमिलताम् अमिलन् म. पु. – अमिल: अमिलतम् अमिलत उ. पु. – अमिलम् अमिलाव अमिलाम
19	पठ्	to read	लिट् – पपाठ पेठतुः पेठुः लङ् प्र. पु. – अपठत् अपठताम् अपठन् म. पु. – अपठ: अपठतम् अपठत उ. पु. – अपठम् अपठाव अपठाम
20	पत्	to fall	लिट् – पपात पेततुः पेतुः लङ् प्र. पु. – अपतत् अपतताम् अपतन् म. पु. – अपत: अपततम् अपतत उ. पु. – अपतम् अपताव अपताम  ु
21	दृश्	to see	लिट् – ददर्श ददृशतुः ददृशुः लङ् प्र. पु. – अपश्यत् अपश्यताम् अपश्यन् म. पु. – अपश्य: अपश्यतम् अपश्यत उ. पु. – अपश्यम् अपश्याव अपश्याम
22	त्यज्	to leave, to forsake, to cast off	लिट् – तत्याज तत्यजतुः तत्यजुः लङ् प्र. पु. – अत्यजत् अत्यजताम् अत्यजन् म. पु. – अत्यज: अत्यजतम् अत्यजत उ. पु. – अत्यजम् अत्यजाव अत्यजाम
23	लिख्	to write	लिट् – लिलेख लिलिखतुः लिलिखुः लङ् प्र. पु. – अलिखत् अलिखताम् अलिखन् म. पु. – अलिख: अलिखतम् अलिखत उ. पु. – अलिखम् अलिखाव अलिखामु
24	पृच्छ	to ask	लिट् – पपृच्छ  पपृच्छतुः पपृच्छुः लङ् प्र. पु. – अपृच्छत् अपृच्छताम् अपृच्छन् म. पु. – अपृच्छ: अपृच्छतम् अपृच्छत उ. पु. – अपृच्छम् अपृच्छाव अपृच्छामतु
25	श्रु / शृ	to hear, to listen to	लिट् – शुश्राव  शुश्रुवतुः शुश्रुवुः लङ् प्र. पु. – अश्रुणोत् अशृणुताम् अशृण्वन् म. पु. – अश्रुणोः  अशृणुतम् अशृणुत उ. पु. – अशृण्वम् अशृणुव/अशृण्व अशृणुम / अशृण्म

With the known pronoun-inflections and लिट् and लङ् inflections of 25 धातु-s as above, it would be possible to practise making many, many sentences in लिट् and लङ् past tenses. Inflections of pronouns in their first case serve as handy subjects for practising making crisp sentences. The inflections in first case, which we have already studied are –

1. (उ. पु.) अहं आवां वयं
2. (म. पु.) त्वं युवां यूयं
3. (म. पु. पुं.) भवान् भवन्तौ भवन्तः
4. (म. पु. स्त्री.) भवती भवत्यौ भवत्यः
5. (म. पु. नपुं.) भवत् भवती भवन्ति
6. (प्र. पु. पुं.) सः तौ ते तथा एषः एतौ एते तथा अयं इमौ इमाः तथा असौ अमू अमी तथा कः कौ के
7. (प्र. पु. स्त्री.) सा ते ताः तथा एषा एते एताः तथा इयं इमे इमाः तथा असौ अमू अमू: तथा का के काः
8. (प्र. पु. नपुं.) तत् ते तानि तथा एतद् (एनद्) एते (एने) एतानि (एनानि) तथा इदं इमे इमानि तथा अदः अमू अमूनि तथा किम् के कानि
9. The list above makes 66 subject-words. With 25 धातु-s one can make 1650 sentences in लङ् past tense and
10. Leaving out the 6 subject-words in items 1 and 2, we still have 60 pronoun subject-words and 25 धातु-s to practise making 1500 sentences in लिट्  past tense,
11. total 3150 sentences in लिट् and लङ् past tenses together !

Sentences can also be formed with other pronouns as सर्व अन्यत्, etc. and संख्यावाचकानि such as एक द्वि त्रि, etc.

There is one more indeclinable of past tense, a verbal derivative धातुसाधितं भूतकालवाचकं अव्ययम् equivalent to the English construct of “after + gerund” e.g. after going गत्वा. The derivative is obtained by affixing a suffix त्वा and is hence called as त्वान्त-अव्ययम्

• However, if there is a prefix with the verb, e.g. आ + गम्, then the suffix used is ‘त्य’ not त्वा. The धातुसाधितं भूतकालवाचकं अव्ययम् then is आगत्य

All the 25 धातु-s we have been practising with are of a class called as परस्मैपदी. The other class of धातु-s is called as आत्मनेपदी. When a धातु can be inflected by both classes, such धातु is called as उभयपदी.

For the 25 परस्मैपदी धातु-s we have studied

• their inflections in present tense,
• their inflections in imperative mood, and
• in this lesson their inflections in लिट् and लङ् past tenses.
• And we have been introduced to four types of धातुसाधित-s
  • ppp i.e. कर्मणि-भूतकालवाचक-धातुसाधित-विशेषणम् such as गत
  • app i.e. कर्तरि-भूतकालवाचक-धातुसाधित-विशेषणम् such as गतवत्
  • Use of a धातुसाधित such as गच्छत् to obtain some equivalents of Past Continuous or Past Perfect Continuous
  • धातुसाधितं भूतकालवाचकं अव्ययम् such as गत्वा or आगत्य. Note, that these are called as त्वान्त and ल्यबन्त respectively.

All these inflections and derivatives will be there for आत्मनेपदी धातु-s also.

There was also in this lesson a mention of सत्-षष्ठी and सति-सप्तमी constructs, since there is a tinge of past tense in these. These constructs do need use of धातुसाधित such as गच्छत् in sixth and seventh षष्ठी and सप्तमी cases.

This lesson thus prompts the study to proceed to study of

• आत्मनेपदी धातु-s
• धातुसाधित-s also called as कृदन्त-s.
  • By the way, there are more varieties of these apart from the four types mentioned
• संधि-s, since they are compulsory in लङ् -inflections of धातु-s having prefixes.
  • Of course we have much more comprehensive use of संधि-s in Sanskrit.

शुभमस्तु !

-o-O-o-

Simple Sanskrit – Lesson 8

Simple Sanskrit – Lesson 8

सरलं संस्कृतम् – अष्टमः पाठः|

Having discussed numerals extensively in the previous Lesson No. 7, some discussion about interrogatives with numerals is yet left out.

“How much ?” and “How many ?” are the common interrogatives that yield numerical answers. Sanskrit interrogative is कति.

• When we go to a shop, we would ask,
  • “How much does this thing cost ?” कति मूल्यं अस्य ? (** Note – As detailed below, कति is always plural. Hence using it with मूल्यं, which is singular, becomes wrong. Thanks to Mr. Dhananjay Nanivadekar for pointing this error. The question can rather be कियद् मूल्यम् अस्य ? or किम् मूल्यम् अस्य ?)
  • The shopkeeper may say “Ten Rupees” दश रूप्यकाणि.
• Since coinage-systems will be different at different places, we will have to adapt in Sanskrit-speaking same names, as they prevail. These are proper nouns. Proper Nouns are never to be translated.
• The other day I could not go to a meeting. But was curious to know how many people turned out.
  • I asked my friend, “How many people were there ? कति जनाः आसन् ? Note, आसन् is भूतकाल प्रथमपुरुष बहुवचन inflection of verb अस् (= to be) Hence आसन् = were. We shall discuss past tense separately in another chapter.
  • Surprisingly, he told, “Only two of us, Mr. Ramesh and Myself” केवलं आवां द्वौ रमेशवर्यः अहं च |
  • Some people think it good to do inflections of proper-nouns also. In रामायणम् महाभारतम् भागवतम् there are inflections of large number of proper nouns. But proper nouns in many countries around the world may not be easy to make their inflections. Mr. John may rather be called as जॉन्-वर्यः It would sound odd to say जॉन:, right ? Actually जॉन् is a consonant-ending word. So जॉन: would not be grammatically correct. That becomes the problem to do inflections of proper nouns.
    • In fact Hindi-speaking people who also follow Devanagari script for Hindi may write and pronounce the name as जोन्
    • In Marathi writing, which also uses Devanagari script, writing the pronunciation as जॉन् with a crescent above जा is accepted almost as a norm.
    • Likewise “Ann” may be called एन्-महोदया ऐन्-महोदया.

Anyway, these are digressions from the main subject of “Numbers”.

By the way, the interrogative कति is by convention “always plural”. And it has identical inflections for all genders. Its inflections in different cases are – कति (प्रथमा), कति (द्वितीया), कतिभिः (तृतीया), कतिभ्यः (चतुर्थी), कतिभ्यः (पञ्चमी), कतीनाम् (षष्ठी), कतिषु (सप्तमी).

Answers of questions asked using कति could be vague or uncertain. In Lesson 5 towards its end, there was the mention of the suffix चित् and its usage with all inflections of the pronoun किम्. The suffix चित् can as well be used with all inflections of कति to obtain a meaning “some” or “few”. For example –

• The proposal was accepted by some people = प्रस्तावः (proposal) कतिभिश्चित् (by some or few) जनैः (people) स्वीकृतः (was accepted).
• “It is useful for some” = कतिभ्यश्चित् उपयोगि इदम् Note –
  • कतिभ्यश्चित् (= कतीभ्यः+चित् = for some)
  • उपयोगि (useful)
  • इदम् (= this)
• This phrase कतिभ्यश्चित् उपयोगि इदम् could as well be a question, “Is it useful for (at least) a few ?” Right at the beginning of Lesson 3, there was introduction to making interrogatives from simple sentences by using pronoun किम्. However, since  some interrogative sense is implicit in कति,  a question can be formed even without using any other obvious or clear interrogative.

• कतिभ्यश्चित् उपयोगि इदम् is a good example of this. Just a change in intonation would make it affirmative or interrogative.

In Apte’s dictionary many more interesting details about कति are given.

• Meaning 1 of कति – ‘How many’
• Meaning 2 of कति – ‘some’
• When followed by चित् चन अपि the pronoun कति loses its interrogative force and becomes indefinite in sense, meaning ‘some’, ‘several’, ‘a few’
  • This detail in Apte’s dictionary puts in doubt usage of कति in the interrogative, as shown above in the phrase कतिभ्यश्चित् उपयोगि इदम् as a question, “Is it useful for (at least) a few ?” Sanskrit-experts may please comment.
• In the dictionary, some more words derived from कति are detailed separately.
• कतिकृत्वस् or कतिकृत्व: an indeclinable अव्यय meaning ‘how many times’
  • Here I would like to thankfully acknowledge an important comment posted by Dr. H. N. Bhat. To ensure that the comment may not be missed out, I am editing this Lesson 8 itself.
  • The point is that कृत्वस् or कृत्व: is a suffix which makes an adverb from a numeral nominal. कति is a numeral nominal, similar to other numeral nominals such as एक द्वि त्रि चतुर् सहस्र
  • A good example of derivation of an indeclinable अव्यय by affixing a suffix कृत्वस् or कृत्व: to a numeral nominal is in नमो नमस्तेऽस्तु सहस्रकृत्वः पुनश्च भूयोऽपि नमो नमस्ते (गीता, ११-३९)
  • Meaning of नमो नमस्तेऽस्तु सहस्रकृत्वः पुनश्च भूयोऽपि नमो नमस्ते (गीता, ११-३९) is “May my obeisances be a thousand times, again and again
  • Note पुनश्च means ‘again’ भूयोऽपि also means ‘again’. Arjuna is so overwhelmed that he wants to pay obeisances be a thousand times and again and again !
• कतिधा an indeclinable अव्यय meaning ‘how often’, ‘in how many places or parts’
  • A good example of this is possibly the quotation विष्णुः त्रेधा निदधे पदम् (= ViShNu put his foot at three places). This quotation can prompt a question विष्णुः कतिधा निदधे पदम् ? (= At how many places did ViShNu put his foot ?)
    • This quotation विष्णुः त्रेधा निदधे पदम् has the context of वामनावतार when Lord विष्णु asks of दैत्य-king बलि land enough for just four steps. Although विष्णु appears as वामन, as a small boy, in three steps विष्णु pervades all three worlds – the heaven, the earth and also the netherworld. True to his offer of land of four steps, बलि kneels before विष्णु for विष्णु to put the fourth step on his own head.
• कतिपय an adjective विशेषणम्, hence would have inflections in all three genders, all seven cases and in all three numbers. कतिपय means ‘some, ‘several’, ‘a certain number of’ (Here ‘a certain’ has indefinite sense)
  • Comes to mind an example from बाण-भट्ट’s  कादंबरी where, वैशंपायन is narrating of early days of his second birth as a parrot with human tongue. He says – एवं च अवहितचेतसा हारीतेन संवर्ध्यमानः कतिपयैः एव दिवसैः संजातपक्षः अभवम्  Here एवं च (= Thus) being lovingly tended by हारीत (the son of Rishi Jaabaala) अवहितचेतसा हारीतेन संवर्ध्यमानः, in a few कतिपयैः days दिवसैः I had wings grown on me संजातपक्षः अभवम्.
  • Note, कतिपयैः as adjective of दिवसैः has identical (masculine) gender, (third) case and (plural) number.
• कतिविध, an adjective, विशेषणम् hence declinable in all three genders, all seven cases and in all three numbers. Its meaning ‘of how many kinds’. For example, कतिविधानि भूतानि Living beings are of how many kinds ? – द्विपदा: (= bipeds) चतुष्पदा: (= quadrupeds) खगाः (= birds) मत्स्याः (= aquatic) सर्पाः (= reptiles) जन्तवः (= insects and microbes)
  • Here also I would like to thankfully acknowledge an important comment posted by Dr. H. N. Bhat. To ensure that the comment may not be missed out, I am editing this Lesson 8 itself here also.
  • The point is that विध is a suffix, which makes an adjecttive from a numeral nominal. कति is a numeral nominal, similar to other numeral nominals such as एक द्वि त्रि चतुर् सहस्र
  • So adjectives derived from एक द्वि त्रि चतुर् सहस्र by affixing the suffix विध are एकविध द्विविध त्रिविध चतुर्विध सहस्रविध also कतिविध.
  • A few examples of these in different genders and numbers will be –
    • Volunteers have a common uniform स्वयंसेवकानां एकविधः गणवेशः
      • स्वयंसेवकानां = of volunteers
      • एकविधः = of one type, common, identical
      • गणवेशः = uniform
    • A mind dwelling on this or that is not good for decision-making द्विविधस्य मनसः न निर्णयः
      • द्विविधस्य = of two types (of thoughts)
      • मनसः = of mind
      • न निर्णयः = no decision
      • द्विविधस्य मनसः न निर्णयः = no decision (happens) of mind of two types of thoughts
    • Of people who become my devotees, there are four types, i.e. Four types of people become my devotees चतुर्विधा भजन्ते मां जनाः सुकृतिनोऽर्जुन (गीता, ७-१६). Note चतुर्विधा is actually चतुर्विधाः
• कतिशस् or कतिशः an indeclinable अव्यय, meaning ‘how many at a time’ Say, for example, “In how many pieces did the wood-cutter break the log ?” दारुकर्मिणा दारुः कतिशः विभक्तः ?
  • दारुकर्मिणा = by the wood-worker (i.e. wood-cutter)
  • दारुः = log
  • कतिशः = in how many pieces
  • विभक्तः = was cut

As mentioned above from Apte’s dictionary, कति may be followed by another suffix चन. There it was also mentioned, “… When followed by चित् चन अपि the pronoun कति loses its interrogative force and becomes indefinite in sense, meaning ‘some’, ‘several’, ‘a few’…” By that कतिचन would mean ‘few’, ‘some’. For example, नेतुः स्वागताय कार्यकर्तारः कतिचन मालाः अर्पयन्ति meaning नेतुः (= of the leader) स्वागताय (= for welcome) कार्यकर्तारः (= workers) कतिचन (a few) मालाः (= garlands) अर्पयन्ति (= offer) i.e. Workers offer a few garlands for welcome of the leader.

By the way, it is to be noted that चित्, चन and अपि can as well be affixed to interrogative adverbs such as कदा कुत्र कथम्. With these suffixes the adverbs also will lose their interrogative force. They may get some negative shade of meaning !

In fact some people contend that चन has the derivation च + न = and not. By that token use of चन lends some different shade of meaning than use of चित्. Use of अपि also has an effect similar to that of चन. For example –
Is it possible any time ? कदाचन शक्यं इदम् ?
May be possible शक्यं कदाचित्

• It may be noted that here कदाचित् has the meaning of ‘may be’ and not just as ‘some time’

Never possible न कदापि शक्यम्

• Here suffix अपि makes the negative न so much more forceful !

Instead of the question कदाचन शक्यं इदम् ? one could as well say कदाचित् शक्यं इदम् ? or कदापि शक्यं इदम् ? But conventionally the force becomes different.

• कदाचन शक्यं इदम् ? = Is it any time possible ? Here the questioner could just be inquisitive.
• कदाचित् शक्यं इदम् ? = Is there a possibility that this would be possible ? Here the questioner implies some positive possibility.
• कदापि शक्यं इदम् ? = Is it ever possible ? The questioner is almost implying that it is never possible.

The difference in force in use of चित्, चन and अपि is substantially conventional.

Just see how the interrogative कदाचन can also become affirmative कदाचन or negative कदाचन —
कदाचन शक्यं इदम् ? = Is it any time possible ?
कदाचन तु शक्यं | किं न ? = Some time or other possible, why not ? or
कदाचन न शक्यम् = Not possible any time, i.e. never possible.

Here is another example of कदापि.

Two and two will be four always. Never otherwise. द्व्यधिके द्वे चत्वारि सर्वदा | न अन्यथा कदापि |

• द्व्यधिके द्वे = two added to two Note, द्व्यधिके is द्वि + अधिके
• चत्वारि सर्वदा = four always
• न अन्यथा कदापि = not otherwise ever.

Note in द्व्यधिके द्वे चत्वारि they are all in neuter gender, again by convention. When speaking of numbers as numbers they will be by neuter gender.

शुभमस्तु |

-o-O-o-

Simple Sanskrit – Lesson 7

Simple Sanskrit – Lesson 7

सरलं संस्कृतम् – सप्तमः  पाठः |

In Lesson 6, we studied vowel-ending words up to इ-कारान्त along with the numerals द्वि त्रि. It would become mundane to keep on detailing declensions of other vowel-ending words and also consonant-ending words. Those could possibly be added later on in annexes.

Having detailed in the previous lesson, the declensions of the numerals एक द्वि त्रि and having noted towards the closing, “There is much more to learn about numbers. That merits a separate chapter.” it should be appropriate to discuss “numbers” संख्या: right away.

We use numbers in different ways. For counting we use cardinal numbers. They are adjectival and have gender, case and number, corresponding to the person or thing being counted. That is why we had in the previous lesson, declensions of एक द्वि त्रि in all three genders and in all cases. It should be appropriate to note declensions of चतुर् (= four) right away.

Table 7-1

Declensions of pronoun-adjective चतुर् (= four)

विभक्तिः ↓    वचनम् →	पुंल्लिङ्ग- बहुवचनम्	नपुंसकलिङ्ग- बहुवचनम्	स्त्रीलिङग- बहुवचनम्
प्रथमा	चत्वारः	चत्वारि	चतस्रः
द्वितीया	चतुरः	चत्वारि	चतस्रः
तृतीया	चतुर्भिः	चतुर्भिः	चतसृभिः
चतुर्थी	चतुर्भ्यः	चतुर्भ्यः	चतसृभ्यः
पञ्चमी	चतुर्भ्यः	चतुर्भ्यः	चतसृभ्यः
षष्ठी	चतुर्णाम्	चतुर्णाम्	चतसृणाम्
सप्तमी	चतुर्षु	चतुर्षु	चतसृषु

It would be noted that

• declensions are in plural
• declensions in masculine and neuter genders are same in third case onwards.

For numbers from पञ्च (= five) right up to शत (= hundred), declensions are common in all three genders.

We also need numbers for telling the rank or serial order. Such numbers are called the Ordinals . In Table 7-2 are listed प्रातिपदिक-s both cardinal and ordinal for numbers from 1 to 20.

Table 7-2

cardinal and ordinal प्रातिपदिक-s for numbers from 1 to 20

Number	संख्यावाचक-विशेषणम्	Ordinal	क्रमवाचक-विशेषणम्	स्त्रीलिङ्गि क्रमवाचक-विशेषणम् e.g. for विभक्ति or तिथि	Group of	समेत्य
1	१ एक	First	प्रथम	प्रथमा	–	–
2	२ द्वि	Second	द्वितीय	द्वितीया	Pair or couplet	द्वयम् द्वयी
3	३ त्रि	Third	तृतीय	तृतीया	triplet, trio	त्रयम् त्रयी
4	४ चतुर्	Fourth	चतुर्थ	चतुर्थी	quartet
5	५ पञ्च	Fifth	पञ्चम	पञ्चमी	quintet	पञ्चकम्
6	६ षट्	Sixth	षष्ठ	षष्ठी	sextet
7	७ सप्त	Seventh	सप्तम	सप्तमी	heptad	सप्तकम्
8	८ अष्ट	Eighth	अष्टम	अष्टमी	octet, octave	अष्टकम्
9	९ नव	Ninth	नवम	नवमी
10	१० दश	Tenth	दशम	दशमी	decade	दशकम्
11	११ एकादश	Eleventh	एकादश	एकादशी
12	१२ द्वादश	Twelfth	द्वादश	द्वादशी	dozen
13	१३ त्रयोदश	Thirteenth	त्रयोदश	त्रयोदशी
14	१४ चतुर्दश	Fourteenth	चतुर्दश	चतुर्दशी
15	१५ पञ्चदश	Fifteenth	पञ्चदश	पञ्चदशी,  पौर्णिमा-तिथि: अमावस्या-तिथि:		(तिथीनां) पक्षः
16	१६ षोडश	Sixteenth	षोडश	षोडशी
17	१७ सप्तदश	Seventeenth	सप्तदश	सप्तदशी
18	१८ अष्टादश	Eighteenth	अष्टादश	अष्टादशी
19	१९ नवदश एकोनविंशति एकान्नविंशति ऊनविंशति	Nineteenth	नवदश एकोनविंशतितम	नवदशी  एकोनविंशतितमा
20	२० विंशति	Twentieth	विंश, विंशतितम	विंशी, विंशतितमा	score	विंशति

Further multiples of ten are ३० त्रिंशत् ४० चत्वारिंशत् ५० पञ्चाशत् ६० षष्टि ७० सप्तति ८० अशीति ९० नवति १०० शत
For cardinal numbers every set of ten has the number of unit’s place first followed by the multiple of ten, e.g.
२१ एकविंशति २२ द्वाविंशति २३ त्रयोविंशति २४ चतुर्विंशति २५ पञ्चविंशति
२६ षड्-विंशति २७ सप्तविंशति २८ अष्टाविंशति २९ नवविंशति ३० त्रिंशत्

३१ एकत्रिंशत् ३२ द्वात्रिंशत् ३३ त्रयस्त्रिंशत् ३४ चतुस्त्रिंशत् ३५ पञ्चत्रिंशत्
३६ षट्-त्रिंशत् ३७ सप्तत्रिंशत् ३८ अष्टात्रिंशत् ३९ नवत्रिंशत्  ४० चत्वारिंशत्

४१ एकचत्वारिंशत् ४२ द्वाचत्वारिंशत् द्विचत्वारिंशत् ४३ त्रयश्चत्वारिंशत् त्रिचत्वारिंशत् ४४ चतुश्चत्वारिंशत्
४५ पञ्चचत्वारिंशत् ४६ षट्-चत्वारिंशत् ४७ सप्तचत्वारिंशत् ४८ अष्टचत्वारिंशत् ४९ नवचत्वारिंशत् ५० पञ्चाशत्

५१ एकपञ्चाशत् ५२ द्विपञ्चाशत् ५३ त्रिपञ्चाशत्  ५४ चतुःपञ्चाशत् ५५ पञ्च-पञ्चाशत्
५६ षट्-पञ्चाशत् ५७ सप्तपञ्चाशत् ५८ अष्ट-पञ्चाशत् ५९ नव-पञ्चाशत् ६० षष्टिः

६१ एकषष्टिः ६२ द्वाषष्टिः द्विषष्टिः ६३ त्रयः-षष्टिः त्रिषष्टिः ६४ चतुः-षष्टिः ६५ पञ्च-षष्टिः
६६ षट्-षष्टिः ६७ सप्त-षष्टिः ६८ अष्ट-षष्टिः ६९ नवषष्टिः ७० सप्ततिः

७१ एकसप्ततिः ७२ द्वासप्ततिः द्विसप्ततिः ७३ त्रयस्सप्ततिः त्रिसप्ततिः ७४ चतुस्सप्ततिः
७५ पञ्चसप्ततिः ७६ षट्-सप्ततिः ७७ सप्तसप्ततिः ७८ अष्ट-सप्ततिः ७९ नवसप्ततिः ८० अशीतिः

८१ एकाशीतिः ८२ द्वाशीतिः द्व्यशीतिः  ८३ त्र्यशीतिः ८४ चतुरशीतिः ८५ पञ्चाशीतिः
८६ षडशीतिः ८७ सप्ताशीतिः ८८ अष्टाशीतिः ८९ नवाशीतिः ९० नवतिः

९१ एकनवतिः ९२ द्वानवतिः द्विनवतिः ९३ त्रयोनवतिः त्रिनवतिः ९४ चतुर्नवतिः ९५ पञ्चनवतिः
९६ षण्णवतिः ९७ सप्तनवतिः ९८ अष्टनवतिः ९९ नवनवतिः १०० शतम्

It has been good to list all the cardinal numbers up to 100. There are two options for 22, 23, 32, 33 …. etc., even if I have missed them at some places.

Although only one option for 29, 39, etc. has been listed, there would be four options for each of them, as noted for the number 19 in Table 7-2.

In 81, 82 etc. they become एकाशीतिः … etc., since एकाशीतिः = एक + अशीतिः Also द्व्यशीतिः = द्वि + अशीतिः  Here, the concept of resultant sound called as conjugation संधि gets naturally applied. Similar is the case for ८६ षडशीतिः, ९६ षण्णवतिः and many other numbers.

It should be noted that all cardinal numbers are to be used as adjectives but in singular and for numbers 5 and above, their declensions are common in all genders. Numbers ending in त् are त्-कारान्त and neuter नपुंसकलिङ्गी. Numbers ending in तिः are इ-कारान्त स्त्रीलिङ्गी and would have declensions as per मति detailed in Table 6-10.

Masculine ordinal adjectives are found as number of every अध्याय in श्रीमद्भगवद्गीता, e.g. अष्टमोऽध्यायः. Here also concept of resultant sound called as conjugation संधि applies. Much larger ordinal numbers are found in श्रीमन्महाभारतम्. In पर्व १२ शान्तिपर्व there are ३६५ अध्याय-s and the ordinal number of this अध्याय is given as पञ्चषष्ट्यधिकत्रिशततमोऽध्यायः
पञ्चषष्ट्यधिकत्रिशततमोऽध्यायः

• पञ्चषष्ट्यधिक = पञ्चषष्टि (65) adding to i.e. अधिक
• त्रिशत = three hundred
• तमोऽध्यायः = तमः अध्यायः = __ th Chapter
• पञ्चषष्ट्यधिकत्रिशततमोऽध्यायः = 365 th Chapter

In Book 4 of an edition of श्रीमन्महाभारतम् there is a tabulation of total number of श्लोक-s. The gross count of श्लोक-s is given as 100,217 संपूर्णा श्लोकसंख्या सप्तदशाधिकद्विशतोत्तरैकलक्षमिता. Note –
सप्तदशाधिकद्विशतोत्तरैकलक्षमिता =

• सप्तदशाधिकद्विशत =  सप्तदश (17) अधिक i.e. adding to द्विशत (200) = 217
• उत्तरैकलक्ष = उत्तर-एकलक्ष = after one lakh i.e. after 100,000
• मिता = of so much count is संपूर्णा श्लोकसंख्या i.e. total number of श्लोक-s

It is to be noted that in both the examples above, numbers are composed by speaking of numbers in the unit’s place, then ten’s place and so on towards left. This is opposite of English style where we say 365 three hundred sixty five speaking the numbers from left to right.

Before going into such manner of speaking of large cardinal and ordinal numbers, it is pertinent to take note of some interesting points, which should come to notice in Table 7-2.

1. The last column for ‘Group of i.e. समेत्य’ is very much in use. For example, instead of saying “60 boys षष्टिः कुमाराः”, one can say “three twenty’s of boys or three scores of boys कुमाराणां तिस्रः विंशतयः”.
2. When saying “60 boys षष्टिः कुमाराः” 60 षष्टिः is numerical adjective of the noun ‘boys कुमाराः’.
3. But when saying “three twenty’s of boys कुमाराणां तिस्रः विंशतयः”, ‘twenty’s विंशतयः’ is a noun in plural. तिस्रः is its numerical adjective also in plural.
4. It is also to be noted that in “60 boys षष्टिः कुमाराः”, although 60 षष्टिः is numerical adjective of ‘boys कुमाराः’ in this construction षष्टिः the adjective is used only in singular. Also, षष्टिः is feminine, though कुमाराः is masculine. So the rule that adjective and the noun, which the adjective qualifies, must both be of same gender, in same case and of same number

यल्लिङ्गं  यद्वचनं  या  च  विभक्तिर्विशेष्यस्य ।

तल्लिङ्गं  तद्वचनं  सा  च  विभक्तिर्विशेषणस्यापि ।।

does not apply to numerical adjectives.

5. In the third column, one can see four options for 19. Such four options can be used for all other numbers as 29, 39, …. etc. Here

• ऊन means less. So ऊनविंशतिः means less than 20
• एकोन = एक + ऊन means one less (than); So, एकोनविंशति = one less than twenty
• एकान्न = एकात् न means ‘not due to one’; एकान्नविंशति: = not twenty due to one

6. In columns 4 and 5 the ordinals of numbers 20 and above can be formed in two ways –

• by enjoining a suffix तम or
• by deriving an अकारान्त प्रातिपदिक by dropping ति for example by getting विंश from विंशति.

We also use numbers to say ‘how many times’. In Sanskrit we use a suffix वारम् with the प्रातिपदिक, for example द्विवारम् (=twice, two times) त्रिवारम् (= thrice, three times) वारं वारम् (= again and again) बहुवारम् (= many times)

We also use ‘how many times’ to tell ratio of one quantity with other, e.g. “Four is double of two”, “Nine is triple of three”.

Rishi-s indulged in evolving a number system counting very large numbers. This involved having in the number system the concept of zero and of decimals दशांश, multiples (10, 20, 30 … etc.) and powers of 10 (10, 100, 1000…. etc.)

Table 7-3

Sanskrit numbers by powers of ten

Index of power of ten	Value	Number of ‘zero’s after 1	Name of the number
0	1 One	0	एक
1	10 Ten	1	दश
2	100 Hundred	2	शत
3	1000 Thousand	3	सहस्र
4	10,000 Ten thousand	4	अयुत
5	100,000 Hundred thousand	5	लक्ष
6	1,000,000 Million	6	प्रयुत
7	10,000,000 Ten million	7	कोटि
8	100,000,000 Hundred nillion	8	अर्बुद
9	1000,000,000 Billion / Gega	9	अब्ज
10	10,000.000,000 Ten billion	10	खर्व
11	100,000.000,000 Hundred billion	11	निखर्व
12	1000,000.000,000 Trillion	12	महापद्म
13	10,000,000.000,000 Ten Trillion	13	शङ्कु
14	100,000.000,000,000 Hundred trillion	14	जलधि
15	1,000,000.000,000,000	15	अन्त
16	10,000,000.000,000,000	16	मध्य
17	100,000.000,000,000,000	17	परार्ध

All these are summarized in a shloka as follows –

एक-दश-शत सहस्रायुत-लक्ष-प्रयुत-कोटयः क्रमशः |

अर्बुदमब्ज खर्व-निखर्व-महापद्म-शङ्कवस्तस्मात् |

जलधिश्चान्तं मध्यं परार्धमिति दशगुणोत्तराः संज्ञाः |

संख्यायाः स्थानानां व्यवहारार्थं कृताः पूर्वैः ||

All the above names of powers of 10 are neuter singular नपुंसकलिङ्गी.

Roman numerals are alphabetical, starting from I, II, III, IV, V, ….. L (=50) C (=100) D (=500) and M (= 1000). There is no symbol of zero.

When writing numbers, using numerals 1, 2, 3, we have use of commas for every 3 zero’s. The names for large numbers are also in steps of 3 zero’s – after ‘Thousand’ (3 zero’s), next name is ‘Million’ (6 zero’s) then ‘Billion’ (9 zeros). Number-names in Sanskrit are for every extra zero i.e. for every power of 10 !

There is a shloka in अथर्ववेद wherein value of π (the ratio of circumference to diameter of a circle) is composed up to 32 digits. It reads –

गोपीभाग्यमधुव्रात-श्रुङ्गिशोदधिसंधिग |

खलजीवितखाताव गलहालारसंधर ||

For deciphering the value of π from this shloka, one needs to apply कटपयादि सूत्र –

कादि-नव टादि-नव पादि-पञ्चक याद्यष्टक क्षः शून्यम् |

Method of using the कटपयादि सूत्र is –
कादि-नव = nine letters starting from क would stand for numbers from 1 to 9
टादि-नव = nine letters starting from ट would stand for numbers from 1 to 9
पादि-पञ्चक = five letters starting from प would stand for numbers from 1 to 5
याद्यष्टक = eight letters starting from य would stand for numbers from 1 to 8
क्षः शून्यम् = क्ष for zero

Table 7-4

Alphabetical options for numerals as per कटपयादि सूत्र

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	0
कादि-नव	क	ख	ग	घ	ङ	च	छ	ज	झ
टादि-नव	ट	ठ	ड	ढ	ण	त	थ	द	ध
पादि-पञ्चक	प	फ	ब	भ	म
याद्यष्टक	य	र	ल	व	श	ष	स	ह
शून्यम्										क्ष

Table 7-4 is similar to composing a sms on a mobile having only number keys. The concept of alphabetical coding of numerals is that old !! And how intelligently it is used for value of π up to 32 digits ! Isn’t it easy to remember a shloka than all the 32 digits correctly ? How intelligently the shloka is composed ! It has three interpretations – one, as a eulogy to Lord Krishna, secondly, as eulogy to Lord Shiva and thirdly as the value of π !! The scientific mode of calculator available on computers have a key for π. Once when exploring this key for π. I got value of π to 32 digits. When I checked the value with that by the above shloka, I found a difference only in the last 32nd digit. In the above shloka the 32nd digit is र = 2. In calculator of that computer I got 32nd digit to be 5.

When wondering why Rishi’s would have needed value of π to 32 digits, it comes to mind that the Rishi’s did indulge deeply in understanding movements of planets and their orbits, i.e. understanding astronomy in depth. Calculations in the realm of astronomy would certainly need value of π to be as accurate as possible. In astrology, it seems, they link up an astronomical combination of planets to the occurrence of an event in lives of people. This could be by some theory of probability, such as, if astronomical combination of planet-positions is working out to be so and so, likelihood of occurrence of a particular type of event is so much. For such analysis to be as accurate and in turn as reliable, the calculation of astronomical combination of planet-positions has to be accurate in the first place. That can be accurate only if value of π is used as accurate as possible.

In Sanskrit the concept of coding has been employed quite charmingly. There are codes derived from mythological concepts associated with different numbers.

Table 7-4

Mythological concepts associated with numbers and their use for coding

Number	Code-word	Mythological concept	Reference
1	ब्रह्म	ब्रह्म is only one
2	नेत्र, कर्ण	नेत्र and कर्ण are two
3	गुण	Implying the त्रिगुण-s सत्त्व-रज-तम	सत्त्वं रजस्तम इति गुणाः प्रकृतिसंभवाः (गीता १४-५)
4	वेद	वेद-s are four
5	भूत	implying the पञ्चमहाभूत-s – पृथ्वी, अप्, तेजस्, वायु, आकाश
6	दर्शन, शास्त्र	दर्शन-s or शास्त्र-s are six :- सांख्य योग न्याय वैशेषिक मीमांसा वेदान्त
7	स्वर्ग, महर्षयः	स्वर्ग-s are seven भूः भुवः स्वः महः जनः तपः सत्यम्	महर्षयः सप्त पूर्वे (गीता, १०-६)
8	वसु, करि	वसु-s and करि-s are eight
9	ग्रह	Planets are nine

ग्रहवसुकरिचंद्रमिते वर्षे = In the year 1889
There are many more concepts associated with different numbers, e.g.
मनु – They are said to be fourteen. However there is this quotation also चत्वारो मनवस्तथा (गीता, १०-६)
Numbers are important not just for counting and arithmetic. Numbers are important in day-to-day life for all metrological needs, for measuring distances, volumes, weights, time, etc. Systems of measurement have been various at different places at different times for different situations. In Mahabharata system of measurement is detailed to denote strength of armies. Strength of army on side of Pandava-s was 7 अक्षौहिणी and on side of Kaurava-s was 11 अक्षौहिणी. There is a long sequence of calculations defining what one अक्षौहिणी is.

Coming to measurement of time, there is a quotation in GeetA, where it is said, one day of Brahma is equivalent to 1000 eras on earth and so is one night of Brahma.

सहस्रयुगपर्यन्तं अहर्यद्-ब्रह्मणो विदुः |

रात्रिं युगसहस्राणां तेऽहोरात्रविदो जनाः || ८-१७ ||

Measurement of Time has occupied the minds of scientists since time immemorial. In SI system of units 1 second is defined as – The second is the duration of 9,192,631,770 periods of the radiation corresponding to the transition between the two hyperfine levels of the ground state of the cesium 133 atom.

The smallest unit of time in Sanskrit is possibly निमिष or निमेष, which is time taken by eyelids to make one wink. But there is also क्षण translated as ‘moment’. In Apte’s dictionary क्षण is defined as measure of time equal to ⅘ of a second.

Then there is घटिका or घटी a measure of 24 minutes (Ref. – Apte’s dictionary) Also, मुहूर्त or मुहूर्तक a period of 48 minutes (Ref. – Apte’s dictionary)

Some detailed definition is available in मनुस्मृति There it is said –

निमेषे दश चाष्टौ च काष्ठा त्रिंशत्तु ताः कलाः |

त्रिंशत्कला मुहूर्तः स्यात् अहोरात्रं तु तावतः || (१-६८)

निमेष is time taken by eyelids to make one wink
18 निमेष-s = 1 काष्ठा; 30 काष्ठा-s = 1 कला; 30 कला-s = 1 मुहूर्त; 30 मुहूर्त-s = 1 day-night (average 24 hours) That makes 1 day-night = 306,000 निमेष-s  At 3600 seconds to an hour, 24 hours become 86,400 seconds. By that 1 second = 3.541666666666667 निमेष-s

Most common unit of measurement of time is ‘day’. But if ‘day’ is to be understood as duration from one sunrise to the next, geographically its duration varies widely. They say, on the North pole there is sunlight for 6 months ! ‘Day’ as distinct from night is often considered to be the duration from sunrise to sunset. In अमरकोश one finds five synonyms for ‘day’ as घस्रो दिनाऽहनी वा तु क्लीबे दिवसवासरौ ।।१-४-२।। (इति पञ्च “दिनस्य” नामानि)

That makes one think how we shall tell time by the clock in Sanskrit. Since there are no exact words in Sanskrit for second, minute or hour, it has become an accepted practice to speak as follows –

Table 7-5

Time by the clock

Time In words	Time by clock	In Sanskrit
5 O’clock	5:00	पञ्च-वादनसमयः
Quarter past 3	3:15	सपाद-त्रिवादनम्
Half past 7	7:30	सार्ध-सप्त-वादनम्
Quarter to one	12:45	पादोनैक-वादनम्
8 minutes past 9	9:08	अष्टाधिक-नव-वादनम्
12 minutes to 12	11:48	द्वादशोन-द्वादश-वादनम्
am		माध्याह्न-पूर्वम्
pm		माध्याह्नपश्चात्
12 noon	12:00	माध्याह्न:
12 midnight	0:00 am	मध्यरात्रिः

Units of measurement of distance, mass/weight have all changed over time. In the context of mass and weight one finds the concepts of even atom and molecule mentioned in अणोरणीयान् समनुस्मरेद्यः (गीता ८-९)

However it would be appropriate to adopt into Sanskrit, names of units, as they are in common usage. It should be alright to speak of 2 kg of sugar as किलोद्वय-शर्करा or of 5 litres of oil as पञ्च लिटर-तावत् तैलम् (Note तावत् = that much).

शुभमस्तु |

-o-O-o-

Simple Sanskrit – Lesson 6

Simple Sanskrit – Lesson 6

सरलं संस्कृतम् – षष्ठः पाठः |

Declensions of अ-कारान्त masculine and neuter nouns were detailed in Lesson 5.
Declensions of nouns follow patterns, which are different depending upon its ending sound and also its gender.

By its ending sound, there will be two broad categories –

• Those having vowel-ending
• Those having consonant-ending. Among the pronouns, which were already detailed, अस्मद्, युष्मद्, भवत्, तत्, एतत्, इदम्, अदस्, किम् all of these have consonant-ending.

Among vowel-ending words, we already have a good collection of अ-कारान्त masculine and neuter nouns. In the Table 6-1 below words with ending of all vowels are compiled. Words listed in rows from आ-कारान्त and down, have been taken from the web-pages by Mr. G. S. S. Murthy, compiled at http://murthygss.tripod.com/Sabda_1.htm Mr. G. S. S. Murthy has not only listed all these words but has done a wonderful job of also detailing declensions of all of them.

Table 6-1

प्रातिपदिक-s having vowel-ending

अन्ते स्वरः	पुंल्लिङ्गी	स्त्रीलिङ्गी	नपुंसकलिङ्गी
अ-कारान्तः	(1) लेखक, विजय, अश्वत्थ, श्रेष्ठ, वाचक, राक्षस, शिक्षक, हस्त, खग, अभ्यास, कर्ण, वानर, श्रीगणेश, बालक, चतुर, चोर, आचार्य, सैनिक, पुत्र, वीर, घट, पाद, वृक्ष, एक	There are no feminine words having ending sound अ	(2) पुस्तक, एक Declensions of the word पुस्तक have been already detailed.
आकारान्तः	(3) विश्वपा	(4) रमा, अम्बा, जरा, नासिका, निशा, उमा, सर्वा, एका	Rare
इ-कारान्तः	(5) हरि, पति, सखि, कति द्वि, त्रि	(6) मति, द्वि, त्रि	(7) वारि, सुधि, दधि द्वि, त्रि
ई-	(8) दंपती, प्रधी, सुधी,	(9) गौरी, स्त्री, श्री, लक्ष्मी भवन्ती, भवती	Nil
उ-	(10) गुरु, क्रोष्टु	(11) धेनु	(12) मधु, सानु
ऊ-	(13) स्वभू	(14) वधू, भ्रू	Nil
ऋ-	(15) धातृ, पितृ, कर्तृ	(16) स्वसृ, मातृ, कर्तृ	(17) कर्तृ
ए	Nil ?	Nil ?	Nil ?
ऐ	(18) रै	Nil ?	Nil
ओ	(19) गो	(21) द्यो (= heaven)	(22) प्रद्यो (= ?)
औ	(23) ग्लौ	(24) नौ (= ship)	(25) सुनौ (= ?)

Examples of द्यो and प्रद्यो as feminine and neuter ओ-कारान्त words and  नौ, सुनौ as feminine and neuter औ-कारान्त words are very kindly suggested by Dr. Avinash Sathaye of University of Kentucky giving reference of a book रूपचन्द्रिका. Following his suggestion, I could locate द्यो (= heaven) and नौ (= ship) in Apte’s dictionary also.

By the way, पाणिनि makes all vowel-ending words into a set by the name अजन्त (Note अजन्त = अच् + अन्त where अच् means all vowels). How अच् means all vowels, will become a different study of grammar-aphorisms. Mention here is just to appraise readers that all vowel-ending words become elements of a set, which is given a short name as अजन्त.

In the above table, one gets to notice patterns of declensions for vowel-ending अजन्त words numbered from 1 to 25. Of these we have done two patterns of अ-कारान्त पुंल्लिङ्गी and नपुंसकलिङ्गी. Actually these 25 patterns are not just for nouns, but also for adjectives. For example, in the above lists we have quite a number of adjectives such as लेखक, श्रेष्ठ, वाचक, सर्व, एक, द्वि, त्रि, कर्तृ or तृषार्त, संतुष्ट from the story of thirsty crow in previous lesson 5. For adjectives we will need to have declensions in all three genders, because these will have to qualify a noun of any of three genders. As such

• भवती is feminine of pronoun भवत्,
• We have already studied declensions of भवत्, in all cases and in all three genders.

I am doing copy–>paste of tables directly from http://murthygss.tripod.com/ (Many thanks to Mr. G. S. S. Murthy !)

Table 6-2

अकारान्तः ‘एक’-शब्दः (एक = one)

विभक्तिः ↓    वचनम् →	पुंल्लिङ्ग- एकवचनम्	नपुंसकलिङ्ग- एकवचनम्	स्त्रीलिङग- एकवचनम्
प्रथमा	एकः	एकम्	एका
संबोधनप्रथमा	हे एक	हे एक	हे एके
द्वितीया	एकम्	एकम्	एकाम्
तृतीया	एकेन	एकेन	एकया
चतुर्थी	एकस्मै	एकस्मै	एकस्यै
पञ्चमी	एकस्मात्	एकस्मात्	एकस्याः
षष्ठी	एकस्य	एकस्य	एकस्याः
सप्तमी	एकस्मिन्	एकस्मिन्	एकस्याम्

The numerical adjective एक will have common usage of declensions only in singular. I hence thought it good to save space by compiling declensions in all three genders in one table.

It may be noticed that the declensions of masculine and neuter genders are identical in all cases except in प्रथमा.

It may be also noticed that declensions of this numerical adjective एक in third, fourth, fifth and seventh cases is similar to those of the pronoun किम् and not like those of noun खग. Actually, कश्चित् काक: तृषार्त: and एकः काक: तृषार्त: convey the same meaning, right ? That may be the reason, why the declensions of numerical adjective एक are similar to those of the pronoun किम्. In fact in Apte’s dictionary, एक is detailed both as pronoun and adjective.

An indefinite numeral like सर्व will have declensions in all three genders and in all three numbers – singular, dual, plural. Although its meaning sounds to be closer to plural, we have its usage as “all that’, or ‘whole of it’, which is singular ! Aren’t grammarians very minute observers ! सर्व has declensions very similar to those of किम्. In fact in Apte’s dictionary सर्व is also detailed both as pronoun and adjective.

It is now interesting to note that the feminine प्रातिपदिक of एक is to be considered to be एका. Likewise feminine प्रातिपदिक of सर्व is to be considered as सर्वा. In fact feminine प्रातिपदिक of किम् was also का (See Table 4-1). Well, there are rules of obtaining feminine प्रातिपदिक-s for different nouns, pronouns and adjectives. For example, from common knowledge we know that बालक <> बालिका, शिक्षक <> शिक्षिका, वाचक <> वाचिका are related pairs of masculine and feminine प्रातिपदिक-s. That also gives some logic to why there are no अ-कारान्त feminine nouns. Conversely, there are no आकारान्त neuter प्रातिपदिक-s.  आकारान्त masculine प्रातिपदिक-s are there, as if only as exceptions. An example is in Table 6-3 below.

Table 6-3

आकारान्तः पुल्लिङ्ग: ‘विश्वपा’-शब्दः (विश्वपा = Protector of the Universe)

विभक्तिः ↓ वचनम् →	एकवचनम्	द्विवचनम्	बहुवचनम्
प्रथमा	विश्वपाः	विश्वपौ	विश्वपः
संबोधनप्रथमा	हे विश्वपाः	हे विश्वपौ	हे विश्वपाः
द्वितीया	विश्वपाम्	विश्वपौ	विश्वपः
तृतीया	विश्वपा	विश्वपाभ्याम्	विश्वपाभिः
चतुर्थी	विश्वपे	विश्वपाभ्याम्	विश्वपाभ्यः
पञ्चमी	विश्वपः	विश्वपाभ्याम्	विश्वपाभ्यः
षष्ठी	विश्वपः	विश्वपोः	विश्वपाम्
सप्तमी	विश्वपि	विश्वपोः	विश्वपासु

Likewise (एवं) सोमपा इत्यादयः (=etc.)

Table 6-4

आकारान्तस्त्रीलिङग: रमाशब्दः (रमा = Goddess LakShmi)

विभक्तिः ↓ वचनम् →	एकवचनम्	द्विवचनम्	बहुवचनम्
प्रथमा	रमा	रमे	रमाः
संबोधनप्रथमा	हे रमे	हे रमे	हे रमाः
द्वितीया	रमाम्	रमे	रमाः
तृतीया	रमया	रमाभ्याम्	रमाभिः
चतुर्थी	रमायै	रमाभ्याम्	रमाभ्यः
पञ्चमी	रमायाः	रमाभ्याम्	रमाभ्यः
षष्ठी	रमायाः	रमयोः	रमाणाम्
सप्तमी	रमायाम्	रमयोः	रमासु

एवम् (Likewise) – अम्बिका दुर्गा सीता बाला छाया etc. (इत्यादयः)

Proceeding with words of other vowel-ending –

Table 6-5

इकारान्तः पुल्ल्लिङ्ग: हरिशब्दः (हरि = God ViShNu)

विभक्तिः ↓ वचनम् →	एकवचनम्	द्विवचनम्	बहुवचनम्
प्रथमा	हरिः	हरी	हरयः
संबोधनप्रथमा	हे हरे	हे हरी	हे हरयः
द्वितीया	हरिम्	हरी	हरीन्
तृतीया	हरिणा	हरिभ्याम्	हरिभिः
चतुर्थी	हरये	हरिभ्याम्	हरिभ्यः
पञ्चमी	हरेः	हरिभ्याम्	हरिभ्यः
षष्ठी	हरेः	हर्योः	हरीणाम्
सप्तमी	हरौ	हर्योः	हरिषु

Likewise (एवम्) – अग्नि कवि रवि etc. (इत्यादयः). It should be noted that in third case singular, and sixth and seventh case plural there is ण-inflection in place of न and ष-inflection in place of  स, due to र in हरि. Such inflection will not be there for कवि.

Declensions of पति are exceptional. They need to be noted separately.

Table 6-6

इकारान्तः पुल्ल्लिङ्ग: पतिशब्दः (पति = Master, Husband)

विभक्तिः ↓ वचनम् →	एकवचनम्	द्विवचनम्	बहुवचनम्
प्रथमा	पतिः	पती	पतयः
संबोधनप्रथमा	हे पते	हे पती	हे पतयः
द्वितीया	पतिम्	पती	पतीन्
तृतीया	पत्या	पतिभ्याम्	पतिभिः
चतुर्थी	पत्ये	पतिभ्याम्	पतिभ्यः
पञ्चमी	पत्युः	पतिभ्याम्	पतिभ्यः
षष्ठी	पत्युः	पत्योः	पतीनाम्
सप्तमी	पत्यौ	पत्योः	पतिषु

Notable exceptions are in singulars of third to seventh cases.

Declensions of सखि also are exceptional. They need to be noted separately.

Table 6-7

इकारान्तः पुल्ल्लिङ्ग: सखिशब्दः (सखि = Friend)

विभक्तिः ↓ वचनम् →	एकवचनम्	द्विवचनम्	बहुवचनम्
प्रथमा	सखा	सखायौ	सखायः
संबोधनप्रथमा	हे सखे	हे सखायौ	हे सखायः
द्वितीया	सखायम्	सखायौ	सखीन्
तृतीया	सख्या	सखिभ्याम्	सखिभिः
चतुर्थी	सख्ये	सखिभ्याम्	सखिभ्यः
पञ्चमी	सख्युः	सखिभ्याम्	सखिभ्यः
षष्ठी	सख्युः	सख्योः	सखीनाम्
सप्तमी	सख्यौ	सख्योः	सखिष

Table 6-8

इकारान्तः नपुंसकलिङ्ग: वारिशब्दः (वारि = water)

विभक्तिः ↓ वचनम् →	एकवचनम्	द्विवचनम्	बहुवचनम्
प्रथमा	वारि	वारिणी	वारीणि
संबोधनप्रथमा	हे वारे, हे वारि	हे वारिणी	हे वारीणि
द्वितीया	वारि	वारिणी	वारीणि
तृतीया	वारिणा	वारिभ्याम्	वारिभिः
चतुर्थी	वारिणे	वारिभ्याम्	वारिभ्यः
पञ्चमी	वारिणः	वारिभ्याम्	वारिभ्यः
षष्ठी	वारिणः	वारिणोः	वारीणाम्
सप्तमी	वारिणि	वारिणोः	वारिषु

Note two optional forms for address-case singular.

Word अक्षि has exceptional declensions. Hence these should be noted.

Table 6-9

इकारान्तः नपुंसकलिङ्ग: ‘अक्षि’-शब्दः (अक्षि = eye)

विभक्तिः ↓ वचनम् →	एकवचनम्	द्विवचनम्	बहुवचनम्
प्रथमा	अक्षि	अक्षिणी	अक्षीणि
संबोधनप्रथमा	अक्षे, अक्षि	अक्षिणी	अक्षीणि
द्वितीया	अक्षि	अक्षिणी	अक्षीणि
तृतीया	अक्ष्णा	अक्षिभ्याम्	अक्षिभिः
चतुर्थी	अक्ष्णे	अक्षिभ्याम्	अक्षिभ्यः
पञ्चमी	अक्ष्णः	अक्षिभ्याम्	अक्षिभ्यः
षष्ठी	अक्ष्णः	अक्ष्णोः	अक्ष्णाम्
सप्तमी	अक्ष्णि, अक्षणि	अक्ष्णोः	अक्षिषु

Table 6-10

इकारान्तः स्त्रीलिङ्ग: मतिशब्दः (मति = Intellect)

विभक्तिः ↓ वचनम् →	एकवचनम्	द्विवचनम्	बहुवचनम्
प्रथमा	मतिः	मती	मतयः
संबोधनप्रथमा	हे मते	हे मती	हे मतयः
द्वितीया	मतिम्	मती	मतीः
तृतीया	मत्या	मतिभ्याम्	मतिभिः
चतुर्थी	मत्यै, मतये	मतिभ्याम्	मतिभ्यः
पञ्चमी	मत्याः, मतेः	मतिभ्याम्	मतिभ्यः
षष्ठी	मत्याः	मत्योः	मतीनाम्
सप्तमी	मत्याम्, मतौ	मत्योः	मतिषु

Likewise (एवम्) – बुद्धि रुचि श्रुति स्मृति etc. (इत्यादयः)
Note that there are optional declensions for singulars of fourth, fifth and seventh cases.

Having noted the declensions for इकारान्त-words in all three genders, it would be good to note the declensions of the numerical pronoun-adjectives द्वि and त्रि, which also are इकारान्त. द्वि will have declensions primarily in dual and त्रि will have declensions primarily in plural. So, we shall tabulate their declensions by columns for genders, as was done for एक.

Table 6-11

Declensions of pronoun-adjective द्वि- (द्वि = two)

विभक्तिः ↓    वचनम् →	पुंल्लिङ्ग- द्विवचनम्	नपुंसकलिङ्ग- द्विवचनम्	स्त्रीलिङग- द्विवचनम्
प्रथमा	द्वौ	द्वे	द्वे
द्वितीया	द्वौ	द्वे	द्वे
तृतीया	द्वाभ्याम्	द्वाभ्याम्	द्वाभ्याम्
चतुर्थी	द्वाभ्याम्	द्वाभ्याम्	द्वाभ्याम्
पञ्चमी	द्वाभ्याम्	द्वाभ्याम्	द्वाभ्याम्
षष्ठी	द्वयोः	द्वयोः	द्वयोः
सप्तमी	द्वयोः	द्वयोः	द्वयोः

Interestingly there are only four variants – द्वौ द्वे द्वाभ्याम् द्वयोः – in all the 21 declensions. That makes it simple, right ? There again declensions for six of the seven cases are same in all genders. Only in first case they are different. There too, those of feminine and neuter genders are identical.

Yet द्वि in its प्रातिपदिक-form does not appear anywhere or no declension is close enough to the प्रातिपदिक-form द्वि.

When two persons or things are together, there is the style of speaking of the pair or couple, e.g. pair of shoes. For this the Sanskrit word is द्वय e.g. हस्तद्वयम्, पादद्वयम्, कर्णद्वयम्. It should be noted that द्वय is noun primarily neuter नपुंसकलिङ्गि प्रातिपदिकम्. So, its declensions will be as per those of पुस्तक. It will have declensions in all numbers according as the number of pairs – singular, dual, plural. By that token, हस्तद्वयाभ्याम् would mean ‘by two pairs of hands, i.e. by four hands ! There is the special pair of husband and wife, for which there is a special word दंपती. As detailed in Apte’s dictionary, it is ईकारान्त पुंल्लिङ्गी प्रातिपदिक. I just added it in the Table 6-1.

Table 6-12

Declensions of pronoun-adjective त्रि (त्रि = three)

विभक्तिः ↓    वचनम् →	पुंल्लिङ्ग- बहुवचनम्	नपुंसकलिङ्ग- बहुवचनम्	स्त्रीलिङग- बहुवचनम्
प्रथमा	त्रयः	त्रीणि	तिस्रः
द्वितीया	त्रीन्	त्रीणि	तिस्रः
तृतीया	त्रिभिः	त्रिभिः	तिसृभिः
चतुर्थी	त्रिभ्यः	त्रिभ्यः	तिसृभ्यः
पञ्चमी	त्रिभ्यः	त्रिभ्यः	तिसृभ्यः
षष्ठी	त्रयाणाम्	त्रयाणाम्	तिसृणाम्
सप्तमी	त्रिषु	त्रिषु	तिसृषु

Declensions of त्रि have close correspondence with the प्रातिपदिक, त्रि. Declensions of masculine and neuter genders are common except in first and second cases.

There is also the style of speaking of a ‘trio’, three persons or things together. Sanskrit word for this is त्रय. It is an adjective and its feminine प्रातिपदिक is त्रयी, meaning a trio or triplet. The feminine प्रातिपदिक त्रयी is often used as a noun, especially referring to the three primary Vedas – ऋक् यजुः and साम – together.

There is much more to learn about numbers. That merits a separate chapter.

-o-O-o-

Simple Sanskrit – Lesson 5

Simple Sanskrit – Lesson 5

सरलं संस्कृतम् – पञ्चमः पाठः |

In Lesson 3, when explaining flexibility of syntax available in Sanskrit, the point was illustrated by the sentence पुस्तके चित्राणि सन्ति. When doing this and also in Tables 3-5, 3-6 and 3-7, a good number of new words had been introduced. In Table 5-1, they are now tabulated by case and gender.

Table 5-1

Tabulation of words by Case and Gender

‘case’ विभक्ति	Masculine Nouns	Neuter Nouns	Feminine Nouns
First (or Nominative case) प्रथमा	लेखकः, पिता, वाचकाः, राक्षसाः, विजयः, अश्वत्थः, श्रेष्ठः (8)	पुस्तकम् , ज्ञानम् ,गीतम ्, वेष्टणम्, भयम् , शौर्यम्, जलम्,  चित्राणि, पादत्राणे (9)	सिद्धिः, माता, प्रशस्तिः (3)
Second (or Accusative case) द्वितीया	शिक्षकम्, हस्तौ, खगान् (3)	अन्नम् (1)	,
Third (or instrumental case) तृतीया	अभ्यासेन, कर्णाभ्याम्, वानरैः (3)	पुस्तकेन
Fourth (or Dative case) चतुर्थी	श्रीगणेशाय, बालकाभ्याम्, चतुरेभ्यः (3)	पुस्तकाय, नमनाय (1)
Fifth (or Ablative case) पञ्चमी	चोरात्, हस्ताभ्याम्, आचार्येभ्यः (3)	पुस्तकात्
Sixth (or genitive case) षष्ठी	सैनिकस्य, पुत्रयोः, वीराणाम्  (3)	पुस्तकस्य
Seventh (or Locative case) सप्तमी	घटे, पादयोः वृक्षेषु  (3)	खे, पुस्तके

Wow ! As many as 41 new words were introduced ! But we do not have their declensions in all seven cases and all three numbers. You will wonder whether I intend to make 41 tabulations for the 41 words. Well, the answer is ‘yes’ and ‘no’. Some patterns are already obvious. So, we shall explore the patterns. Since Sanskrit is a structured language, we have to identify patterns and learn primarily the patterns. For example 26 noun-forms in the ‘masculine’ column can be sorted by their number in the following manner. For ready reference and comparison, masculine declensions of pronoun किम् are also added from Table 3-4 in bold.

Table 5-2

Masculine Nouns by their Number and Cases

‘case’ विभक्ति	Singular एकवचनम्	Dual द्विवचनम्	Plural बहुवचनम्
First (or Nominative case) प्रथमा	लेखकः, (पिता), विजयः, अश्वत्थः, श्रेष्ठः कः	कौ	वाचकाः, राक्षसाः के
Second (or Accusative case) द्वितीया	शिक्षकम् कम्	हस्तौ कौ	खगान् कान्
Third (or instrumental case) तृतीया	अभ्यासेन, केन	कर्णाभ्याम् काभ्याम्	वानरैः कैः
Fourth (or Dative case) चतुर्थी	श्रीगणेशाय कस्मै	बालकाभ्याम्  काभ्याम्	चतुरेभ्यः केभ्य:
Fifth (or Ablative case) पञ्चमी	चोरात् कस्मात्	हस्ताभ्याम्  काभ्याम्	आचार्येभ्यः केभ्य:
Sixth (or genitive case) षष्ठी	सैनिकस्य, कस्य	पुत्रयो: कयोः	वीराणाम् केषाम्
Seventh (or Locative case) सप्तमी	घटे, कस्मिन्	पादयोः  कयोः	वृक्षेषु केषु

Noticeable differences with declensions of किम् are at

• वाचकाः, राक्षसाः के First Case, plural
• श्रीगणेशाय कस्मै Fourth case, singular
• चोरात् कस्मात् Fifth case, singular and
• घटे, कस्मिन् Seventh case, singular
• In First case singular (पिता) is different from the rest. That is why I have put into brackets.

Leaving aside these differences, pattern of as many as 17 declensions is identical. The differences are because किम् is a pronoun and others are nouns. Actually श्रेष्ठः is an adjective. That is okay. Looking somewhat deeper into the following 24 words, (Word हस्त is used both at second and fifth case, dual) their root words are –

• लेखक, विजय, अश्वत्थ, श्रेष्ठ,
• वाचक, राक्षस, शिक्षक, हस्त, खग,
• अभ्यास, कर्ण, वानर, श्रीगणेश, बालक,
• चतुर, चोर, आचार्य, सैनिक, पुत्र,
• वीर, घट, पाद, and वृक्ष

All these root words have ending sound of the vowel अ. So, these root words are अ-स्वरान्त or अकारान्त (Note स्वरान्त = स्वर + अन्त = having स्वर vowel at the end; अकारान्त = अकार + अन्त = having अ at the end)
By the way, root words of nouns are called as प्रातिपदिक. It was mentioned in the first lesson that root words of verbs are called as धातु.
All Masculine nouns having अ at the end will follow declensions in a particular pattern as is evident in Table 5-2. The 21 declensions are like 21 dress-codes to be worn by the प्रातिपदिक if it is अकारान्त पुंल्लिङ्गि.
Just to mention, the प्रातिपदिक ‘ख’ is both पुंल्लिङ्गि and नपुंसकलिङ््गि. When पुंल्लिङ्गि it means ‘sun’ and when नपुंसकलिङ््गि it means ‘sky’. In Table 3-7 in the row for second case, I had used it with the meaning of ‘sky’. So in Table 5-1, I have put it in the column of neuter nouns. This information that “…प्रातिपदिक ‘ख’ is both पुंल्लिङ्गि and नपुंसकलिङ््गि. When पुंल्लिङ्गि it means ‘sun’ and when नपुंसकलिङ््गि it means ‘sky’….” is from dictionary. We can expect to find प्रातिपदिक-s in dictionary.
When we would know what to expect to be available in dictionary, ‘referring the dictionary’ should be considered as an important part of study of Sanskrit or for study of any language for that matter.
Coming back to the concept that patterns of declensions are like dress-codes, we can tabulate the declensions for any of the 24 words. For ready reference let me tabulate the declensions of खग.

Table 5-3

Declensions of अकारान्त पुंल्लिङ्गि प्रातिपदिक खग

‘case’ विभक्ति	Singular एकवचनम्	Dual द्विवचनम्	Plural बहुवचनम्
First (or Nominative case) प्रथमा	खग:	खगौ	खगाः
Second (or Accusative case) द्वितीया	खगम्	खगौ	खगान्
Third (or instrumental case) तृतीया	खगेन	खगाभ्याम्	खगैः
Fourth (or Dative case) चतुर्थी	खगाय	खगाभ्याम्	खगेभ्यः
Fifth (or Ablative case) पञ्चमी	खगात्	खगाभ्याम्	खगेभ्यः
Sixth (or genitive case) षष्ठी	खगस्य	खगयोः	खगानाम्
Seventh (or Locative case) सप्तमी	खगे	खगयोः	खगेषु

By using this pattern one should be able to make declensions of all the 24 words.
However one needs to be conscious of the forms/declensions at

• singular of third case and
• plural of sixth case.

If the प्रातिपदिक contains vowel ऋ or ऋ-दीर्घ or consonant र् or consonant ष्, then the ending न changes to ण. So for the प्रातिपदिक-s श्रेष्ठ, राक्षस, वानर, चतुर, चोर, आचार्य, पुत्र, वीर, and वृक्ष the declensions will be

• श्रेष्ठेण, राक्षसेण, वानरेण, चतुरेण, चोरेण, आचार्येण, पुत्रेण, वीरेण, and वृक्षेण in the third case and
• श्रेष्ठाणाम्, राक्षसाणाम्, वानराणाम्, चतुराणाम्, चोराणाम्, आचार्याणाम्, पुत्राणाम्, वीराणाम् and वृक्षाणाम् in the sixth case.

In Table 3-3, we already have the Singular एकवचनम् declensions of the root word प्रातिपदिक, पुस्तक. This word is also अकारान्त, but its gender is neuter नपुंसकलिङ््गि. We can complete the table by adding its declensions in Dual द्विवचनम् and Plural बहुवचनम्.

Table 5-4

Declensions of अकारान्त नपुंसकलिङ््गि प्रातिपदिक पुस्तक

‘case’ विभक्ति	Singular एकवचनम्	Dual द्विवचनम्	Plural बहुवचनम्
First (or Nominative case) प्रथमा	पुस्तकम्	पुस्तके	पुस्तकानि
Second (or Accusative case) द्वितीया	पुस्तकम्	पुस्तके	पुस्तकानि
Third (or instrumental case) तृतीया	पुस्तकेन	पुस्तकाभ्याम्	पुस्तकैः
Fourth (or Dative case) चतुर्थी	पुस्तकाय	पुस्तकाभ्याम्	पुस्तकेभ्यः
Fifth (or Ablative case) पञ्चमी	पुस्तकात्	पुस्तकाभ्याम्	पुस्तकेभ्यः
Sixth (or genitive case) षष्ठी	पुस्तकस्य	पुस्तकयोः	पुस्तकानाम्
Seventh (or Locative case) सप्तमी	पुस्तके	पुस्तकयोः	पुस्तकेषु

Following the above pattern we can make declensions of 11 more neuter nouns noted in Table 5-1 ज्ञान, गीत, वेष्टण, भय, शौर्य, जल,  चित्र, पादत्राण, अन्न, नमन and ख.
By the way the rule of change from न to ण would not apply for वेष्टण and पादत्राण, because they have the change already therein. But the rule will apply to शौर्य and चित्र.
With lot of declensions of verbs, nouns and pronouns on hand with us, let us try an exercise of translating the story of the thirsty crow into Sanskrit.
1. A crow was very thirsty.
2. He looked for water here and there.
3. He did not see water anywhere
4. He went to another place.
4. He saw a jar.
5. There was little water in the jar.
6. He thought of an idea.
7. He picked up stones and put them in the jar.
8. Water came up.
9. He drank the water and became happy.
First we need to compile glossary of words which will help us to make the sentences.

Table 5-5

Glossary

No.	Word	प्रातिपदिक or धातु or अव्यय
1	crow	काक
2	to be	अस्
3	very thirsty	तृषार्त
4	to look	दृश्
5	water	जल
6	here	अत्र
7	and	च
8	there	तत्र
9	anywhere	कुत्रापि
10	to go to	गम्
11	to another place	अन्यत्र
12	to see	दृश्
13	jar	घट
14	little	किञ्चित्
15	to think	चिन्त्
16	idea	उपाय
17	to pick up	गृह्
18	stone	पाषाणखण्ड
19	to put, to drop	क्षिप्
20	to come	आ + गम्
21	up	उपरि
22	to drink	पा
23	to be	भू
24	happy	संतुष्ट

It is better to do translations analytically. By that we would be able to select proper declensions of nouns and verbs.
We can make do using just the present tense instead of past tense.

Table 5-6

Analytical view of sentences

No.	Subject	Verb	Object	Complement	Adverbial phrases and conjunctions
1	A crow काक:	was अस्ति		very thirsty तृषार्त:
2	He सः	looked पश्यति			for water जलाय here and there अत्र तत्र च
3	He सः	did not see न पश्यति	water जलम्		anywhere कुत्रापि
4	He सः	went to गच्छति			another place अन्यत्र
5	He सः	saw पश्यति	a jar घटम्
6	little water किञ्चित् जलम्	(There) was अस्ति			in the jar घटे
7	He सः	thought of चिन्तयति	an idea उपायम्
8-a	He सः	picked up गृह्णाति	stones पाषाणखण्डान्		(and) च
8-b		put क्षिपति	them तान्		in the jar घटे
9	Water जलम्	came आगच्छति			up उपरि
10-a	He सः	drank पिबति	the water जलम्		(and) च
10-b		became भवति		happy संतुष्टः

It would be interesting to see how the story would read as one continuous narration !
काक: अस्ति तृषार्त: | सः पश्यति जलाय अत्र तत्र च | न पश्यति जलम् कुत्रापि | सः गच्छति अन्यत्र | सः पश्यति घटम् |
किञ्चित् जलम् अस्ति घटे | सः चिन्तयति उपायम् | सः गृह्णाति पाषाणखण्डान् च क्षिपति तान् घटे | जलम् आगच्छति उपरि | सः पिबति जलम् च भवति संतुष्टः |
One can turn the words around to get syntax and the reading to one’s liking. But sounds good for a first attempt ! Rather the placement of च in compound sentences has not happened properly. Its place should rather be after the second verb, i.e.

• सः गृह्णाति पाषाणखण्डान् च क्षिपति तान् घटे | should rather be सः गृह्णाति पाषाणखण्डान् क्षिपति च तान् घटे | Also
• सः पिबति जलम् च भवति संतुष्टः | should rather be सः पिबति जलम् भवति च संतुष्टः |

Important to note that –

1. In Sanskrit subject, object and complement and also adverbial phrases are declensions of nouns, pronouns, adjectives. They all have a प्रातिपदिक. So nouns, pronouns and adjectives make one class of words. Their declensions are dictated by gender, लिङ्ग case विभक्ति and वचन number.
2. Verbs are from धातु-s. Their declensions are dictated by tense काल or अर्थ mood, पुरुष person and वचन number
3. Conjunctions such as च and adverbs such as अत्र तत्र and verbal auxiliaries such as न are primarily indeclinables अव्यय.
4. We can say that as against eight parts of speech in English, in Sanskrit we have primarily three classes of words –
   1. derived (or declined) from प्रातिपदिक
   2. derived (or declined) from धातु and
   3. अव्यय-s, which are indeclinable.
5. If subject is a pronoun, its person and number must match with the person and number of the verb and vice versa.
   1. When subject is a noun its person is third person. Its number could be Singular एकवचनम् or Dual द्विवचनम् or Plural बहुवचनम्. The verb will be in third person and corresponding number. Again the rule, “..person and number of the verb must match with the person and number of the subject.” applies.
   2. When the verb intransitive, the sentence would often contain complements. They are adjectival in nature, qualifying the subject. The rule is that gender, लिङ्ग case विभक्ति and वचन number of an adjective must match the gender, लिङ्ग case विभक्ति and वचन number of the noun or pronoun, which it qualifies. There is a good verse on this having for its meaning exactly this rule –

यल्लिङ्गं  यद्वचनं  या  च  विभक्तिर्विशेषस्य ।
तल्लिङ्गं  तद्वचनं  सा  च  विभक्तिर्विशेषणस्यापि ।।

1. A study of this verse is detailed in Lesson No. 22 at http://slabhyankar.wordpress.com/
2. The complements – very thirsty तृषार्त: in First sentence and happy संतुष्टः in sentence 10 b qualify the subject A crow काक: He सः in respective sentences. The subjects are masculine, first case, singular. So are the complements.
3. Also in sentence  6, the phrase ‘little water’ किञ्चित् जलम् contains an adjective and a noun. The noun जलम् is neuter, first case, singular. So is किञ्चित्.

किञ्चित् is actually किम् + चित्. Here चित् is a suffix added to किम्. The suffix चित् can be added to every other declension of the pronoun किम् and would give a meaning of ‘some’. For example

1. किञ्चित् = somewhat, because किम् = what and चित् = some.
2. Likewise कश्चित् = कः + चित् = some-who i.e. someone, काचित् = someone (feminine)
3. केनचित् = केन + चित् = by someone
4. Likewise कस्यचित् = of someone; कस्माच्चित् = from someone, etc.

Note,

• when चित् is added to किम् the resultant sound becomes किञ्चित् .
• When चित् is added to कः the resultant sound becomes कश्चित्
• When चित् is added to कस्मात् the resultant sound becomes कस्माच्चित्.

This concept of ‘resultant sound’ is called as संधि or संहिता. Whereas ‘resultant sound’ is substantially a matter of natural experience, these natural experiences have been formulated into rules ! That is what makes Sanskrit a ‘structured’ language !
देवनागरी script of Sanskrit is a phonetic script. The alphabets of the script write really the sounds. What you write is what you say. There is no problem of remembering the spellings. There is no problem of the spelling of a word in US being different from its spelling in UK. देवनागरी scripting and pronunciation of every Sanskrit word ought to be the same all around the world, eternally.

In previous lessons, I was giving a count of number of sentences one can make from given details. Now the data-base has become so wide, that number of sentences one can make is limitless. This will go on becoming more and more infinite, primarily by –

• Getting to know Newer patterns and structures of declensions of words declining from प्रातिपदिक-s and words declining from धातु-s
• Expanding our repertoire of glossary

Learning Sanskrit is basically learning just these things ! Isn’t that simple, especially when everything is so well-structured and rhythmic ?

शुभमस्तु !

-o-O-o-

Simple Sanskrit – Lesson 4

Simple Sanskrit – Lesson 4

सरलं संस्कृतम् – चतुर्थः पाठः ।

Carrying ahead from last lesson, given below are forms for किम् in feminine and neuter genders.

Table 4-1

Forms of Feminine किम्

‘case’ विभक्ति	Singular एकवचनम्	Dual द्विवचनम्	Plural बहुवचनम्
First (or Nominative case) प्रथमा	का	के	काः
Second (or Accusative case) द्वितीया	काम्	के	काः
Third (or instrumental case) तृतीया	कया	काभ्यां	काभिः
Fourth (or Dative case) चतुर्थी	कस्यै	काभ्याम्	काभ्यः
Fifth (or Ablative case) पञ्चमी	कस्याः	काभ्याम्	काभ्यः
Sixth (or genitive case) षष्ठी	कस्याः	कयोः	कासाम्
Seventh (or Locative case) सप्तमी	कस्याम्	कयोः	कासु

Table 4-2

Forms of Neuter किम्

Gender लिङ्ग	Singular एकवचनम्	Dual द्विवचनम्	Plural बहुवचनम्
First (or Nominative case) प्रथमा	किम्	के	कानि
Second (or Accusative case) द्वितीया	किम्	के	कानि
Third (or instrumental case) तृतीया	केन	काभ्याम्	कैः
Fourth (or Dative case) चतुर्थी	कस्मै	काभ्याम्	केभ्यः
Fifth (or Ablative case) पञ्चमी	कस्मात्	काभ्याम्	केभ्यः
Sixth (or genitive case) षष्ठी	कस्य	कयोः	केषाम्
Seventh (or Locative case) सप्तमी	कस्मिन्	कयोः	केषु

In lessons 1 and 2 together we made simple sentences with 24 pronoun-forms. They were all of First (or Nominative case) प्रथमा विभक्ति and hence were handy to make sentences using them as subjects. It is time to learn their forms in all विभक्ति-s. These are called as declensions.

An interesting observation – Across the 63 declensions in 3 genders, the word कयोः occurs 6 times and the word काभ्याम् occurs 9 times. We can say that there are as many meanings of these words ! काभ्याम् would mean “By which two men ?, For which two men ?, From which two men ?, By which two women ? For which two women ? From which two women ? By which two things ? For which two things ? or From which two things ?

Which meaning is appropriate will of course be decided by the context.

Table 4-3

Declensions of Pronoun of First Person – अस्मद्

(Note these are common in all genders)

‘case’ विभक्ति	Singular एकवचनम्	Dual द्विवचनम्	Plural बहुवचनम्
First (or Nominative case) प्रथमा	अहम्	आवाम्	वयम्
Second (or Accusative case) द्वितीया	माम्, मा	आवाम्, नौ	अस्मान्, नः
Third (or instrumental case) तृतीया	मया	आवाभ्याम्	अस्माभिः
Fourth (or Dative case) चतुर्थी	मह्यम्, मे	आवाभ्याम्, नौ	अस्मभ्यम्, नः
Fifth (or Ablative case) पञ्चमी	मत्	आवाभ्याम्	अस्मत्
Sixth (or genitive case) षष्ठी	मम, मे	आवयोः, नौ	अस्माकम्, नः
Seventh (or Locative case) सप्तमी	मयि	आवयोः	अस्मासु

Some interesting observations –

• The declensions are common in all genders. This is so in English also. First person pronoun is ‘I’. Only for the Third Person, the pronouns are different – he, she, it – according to gender.
• The name of the pronoun is अस्मद् . A form closest to this is at Fifth (or Ablative case) पञ्चमी बहुवचनम्
• Optional forms are provided for Second द्वितीया, Fourth चतुर्थी and Sixth षष्ठी cases. This is so possibly because these are the cases which are in much more use than the other cases and hence optional forms come handy in composing poetry and making writing short and crisp.
• Especially when thinking of the optional form मे in the sixth case, comes to mind a ‘good verse’ सुभाषितम्
  • अशनं मे वसनं मे जाया मे बन्धुवर्गो मे | इति मे मे कुर्वाणं हन्ति कालवृको पुरुषाजम् ||
  • Meaning – A person who keeps saying “my food, my dress, my wife, my relatives” is like a goat in human form, whom the wolf of ‘Time’ devours (for sure).
  • See how beautifully and smartly the word मे , the optional form is used to bring an onomatopoeia in the poetry and also to simulate the baying मे मे  of a goat, aptly calling the person a goat !
  • A good glimpse of Sanskrit poetry ?!
  • A detailed study of this सुभाषितम् is available at Lesson No. 26 at http://slabhyankar.wordpress.com/

Table 4-4

Declensions of Pronoun of Second Person – युष्मद्

(Note these are common in all genders)

‘case’ विभक्ति	Singular एकवचनम्	Dual द्विवचनम्	Plural बहुवचनम्
First (or Nominative case) प्रथमा	त्वम्	युवाम्	यूयम्
Second (or Accusative case) द्वितीया	त्वाम्, त्वा	युवाम् वाम्	युष्मान् वः
Third (or instrumental case) तृतीया	त्वया	युवाभ्याम्	युष्माभिः
Fourth (or Dative case) चतुर्थी	तुभ्यम्, ते	युवाभ्याम्, वाम्	युष्मभ्यम्, वः
Fifth (or Ablative case) पञ्चमी	त्वत्	युवाभ्याम्	युष्मत्
Sixth (or genitive case) षष्ठी	तव, ते	युवयोः, वाम्	युष्माकम्, वः
Seventh (or Locative case) सप्तमी	त्वयि	युवयोः	युष्मासु

The interesting observations noted for अस्मद् are valid here also –

• The declensions are common in all genders. This is so in English also. Second person pronoun is ‘You’. Only for the Third Person, the pronouns are different – he, she, it – according to gender.
• The name of the pronoun is युष्मद् . A declension closest to this is at Fifth (or Ablative case) पञ्चमी बहुवचनम्
• Optional forms are provided for Second द्वितीया, Fourth चतुर्थी and Sixth षष्ठी cases. This is so possibly because these are the cases which are in much more use than the other cases and hence optional forms come handy in composing poetry and making writing short and crisp.
• As noted in the beginning of Lesson 2, this second person pronoun is to be used, only when one is sure that one is not offending linguistic etiquette. Safer linguistic etiquette is to use the pronoun भवत् – the Respectful second person pronoun.
• Even when speaking of Respectful second person pronoun, and knowing that God is respectful, comes to mind a famous prayer
  • त्वमेव माता च पिता त्वमेव ।  त्वमेव बन्धुश्च सखा त्वमेव । त्वमेव विद्या द्रविणं त्वमेव । त्वमेव सर्वं मम देव देव ॥
  • All across this prayer this pronoun युष्मद् only is used. Endorsement for such offence of etiquette is possibly obtained from use of the word सखा. सखा means friend.  When one is talking to a friend, one is not bound to follow the etiquettes. Rather, following etiquette becomes offensive to the concept of friendship.
  • In eleventh chapter in श्रीमद्भगवद्गीता, on being blessed with the sight of imposing Universal form of भगवान् श्रीकृष्ण, अर्जुन gets a feeling of remorse and pleads pardon for having behaved with श्रीकृष्ण all along as a mere friend. सखेति मत्त्वा प्रसभं यदुक्तम् | हे कृष्ण हे यादव हे सखेति (११-४१)….. तत्क्षामये त्वामहमप्रमेयम्  (११-४२). Even when pleading for pardon, अर्जुन still uses this second person pronoun, saying  त्वाम्
  • Pronoun युष्मद् can very much be used, but always keeping judicious balance about when to use it.
  • Etiquette of speech is so much inherent in Sanskrit ! Marvellous !

Since we are at pronoun of second person, we should see declensions of the respectful second person pronoun  भवत्.

Table 4-5

Declensions of Pronoun भवत्  in masculine पुंल्लिङ्ग-रूपाणि

‘case’ विभक्ति	Singular एकवचनम्	Dual द्विवचनम्	Plural बहुवचनम्
First (or Nominative case) प्रथमा	भवान्	भवन्तौ	भवन्तः
Second (or Accusative case) द्वितीया	भवन्तम्	भवन्तौ	भवतः
Third (or instrumental case) तृतीया	भवता	भवद्भ्याम्	भवद्भिः
Fourth (or Dative case) चतुर्थी	भवते	भवद्भ्याम्	भवद्भ्यः
Fifth (or Ablative case) पञ्चमी	भवतः	भवद्भ्याम्	भवद्भ्यः
Sixth (or genitive case) षष्ठी	भवतः	भवतोः	भवताम्
Seventh (or Locative case) सप्तमी	भवति	भवतोः	भवत्सु

Table 4-6

Declensions of Pronoun भवत्  in Feminine – स्त्रीलिङ्ग-रूपाणि

‘case’ विभक्ति	Singular एकवचनम्	Dual द्विवचनम्	Plural बहुवचनम्
First (or Nominative case) प्रथमा	भवती	भवत्यौ	भवत्यः
Second (or Accusative case) द्वितीया	भवतीम्	भवत्यौ	भवतीः
Third (or instrumental case) तृतीया	भवत्या	भवतीभ्याम्	भवतीभिः
Fourth (or Dative case) चतुर्थी	भवत्यै	भवतीभ्याम्	भवतीभ्यः
Fifth (or Ablative case) पञ्चमी	भवत्याः	भवतीभ्याम्	भवतीभ्यः
Sixth (or genitive case) षष्ठी	भवत्याः	भवत्योः	भवतीनाम्
Seventh (or Locative case) सप्तमी	भवत्याम्	भवत्योः	भवतीषु

Table 4-7

Declensions of Pronoun भवत्  in Neuter – नपुंसकलिङ्ग-रूपाणि

‘case’ विभक्ति	Singular एकवचनम्	Dual द्विवचनम्	Plural बहुवचनम्
First (or Nominative case) प्रथमा	भवत्	भवती	भवन्ति
Second (or Accusative case) द्वितीया	भवत्	भवती	भवन्ति
Third (or instrumental case) तृतीया	भवता	भवद्भ्याम्	भवद्भिः
Fourth (or Dative case) चतुर्थी	भवते	भवद्भ्याम्	भवद्भ्यः
Fifth (or Ablative case) पञ्चमी	भवतः	भवद्भ्याम्	भवद्भ्यः
Sixth (or genitive case) षष्ठी	भवतः	भवतोः	भवताम्
Seventh (or Locative case) सप्तमी	भवति	भवतोः	भवत्सु

It may be noted that except for First and Second cases, declensions in all other cases are identical for Masculine and Neuter.

On to pronouns of Third Person. First case declensions of the pronouns in Masculine (He), Feminine (She) and Neuter (It) in all three numbers have been already detailed. All the declensions in all cases and numbers are now in Tables 4-8, 4-9 and 4-10. The root name of the pronoun is तत्

Table 4-8

Masculine Declensions of Pronoun तत् – पुंल्लिङ्ग-रूपाणि

‘case’ विभक्ति	Singular एकवचनम्	Dual द्विवचनम्	Plural बहुवचनम्
First (or Nominative case) प्रथमा	सः	तौ	ते
Second (or Accusative case) द्वितीया	तम्	तौ	तान्
Third (or instrumental case) तृतीया	तेन	ताभ्याम्	तैः
Fourth (or Dative case) चतुर्थी	तस्मै	ताभ्याम्	तेभ्यः
Fifth (or Ablative case) पञ्चमी	तस्मात्	ताभ्याम्	तेभ्यः
Sixth (or genitive case) षष्ठी	तस्य	तयोः	तेषाम्
Seventh (or Locative case) सप्तमी	तस्मिन्	तयोः	तेषु

Table 4-9

Feminine Declensions of Pronoun तत् – स्त्रीलिङ्ग-रूपाणि

‘case’ विभक्ति	Singular एकवचनम्	Dual द्विवचनम्	Plural बहुवचनम्
First (or Nominative case) प्रथमा	सा	ते	ताः
Second (or Accusative case) द्वितीया	ताम्	ते	ताः
Third (or instrumental case) तृतीया	तया	ताभ्याम्	ताभिः
Fourth (or Dative case) चतुर्थी	तस्यै	ताभ्याम्	ताभ्यः
Fifth (or Ablative case) पञ्चमी	तस्याः	ताभ्याम्	ताभ्यः
Sixth (or genitive case) षष्ठी	तस्याः	तयोः	तासाम्
Seventh (or Locative case) सप्तमी	तस्याम्	तयोः	तासु

Table 4-10

Neuter Declensions of Pronoun तत् – नपुंसकलिङ्ग-रूपाणि

‘case’ विभक्ति	Singular एकवचनम्	Dual द्विवचनम्	Plural बहुवचनम्
First (or Nominative case) प्रथमा	तत्	ते	तानि
Second (or Accusative case) द्वितीया	तत्	ते	तानि
Third (or instrumental case) तृतीया	तेन	ताभ्याम्	तैः
Fourth (or Dative case) चतुर्थी	तस्मै	ताभ्याम्	तेभ्यः
Fifth (or Ablative case) पञ्चमी	तस्मात्	ताभ्याम्	तेभ्यः
Sixth (or genitive case) षष्ठी	तस्य	तयोः	तेषाम्
Seventh (or Locative case) सप्तमी	तस्मिन्	तयोः	तेषु

The Pronoun तत् is as much a pronoun of third person as it is also an indicative pronoun, equivalent of ‘that’ in English.

Another indicative pronoun in English is ‘this’. For this indicative pronoun, there are three options in Sanskrit – एतत्, इदम् and अदस्. Somehow in common usage, these seem to be popular in this order only – एतत् इदम् and अदस्. But a student should learn them without being concerned of the degree of popularity.

By the way अदस् has both shades of meaning – that of तत् (that) and also of एतत् (this). So it is the option for both.

Table 4-11

Masculine Declensions of Pronoun एतत् – पुंल्लिङ्ग-रूपाणि

‘case’ विभक्ति	Singular एकवचनम्	Dual द्विवचनम्	Plural बहुवचनम्
First (or Nominative case) प्रथमा	एषः	एतौ	एते
Second (or Accusative case) द्वितीया	एतम्, एनम्	एतौ, एनौ	एतान्, एनान्
Third (or instrumental case) तृतीया	एतेन	एताभ्याम्	एतैः
Fourth (or Dative case) चतुर्थी	एतस्मै	एताभ्याम्	एतेभ्यः
Fifth (or Ablative case) पञ्चमी	एतस्मात्	एताभ्याम्	एतेभ्यः
Sixth (or genitive case) षष्ठी	एतस्य	एतयोः, एनयोः	एतेषाम्
Seventh (or Locative case) सप्तमी	एतस्मिन्	एतयोः, एनयोः	एतेषु

Table 4-12

Feminine Declensions of Pronoun एतत् – स्त्रीलिङ्ग-रूपाणि

‘case’ विभक्ति	Singular एकवचनम्	Dual द्विवचनम्	Plural बहुवचनम्
First (or Nominative case) प्रथमा	एषा	एते	एताः
Second (or Accusative case) द्वितीया	एताम्, एनाम्	एते, एने	एताः, एनाः
Third (or instrumental case) तृतीया	एतया, एनया	एताभ्याम्	एताभिः
Fourth (or Dative case) चतुर्थी	एतस्यै	एताभ्याम्	एताभ्यः
Fifth (or Ablative case) पञ्चमी	एतस्याः	एताभ्याम्	एताभ्यः
Sixth (or genitive case) षष्ठी	एतस्याः	एतयोः, एनयोः	एतासाम्
Seventh (or Locative case) सप्तमी	एतस्याम्	एतयोः, एनयोः	एतासु

Table 4-13

Neuter Declensions of Pronoun एतत् – नपुंसकलिङ्ग-रूपाणि

‘case’ विभक्ति	Singular एकवचनम्	Dual द्विवचनम्	Plural बहुवचनम्
First (or Nominative case) प्रथमा	एतत्, एतद्	एते	एतानि
Second (or Accusative case) द्वितीया	एतत्, एतद्, एनत्, एनद्	एते, एने	एतानि, एनानि
Third (or instrumental case) तृतीया	एतेन, एनेन	एताभ्याम्	एतैः
Fourth (or Dative case) चतुर्थी	एतस्मै	एताभ्याम्	एतेभ्यः
Fifth (or Ablative case) पञ्चमी	एतस्मात्	एताभ्याम्	एतेभ्यः
Sixth (or genitive case) षष्ठी	एतस्य	एतयोः, एनयोः	एतेषाम्
Seventh (or Locative case) सप्तमी	एतस्मिन्	एतयोः, एनयोः	एतेषु

This is the pronoun with maximum number of optional declensions.

Table 4-14

Masculine Declensions of Pronoun इदम् – पुंल्लिङ्ग-रूपाणि

‘case’ विभक्ति	Singular एकवचनम्	Dual द्विवचनम्	Plural बहुवचनम्
First (or Nominative case) प्रथमा	अयम्	इमौ	इमे
Second (or Accusative case) द्वितीया	इमम्, एनम्	इमौ, एनौ	इमान्, एनान्
Third (or instrumental case) तृतीया	अनेन, एनेन	आभ्याम्	एभिः
Fourth (or Dative case) चतुर्थी	अस्मै	आभ्याम्	एभ्यः
Fifth (or Ablative case) पञ्चमी	अस्मात्	आभ्याम्	एभ्यः
Sixth (or genitive case) षष्ठी	अस्य	अनयोः, एनयोः	एषाम्
Seventh (or Locative case) सप्तमी	अस्मिन्	अनयोः, एनयोः	एषु

Table 4-15

Feminine Declensions of Pronoun इदम् – स्त्रीलिङ्ग-रूपाणि

‘case’ विभक्ति	Singular एकवचनम्	Dual द्विवचनम्	Plural बहुवचनम्
First (or Nominative case) प्रथमा	इयम्	इमे	इमाः
Second (or Accusative case) द्वितीया	इमाम्, एनाम्	इमे, एने	इमाः, एनाः
Third (or instrumental case) तृतीया	अनया, एनया	आभ्याम्	आभिः
Fourth (or Dative case) चतुर्थी	अस्यै	आभ्याम्	आभ्यः
Fifth (or Ablative case) पञ्चमी	अस्याः	आभ्याम्	आभ्यः
Sixth (or genitive case) षष्ठी	अस्याः	अनयोः, एनयोः	आसाम्
Seventh (or Locative case) सप्तमी	अस्याम्	अनयोः, एनयोः	आसु

Table 4-16

Neuter Declensions of Pronoun इदम् – नपुंसकलिङ्ग-रूपाणि

‘case’ विभक्ति	Singular एकवचनम्	Dual द्विवचनम्	Plural बहुवचनम्
First (or Nominative case) प्रथमा	इदम्	इमे	इमानि
Second (or Accusative case) द्वितीया	इदम्, एनत्	इमे, एने	इमानि, एनानि
Third (or instrumental case) तृतीया	अनेन, एनेन	आभ्याम्	एभिः
Fourth (or Dative case) चतुर्थी	अस्मै	आभ्याम्	एभ्यः
Fifth (or Ablative case) पञ्चमी	अस्मात्	आभ्याम्	एभ्यः
Sixth (or genitive case) षष्ठी	अस्य	अनयोः, एनयोः	एषाम्
Seventh (or Locative case) सप्तमी	अस्मिन्	अनयोः, एनयोः	एषु

Table 4-17

Masculine Declensions of Pronoun अदस् – पुंल्लिङ्ग-रूपाणि

‘case’ विभक्ति	Singular एकवचनम्	Dual द्विवचनम्	Plural बहुवचनम्
First (or Nominative case) प्रथमा	असौ	अमू	अमी
Second (or Accusative case) द्वितीया	अमूम्	अमू	अमून्
Third (or instrumental case) तृतीया	अमुना	अमूभ्याम्	अमीभिः
Fourth (or Dative case) चतुर्थी	अमुष्मै	अमूभ्याम्	अमीभ्यः
Fifth (or Ablative case) पञ्चमी	अमुष्मात्	अमूभ्याम्	अमीभ्यः
Sixth (or genitive case) षष्ठी	अमुष्य	अमुयोः	अमीषाम्
Seventh (or Locative case) सप्तमी	अमुष्मिन्	अमुयोः	अमीषु

Table 4-18

Feminine Declensions of Pronoun अदस् – स्त्रीलिङ्ग-रूपाणि

‘case’ विभक्ति	Singular एकवचनम्	Dual द्विवचनम्	Plural बहुवचनम्
First (or Nominative case) प्रथमा	असौ	अमू	अमूः
Second (or Accusative case) द्वितीया	अमूम्	अमू	अमूः
Third (or instrumental case) तृतीया	अमुया	अमूभ्याम्	अमूभिः
Fourth (or Dative case) चतुर्थी	अमुष्यै	अमूभ्याम्	अमूभ्यः
Fifth (or Ablative case) पञ्चमी	अमुष्याः	अमूभ्याम्	अमूभ्यः
Sixth (or genitive case) षष्ठी	अमुष्याः	अमुयोः	अमूषाम्
Seventh (or Locative case) सप्तमी	अमुष्याम्	अमुयोः	अमूषु

Table 4-19

Neuter Declensions of Pronoun अदस् – नपुंसकलिङ्ग-रूपाणि

‘case’ विभक्ति	Singular एकवचनम्	Dual द्विवचनम्	Plural बहुवचनम्
First (or Nominative case) प्रथमा	अमु	अमुनी	अमूनि
Second (or Accusative case) द्वितीया	अमु	अमुनी	अमूनि
Third (or instrumental case) तृतीया	अमुना	अमूभ्याम्	अमीभिः
Fourth (or Dative case) चतुर्थी	अमुष्मै	अमूभ्याम्	अमीभ्यः
Fifth (or Ablative case) पञ्चमी	अमुष्मात्	अमूभ्याम्	अमीभ्यः
Sixth (or genitive case) षष्ठी	अमुष्य	अमुयोः	अमीषाम्
Seventh (or Locative case) सप्तमी	अमुष्मिन्	अमुयोः	अमीषु

With as many as 19 tabulations above, this lesson may sound to be drab. But details provided here are possibly the most useful. Most of conversations take place using pronouns.

For example, on meeting a stranger, first question one would ask would be “What is your name ?” There are two pronouns here – what and your. In Sanskrit and to ask the question respectfully, one would ask भवतः नाम किम् ? If a stranger were to ask this question to me, I would reply, “My name is Shreepaada.” In Sanskrit मम नाम श्रीपाद-इति.

If two friends are talking between them and one of them knows me, and the other person wants to know my name from his friend, he would ask his friend “What is his name ?” In Sanskrit तस्य नाम किम् ? His friend would reply तस्य नाम श्रीपाद-इति.

But consider another situation. Ramesh accompanies Suresh to Suresh’s school. Ramesh is new to the school. When looking around, he spots a respectable person. He wants to enquire with Suresh, who the person is. In English he would ask, “Who is he ?” सः कः ? But asking of a respectable person this way would not be good etiquette. He could rather enquire भवान् कः ? Suresh may reply भवान् आचार्यः “Sir is a Professor”. This becomes a good example to illustrate why the pronoun भवत् should have verbs of Third Person.

Consider yet another situation. I am accompanying my friend Ashok. We meet Ashok’s friend Deepak. Somehow Ashok forgets introducing me to Deepak. Deepak himself enquires with Ashok, “Who is this ?” How do we translate this in Sanskrit. For the pronoun ‘this’ in Sanskrit we have options. कः एषः ? or कः अयम् ? or कः असौ ? I would think that कः अयम् ? is more informal, smoother, more intimate and softer than कः एषः ? It may be noted that the vowel अ consonant य in अयम् are softer than vowel ए and consonant ष in एषः Naturally कः अयम् ? would make a softer and more decent speech than कः एषः ?

With minimum 21 declensions detailed for अस्मद् and युष्मद् and with minimum 63 declensions detailed for each of भवत् तत् एतत् इदम् अदस् किम् we have such a vast (2×21 + 6×63 = 420) repertoire of diction learnt. But we can consider all this repertoire really acquired only when we can use with ease. There is a ‘good verse’ सुभाषितम् which says –

पुस्तकस्था तु या विद्या परहस्तगतं धनम् |

कार्यकाले समुत्पन्ने न सा विद्या न तद्धनम् ||

meaning, “The knowledge which stays in the book, is like wealth in some else’s hands. When occasion demands prompt usage, that knowledge in the book and the wealth in some else’s hands, both are meaningless.” (A study of this सुभाषितम् is detailed in lesson No. 14 at http://slabhyankar.wordpress.com/)

People do not like the ‘rote learning’ method. I do not know whether there is any other method to get ease in the use of so many declensions.

One impressive thing of the structuring of so many declensions of each pronoun is that they can be recited with a beautiful rhythm. I guess, the Dual number द्विवचन also has a significance in facilitating that rhythm.

शुभमस्तु !

-o-O-o-

Simple Sanskrit – Lesson 3

Simple Sanskrit – Lesson 3

सरलं संस्कृतम् – तृतीयः पाठः ।

All the 600 sentences in present tense from Lessons 1 and 2 can be transformed into interrogatives by just adding an interrogative किम्  For example,

Table 3-1

Interrogatives using किम्

Sentence in Present tense	English	Interrogative	English
भवत्यः गच्छन्ति (see Table 2-2)	You (ladies) go	भवत्यः गच्छन्ति किम् ?	Do you ladies go ?

(Note Table 2-2 means in Lesson 2 Table 2. All tables in both previous lessons have been renumbered in this pattern.)

Now किम् is a pronoun, an interrogative pronoun, equivalent to the English interrogatives who, what, which.

Although किम् is equivalent to ‘who’, a question in English “Who goes ?”  should not be translated as किम् गच्छति ?

In Sanskrit we have to be conscious of the gender.

• If the question “Who goes ?” is about a person, whose gender is not known, the most common gender by convention in Sanskrit should be masculine. Then the question should be कः गच्छति ?
• But if the gender is known then the question should be with appropriate form of the pronoun किम् . Among a group of girls they would ask का गच्छति ?
• But suppose two friends are sitting together chatting. Suddenly one of them is disturbed by something, some insect having crept away somewhere. Then the other friend would anxiously ask किम् गच्छति ? “What goes ?”.

As was done for the pronouns in Table 1-4 (Note, Table 1-4 stands for Table 4 in Lesson 1) and was done also for the pronoun भवत् in Table 2-1 it would be good to tabulate forms of this pronoun किम् .

Table 3-2

Forms of Pronoun किम्

Gender लिङ्ग	Singular एकवचनम्	Dual द्विवचनम्	Plural बहुवचनम्
Masculine पुंल्लिङ्ग	कः	कौ	के
Feminine स्त्रीलिङ्ग	का	के	का:
Neuter नपुंसकलिङ्ग	किम्	के	कानि

When the sentence सः गच्छति is transformed into interrogative सः गच्छति किम् ? the meaning is “Does he go ?”

• But सः गच्छति could be an answer to a question “Who goes ?” The question could as well be कः गच्छति ?
• There could as well be a situation when a Captain is wanting any one of his cadets to volunteer and would ask, कः गच्छति ? And one, who would volunteer, would say अहं गच्छामि. Or many would together volunteer saying वयं गच्छामः If two would volunteer together they would say आवां गच्छावः

By the way, it should be interesting to note that it is very much permissible in most languages, at least colloquially to use Present Tense in place of Future.

Coming back to interrogatives, in transforming the sentence सः गच्छति into interrogative सः गच्छति किम् ? the two-word sentence has become a 3-word sentence. That arouses a curiosity about the role of each word in the sentence.

About the role of a word in a sentence, in English grammar there is the concept of eight Parts of Speech –

• Preposition, Noun, Pronoun, Adjective,
• Verb, Adverb,
• Conjunction,
• Exclamatory.

In Sanskrit grammar, prepositions are merged into the noun, pronoun adjectives by making word-formations in seven cases.

For example

• “a book” in Sanskrit is पुस्तकम्
• “in the book” would be पुस्तके.

Note, both preposition ‘in’ and article ‘the’ are merged along with the noun ‘book’ and all together become one single word पुस्तके – just one word for three. That is brevity.

(I understand that microprocessor designers are impressed by this brevity, because this can help signals in the microprocessor to travel and be processed faster. That may help microprocessors to do large number of tasks, also much faster.)

There is another angle to the formation of a word such as पुस्तके. Suppose we want to translate the English sentence “There are pictures in the book.”, the translation would be पुस्तके चित्राणि सन्ति. Now, rules of syntax of English would not permit any word to be sprewn around anywhere. You cannot say “Pictures there in are book the.” But in Sanskrit it is perfectly permissible to put the words in any order.

1. पुस्तके चित्राणि सन्ति
2. पुस्तके सन्ति चित्राणि
3. चित्राणि पुस्तके सन्ति
4. चित्राणि सन्ति पुस्तके
5. सन्ति पुस्तके चित्राणि
6. सन्ति चित्राणि पुस्तके

If there are ‘n’ number of words in a sentence, there can be nPn number of permutations of syntax of the sentence ! Isn’t that awesome flexibility ? This is possible because every word is given a formation, which gives it the strength to stand by itself anywhere in the sentence. This facilitated much of Sanskrit literature to be poetry.

Possibly this aspect of flexibility is also important and beneficial for microprocessor-design. The designer can select that order, which is most suitable for fastest processing of the signal. Or the microprocessor can be given ‘artificial intelligence’ for the signal to select by itself the path of least resistance.

Having said that the English phrase ‘in the book’ becomes पुस्तके in Sanskrit, it should be interesting to learn which ‘case’ denotes which preposition.

Table 3-3

correspondence between ‘case’ विभक्ति and English Prepositions

‘case’ विभक्ति	when used or English Preposition	Forms of word पुस्तकम् when singular	Example
First (or Nominative case) प्रथमा	for ‘subject’ words in a sentence	पुस्तकम्	पुस्तकम् अस्ति (There) is a book
Second (or Accusative case) द्वितीया	for direct objects in a sentence	पुस्तकम्	पुस्तकम् गृहाण Take the book
Third (or instrumental case) तृतीया	with, by	पुस्तकेन	पुस्तकेन ज्ञानम् भवति Knowledge happens by a book
Fourth (or Dative case) चतुर्थी	for, to	पुस्तकाय	पुस्तकाय वेष्टणम् Cover for the book
Fifth (or Ablative case) पञ्चमी	from	पुस्तकात्	पुस्तकात् गीतम् song from the book
Sixth (or genitive case) षष्ठी	of	पुस्तकस्य	पुस्तकस्य लेखकः writer (or author) of the book
Seventh (or Locative case) सप्तमी	in, at, on, upon	पुस्तके	पुस्तके चित्राणि pictures in the book

Pronouns will have word-formations (declensions of a root word) for all three genders लिङ्ग-s in all cases विभक्ति-s and all three numbers – Singular एकवचनम्, Dual द्विवचनम् and Plural बहुवचनम्. Totally 3x3x7 = 63 declensions

Declensions of the pronoun किम् will be very handy to frame and ask a large number of questions.

Table 3-4

Masculine declensions of Pronoun किम् – पुंल्लिङ्ग

‘case’ विभक्ति	Singular एकवचनम्	Dual द्विवचनम्	Plural बहुवचनम्
First (or Nominative case) प्रथमा	कः	कौ	के
Second (or Accusative case) द्वितीया	कम्	कौ	कान्
Third (or instrumental case) तृतीया	केन	काभ्याम्	कैः
Fourth (or Dative case) चतुर्थी	कस्मै	काभ्याम्	केभ्य:
Fifth (or Ablative case) पञ्चमी	कस्मात्	काभ्याम्	केभ्यः
Sixth (or genitive case) षष्ठी	कस्य	कयोः	केषाम्
Seventh (or Locative case) सप्तमी	कस्मिन्	कयोः	केषु

Let us try and frame sets of questions and answers to understand the usefulness of these word-forms.

Table 3-5

sets of questions and answers – in masculine Singular पुंल्लिङ्गि एकवचनम्

‘case’ विभक्ति	Question प्रश्नः	Answer  उत्तरम्
First (or Nominative case) प्रथमा	कः प्रत्यागच्छति ? Who returns ?	त्वं प्रत्यागच्छसि You return
Second (or Accusative case) द्वितीया	कम्  पृच्छसि ? To whom do you ask ?	शिक्षकं पृच्छामि (I) ask the teacher
Third (or instrumental case) तृतीया	केन सिद्धिः ? By what attainment ?	अभ्यासेन सिद्धिः Attainment by persistence
Fourth (or Dative case) चतुर्थी	कस्मै नमः To whom the obeisances ?	श्रीगणेशाय नमः Obeisances to Shri-GaNesha !!
Fifth (or Ablative case) पञ्चमी	कस्मात् भयम् ? Fear from whom ?	चोरात् भयम् Fear from a thief
Sixth (or genitive case) षष्ठी	कस्य शौर्यम् ? Whose bravery ?	सैनिकस्य शौर्यम् Bravery of soldier
Seventh (or Locative case) सप्तमी	कस्मिन् जलम् ? Wherein the water ?	घटे जलम् Water in a jar

It ought to be noted that in framing the questions and answers, the answer-word had to match पुंल्लिङ्ग, एकवचनम् and the विभक्ति. For example कम् – शिक्षकम्, केन – अभ्यासेन, कस्मै – श्रीगणेशाय, कस्मात् – चोरात्, कस्य – सैनिकस्य, कस्मिन् – घटे
It should be noted that

• all the words शिक्षक, अभ्यास, श्रीगणेश, चोर, सैनिक, घट are masculine singular पुंल्लिङ्ग, एकवचनम् .
• The other words are of different genders –
  • सिद्धिः is feminine,
  • नमः is masculine,
  • भयम्, शौर्यम् and जलम् are neuter.

Point to be noted is that every noun has a gender of its own.

In English we are not worried about the gender of nouns. For example when we say “water in a jar” we are not concerned about the genders of ‘water’ and ‘jar’. In English, the concern for gender is only for pronouns, that too for third person, singular pronouns – he or she or it.

In Sanskrit, we have to be conscious of gender of all pronouns and of nouns also. The gender, number and case of the pronoun has to match the gender, number and case of the noun, it stands for. The pronoun कम् in the question corresponds to the noun शिक्षकम् in the answer. Both are masculine, second case, singular. Such correspondence between gender, number and case of both noun and pronoun is observed in all the other pairs केन – अभ्यासेन, कस्मै – श्रीगणेशाय, कस्मात् – चोरात्, कस्य – सैनिकस्य, कस्मिन् – घटे

By the way, in the process of framing questions and answers, many new words also have got introduced. They are not difficult. But they have their own forms. We shall get to discuss them in due course.

Table 3-6

7 sets of questions and answers – in Masculine Dual पुंल्लिङ्गि द्विवचनम्

‘case’ विभक्ति	Question प्रश्नः	Answer  उत्तरम्
First (or Nominative case) प्रथमा	अत्र कौ स्तः ? Who (two) are here ?	अत्र आवां स्वः We (two) are here
Second (or Accusative case) द्वितीया	नमनाय कौ मिलसि ? What (two) do you join for bowing ?	नमनाय हस्तौ मिलामि I join hands for bowing
Third (or instrumental case) तृतीया	सः काभ्याम् शृणोति ? By what (two) does he hear ?	सः कर्णाभ्यां शृणोति He hears with (his two) ears.
Fourth (or Dative case) चतुर्थी	काभ्याम् माता अन्नं ददाति ? To whom (two) does mother give food ?	माता बालकाभ्यां अन्नं ददाति Mother gives food to (two) children
Fifth (or Ablative case) पञ्चमी	काभ्याम् जलं पतति ? From which two does water drop ?	हस्ताभ्यां जलं पतति Water drops from (two) hands
Sixth (or genitive case) षष्ठी	कयोः पिता ? Father of who (two) ?	पुत्रयोः पिता Father of two sons
Seventh (or Locative case) सप्तमी	कयोः पादत्राणे ? On which (two) the (two) footwears ?	पादयोः पादत्राणे (Two) Footwears on (two) feet

Note, in the last question and answer, footwear पादत्राणे and feet both are in dual द्विवचनम्.
Note also that

• काभ्याम् is in third, fourth and fifth cases.
• कयोः is both in sixth case and seventh case.

In a given sentence whether the case of काभ्याम् is third, or fourth or fifth or whether case of कयोः is sixth or seventh, is to be understood by keeping in mind the context.

Table 3-7

7 sets of questions and answers – in Masculine Plural पुंल्लिङ्गि बहुवचनम्

‘case’ विभक्ति	Question प्रश्नः	Answer  उत्तरम्
First (or Nominative case) प्रथमा	के ते ? Who (are) they ?	ते वाचकाः They (are) readers
Second (or Accusative case) द्वितीया	कान् पश्यसि खे ? Whom do you see in the sky ?	खे खगान् पश्यामि I see birds in the sky
Third (or instrumental case) तृतीया	कैः राक्षसाः हताः ? By whom were demons killed ?	वानरैः राक्षसाः हताः Demons were killed by monkeys.
Fourth (or Dative case) चतुर्थी	केभ्यः प्रशस्तिः ? Praise for whom ?	चतुरेभ्यः प्रशस्तिः Praise for the smart-ones
Fifth (or Ablative case) पञ्चमी	केभ्यः ज्ञानम् ? Knowledge from whom ?	आचार्येभ्यः ज्ञानम् Knowledge from precepts
Sixth (or genitive case) षष्ठी	केषाम् विजयः ? Victory of whom ?	वीराणां विजयः Victory of the mighty
Seventh (or Locative case) सप्तमी	अश्वत्थः केषु श्रेष्ठः ? Among whom is Ashwattha tree most superior	अश्वत्थः वृक्षेषु श्रेष्ठः Ashwattha tree is superiormost among trees

In the question and answer for third case the word हताः stands for “were killed”. In the question and answer phrases हताः is not the verb, हताः is adjectival but serves the function of a verb. We shall come to such formations in due course.

In the question and answer for the seventh case, अश्वत्थः is explained as holy fig tree in Apte’s dictionary.

Eight more Tables of questions and answers as in 3-4, 3-5, 3-6, 3-7 can be compiled and need to be compiled for feminine and neuter forms of pronoun किम् . We shall continue with these in the next lesson.

Before closing, it comes to mind that whereas all 600 sentences can be transformed into their interrogatives by using the pronoun किम् negatives of them all can be obtained by using an indeclinable न. Sanskrit term for ‘indeclinable’ is अव्यय. We have seen above various masculine forms obtaining for the pronoun किम् and we shall see more with feminine and neuter genders. But an indeclinable such as न has no more derivations of it. ‘No change’ is exactly the meaning of अव्यय.

Interestingly, making interrogatives and negatives of all the 600 sentences will happen in the following manner.

Table 3-8

Basic sentence, Interrogative, Affirmative answer, Negative answer

Basic sentence	Interrogative	Affirmative answer	Negative answer
सः गच्छति | He goes	सः गच्छति किम् ? Does he go ?	सः गच्छति | He goes	सः गच्छति न | He does not go

(Note – The vertical ‘|’ at the end of the sentence सः गच्छति | is Sanskrit ‘full stop’, end of a sentence or end of a line in poetry)

This pattern would give the opportunity to utter every sentence 4 times. So, 2400 utterances from the 600 sentences !! Let your tongue and voice box get exercised with all these many utterances. That will get so much Sanskrit into your blood. You may realize that Sanskrit has the definite quality of purifying the tongue and the pronunciation !!

If you want, you can utter सः गच्छति किम् ? and सः गच्छति न  in 6 syntax options each !!

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Simple Sanskrit – Lesson 2

Simple Sanskrit – Lesson 2

सरलं संस्कृतम् – द्वितीयः पाठः ।

Sentences in the first lesson were simple. Yet simplest sentence in any language is a single-word sentence, which is often in imperative mood. For example ‘Go’. Although it is a sentence with single word, which is a verb, the subject is implicit. “Go” means “(You) go”.

In Sanskrit also, it would be a single-word sentence, गच्छ. But if one is addressing two people to go, one would say गच्छतम् and if one is addressing more than two persons, then गच्छत.

Addressing anybody in the second person is not considered good linguistic etiquette. In Sanskrit there is a respectful pronoun of the second person and it takes verbs in third person ! The pronoun is भवत्. This pronoun also has structuring according to gender and number. So the pronoun-forms become as in Table 1 below.

Table 2-1

Gender लिङ्ग	Singular एकवचनम्	Dual द्विवचनम्	Plural बहुवचनम्
Masculine पुंल्लिङ्ग	भवान्	भवन्तौ	भवन्तः
Feminine स्त्रीलिङ्ग	भवती	भवत्यौ	भवत्यः
Neuter नपुंसकलिङ्ग	भवत्	भवती	भवन्ति

With this we have now 9 more pronoun-subjects available to make 9 more sentences for the 16 धातु-s detailed in Lesson 1 !! So, 144 more sentences !!!
All the pronouns in Table 1 will, as mentioned above take verbs in third person. So, for the धातु, गम् the 9 sentences in present tense will be as in Table 2.

Table 2-2

Present tense of गम् for pronouns in Table 1

Gender लिङ्ग	Singular एकवचनम्	Dual द्विवचनम्	Plural बहुवचनम्
Masculine पुंल्लिङ्ग	भवान् गच्छति	भवन्तौ गच्छतः	भवन्तः गच्छन्ति
Feminine स्त्रीलिङ्ग	भवती गच्छति	भवत्यौ गच्छतः	भवत्यः गच्छन्ति
Neuter नपुंसकलिङ्ग	भवत् गच्छति	भवती गच्छतः	भवन्ति गच्छन्ति

These are the sentences in present tense. Coming back to the imperative mood called as आज्ञार्थ the verbal forms in third person for the धातु, गम् are गच्छतु गच्छताम् गच्छन्तु
Having mentioned the verbal forms in imperative mood both for second person and also in third person, in Sanskrit the structure is made complete by providing forms also for first person ! This may not be needed. But poetic justice may need addressing even oneself in the imperative mood ! Sanskrit provides for that !! So the verbal forms in imperative mood for the धातु, गम् are tabulated in Table 3.

Table 2-3

Forms in Imperative mood आज्ञार्थ-रूपाणि for verbal-root गम्-धातु

Person	Singular एकवचनम्	Dual द्विवचनम्	Plural बहुवचनम्
First	गच्छानि	गच्छाव	गच्छाम
Second	गच्छ	गच्छतम्	गच्छत
Third	गच्छतु	गच्छताम्	गच्छन्तु

In Sanskrit the imperative mood also has the shade of blessing or that shade of meaning, which is implicit in the English auxiliary verb ‘may’. Elders would often bless youngsters saying शुभं भवतु. (शुभं = good, happy, pleasant, blissful भवतु = may it be) As can be appreciated, the subject here is ‘it’. Hence the Imperative, third person, singular form of धातु भू is भवतु (= may it be)

Imperative mood is also used for the meaning as of the English auxiliary verb ‘let’. To say, “Let it be” in Sanskrit we would say it in a single word अस्तु. That is imperative third person singular of the धातु अस् (= to be).

Scriptures of all religions advocate “Speak the truth, be with righteous behaviour” सत्यं वद धर्मं चर. Here वद and चर are imperative, second person, singular forms for the धातु-s वद् and चर्. The implicit subject is ‘you’ त्वम्.

It is very important and useful to learn the imperative mood.
We can add a few more new धातु-s into our diction.

 Table 2-4

Forms in Imperative mood आज्ञार्थ-रूपाणि for few more new धातु-s

No.	Verbal Root	Meaning	Forms in Imperative mood आज्ञार्थ-रूपाणि
17	चर्	to move about, to go about, to conduct oneself	चराणि चराव चराम चर चरतम् चरत चरतु चरताम् चरन्तु
18	मिल्	to meet	मिलानि मिलाव मिलाम मिल मिलतम्  मिलत मिलतु मिलताम् मिलन्तु
19	पठ्	to read	पठानि पठाव पठाम पठ पठतम् पठत पठतु पठताम् पठन्तु
20	पत्	to fall	पतानि पताव पताम पत पततम् पतत पततु पतताम् पतन्तु
21	दृश्	to see	पश्यानि पश्याव पश्याम पश्य पश्यतम् पश्यत पश्यतु पश्यताम् पश्यन्तु
22	त्यज्	to leave, to forsake, to cast off	त्यजानि त्यजाव त्यजाम त्यज त्यजतम् त्यजत त्यजतु त्यजताम् त्यजन्तु
23	लिख्	to write	लिखानि लिखाव लिखाम लिख लिखतम् लिखत लिखतु लिखताम् लिखन्तु
24	पृच्छ	to ask	पृच्छानि पृच्छाव पृच्छाम पृच्छ पृच्छतम् पृच्छत पृच्छतु पृच्छताम् पृच्छन्तु
25	श्रु / शृ	to hear, to listen to	श्रुणवानि श्रुणवाव शृणवाम शृणु शृणुतम् शृणुत शृणोतु शृणुताम् शृण्वन्तु

With 15 pronoun-forms noted in Lesson 1 and 9 more in Table 1 here, we now have 24 pronoun-forms सर्वनाम-रूपाणि. Taking these as subjects we can make 24 sentences in imperative mood for each of the 25 धातु-s. That gives scope to practise 600 sentences in imperative mood and of course 600 sentences in present tense – total 1200 sentences !!

Of course among the 16 धातु-s in Lesson 1, there were some with peculiar forms. It should be appropriate to have their forms in imperative mood also. Forms in imperative mood for all 16 धातु-s of Lesson 1 are provided in Table 5 below.

Table 2-5

Forms in imperative mood for all 16 धातु-s of Lesson 1

No.	धातु:	Meaning	Forms in Imperative mood आज्ञार्थ-रूपाणि
1	गम्	to go	गच्छानि गच्छाव गच्छाम गच्छ गच्छतम्  गच्छत गच्छतु गच्छताम् गच्छन्तु
2	वद्	to say, to speak	वदानि वदाव वदाम वद वदतम् वदत वदतु वदताम् वदन्तु
3	आ + गम्	to come	आगच्छानि आगच्छाव आगच्छाम आगच्छ आगच्छतम्  आगच्छत आगच्छतु आगच्छताम् आगच्छन्तु
4	प्रति + गम्	to go towards, to go unto	प्रतिगच्छानि प्रतिगच्छाव प्रतिगच्छाम प्रतिगच्छ प्रतिगच्छतम्  प्रतिगच्छत प्रतिगच्छतु प्रतिगच्छताम् प्रतिगच्छन्तु
5	प्रति + आ + गम्	to return	प्रत्यागच्छानि प्रत्यागच्छाव प्रत्यागच्छाम प्रत्यागच्छ प्रत्यागच्छतम्  प्रत्यागच्छत प्रत्यागच्छतु प्रत्यागच्छताम् प्रत्यागच्छन्तु
6	कृ	to do	करवाणि करवाव करवाम कुरु कुरुतम् कुरुत करोतु कुरुताम् कुर्वन्तु
7	खाद्	to eat	खादानि खादाव खादाम खाद खादतम् खादत खादतु खादताम् खादन्तु
8	पा	to drink	पिबानि पिबाव पिबाम पिब पिबतम् पिबत पिबतु पिबताम् पिबन्तु
9	अस्	to be	असानि असाव असाम एधि स्तम् स्त अस्तु स्ताम् सन्तु
10	भू	to be, to become, to be present	भवानि भवाव भवाम भव भवतम् भवत भवतु भवताम् भवन्तु
11	उप + विश्	to sit	उपविशानि उपविशाव उपविशाम उपविश उपविशतम् उपविशत उपविशतु उपविशताम् उपविशन्तु
12	स्था	to stand, to halt, to stop	तिष्ठानि तिष्ठाव तिष्ठाम तिष्ठ तिष्ठतम् तिष्ठत तिष्ठतु तिष्ठताम् तिष्ठन्तु
13	उत् + स्था	to stand up	उत्तिष्ठानि उत्तिष्ठाव उत्तिष्ठाम उत्तिष्ठ उत्तिष्ठतम् उत्तिष्ठत उत्तिष्ठतु उत्तिष्ठताम् उत्तिष्ठन्तु
14	दा	to give	ददानि ददाव ददाम देहि दत्तम् दत्त ददातु दत्ताम् ददतु
15	ग्रह् or गृह्	to take, to receive, to accommodate	गृह्णानि गृह्णाव गृह्णाम गृहाण गृह्णीतम् गृह्णीत गृह्णातु गृह्णीताम् गृह्णन्तु
16	ज्ञा	to know, to become aware	जानानि जानाव जानाम जानीहि जानीतम् जानीत जानातु जानीताम् जानन्तु

I am very happy that having studied Present Tense in Lesson 1 it occurred to me so good to take up Imperative mood आज्ञार्थ in the Lesson 2. There is such a close correspondence in the forms of Present Tense and आज्ञार्थ as can be seen in Table 6 below.

Table 2-6

correspondence in the forms of Present Tense and आज्ञार्थ

धातु:	forms of Present Tense	forms of आज्ञार्थ
गम्	गच्छामि गच्छावः गच्छामः गच्छसि गच्छथः गच्छथ गच्छति गच्छतः गच्छन्ति	गच्छानि गच्छाव गच्छाम गच्छ गच्छतम्  गच्छत गच्छतु गच्छताम् गच्छन्तु

This observation should help anyone to have by oneself the forms in Present Tense for the new 9 धातु-s introduced in Table 4 in this Lesson.

The exercise of building all the 1200 sentences can be done only when the forms in Present Tense for the new 9 धातु-s introduced in Table 4 in this Lesson are also done.

My remark for what this blog is about is “An easy-paced approach to learn Sanskrit”. Even when saying “easy-paced approach” the exercises for lesson 1 were for 240 sentences. And now the number for lessons 1 and 2 together becomes 1200 sentences ! But they are all just two-word sentences – a pronoun-form as the subject and the corresponding verb-form. That is not difficult. It is easy-paced !! Just do it !!!

शुभमस्तु |

-o-O-o-

Go to Lesson 3 =>

Simple Sanskrit – Lesson 1

Simple Sanskrit Lesson 1
सरलं संस्कृतम् प्रथमः पाठः |

Simplest way to start learning Sanskrit is to learn to make simple sentences. Below are some simple sentences.

Table 1-1

1	I go	अहं गच्छामि
2	We go	वयं गच्छामः
3	You (Singular) go	त्वं गच्छसि
4	You (plural) go	यूयं गच्छथ
5	He goes	सः गच्छति
6	She goes	सा गच्छति
7	It goes	तत् गच्छति
8	They (masculine) go	ते गच्छन्ति
9	They (feminine) go	ताः गच्छन्ति
10	They (neuter) go	तानि गच्छन्ति

Following glossary in Table 2 is clear from the above.

Table 1-2

No.	English	Sanskrit	What this is
1	I	अहं	Pronoun – First person, singular
2	We	वयं	Pronoun – First person, plural
3	You (Singular)	त्वं	Pronoun – Second person, singular
4	You (plural)	यूयं	Pronoun – Second person, plural
5	He	सः	Pronoun – Third person, masculine, singular
6	She	सा	Pronoun – Third person, feminine, singular
7	It	तत्	Pronoun – Third person, neuter, singular
8	They (masculine)	ते	Pronoun – Third person, masculine, plural
9	They (feminine)	ताः	Pronoun – Third person, feminine, plural
10	They (neuter)	तानि	Pronoun – Third person, neuter, plural

As is known the pronouns of the third person, singular, viz. He, She, It, are different according to the gender. This is so in Sanskrit also.

In English, the pronoun of third person plural is ‘they’. It is common for all three genders. In Sanskrit it is NOT common.

Coming to the verb, in English the verb has only two forms – ‘go’ and ‘goes’.
In Sanskrit, they are different according to the person (first, second or third) and number (singular or plural)

Table 1-3

No.	Person	Number	Verb
1	First	Singular	गच्छामि
2	– First	– Plural	गच्छामः
3	Second	Singular	गच्छसि
4	– Second	– Plural	गच्छथ
5	Third	Singular	गच्छति
6	– Third	– Plural	गच्छन्ति

As can be seen, in Sanskrit there is a good, very distinct correspondence between the pronoun and the verb. When we would say गच्छामि it is clear that the subject is pronoun of first person, singular, i.e. अहं So, in Sanskrit if we say गच्छामि it is not at all necessary to say अहं !! The verb-form गच्छामि is structured to be the form for first person singular and hence structured for the subject to be अहं . That is why Sanskrit is called as a “structured” language. One can readily appreciate the usefulness of such ‘structured’-ness of the language. It lends brevity and crispness. If it is not necessary to say अहं गच्छामि and if it is adequate to say just गच्छामि – saying only one word instead of two is fifty percent shorter !

But in the structuring process, the Rishi’s thought it good and important to have the ‘number’-concept to be not just singular and plural, but singular, dual and plural. That applies both to pronouns and the verb-forms.

Table 1-4 – Pronouns

Person	Gender	Singular	Dual	Plural
First	All	अहम्	आवाम्	वयम्
Second	All	त्वम्	युवाम्	यूयम्
Third	Masculine	सः	तौ	ते
Third	Feminine	सा	ते	ताः
Third	Neuter	तत्	ते	तानि

Table 1-5 – Verb-forms

Person	Singular	Dual	Plural
First	गच्छामि	गच्छावः	गच्छामः
Second	गच्छसि	गच्छथः	गच्छथ
Third	गच्छति	गच्छतः	गच्छन्ति

By using appropriate verb-form from Table 5 with the 15 pronoun-forms in Table 4, it is now possible to make 15 sentences.

Table 1-6

15 sentences

1	अहम् गच्छामि |	I go
2	आवां गच्छावः	We two go
3	वयं गच्छामः	We go
4	त्वं गच्छसि	You go
5	युवां गच्छथः	You two go
6	यूयं गच्छथ	You go
7	सः गच्छति	He goes
8	तौ गच्छतः	They two go
9	ते गच्छन्ति	They go
10	सा गच्छति	She goes
11	ते गच्छतः	They two go
12	ताः गच्छन्ति	They go
13	तत् गच्छति	It goes
14	ते गच्छतः	They two go
15	तानि गच्छन्ति	They go

Given this basic structure of 15 sentences, we can take 9 verb-forms of any verbal root and make 15 sentences for each verbal root.

For the Verbal root वद्  (= to say, to speak) the verbal forms are

Table 1-7

Verbal forms for वद्

Person	Singular	Dual	Plural
First	वदामि	वदावः	वदामः
Second	वदसि	वदथः	वदथ
Third	वदति	वदतः	वदन्ति

By the way, one would not find in dictionary the words
गच्छामि गच्छावः गच्छामः गच्छसि गच्छथः गच्छथ  गच्छति गच्छतः गच्छन्ति
वदामि वदावः वदामः वदसि वदथः वदथ वदति वदतः वदन्ति
अहम् आवाम् वयम्
त्वम् युवाम् यूयम्
सः तौ ते
सा ते ताः
तत् ते तानि
These are all derived forms, derived from root words. For example,
वदामि वदावः वदामः वदसि वदथः वदथ वदति वदतः वदन्ति are derived from the verbal root वद्, i.e. from धातु वद्. We can find वद् in the dictionary. This is a huge difference between dictionary of Sanskrit from dictionary of other languages. Of course in English also we do not look for words like me, my, us, our, your, him, his, her, its, them, their, etc. Yet there is a difference and the difference is huge, because number of words which can be derived from a root word is very large. We have just seen 9 words derived from the verbal root वद्. This is not even the tip of an iceberg. These 9 words are of present tense. There will be more words in past and future tenses and in imperative mood and in other moods as obtained in English by using auxiliaries such as shall, will, should, would, can, could, may, might, must, ‘ought to’. In Sanskrit the emphasis is on deriving a word so that it can stand by itself. That is the basic logic of ‘structuring’.

By the way, the verbal forms गच्छामि गच्छावः गच्छामः गच्छसि गच्छथः गच्छथ  गच्छति गच्छतः गच्छन्ति are derived from the verbal root गम् (= to go). Technical term in Sanskrit for verbal root is धातु. Sanskrit word for verbal form is क्रियापदम् or तिङन्तम् 

It is also to be noted that the words अहं आवां वयं त्वं युवां यूयं are better written as अहम् आवाम् वयम् त्वम् युवाम् यूयम् with the ending म् clearly visible, when the words are stand-alone or at the end of a line of a poem or at the end of a sentence. This in fact is the rule.

Compiled below are verbal forms of some commonplace verbal roots धातु-s.

Table 1-8

verbal forms of some commonplace verbal roots धातु-s

No.	Verbal root धातु	Meaning	Verbal forms
1	गम्	to go	गच्छामि गच्छावः गच्छामः गच्छसि गच्छथः गच्छथ गच्छति गच्छतः गच्छन्ति
2	वद्	to say, to speak	वदामि वदावः वदामः वदसि वदथः वदथ वदति वदतः वदन्ति
3	आ + गम्	to come	आगच्छामि आगच्छावः आगच्छामः आगच्छसि आगच्छथः आगच्छथ आगच्छति आगच्छतः आगच्छन्ति
4	प्रति  + गम्	to go towards, to go unto	प्रतिगच्छामि प्रतिगच्छावः प्रतिगच्छामः प्रतिगच्छसि प्रतिगच्छथः प्रतिगच्छथ प्रतिगच्छति प्रतिगच्छतः प्रतिगच्छन्ति
5	प्रति + आ + गम्	to return	प्रत्यागच्छामि प्रत्यागच्छावः प्रत्यागच्छामः प्रत्यागच्छसि प्रत्यागच्छथः प्रत्यागच्छथ प्रत्यागच्छति प्रत्यागच्छतः प्रत्यागच्छन्ति
6	कृ	to do	करोमि कुर्वः कुर्मः करोषि कुरुथः कुरुथ करोति कुरुतः कुर्वन्ति
7	खाद्	to eat	खादामि खादावः खादामः खादसि खादथः खादथ खादति खादतः खादन्ति
8	पा	to drink	पिबामि पिबावः पिबामः पिबसि पिबथः पिबथ पिबति पिबतः पिबन्ति
9	अस्	to be	अस्मि स्वः स्मः असि स्थः स्थ अस्ति स्तः सन्ति
10	भू	to be, to become, to be present	भवामि भवावः भवामः भवसि भवथः भवथ भवति भवतः भवन्ति
11	उप + विश्	to sit	उपविशामि उपविशावः उपविशामः उपविशसि उपविशथः उपविशथ उपविशति उपविशतः उपविशन्ति
12	स्था	to stand, to halt, to stop	तिष्ठामि तिष्ठावः तिष्ठामः तिष्ठसि तिष्ठथः तिष्ठथ तिष्ठति तिष्ठतः तिष्ठन्ति
13	उत् + स्था	to stand up	उत्तिष्ठामि उत्तिष्ठावः उत्तिष्ठामः उत्तिष्ठसि उत्तिष्ठथः उत्तिष्ठथ उत्तिष्ठति उत्तिष्ठतः उत्तिष्ठन्ति
14	दा	to give	ददामि दद्वः दद्मः ददासि दत्थः दत्थ ददाति दत्तः ददति
15	ग्रह् or गृह्	to take, to receive, to accommodate	गृह्णामि गृह्णीवः गृह्णीमः गृह्णासि गृह्णीथः गृह्णीथ गृह्णाति गृह्णीतः गृह्णन्ति
16	ज्ञा	to know, to become aware	जानामि जानीवः जानीमः जानासि जानीथः जानीथ जानाति जानीतः जानन्ति

All the above verbal forms are of धातु-s which are of a type or class known as परस्मैपदी.

Other type or class of धातु-s is आत्मनेपदी.

There are also धातु-s which can have verbal forms both of परस्मैपदी and आत्मनेपदी types. Such धातु-s are called as उभयपदी.

In above Table 8, it can be seen that the verbal root धातु for ‘to go’ is गम्. The verbal root धातु for ‘to come’ is आ + गम् and that for ‘to return’ is प्रति + आ + गम्. We can say that the basic verbal root is गम्. Then verbal roots आ + गम् and प्रति + आ + गम् are secondary or tertiary verbal roots, derived using prefixes such as आ and प्रति + आ. The prefixes are called as उपसर्ग. Prefixes are common in English also, e.g. inscribe, describe, subscribe, prescribe, circumscribe. Interestingly the prefixes cause the meaning to undergo a radical change. There is a good verse which summarizes such radical change in meaning caused by उपसर्ग-s. Will it be good to know that verse ! The verse, श्लोक is –

उपसर्गेण धात्वर्थो बलादन्यत्र नीयते |

विहाराहार-संहार-प्रहार-परिहारवत् ||

Prefixes cause the meaning of the verbal root to undergo a radical change as it happens in विहार-आहार-संहार-प्रहार-परिहार.

It should be also noted that though all धातु-s in Table 8 are of परस्मैपदी type and have some similarity in the pattern of formation of verb-forms, for some धातु-s, in the formation of verb-forms, there are peculiarities e.g.

• गम् takes the form गच्छामि,
• कृ takes the forms करोमि कुर्वः कुर्मः
• पा takes the forms पिबामि पिबावः पिबामः
• अस् takes the forms अस्मि स्वः स्मः
• स्था takes the forms तिष्ठामि तिष्ठावः तिष्ठामः
• दा takes the forms ददामि दद्वः दद्मः
• ग्रह् or गृह् takes the forms गृह्णामि गृह्णीवः गृह्णीमः
• ज्ञा takes the forms जानामि जानीवः जानीमः

These peculiarities also have rules and quite often “Exceptions prove the rule” is also an accepted rule ! It is good to be curious but not good to be over-inquisitive. For the beginning, it would be good to accept the things as given and practice with them. More the practice, even the peculiarities will become natural.

When a child learns its mother tongue, it acquires the tongue by being engulfed in that environment 24×7. If such 24×7 environment is not available for learning a language such as Sanskrit, the option then is to make devoted intense exercise. Luckily, There is a beautiful easy rhythm with everything in Sanskrit. In Table 8, all the nine forms of each verb are set in three lines of three forms in each line. They can be memorized and should be memorized, so intensely that they would come natural when one has to use them and make sentences. With 15 sentences illustrated for the verb गम्, it is possible to practice making 240 sentences from the 16 verbs !!! Why not do that as self-study exercises स्वाध्याय-s to practice this lesson ?

There would be many ways to practice parsing the 240 sentences. For example, if I take a sentence ते कुर्वन्ति I should be able to explain the grammar of both these words.

• कुर्वन्ति = धातु कृ (to do), present tense, third person, plural
• ते = pronoun of masculine, third person, plural.

Now, among the 15 pronouns, the word ते has three connotations – (a) masculine, third person, plural (b) neuter, third person, dual (c) feminine, third person, dual. If so, is the grammar written above as “ते = pronoun of masculine, third person, plural” correct ? It is correct, because the verb form कुर्वन्ति is plural.

As practice in parsing, we can exercise with this sentence ते कुर्वन्ति to transform it, replacing ते by the other 14 pronouns and say, to what verb-forms the word कुर्वन्ति will change to.

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