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Lesson 1
Sounds | Words
The sounds
Sanskrit sounds have been classified as a syllabary. They can be written through many alternative
scripts: at present, the most popular is devanāgarī, also used for Hindī or Nepālī. Other important
scripts like rañjanā are still in use, although, for the most, only regionally. In the beginning, we will be
using roman script, introducing devanāgarī through a gradual approach.
a ā i ī u ū ṛ ṝ ḷ ḹ e ai o au | svarāḥ | vowels
aṁ | anusvāraḥ | aḥ | visargaḥ |
ka kha ga gha ṅa | kāṇṭhyāḥ | gutturals
ca cha ja jha ña | tālavyāḥ | palatals
ṭa ṭha ḍa ḍha ṇa | mūrdhanyāḥ | retroflex
ta tha da dha na | dantyāḥ | dentals
pa pha ba bha ma | oṣṭhyāḥ | labials
ya ra la va | antaḥsthāḥ | semivowels
śa ṣa sa ha | ūṣmāṇaḥ | sibilants
kṣa jña
The syllables are ordered according to certain characteristics of their pronunciation. The first line ( a ā
i ī u ū ṛ ṝ ḷ ḹ e ai o au ) includes all vowels, and the two possible modifications of anusvāra (aṁ)
and visarga (aḥ). The second line (ka kha ga gha ṅa) includes all the sounds produced by stopping the
air at the level of the throat; the stops in the third line (ca cha ja jha ña) are produced in the soft palate;
those in the fourth (ṭa ṭha ḍa ḍha ṇa) are pronounced by stopping the air with the tip of the tongue
touching the hard palate, pointing towards the brain; the next line (ta tha da dha na) are dentals, while
the last groups of stops (pa pha ba bha ma) employs the lips. The semivowels (ya ra la va) are similar to
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the main vowel sounds (i ṛ ḷ u respectively). Aspirates follow, and then come the two conjunct
consonants kṣa and jña (whose pronunciation differs according to region).
Sanskrit words
Sanskrit classifies words according to their endings. These can indicate either nouns or verbs. Other
parts of speech, as long as they do not end as nouns or verbs, are not considered words.
The nouns’ endings are called sup, the verbal endings are called tiṅ: a word is whatever ends in sup or
tiṅ (sup-tiṅ-antaṁ padam).
The following are all examples of nouns (words ending in sup):
buddhaḥ | the Buddha
rāmeṇa | by Rāma
bhagavān | the Blessed One
saṅghena | by the assembly, with the assembly
bodhisattvasya | of the Bodhisattva
etat | this
mahatā | by the great…
samāsāt | in brief
samāpannaḥ | reached
The actual translation could change according to context, since the endings express the function of the
word only in relation to other elements in the sentence: in particular, nouns gain their function in
relation to the word expressing an action. ‘Nouns’ here covers adjectives (like mahatā) pronouns (like
etat) and past participles (like samāpannaḥ) as well.
These are verbal forms (words ending in tiṅ):
viharati | (someone) dwells
avocat | (someone) said
kathayiṣyāmi | (I) will tell
yāti | (someone)goes, reaches
gacchanti | (they) go
agacchat | (someone) went
The verbal endings tell us the person (she, you, I), number (you vs. you two or you plural, I vs. we two
or we plural, she vs. the two of them or they plural) and tense (present, past, etc.) or mood (indicative,
subjunctive, etc.). They do not depend on nouns and can express a full sentence, since in Sanskrit there
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is no need to express the personal pronouns (you, she, we, they) in order to understand the person and
number: a verbal form can be considered a full sentence.
Nouns and verbs must concord. If the verbal ending indicates plural, the noun that expresses the agent
will be in the plural:
rāmāḥ gacchanti | Many Rāmas go
rāmaḥ gacchati | Rāma goes
bhagavantaḥ viharanti | The Blessed Ones dwell
bhagavān viharati | The Blessed One dwells
If the verbal ending indicates first person (called ‘best person’ in Sanskrit) the agent must be a pronoun
in the first person, and so on for the second (‘middle person’) and third (‘first person’):
aham kathayiṣyāmi | I will tell
sā kathayiṣyati | she will tell
Dharmasaṅgraha study
Dharma-saṅgraha means a ‘Compendium of Dharma’; it is a short text, attributed to Nāgārjuna, and
constituting a sort of small dictionary of terms related to Buddhism. In particular, the work lists
dharmas within the framework of Vaibhāṣika Abhidharma, adding lists from Mahāyāna and Vajrayāna
categories as well. It is a list of lists.
We will study the Dharmasaṅgraha only selectively, concentrating on certain basic lists, and
occasionally not following the order in which they are found in the actual text.
namo ratnatrayāya | ratnatrayaṁ namaskṛtya sarvasattvahitodayam | kathyate mohanāśāya dharmasārasamuccayaḥ ||
namo ratnatrayāya means ‘Homage to the Three Jewels’. The rest is a verse of praise, of the type
usually placed at the beginning of a work:
Having bowed (namaskṛtya) to the Three Jewels (ratna-trayaṁ), which are the source (udaya) of
benefit (hita) for all living beings (sarva-sattva),
A compendium (samuccayaḥ) about the essence of Dharma (dharma-sāra) is told (kathyate) in order to
destroy delusion (moha-nāśāya).
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At this stage, obsviously, we have not studied enough grammar to understand why the words in the
verse acquire specific meanings within the sentence; hence, for the time being, just try to remember the
overall sense of this verse (and memorize it).
tatra prathamaṁ tāvat trīṇi ratnāni | tadyathā 1. buddhaḥ 2. dharmaḥ 3. saṅghaś ceti |
tatra | in that context || prathamam | first || tāvat | then || trīṇi ratnāni | the Three Jewels || tadyathā | It (is)
as follows: || buddhaḥ | the Buddha || dharmaḥ | the Dharma || saṅghaḥ | the Saṅgha || ca | and || iti | this
particle has a function similar to the inverted commas; it indicates a quotation ||
In that context, first, the Three Jewels: ‘The Buddha, the Dharma and the Saṅgha’.
I translated ratna as ‘jewel’, but only by approximation; rather, it should means more precisely any
precious substance, as gold, or silver too, can be called ratna.
The Three Jewels are also the refuge (śaraṇa) for Buddhist practitioners, as in the formula:
buddhaṁ śaraṇaṁ gacchāmi | dharmaṁ śaraṇaṁ gacchāmi | saṅghaṁ śaraṇaṁ gacchāmi ||
I go for refuge in the Buddha,
I go for refuge in the dharma,
I go for reguge in he Saṅgha.
Heart Sūtra study
During the first 10 lessons, we will be studying the shorter version of the Prajñāpāramitāhṛdayasūtram,
the Heart Sūtra on the Perfection of Wisdom. The shorter version is the basis for the Chinese version
mostly in use, while the longer version is especially popular in the Tibetan tradition. The difference
between the two is mainly in the fact that the longer version includes the context of the teaching,
explaining where the Buddha was residing, and so forth, while the shorter version only contains the
core teaching.
Start by memorizing the first two sentences:
namaḥ sarvajñāya | āryāvalokiteśvarabodhisattvo gambhīrāyāṁ prajñāpāramitāyāṁ caryāṁ caramāṇo vyavalokayati sma |
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In these two sentences, all the words are nouns, except for vyavalokayati sma. If we were to translate very literally the first sentence, it would sound similar to ‘Bowing to the Omniscient One’; it would not sound like a complete sentence; namaḥ means ‘bowing’ and sarvajñāya means ‘to the Omniscient One’. It seems like no action is expressed, hence, it does not look like a complete sentence. In Sanskrit, though, the action is often left unexpressed, whenever it is easy to understand from the context. In this case, we can assume an implied verb like ‘let there be’ (astu, bhavatu). Hence the sentence: Let there be bowing to the Omniscient One. In the second sentence, as it often happens, the main action is expressed by a verb (a tiṅanta word): vyavalokayati sma. When analysing Sanskrit sentences, it is useful to first identify the main action, since all the other elements can be understood as further causes and conditions to help the accomplishment of the main action. Vyavalokayati sma means that someone ‘observed’. The overall meaning of the second sentence would be: The Noble Avalokiteśvara, the Bodhisattva, while practicing the conduct within the profound Perfection of Wisdom, observed (…)
Exercises
i. memorize the syllabary
ii. learn the devanāgarī for: a ā i ī u ū ṛ ṝ ḷ ḹ e ai o au aṁ aḥ
अ आ इ ई उ ऊ ऋ ॠ ऌ ॡ ए ऐ ओ औ
अं अः iii. memorize: rāmaḥ rāmau rāmāḥ; he rāma he rāmau he rāmāḥ; rāmam rāmau rāmān
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Lesson 2
Nouns | Vibhakti | The word ‘Rāma’ | Concordance between nouns
Nouns
We have seen that the category ‘nouns’ includes substantives, adjectives, pronouns and past participles.
We must remember, though, that these distinctions come from English grammar, and may not apply so
well to Sanskrit. In Sanskrit, the basic distinction is between nouns, whose grammatical gender is fixed
(niyataliṅga) and those who can change their gender (aniyata), the latter often working as qualifiers.
The grammatical gender is to be understood as not necessarily representative of actual gender.
‘Mitram’ is grammatically neuter, but it could refer to a male friend. Many words referring to insentient
objects are grammatically masculine or feminine. Therefore, although there is often a match between
grammatical gender and actual gender, this should not be taken as a rule.
Sanskrit nouns can be masculine, feminine or neuter. They are further classified according to the
ending of their stem. With stem, we mean the basic group of sounds, which is further modified but
common to all the forms a given noun can take. For example, in all the inflected forms: rāmaḥ, rāmeṇa,
rāmāḥ, rāmaiḥ, the stem form would be ‘rāma’. Therefore, the word is said to end in short ‘a’.
Subdivisions by gender and ending give rise to the following table of possibilities (which is not
completely exhaustive, but contains a fairly representative sample):
Masculine Feminine Neuter Ending in Vowel
Ending in Consonant
Ending in Vowel
Ending in Consonant
Ending in Vowel
Ending in Consonant
a rāma c jalamuc ā ramā c vāc a phala C suvāc
i hari t marut i mati j sraj i vāri J asṛj
u guru t pacat ī nadī t sarit u madhu T jagat
ṛ dātṛ t dhīmat u dhenu d sampad ṛ dātṛ T pacat
ai rai n rājan ū vadhū D hṛd
o go ṛ svasṛ N nāman
au glau ai rai N karman
o go
au nau
Moreover, pronouns (sarvanāma, names applicable to all, like ‘I, you, he, one’, etc.) follow a different
set of inflexions, while they can still be divided following the six-fold scheme just given.
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The word ‘Rāma’
The word Rāma is masculine and ends in the short vowel a, the first in the Sanskrit syllabary. What
follows is a model for the possible forms in which all other masculine words ending in short a may be
found.
a-kāra-antaḥ | ending in short a
puṁliṅgaḥ | masculine gender
rāma-śabdaḥ | the word ‘rāma’ (Rāma)
Singular Dual Plural
1st Vibhakti rāmaḥ rāmau rāmāḥ
Vocative he rāma he rāmau he rāmāḥ
2nd Vibhakti rāmam rāmau rāmān
3rd Vibhakti rāmeṇa rāmābhyām rāmaiḥ
4th Vibhakti rāmāya rāmābhyām rāmebhyaḥ
5th Vibhakti rāmāt rāmābhyām rāmebhyaḥ
6th Vibhakti rāmasya rāmayoḥ rāmāṇām
7th Vibhakti rāme rāmayoḥ rāmeṣu
In rāmeṇa and rāmāṇāṁ we have ṇa instead of na because of the occurrence of the letter r in the
beginning. This is due to a sandhi rule: I will generally mark when the change of na to ṇa should apply
and when it should not.
Vibhaktis
Vibhaktis are sometimes translated as ‘cases’, in analogy to Latin grammatical terminology (thus:
nominative case, vocative case, accusative case, instrumental, dative, ablative, genitive and locative).
Nevertheless, different vibhaktis can indicate the same function, and the same vibhakti can indicate
different functions in different contexts: Sanskrit grammarians make this clearer by employing an
explanatory system, which is not conflated with the names of the vibhaktis. The main functions can be
summarized as follows:
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1
st
: agent of an active sentence; object of a passive sentence
vṛkṣaḥ tiṣṭhati kānane | The tree stands in the forest
2
nd
: object of an active sentence
kusumitā latā vṛkṣaṁ saṁśritā | The flowered creeper hangs on the tree
3
rd
: instrument; agent of a passive sentence
vṛkṣeṇa abhihataḥ gajaḥ nipatitaḥ | The elephant struck by the tree has fallen
4
th
: recipient
vṛkṣāya deyam jalam | Water is to be given to the tree
5
th
: the point of departure; the origin or cause
vṛkṣāt ānaya mañjarīm abhinavām | Bring the new sprout from the tree
6
th
: connection between two substantives
vṛkṣasya śākhā unnatā | The branch of the tree is tall
7
th
: the substratum of the action, the place or time
vṛkṣe nīḍam idam kṛtam śakuninā | On the tree, this nest was made by the bird
Vocative: this is considered a subdivision of the first, not a vibhakti of its own. It serves to address
someone
he vṛkṣa kiṁ kampase | Oh tree, why do you shake?
Please remember that the usage of a certain preposition in English (like by, to, in, and so forth) is a
matter of idiom and cannot be taken as a regular one-to-one correspondence with the seven Vibhaktis;
we cannot always translate the 3
rd
Vibhakti with ‘by…’, or the 7
th
with ‘in…’: we must be attentive to
the context.
Concordance between nouns
Nouns often qualify other nouns, either as adjectives, participles, appositions or predicates. In all these
cases, they must concord in gender, number and vibhakti. This is especially important in Sanskrit, since
often the copula ‘is’ (bhavati), or even other verbs are left unexpressed:
rāmaḥ āgataḥ | rāma (has) arrived
vṛkṣasya śākhā unnatā | the branch of the tree (is) tall
rāmāḥ unnatāḥ | Rāmas (are) tall
vṛkṣau unnatau | the two trees (are) tall
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gajau āgatau | the two elephants (have) arrived
rāmasya sundare gṛhe tuṣṭā sītā | in Rāma’s beautiful house Sītā (is) happy
None of these sentences contains a verbal form, yet a verb must be provided in translation.
Study the following examples 1a. The 1st Vibhakti representing the agent (active contruction) rāmaḥ phalaṁ khādati || Rāma eats the fruit. Here, the word rāmaḥ is in the 1st Vibhakti singular. It represents the agent, the one who performs the action of eating (khādati). bhagavān buddhaḥ rājagṛhe viharati sma || The Buddha, the Blessed One, was dwelling in Rājgir. Here, the word buddhaḥ and the word bhagavān are both in the 1st Vibhakti singular. Their ending is not the same, because they belong to different types of paradigms, but they are both in the same Vibhakti, number, and gender. They both refer to the same person, who is described as both ‘Awakened’ (buddhaḥ) and ‘Blessed’ (bhagavān). The ‘Buddha, Blessed One’ is the agent, the one who performs the action of dwelling (viharati sma). rāmaḥ gṛhaṁ gacchati || Rāma goes to the house. Here the word rāmaḥ is in the 1st Vibhakti, representing the agent, the one who performs the action of going (gacchati). āryāvalokiteśvaraḥ bodhisattvaḥ etad avocat ||
Noble Avalokiteśvara, the Bodhisattva, said this(…)
āryāvalokiteśvaraḥ and bodhisattvaḥ are both in the 1
st
Vibhakti singular, and they refer to the same
person, who is the Noble Āvalokiteśvara (āryāvalokiteśvaraḥ) and a Bodhisattva (bodhisattvaḥ). This
person is the agent, the one who performs the action of saying (avocat).
rāmaḥ kṛṣṇam paśyati ||
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Rāma sees Kṛṣṇa.
Rāma is in the 1
st
Vibhakti, and represents the agent of the action of seeing (paśyati).
rāmam kṛṣṇaḥ paśyati ||
Kṛṣṇa sees Rāma.
Kṛṣṇa is in the 1
st
Vibhakti, and represents the agent of the action of seeing (paśyati). Please notice
how the order of the words has not changed in the last two sentences; changing the Vibhakti endings is
enough to change the meaning.
devadattaḥ pacati ||
Devadatta cooks.
devadattaḥ is in the 1
st
Vibhakti, representing the agent of the action of cooking (pacati).
āryāvalokiteśvarabodhisattvaḥ vyavalokayati sma ||
Noble Avalokiteśvara, the Bodhisattva, observed.
Here āryāvalokiteśvarabodhisattvaḥ is in the 1
st
Vibhakti, representing the agent of the action of
observing (vyavalokayati sma).
1b. The 1
st
Vibhakti representing the object of the action (passive construction)
rāmeṇa phalaṁ khādyate || The fruit is eaten by Rāma. Here phalam is in the 1st Vibhakti singular (phalam, being a neuter gender word, has the same ending for the 1st and 2nd Vibhakti). It represents the object of the action of eating (khādyate), the thing which is being eaten by Rāma. bhagavān buddhaḥ praṇamyate ||
The Buddha, the Blessed One, is being bowed to.
Here, both bhagavān and buddhaḥ are in the 1
st
Vibhakti singular, and refer to the same person (the
Buddha, the Blessed One). This person is the object of the action of bowing to (praṇamyate).
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rāmeṇa gṛham gamyate ||
The house is being gone to by Rāma.
Here gṛham (the house) is in the 1
st
Vibhakti singular, representing the object of the action of going to
(gamyate).
devadattena odanam pacyate ||
The rice is being cooked by Devadatta.
Here odanam (rice) is in the 1
st
Vibhakti, representing the object of the action of cooking (pacyate).
2. The 2
nd
Vibhakti as the object of the action (active construction)
Rāmaḥ phalam khādati ||
Rāma eats the fruit.
Here phalam is in the 2
nd
Vibhakti, representing the object of the action of eating (khādati). Because
phalam is a neuter word, the 1
st
and 2
nd
Vibhakti look the same.
Rāmaḥ gṛham gacchati ||
Rāma goes to the house.
gṛham is 2
nd
Vibhakti singular, and is the object of the action of going to (gacchati).
rāmaḥ kṛṣṇam paśyati ||
Rāma sees Kṛṣṇa.
Here kṛṣṇam is in the 2
nd
Vibhakti and represents the object of the action of seeing (paśyati).
rāmam kṛṣṇaḥ paśyati ||
Kṛṣṇa sees Rāma.
Here rāmam is in the the 2
nd
Vibhakti and represents the object of the action of seeing (paśyati). The
meaning does not depend on the order of the words, but on the Vibhakti endings.
devadattaḥ odanam pacati ||
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Devadatta cooks the rice.
Here odanam is in the 2
nd
Vibhakti, representing the object of the action of cooking (pacati). Since
odanam is a neuter word, the 1
st
and 2
nd
Vibhakti look identical. caryām caramāṇaḥ (…)
Practicing the conduct (…)
Here caryām is in the 2
nd
Vibhakti, representing the object of the action of practicing (caramāṇaḥ). The
action of practicing in this case is expressed by a noun and not by a verb (caramāṇaḥ, a present active
participle meaning ‘someone who is practicing’).
Dharrmasaṅgraha study
trīṇi yānāni | tadyathā 1. śrāvakayānam 2. pratyekabuddhayānam 3. mahāyānaṁ ceti |
trīṇi yānāni | Three Vehicles || śrāvaka-yānam | Hearers’ Vehicle || pratyeka-buddha-yānam || Solitary
Buddha Vehicle || mahā-yānam | Great Vehicle || ca | and || iti | marking quotaion ||
The Three Vehicles: ‘Hearers’ Vehicle, Solitary Buddha Vehicle and Great Vehicle’.
Yāna is a means of conveyance, and here it refers to a path to liberation. There are three possible paths
for a Buddhist practitioner, the first two aiming at liberation, and the third at both liberation and
omniscience (an exclusive quality of complete Buddhas). Pratyeka is a word made by the particle prati, which has the sense of ‘severally’ and eka meaning ‘one’; hence, approximatively, it is translated as
‘solitary’ (pratyekabuddhas, unlike śrāvakas, do not need to hear the Dharma from others). An
alternative name for the Mahāyāna is Bodhisattvayāna.
pañca skandhāḥ | 1. rūpam 2. vedanā 3. saṁjñā 4. saṁskāraḥ 5. vijñānaṁ ceti |
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pañca skandhāḥ | The five aggregates || rūpam | form || vedanā | sensation || saṁjñā | notion || saṁskāraḥ
| formation || vijñānam | consciousness || ca | and || iti | marking quotation ||
The five aggregates: ‘form, sensation, notion, formation, and consciousness.’
The five aggregates are a very common way in which Buddhist thought categorises all existing things
(all the dharmas).
Heart Sūtra study
pañca skandhāṁs tāṁś ca svabhāvaśūnyān paśyati sma ||
Here only paśyati sma is a verb. It means that someone ‘saw’. The one who saw is the same as the
agent of the previous sentences, the Noble Avalokiteśvara, the Bodhisattva.
pañca, skandhān, tān, svabhāvaśūnyān, are all in the 2
nd
Vibhakti plural, and all refer to the same
thing, being the object of the action of seeing: the five aggregates (pañca skandhān), and them (tān ca)
as being empty of essence (svabhāvaśūnyān). The words look different when they are written one after
another, hence at this stage you need (a teacher’s) help to recognize their original forms. The overall
meaning of the sentence would be:
He saw the five aggregates, and those as empy of essence.
Exercises
i. learn the devanāgarī for ka kha ga gha ṅa, ca cha ja jha ña
क ख ग घ ङ च छ ज झ ञ
ii. memorize the word rāma, and the sections of Dharmasaṅgraha and Heart Sūtra
iii. write the declension of: buddha (without change of n), saṅgha, avalokiteśvara (n changes to
ṇ)
iv. translate: to the Buddha | of Avalokiteśvara | by Rāma | by two Rāmas | to the Buddhas |
from two Rāmas | to Avalokiteśvara | of the tall trees | on the trees | to the saṅgha | from
the saṅghas |
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Lesson 3
The verb | Bhavati | Concordance of verb and noun | 10 lakāras | Sandhi
The verb
Verbs are words ending in verbal suffixes (tiṅ).
Sanskrit grammarians abstracted certain recurrent elements in all the verbal formations, and called
these dhātus (verbal roots). For example, in
bhavati, abhavat, abhūt, bhavet
the recurrent element would be bhū, which constitutes the root, from which all the actual forms can be
derived. Often the root undergoes phonetic changes before the endings are added. In the case of bhū, it
turns to bho, then bho+a=bhava. The endings are then added to bhava:
bhava + ti = bhavati, bhava + si = bhavasi, and so forth.
Because of these changes, the root may not be immediately recognizable, if we look at the actual forms.
Verbal endings can specify three persons and three numbers:
prathamapuruṣa means ‘first person’ and corresponds to the English third person ‘He, she, it’;
madhyamapuruṣa means ‘middle person’ and corresponds to the English second person ‘You’;
uttamapuruṣa means ‘best person’ and corresponds to the English first person ‘I, we’.
The three numbers are, like for the nouns, singular, dual and plural.
Bhavati (laṭ)
If we take the present tense of the verb bhū (to be, to exist, to become), we have the following table:
Ekavacana (singular) dvivacana (dual) bahuvacana (plural)
prathamapuruṣa bhavati bhavataḥ bhavanti
madhyamapuruṣa bhavasi bhavathaḥ bhavatha
uttamapuruṣa bhavāmi bhavāvaḥ bhavāmaḥ
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Concordance of verb and noun
Since the endings themselves specify the person and number, there is no need to express the subject
through a pronoun. Sanskrit grammarians consider that, in the active construction, the verbal ending
itself expresses the agent: when we add a noun, this expands upon what the ending expresses, and must
accord with it in person and number. For example, in rāmaḥ bhavati (Rāma is) both rāmaḥ and bhavati
are singular and prathamapuruṣa. In rāmāḥ bhavanti (Rāmas are) both the words are plural. In ahaṁ
bhavāmi (I am) both the terms are singular and uttamapuruṣa (‘best person’, the same as the English
‘first person’).
This agreement of verb and noun allows identifying the agent of an active sentence irrespective of the
actual word order. This is an important feature of Sanskrit in general: since word-endings tell us a lot
about the function of a word in a sentence, word order is extremely flexible. Whether I say
i. rāmaḥ phalam khādati | ii. phalaṁ khādati rāmaḥ | iii. khādati phalaṁ rāmaḥ |
or any other option, the meaning remains ‘Rāma eats the fruit’. This is because the ending of rāmaḥ and
the ending of khādati concord. Despite this flexibility, (i.) represents the favored word order.
10 lakāras
Besides specifying person and number, verbal endings can express different tenses and moods: Sanskrit
grammarians call the endings by the technical term lakāra (meaning, the letter ‘la’) and name 10
different groups of lakāras ( plus leṭ occurring only in the Veda), as follows:
lakāra and function English name example(3rdsingular)
laṭ (vartamānaḥ | present) present bhavati
liṭ (parokṣabhūtaḥ | past events not witnessed) perfect babhūva
luṭ (anadyatanabhaviṣyan | future beyond today) first future bhavitā
lṛṭ (bhaviṣyan | future) second future bhaviṣyati
leṭ (vede | for the Veda) (only in the Veda)
loṭ (ājñā | orders) imperative bhavatu
laṅ (anadyatanabhūtaḥ | past beyond today) imperfect abhavat
vidhiliṅ (vidhiḥ | injunctions) potential bhavet
āśīrliṅ (āśīḥ | benedictions) benedictive bhūyāt
luṅ (bhūtaḥ | past) aorist abhūt
lṛṅ (kriyāniṣpattau | unaccomplished action) conditional abhaviṣyat
A traditional verse summarizes the main uses of the various lakāras:
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laṭ vartamāne leṭ vede bhūte luṅ-laṅ-liṭas tathā |
vidhyāśiṣos tu liṅ-loṭau luṭ-lṛṭ-lṛṅ ca bhaviṣyati ||
laṭ is used for the present;
leṭ in the Veda;
luṅ, laṅ and liṭ are used for the past;
liṅ and loṭ are used for injunction and benediction;
luṭ, lṛt and lṛṅ are used for the future.
Sandhi
Sandhi means a juncture, and it refers to the joining together of two sounds: when two letters come in
succession, one or both may change. The changes make the sounds more similar to each other, making
them easier to pronounce together. This is a common feature of most spoken languages, but these
changes are not necessarily represented in writing: written English, for example, does not express
sandhi. Sanskrit grammarians regularized the possible changes through a set of rules, and the written
language records the changes quite precisely.
What this means, though, is that the same word may appear in different forms, according to the sounds
that follow and precede it. For example, the sentence vṛkṣaḥ tiṣṭhati kānane (the tree stands in the
forest) would actually appear as vṛkṣas tiṣṭhati kānane. This is because aḥ, followed by t, changes into
as. In the beginning, not being familiar with the way in which word-endings may change, this can make
it more difficult to recognize the words. Therefore, I will introduce sandhi gradually.
Many phonetic changes depend upon vowel gradation. In brief, each vowel has three degrees: basic,
guṇa, and vṛddhi. Guṇa and vṛddhi are obtained by adding short a to the vowel, which modifies the
sound:
Basic: a i u ṛ ḷ
Guṇa: a e o a(r) a(l)
Vṛddhi: ā ai au ā(r) ā(l)
If we look at the second sentence of the Heart Sūtra, we can identify some changes due to sandhi:
āryāvalokiteśvarabodhisattvo gambhīrāyāṁ prajñāpāramitāyāṁ caryāṁ caramāṇo vyavalokayati sma | Without these changes due to sandhi, the same sentence would look as follows: āryāvalokiteśvarabodhisattvaḥ gambhīrāyām prajñāpāramitāyām caryām caramāṇaḥ vyavalokayati sma |
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Study the following examples 3a. The 3rd Vibhakti as the instrument rāmaḥ hastena phalam khādati ||
Rāma eats the fruit with his hand.
Here hastena is in the 3rd Vibhakti singular, representing the instrument, which helps Rāma in the action of eating (khādati).
rāmeṇa hastena phalam khādyate ||
The fruit is eaten by Rāma, with his hand.
Here hastena is in the 3rd Vibhakti singular, representing the instrument, which helps Rāma in the action of eating (khādyate). The first sentence was in active construction, while the second is passive,
but the Vibhakti representing the instrument does not change (it remains the 3
rd
). There is one more
noun in the 3
rd
Vibhakti, rāmeṇa, but it does not represent the instrument. It represents the agent, because the sentence is passive. In this case, we understand which one is the agent and which one is the
instrument by relying upon the meaning of the words, not just thanks to their Vibhakti: Rāma is more
suitable to be the agent of eating, while his hand makes more sense as the instrument.
devadattaḥ agninā odanam pacati ||
Devadatta cooks the rice with fire.
Here agninā is 3
rd
Vibhakti, representing the instrument that helps Devadatta in accomplishing the
action of cooking (pacati).
3b. The 3
rd
Vibhakti as the agent (passive construction).
rāmeṇa phalam khādyate ||
The fruit is eaten by Rāma.
Here rāmeṇa is in the 3
rd
Vibhakti, representing the agent of the action of eating (khādyate).
rāmeṇa gṛham gamyate ||
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The house is gone to by Rāma.
Here rāmeṇa is in the 3
rd
Vibhakti, representing the agent of the action of going to (gamyate).
bhagavān buddhaḥ praṇamyate janaiḥ || The Buddha, the Blessed One, is bowed to by the people. Here janaiḥ is in the 3
rd
Vibhakti plural, representing the agent of the action of bowing to
(praṇamyate).
rāmeṇa kṛṣṇaḥ dṛśyate ||
Krṣṇa is seen by Rāma.
Here rāmeṇa is in the 3
rd
Vibhakti, representing the agent of the action of seeing (dṛśyate).
rāmaḥ kṛṣṇeṇa dṛśyate ||
Rāma is seen by Kṛṣṇa.
Here kṛṣṇeṇa is in the 3
rd
Vibhakti, representing the agent of the action of seeing (dṛśyate). Again, the
meaning changes due to change in Vibhakti, not due to any modification in the order of the words.
devadattena odanam pacyate ||
The rice is being cooked by Devadatta.
Here devadattena is in the 3
rd
Vibhakti, representing the agent of the action of cooking (pacyate).
4. The 4
th
Vibhakti as the recipient of the object of actions of giving
rāmaḥ kṛṣṇāya phalam dadāti ||
Rāma gives a fruit to Kṛṣṇa,
Here kṛṣṇāya is in the 4
th
Vibhakti, representing the recipient, the one who receives the object of the
action of giving (dadāti).
rāmāya kṛṣṇaḥ phalam dadāti ||
Kṛṣṇa gives the fruit to Rāma.
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Here rāmāya is in the 4
th
Vibhakti, representing the recipient, the one who receives the object of the
action of giving (dadāti). The change in meaning, once again, depends upon the change in the Vibhakti,
not on word-order.
rāmeṇa kṛṣnāya phalam dattam ||
The fruit has been given to Kṛṣna by Rāma.
Here kṛṣṇāya is in the 4
th
Vibhakti, representing the recipient, the one who receives the object of the
action of giving (dattam). Dattam is actually a noun (i.e. a subanta), but since it is a past participle it is
sufficient to indicate the main action. Since the sentence is in the passive construction, the agent is
represented by the 3
rd
Vibhakti (rāmeṇa); but the 4
th
Vibhakti is still used for the recipient.
Dharmasaṁgraha study
dvādaśāyatanāni | 1. cakṣuḥ 2. śrotram 3. ghrāṇam 4. jihvā 5. kāyaḥ 6. manaāyatanam 7. rūpam 8. śabdaḥ 9. gandhaḥ 10. rasaḥ 11. sparśaḥ 12. dharmāyatanaṁ ceti |
dvādaśa-āyatanāni | Twelve entrances || cakṣuḥ | eye || śrotram | ear || ghrāṇam | smell || jihvā | tongue ||
kāyaḥ | body || manaāyatanam | the mind-entrance || rūpam | form || śabdaḥ | sound || gandhaḥ | smell ||
rasaḥ | flavor || sparśaḥ | touch || dharma- āyatanam | the dharma-entrance || ca | and || iti | marking
quotaion ||
The twelve entrances: ‘Eye, ear, sense of smell, tongue, body, mind-entrance, form, sound, smell, flavor, touch, and the dharma-entrance’. The twelve entrances are an alternative way to classify all the dharmas; while the classification
according to five aggregates emphasizes the analysis of nāma (lit. ‘name’, referring to mind and mental
derivatives), the twelve entrances focus on the analysis of rūpa (form). When the word rūpa appears in
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the list of five aggregates it has a broader meaning of anything, which is an object of mind (hence,
visible form, sound, smell, flavor and touch is also rūpa) and also, the organs of sense apart from mind
itself (the eye, the ear, the sense of smell, the tongue, the body, are all types of sensitive or ‘clear’ form,
rūpaprasāda). When rūpa appears in the list of twelve entrances, it has the more restricted meaning of
visible form, being the object of the eye-sense. The twelve entrances are divided into internal (the six
sense-organs) and external (their objects). The mind orgain can take any dharma as its object.
Heart Sūtra study
iha śāriputra rūpaṁ śūnyatā śūnyataiva rūpam | rūpān na pṛthak śūnyatā śūnyatāyā na pṛthag rūpam | yad rūpaṁ sā śūnyatā yā śūnyatā tad rūpam ||
iha, śāriputra, rūpam, śūnyatā, śūnyatā, eva, rūpam | rūpāt, na, pṛthak, śūnyatā, śūnyatāyāḥ, na, pṛthak,
rūpam | yat, rūpam, sā, śūnyatā, yā, śūnyatā, tat, rūpam ||
Here, Śāriputra, form is emptiness and emptiness is itself form. Emptiness is not apart from form, and form is not apart from emptiness. What is form, that is emptiness, what is emptiness, that is form. iha, śāriputra, rūpam, śūnyatā The first sentence has a very simple structure: rūpam is in the 1
st
Vibhakti, and so is śūnyatā, hence all
the sentence does is to identify the two (form is emptiness, although the verb is not expressed in
Sanskrit). Iha means ‘here’ or ‘in this context’.
śūnyatā, eva, rūpam | The eva is a particle indicating either emphasis, or delimiting something; rāma eva, could mean ‘Rāma
only’, or ‘Rāma himself’.
rūpāt, na, pṛthak, śūnyatā, śūnyatāyāḥ, na, pṛthak, rūpam |
Pṛthak is an indeclinable, meaning ‘separate’ or ‘apart from’ and always takes the 5
th
Vibhakti; hence,
rūpāt (5th
Vibhakti) and śūnyātāyāḥ (5
th
Vibhakti).
yat, rūpam, sā, śūnyatā, yā, śūnyatā, tat, rūpam || yat and sā, and also, yā and tat, are used to make relative clauses, a construction that we will discuss in
greater detail later in this grammar.
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Exercises
i. Learn the devanāgarī for ṭa ṭha ḍa ḍha ṇa, ta tha da dha na, pa pha ba bha ma
ट ठ ड ढ ण | त थ द ध न | प फ ब भ म
ii. Memorize bhavati (present).
iii. Complete with the appropriate forms of bhū/bhavati and translate: rāmāḥ … | vṛkṣau … |
buddhaḥ ... | rāmaḥ … | avalokiteśvarau … | bodhisattvāḥ … | aham … ||
iv. Translate: The tree exists. | (You two) exist. | (We) exist. | (He) exists. | Two Rāmas exist. |
(I) exist. | The Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara exists. ||
v. Memorize: laṭ vartamāne leṭ vede bhūte luṅ-laṅ-liṭas tathā |
vidhyāśiṣos tu liṅ-loṭau luṭ-lṛṭ-lṛṅ ca bhaviṣyati ||
vi. translate the following (examples of concordance of verb and noun)
rāmaḥ phalam khādati || rāmau phalam khādataḥ || rāmāḥ phalam khādanti || bhagavān buddhaḥ rājagṛhe viharati sma || bhagavantau buddhau rājagṛhe viharataḥ sma || bhagavantaḥ buddhāḥ rājagṛhe viharanti sma || rāmaḥ gṛhaṁ gacchati || rāmau gṛhaṁ gacchataḥ || rāmāḥ gṛhaṁ gacchanti || rāmaḥ kṛṣṇam paśyati || rāmau kṛṣṇam paśyataḥ || rāmāḥ kṛṣṇam paśyanti || rāmam kṛṣṇaḥ paśyati || rāmam
kṛṣṇau paśyataḥ || rāmam kṛṣṇāḥ paśyanti ||
Vocabulary: khād (khādati) | to eat || vihṛ (viharati) | to dwell, to reside || gam (gacchati) | to go to, to
reach || dṛś (paśyati) | to see, to look at ||
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Lesson 4
Phala | Compounds: summary of types | Dvanda type | Bhaviṣyati | Vowel sandhi: iko yaṇ aci
Phala
Neuter nouns ending in short a (like phala, ‘fruit’) resemble closely the declension of masculine nouns
with the same ending (like rāma). Thus, we have:
a-kāra-antaḥ | ending in short a
napuṁsakaliṅgaḥ | neuter gender
phala-śabdaḥ | the word ‘phala’ (fruit)
phalam phale phalāni
he phala he phale he phalāni
phalam phale phalāni
phalena phalābhyām phalaiḥ
phalāya phalābhyām phalebhyaḥ
phalāt phalābhyām phalebhyaḥ
phalasya phalayoḥ phalānām
phale phalayoḥ phaleṣu
The only differences from the masculine forms occur in the first and the second vibhaktis – which
happen to be identical in form.
Compounds
Compounds (samāsa) are a salient feature of Sanskrit: they occur very often and can be several pages
long. When two words join together doing away with their case and number endings, this is called a compound. Even this general description does not cover all compounds: in some of them, frozen case
endings are retained.
A third word may again join, to form a new compound where one of the members is the previous
compound. The sense of the compound depends on how we understand the relationship between its
members. For example, let us take the (hypothetical) English compound ‘Big-Spotted-Cow’; is it a cow
with big spots or is it a big cow with spots? In Sanskrit, the chief difficulty in understanding
compounds is in the interpretation of unexpressed vibhaktis. To help analyzing compounds, Sanskrit
grammarians have classified them into several types: the classification rests on the idea that a
compound is the coming together of two and only two elements.
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tatpuruṣa the second word is the main referent
karmadhāraya subdivision of tatpuruṣa: all members have the same vibhakti
bahuvrīhi a word outside the compound is the main referent
dvigu subdivision of karmadhāraya, the first member being a number
dvandva both words are equally important
avyayībhāva the first word is either an indeclinable, or a name
Dvandva type
Dvandva compounds are the simplest, in the sense that the two words compounded have the same
function and are merely listed: one is neither qualifying nor subordinate to the other. For example
rāmakṛṣṇau | Rāma and Kṛṣṇa
Here there is an equal wish to refer to Rāma and to Kṛṣṇa. It corresponds to the expression
rāmaḥ ca kṛṣṇaḥ ca |
Dvandvas can be subdivided into two types: itaretaradvanda and samāhāradvandva. In the first type
(itaretara), both members are considered in their individual sense, and therefore the compound takes
either the dual or the plural ending, according to the number of things intended by the members:
dhavakam ca khadiram ca chindi | dhavakakhadirau chindhi | cut the dhavaka and khadira trees
vedanā ca saṁjñā ca saṁskārāḥ ca vijñānaṁ ca | vedanāsaṁjñāsaṁskāravijñānāni | feeling, notions,
compositional factors and consciousness |
In the cumulative type (samāhāra) the compound signifies something more specific than the mere
members, and as it conveys a new overall idea, it takes the neuter gender and is singular
(napuṁsakaliṅga, ekavacana):
āhāranidrābhayam | food (āhāra) sleeping (nidrā) and fear (bhayam): this actually refers to animal life.
Bhaviṣyati (lṛṭ) | Future
bhaviṣyati bhaviṣyataḥ bhaviṣyanti
bhaviṣyasi bhaviṣyathaḥ bhaviṣyatha
bhaviṣyāmi bhaviṣyāvaḥ bhaviṣyāmaḥ
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Example:
apriyā na bhaviṣyanti priyo me na bhaviṣyati |
ahaṁ ca na bhaviṣyāmi sarvaṁ ca na bhaviṣyati ||
apriyāḥ | those not dear
na bhaviṣyanti | will not be there
priyaḥ me | my dear one
na bhaviṣyati | will not be there
aham ca | I also
na bhaviṣyāmi | will not be there
sarvaṁ ca | and everything
na bhaviṣyati | will not be there
Vowel sandhi: iko yaṇ aci
iko yaṇ aci || is a sūtra, an aphorism in Pāṇini’s grammar. Here it will be used as a mnemonic device to
remember a type of vowel sandhi.
This is the sense of the sūtra:
ikaḥ | in place of the vowels i ī u ū ṛ ṝ ḷ ḹ
yaṇ | we get the semivowels y v r l
aci | when any vowel follows.
We get this meaning because:
ik | is a technical term for i ī u ū ṛ ṝ ḷ ḹ
yaṇ | refers to ya ra la va, and
ac | to all the vowels.
If we take the example of sudhī + upāsyaḥ, we have to ascertain the sandhi modifications happening
when the final ī of sudhī and the initial u of upāsyaḥ join together. ī is one of the letters referred to by
the term ik; u is a vowel (ac). Therefore, we have a case where ik is followed by ac. According to iko
yaṇ aci || ik will be substituted with yaṇ. In this case, ī must be substituted by y. Thus
sudhī + upāsyaḥ = sudhy upāsyaḥ
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Study the following examples:
5. The 5
th
Vibhakti as the point of departure
kṛṣṇasya gṛhāt rāmasya gṛham gacchāmi ||
I go from Kṛṣṇa’s house to Rāma’s house.
Here gṛhāt is in the 5
th
Vibhakti, representing the point of departure for the action of going (gacchāmi).
kṛṣṇasya gṛham rāmasya gṛhāt gacchāmi |
I go from Rāma’s house to Kṛṣṇa’s house.
Here gṛhāt is in the 5
th
Vibhakti, representing the point of departure for the action of going (gacchāmi). 6. The 6th Vibhakti, connecting two nouns kṛṣṇasya gṛhāt rāmasya gṛham gacchāmi || I go from Kṛṣṇa’s house to Rāma’s house. Here kṛṣṇasya and rāmasya are in the 6th Vibhakti, representing a connection to gṛhāt and gṛham respectively. As it often happens, this connection is in terms of ownership, possession. rāmasya gṛhāt kṛṣṇasya gṛham gacchāmi || I go from Rāma’s house to Kṛṣṇa’s house. Here rāmasya and kṛṣṇasya are in the 6th Vibhakti, representing a connection to gṛhāt and gṛham respectively. Since the 6th Vibhakti represents a connection between nouns, rather than to the main action, its position can be important. In this case, the meaning of the last two sentences changed due to the order of the words. vṛkṣasya phalam khādāmi ||
I eat the fruit of the tree.
Here vṛkṣasya is in the 6
th
Vibhakti, representing a connection to the fruit (phalam).
bhagavān āryāvalokiteśvarasya bodhisattvasya sādhukāram adāt ||
The Blessed One gave out a praise of Noble Avalokiteśvara, the Bodhisattva.
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Here āryāvalokiteśvarasya and bodhisattvasya are both in the 6
th
Vibhakti, representing a connection to
the praise (sādhukāram). In other words, they tell us whose praise it is.
Heart Sūtra study
evam eva vedanāsaṁjñāsaṁskāravijñānāni ||
vedanā-saṁjñā-saṁskāra-vijñānāni is an itaretaradvanda. Since vijñānam is a neuter word, the
compound is in the neuter: and since the sum of the members is plural, it is plural. This is a list of the
four remaining aggregates (skandha) following form (rūpa).
evam means ‘in the same way’, and eva is in this case emphatic; eva can have a more precise sense of
circumscribing, which may be relevant in cases like the senteces we studied in lesson 3 (rūpaṁ śūnyatā
śūnyatā eva rupam), but not so crucial in the present case. It is not always easy to decide the precise
emphasis of certain particles, because their sense often depends from usage and idiom. It is therefore
important to be sensitive to the context.
Overall, the sentence could be translated:
It is just in the same way for feeling, notion, formations and consciousness.
This means that the equation between form and emptiness should extend to the other aggregates as
well. In the translation we had to once more provide a verb, not corresponding to any specific word in
the Sanskrit original.
Dharmasaṅgraha study
aṣṭādaśa dhātavaḥ | 1. cakṣuḥ 2. śrotram 3. ghrāṇam 4. jihvā 5. kāyaḥ 6. manaḥ 7. rūpam 8. śabdaḥ 9. gandhaḥ 10. rasaḥ 11. sparśaḥ 12. dharmadhātuḥ
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13. cakṣurvijñānam 14. śrotravijñānam 15. ghrāṇavijñānam 16. jihvāvijñānam 17. kāyavijñānam 18. manovijñānadhātuś ceti |
aṣṭādaśa dhātavaḥ | Eighteen Bases || cakṣuḥ | eye || śrotram | ear || ghrāṇam | sense of smell || jihvā | tongue || kāyaḥ | body || manaḥ | mind || rūpam | form || śabdaḥ | sound || gandhaḥ | smell || rasaḥ | flavor ||
sparśaḥ | touch || dharmadhātuḥ | the dharma-base || cakṣurvijñānam | eye-consciousness |
śrotravijñānam | ear-consciousness || ghrāṇavijñānam | smell-consciousness || jihvāvijñānam | tongue-
consciousness || kāyavijñānam | body-consciousness || manovijñānadhātuḥ | the base of mind-
consciousness || ca | and || iti | quotation mark ||
The eighteen bases: ‘Eye, ear, smell, tongue, body, mind, form, sound, smell, flavor, touch, dharma-base, eye-consciousness, ear-consciousness, smell-consciousness, tongue-consciousness, body-consciousness, and the base of mind-consciousness’. Again, all the dharmas are included within the eighteen dhātus; in this case, the analysis regards both
rūpa and nāma.
Exercises:
i. learn the devanāgarī for ya ra la va, śa ṣa sa ha, kṣa, jña
य र ल व श ष स ह
ii. memorize the word phala, memorize bhaviṣyati
iii. memorize iko yaṇ aci and rewrite with sandhi: sādhu + āstheyam | nadī + ante | dātṛ + ālaya |
dadhi + atra | madhu + atra ||
iv. translate: rāmakṛṣṇau bhavataḥ | rūpavedanāsaṁjñāsaṁskāravijñānāni na bhaviṣyanti |
duḥkhasamudayanirodhamārgāḥ bhavanti | bodhisattvaḥ bhaviṣyati | buddhaḥ bhavati |
bodhisattvasya mārgaḥ ||
Vocabulary: rūpa | form || vedanā | sensation || saṁjñā | notion || saṁskāra | compositional factor ||
vijñāna | consciousness || duḥkha | suffering || samudaya | arising || nirodha | cessation || mārga | path ||
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Lesson 5
Ramā | Compounds: tatpuruṣa and karmadhāraya | Abhavat
Ramā
ā-kāra-antaḥ | ending in ā
strīliṅgaḥ | feminine gender
ramā-śabdaḥ | the word ‘ramā’ (Lakṣmī)
ramā rame ramāḥ
he rame he rame he ramāḥ
ramām rame ramāḥ
ramayā ramābhyāṁ ramābhiḥ
ramāyai ramābhyāṁ ramābhyaḥ
ramāyāḥ ramābhyāṁ ramābhyaḥ
ramāyāḥ ramayoḥ ramāṇām
ramāyām ramayoḥ ramāsu
Compounds: tatpuruṣa
In tatpuruṣa compounds the second word is more important, while the first stands in some subordinate
relationship by means of implied vibhakti. The first member modifies the sense of the second member,
which is the focus of the expression. For example:
kulaputraḥ | a son (putra) of noble family (kula)
This can be analyzed as kulasya putraḥ by taking kula as being in the 6
th
vibhakti (genitive).
corabhayam | fear because of a thief
This is analyzed as corāt bhayam with cora as a 5
th
vibhakti (indicating the reason).
Other instances:
duḥkham atītaḥ | gone beyong (atīta) suffering (duḥkha) | duḥkhātītaḥ ||
dhanyena arthaḥ | wealth (artha) by means of crops (dhanya) | dhanyārthaḥ ||
rājñaḥ puruṣaḥ | king’s (rājan) man (puruṣa) | rājapuruṣaḥ ||
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Compounds: karmadhāraya
Karmadhāraya compounds are a subtype of tatpuruṣa. The difference is that in the karmadhāraya both
words have the same vibhakti, and therefore the first member qualifies the second as an adjective, or an
apposition. Pāṇini explains karmadhāraya as samānādhikaraṇaḥ tatpuruṣaḥ, i.e. a tatpuruṣa where the
two members refer to the same substratum. For example:
mahāsattvaḥ | Great (mahān) Being (sattva)
Here this could be analysed as
mahān ca sattvaḥ ca | Great and Being
where both mahān and sattvaḥ are in the first vibhakti.
Other examples:
nīlaṁ ca tadutpalam | blue (nīlam) and the same being a lotus (utpalam) | nīlotpalam ||
ghanaḥ iva śyāmaḥ | dark blue (śyāma) like (iva) a cloud (ghana) | ghanaśyāmaḥ ||
In the last example, the first member is the term of comparison for a simile (upamā).
Abhavat (laṅ) | Imperfect
abhavat abhavatāṁ abhavan
abhavaḥ abhavataṁ abhavata
abhavaṁ abhavāva abhavāma
The imperfect is used for events witnessed by the speaker (although the distinction between the various
past tenses is not so strong in classical Sanskrit). An alternative way of forming the imperfect is by
adding sma to the present tense:
abhavat = bhavati sma
The latter, though, can have the sense of habitual action.
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Study the following examples 7. The 7th Vibhakti as the basis for the action bhagavān rājagṛhe viharati sma || The Blessed One was dwelling in Rājgir. Here rājagṛhe is in the 7th Vibhakti, representing the basis, in terms of a location in space, for the action of dwelling (viharati sma). ekasmin samaye bhagavān rājagṛhe viharati sma || At one time, the Blessed One was dwelling in Rājgir. Here ekasmin samaye is in the 7th Vibhakti, representing the basis, in terms of time, for the action of dwelling (viharati sma). devadattaḥ sthālyām odanam pacati || Devadatta cooks the rice in a pot. Here sthālyām is in the 7th Vibhakti, representing the basis, in terms of a location in space, for Devadatta to accomplish the action of cooking (pacati). gambhīrāyām prajñāpāramitāyām caryām caramāṇaḥ (…)
Practicing the conduct within the profound Perfection of Wisdom (…) Here gambhīrāyām and prajñāpāramitāyām are both in the 7
th
Vibhakti, representing the basis, in
terms of a (figurative) place, for the action of practicing (caramāṇaḥ) to take place. 8. The Vocative prajñe devi namaḥ astu te || Oh Wisdom, Goddess, let there be bowing to you! Here both prajñe (wisdom) and devi (goddess) are in the Vocative, and they represent the element which is being called upon directly. lokātīta namaḥ tubhyam ||
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Oh One Gone Beyond the World, let there be bowing to you! Here lokātīta is in the Vocative, representing the One who is being addressed directly. yaḥ kaścit śāriputra kulaputraḥ vā kuladuhitā vā (…) Oh Śāriputra, any Son of Noble Family or Daughter of Noble Family (…) Here śāriputra is in the Vocative, representing someone being addressed.
Heart Sūtra study
iha śāriputra sarvadharmāḥ śūnyatālakṣaṇā anutpannā aniruddhā amalā na vimalā nonā na paripūrṇāḥ |
iha, śāriputra, sarva-dharmāḥ, śūnyatā, alakṣaṇāḥ, anutpannāḥ, aniruddhāḥ, amalāḥ, na, vimalāḥ, na, ūnāḥ, na, paripūrṇāḥ |
This is a relatively simple sentence, where all the dharmas (sarva-dharmāḥ) are described as:
śūnyatā, emptiness; this term is niyataliṅga, fixed gender; therefore, although it describes
sarvadharmāḥ, it concords only in vibhakti (not in gender or number);
a-lakṣaṇāḥ, no-characteristics; it can be understood either to mean that they are not characteristics, or,
perhaps more plausibly, that they do not have characteristics; this is a compound qualifying
sarvadharmāḥ, and therefore it concords in gender and number as well; the same is true for the next
expressions;
an-utpannāḥ, unarisen; utpanna is a past participle, coming from a verb that means ‘to come up, to
arise’; an negates the same;
a-niruddhāḥ, not ceased; niruddha is also a past participle;
a-malāḥ, not stains; mala means a stain, and the negation might either mean that they are not stains, or
that they do not have stains; the word mala in itself has a fixed gender (neuter), but because it is found
in compound functioning as a qualifier, its gender concords with sarvadharmāḥ;
na vi-malāḥ, not without stains; more literally, not without their stains gone; vi-malāḥ can be expanded
as vigata-malāḥ, with the stains completely (vi) gone (gata); gata is the past participle of gam, meaning
to go;
na ūnāḥ, not defective; ūna is aniyataliṅga (of no fixed gender);
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na paripūrṇāḥ, not fulfilled.
We may supply bhavanti as the verb - sarvadharmāḥ bhavanti (all dharmas are…).
sarva-dharmāḥ is itself a compound, a karmadhāraya, wherein the first term sarva (all) has the same
referent as the second term (dharma); what is referred to as ‘all’ is also referred to as ‘dharma’. If we
wished to write the same expression without a compound, it would be sarve dharmāḥ - both terms in
the same vibhakti, gender, and number.
iha is an idenclinable. It can mean most literally ‘here’, but often can have the sense of ‘in this world’,
or, ‘in these respect’ – perhaps the latter meaning is best suited to the context.
śāriputra is a vocative like (he) rāma.
Dharmasaṅgraha study
dvādaśāṅgapratītyasamutpādaḥ | 1. avidyā 2. saṁskārāḥ 3. vijñānam 4. nāmarūpam 5. ṣaḍāyatanam 6. sparśaḥ 7. vedanā 8. tṛṣṇā 9. upādānam 10. bhavaḥ 11. jātiḥ 12. jarāmaraṇaṁ, śokaparidevaduḥkhadaurmanasyopāyāsāś ceti |
dvādaśa-aṅga-pratītyasamutpādaḥ | Dependent arising in twelve parts || avidyā | ignorance || saṁskārāḥ
| factors || vijñānam | consciousness || nāma-rūpam | name and form || ṣaḍ-āyatanam | the six entrances ||
sparśaḥ | contact || vedanā | sensation || tṛṣṇā | craving || upādānam | clinging || bhavaḥ | becoming || jātiḥ
| birth || jarā-maraṇaṁ | decay and death || śoka-parideva-duḥkha-daurmanasya-upāyāsāḥ | grief,
lamentation, pain, depression, and secondary afflictions || ca | and || iti | quotation mark || Dependent arising in twelve parts: ‘Ignorance, factors, consciousness, name and form, six entrances, contact, sensation, craving, clinging, becoming, birth, decay and death, grief, lamentation, pain, depression, and secondary afflictions’.
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Exercises
i. learn the devanāgarī for
ka kā ki kī ku kū kṛ kṝ kḷ ke kai ko kau kaṁ kaḥ
क का क क कु कू कृ कॄ कॢ के कै को कौ कं कः kha khā … ख खा … ga gā … ग गा …
gha ghā… घ घा … ṅa ṅā … ङ ङा ...
ii. memorize the word ramā, memorize abhavat
iii. translate: kulaputrau abhavatām | vṛkṣe śakuniḥ abhavat | we two were in rājgir ||
iv. translate the section of the Heart Sūtra studied in this lesson
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Lesson 6
Hari | Compounds: bahuvrīhi | Bhavatu | Avyaya
Hari
i-kāra-antaḥ | ending in short i
puṁliṅgaḥ | masculine gender
hari-śabdaḥ | the word ‘hari’ (Viṣṇu)
hariḥ harī harayaḥ
he hare he harī he harayaḥ
harim harī harīn
hariṇā haribhyāṁ haribhiḥ
haraye haribhyāṁ haribhyaḥ
hareḥ haribhyāṁ haribhyaḥ
hareḥ haryoḥ harīṇām
harau haryoḥ hariṣu
Compounds: bahuvrīhi
Bahuvrīhi compounds refer to a word outside of themselves, which they usually qualify. For example
mañjughoṣaḥ | Soft (mañju) voice (ghoṣa)
refers to someone with a soft voice. It can be understood as
mañjughoṣaḥ puruṣaḥ | a person with a soft voice
and is an epithet (of Mañjuśrī).
Other examples:
mahān bāhuḥ yasya saḥ mahābāhuḥ | the one whose (yasya) arm (bāhuḥ) is great, that person (saḥ) is
called | mahābāhuḥ ||
pītam ambaraṁ yasya saḥ pītāmbaraḥ | the one whose (yasya) garment (ambaram) is yellow (pītam) is
called | pītāmbaraḥ ||
Bhavatu (loṭ) | Imperative
bhavatu (bhavatāt) bhavatām bhavantu
bhava (bhavatāt) bhavatam bhavata
bhavāni bhavāva bhavāma
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Imperative forms are used to express injunctions, advice and so on. The negative imperative is formed
using mā before the verb. The bracketed forms can be optionally used in the sense of a blessing.
Avyaya
Avyayas are parts of speech that are neither declined nor conjugated: except for reasons of sandhi, they
never change their form. As a traditional verse puts it:
sadṛśaṁ triṣu liṅgeṣu sarvāsu ca vibhaktiṣu |
vacaneṣu ca sarveṣu yan na vyeti tad avyayam ||
That which does not change (yat na vyeti), being the same (sadṛśam) in the three genders (triṣu liṅgeṣu)
and in all the vibhaktis (sarvāsu ca vibhaktiṣu) and in all the numbers (vacaneṣu ca sarveṣu), that (tat) is
the avyaya.
Thus, in English they are called indeclinables and correspond to prepositions, postpositions,
conjunctions, interjections, etc. These are some important and common avyayas:
atra | here adya | today adhunā | now api | also, even
katham | how ? kadā | when ? kutra | where ? ca | and (coming after the word)
tatra | there tadā | then punaḥ | again, moreover
prati | towards (with words in the 2
nd
vibhakti) sadā | always eva | only
iti | thus (marker for direct speech, thought, quotation)
Study the following examples
vijñānapratyayaṁ nāmarūpam
Name-and-form has consciousness as its condition.
This is a clear example of a bahuvrīhi compound. vijñāna-pratyayam means ‘something, whose
condition is consciousness’ (vijñānaṁ pratyayaḥ yasya tat); it is a 6
th
Vibhakti bahuvrīhi, indicating
possession. The word pratyaya would in itself be masculine, but since it appears in a compound
qualifying a neuter word (vijñānam) the whole expression becomes neuter.
buddhaḥ sarvajñaḥ bhavati |
The Buddha is omniscient
buddhaḥ eva sarvajñaḥ bhavati
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Only the Buddha is omniscient
āryāvalokiteśvaraḥ bodhisattvaḥ mahāsattvaḥ bhavati
Noble Avalokiteśvarra is a Bodhisattva, Great Being.
āryamaitreyaḥ api bodhisattvaḥ mahāsattvaḥ bhavati
Noble Maitreya is also a Bodhisattva, Great Being.
rūpaṁ ca vedanā ca saṁjñā ca saṁskārāḥ ca vijñānaṁ ca na bhaviṣyanti
Form, feeling, notion, factors, and consciousness will not be there.
rūpaṁ vedanā saṁjñā saṁskārāḥ vijñānaṁ ca na bhaviṣyanti
Form, feeling, notion, factors, and consciousness will not there.
There are two ways to make a list by using the avyaya ca. The first option is to add it to each of the
members in the list; the second option is to add only to the last member.
Heart Sūtra study
tasmāc chāriputra śūnyatāyāṁ na rūpaṁ na vedanā na saṁjñā na saṁskārā na vijñānāni | na cakṣuḥśrotraghrāṇajihvākāyamanāṁsi na rūpaśabdagandharasaspraṣṭavyadharmāḥ | na cakṣurdhātur yāvan na manodhātuḥ ||
tasmāt, śāriputra, śūnyatāyām, na, rūpam, na, vedanā, na, saṁjñā, na, saṁskārāḥ, na vijñānāni | na, cakṣuḥ-śrotra-ghrāṇa-jihvā-kāya-manāṁsi, na, rūpa-śabda-gandha-rasa-spraṣṭavya-dharmāḥ | na, cakṣuḥ-dhātuḥ, yāvat, na, manodhātuḥ ||
tasmāt | therefore || śāriputra | oh śāriputra || śūnyatāyām | within emptiness || na | no || rūpam | form || na
| no || vedanā | feeling || na | no || saṁjñā | notion || na | no || saṁskārāḥ | factors/formations || na | no ||
vijñānāni | consciousnesses || na | no || cakṣuḥ-śtrotra-ghrāṇa-jihvā-kāya-manāṁsi | eye, ear, sense of
smell (nose), tongue, body, mind || na | no || rūpa-śabda-gandha-rasa-spraṣṭavya-dharmāḥ | form,
sound, odour, flavour, touchables, dharmas || na | not | cakṣuḥ-dhātuḥ | base of the eye || yāvat | up to ||
na | no || manas-dhātuḥ | base of mind ||
These lists are the three ways of including all dharmas that we earlier studied from the
Dharmasaṅgraha:
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na rūpaṁ na vedanā na saṁjñā na saṁskārā na vijñānāni
refers to the five aggregates (skandha);
na cakṣuḥśrotraghrāṇajihvākāyamanāṁsi na rūpaśabdagandharasaspraṣṭavyadharmāḥ
refers to the twelve entrances (āyatana);
na cakṣurdhātur yāvan na manodhātuḥ
refers to the eighteen bases (dhātu), by listing only the first and 14
th
.
The general sense of the statement is that, within emptiness, none of these dharmas are to be found.
Dharmasaṅgraha study
catvāry āryasatyāni | tadyathā
1. duḥkham 2. samudayaḥ 3. nirodhaḥ 4. mārgaś ceti ||
The four Noble Truths (or rather, Truths of the Noble Ones); in this way:
1. suffering;
2. arising;
3. cessation;
4. and the path.
Exercises
i. learn the devanāgarī for the ca series and ṭa series with vowels
ii. memorize the word hari
iii. memorize bhavatu
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iv. translate: aham gṛham gacchāmi | buddhaḥ bhagavān tatra viharati sma | itaḥ śūrāḥ api
dhāvanti | he śatro dhāva | bhavatu sarvamaṅgalam | kutra gacchasi ? ||
Vocabulary: aham | I || gṛham | house, home || gam, gacchati | to go || bhagavān | blessed one || tatra |
there, in that place || vi hṛ, viharati | to dwell, to reside || sma | particle to form the past || itaḥ | from
here || śūraḥ | hero || api | even, also || dhāv, dhāvati | to run || śatruḥ | enemy || sarvamaṅgalam | all-
round (sarva) auspiciousness (maṅgala) ||
v. translate: avidyāpratyayāḥ saṁskārāḥ | saṁskārapratyayam vijñānaṁ | vijñānapratyayaṁ
nāmarūpam | nāmarūpapratyayaṁ ṣaḍāyatanam | ṣaḍāyatanapratyayaḥ sparśaḥ |
sparśapratyayā vedanā | vedanāpratyayā tṛṣṇā | tṛṣṇāpratyayam upādānam | upādānapratyayo
bhavaḥ | bhavapratyayā jātiḥ | jātipratyayaṁ jarāmaraṇam ||
Vocabulary: avidyā | ignorance || pratyaya | condition || saṁskāra | formation || vijñānam |
consciousness || nāma-rūpam | name and form || ṣaṭ | six || āyatanam | entrance || sparśa | contact ||
vedanā | sensation || tṛṣṇā | craving || upādānam | clinging || bhava | becoming || jāti | birth || jarā-
maraṇam | decay and death ||
vi. translate the section of the Heart Sūtra you learnt today
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Lesson 7
Guru | Avyayībhāva | Bhavet | Nadī | Kta (past participle) | Past active participles
Guru
u-kāra-antaḥ | ending in short u
puṁliṅgaḥ | masculine gender
guru-śabdaḥ | the word ‘guru’ (teacher)
guruḥ gurū guravaḥ
he guro he gurū he guravaḥ
gurum gurū gurūn
guruṇā gurubhyāṁ gurubhiḥ
gurave gurubhyāṁ gurubhyaḥ
guroḥ gurubhyāṁ gurubhyaḥ
guroḥ gurvoḥ gurūṇām
gurau gurvoḥ guruṣu
The following verse exemplifies the usage of the seven vibhaktis in the singular:
gurur eva gatir gurum eva bhaje guruṇaiva sahāsmi namo gurave |
na guroḥ paramaṁ śiśur asmi guror matir asti gurau mama pāhi guro ||
guruḥ eva gatiḥ | only the Teacher is the way
gurum eva bhaje | I worship only the Teacher
guruṇā eva sahā asmi | I am only with the Teacher
namaḥ gurave | obeisance to the Teacher
na guroḥ paramam | (there is) nothing higher than the Teacher
śiśuḥ asmi guroḥ | I am the Teacher’s child
matiḥ asti gurau mama | my mind is on the Teacher
pāhi guro | protect (me), Teacher
Compounds: avyayībhāva
In this type of compounds, the first member is more important, and the compound itself becomes an
indeclinable (avyaya). The first member is most frequently an indeclinable preposition, but it can also
be a name. Thus
śaktim anatikramya | not exceeding one’s capacity | yathāśakti ||
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harau | in Hari | adhihari ||
ahany ahani | day after day (every day) | pratyaham ||
All these represent instances where the first word is an indeclinable. On the other hand
sūpasya leśaḥ | a small quantity (leśaḥ) of soup | sūpaprati ||
śākasya leśaḥ | a small quantity of vegetables | śākaprati ||
represent cases where the first member is a noun. What can be noticed in these compounds, compared
to the types analyzed so far, is that they cannot be explained merely by using the words that make them
up.
Bhavet (vidhiliṅ) | Potential
bhavet bhavetāṁ bhaveyuḥ
bhaveḥ bhavetaṁ bhaveta
bhaveyaṁ bhaveva bhavema
These forms correspond to the English usages ‘may’, ‘should’ and so on.
Nadī
ī-kāra-antaḥ | ending in the letter ī
strīliṅgaḥ | feminine gender
nadī-śabdaḥ | the word ‘nadī’ (river)
nadī nadyau nadyaḥ
he nadi he nadyau he nadyaḥ
nadīm nadyau nadīḥ
nadyā nadībhyāṁ nadībhiḥ
nadyai nadībhyāṁ nadībhyaḥ
nadyāḥ nadībhyāṁ nadībhyaḥ
nadyāḥ nadyoḥ nadīnām
nadyām nadyoḥ nadīṣu
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Kta (past participles)
In Sanskrit we can find three types of past participles, according to whether the focus of the expression
is on: the object of the action (karmaṇi) || the action itself (bhāve) || the agent (kartari).
The past participle is formed by adding the ending ta (technically called kta) to the verbal root, which is
often slightly modified:
gam + ta | gata smṛ + ta | smṛta bhāṣ + ta | bhāṣita
gata is a declined like rāma in the masculine, ramā in the feminine and phalam in the neuter. It has to
concord in gender, number and vibhakti with the noun it qualifies. Since participles often occur as
qualifiers, their gender is not fixed.
This type of participle is used either in reference to the object (karmaṇi) or in reference to the action
(bhāve):
rāmeṇa khāditam phalam | the fruit (was) eaten by Rāma
rāmeṇa gatam | going was done by Rāma
For certain verbs, this participle can also be used in an active sense (in reference to the agent, kartari).
This is the case for intransitive verbs, or transitive verbs used intransitively (without an object): rāmaḥ
gataḥ | Rāma went.
Past active participles
Usually, though, to form active participles, the ending tavat is used. This is identical to the kta forms,
except for the additional vat. Thus ‘one who went’ is expressed by gatavat, which can be either
masculine, feminine or neuter, taking the following paradigms:
puṁlingaḥ |
gatavān gatavantau gatavantaḥ
he gatavan he gatavantau he gatavantaḥ
gatavantam gatavantau gatavataḥ
gatavatā gatavadbhyām gatavadbhiḥ
gatavate gatavadbhyām gatavadbhyaḥ
gatavataḥ gatavadbhyām gatavadbhyaḥ
gatavataḥ gatavatoḥ gatavatām
gatavati gatavatoḥ gatavatsu
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napuṁsakaliṅgaḥ |
gatavat gatavatī gatavanti
he gatavat he gatavatī he gatavanti
gatavat gatavatī gatavanti
gatavatā gatavadbhyām gatavadbhiḥ
gatavate gatavadbhyām gatavadbhyaḥ
gatavataḥ gatavadbhyām gatavadbhyaḥ
gatavataḥ gatavatoḥ gatavatām
gatavati gatavatoḥ gatavatsu
Strīlingaḥ (feminine) is gatavatī, identical to nadī.
In brief, while kta participles like gata, bhāṣita and so forth can express object, action and only
occasionally the agent, past active participles always and only express the agent.
Active and passive constructions
In English, active construction is more idiomatic; in Sanskrit, on the other hand, passive sentences are
very common.
In an active sentence the action-word refers to the agent:
Rāma eats the fruit.
In a passive sentence the action-word refers to the object:
The fruit is eaten by Rāma.
In Sanskrit, active construction is called kartari prayogaḥ while passive construction is called karmaṇi prayogaḥ: the two names mean ‘usage in reference to the agent’ and ‘usage in reference to the object’
respectively.
There are various ways to form either kartari or karmaṇi prayogaḥ. A common way is to employ
verbal forms (tiṅanta); so far we only learnt active verbs, hence all the sentences made with those verbs
were kartari prayogaḥ (bhavati, gacchati, khādati, viharati, and so forth).
Another way is to employ nouns that express actions, like the participles we just studied. As we have
seen, participles can either refer to the object of the action (like, khāditam phalam, ‘the fruit was
eaten’) or to the agent (like, rāmaḥ khāditavān, ‘Rāma ate’).
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Study the following examples
patram patitam
The leaf (has) fallen
Here patita is used in an active sense. The root pat, meaning ‘to fall’, cannot take an object; this means
that it can never have a passive sense. Therefore, there would be little need to use the form ‘patitavat’,
since patitam itself can never have a passive sense.
evaṁ mayā śrutam
Thus by me (it was) heard.
śrutam is here used passively, in reference to the object (what was heard). The agent is expressed by
the 3
rd
Vibhakti (mayā).
bhagavān samādhiṁ samāpannaḥ The Blessed One entered into absorption.
Here samāpannaḥ is used in an active sense: it refers to the one who enters, and not to that, in which he
enters. A more literal sense of samāpannaḥ is to meet with or undertake, but since the object is
samādhi, it is here translated as ‘entered’.
rāmeṇa khāditam phalam
The fruit (was) eaten by Rāma.
rāmaḥ phalam khāditavān
Rāma ate the fruit.
These two sentences exemplify a clear passive participle (khāditam phalam) and an active one (rāmaḥ
khāditavān). Phalam is in fact the object of the action of eating, while rāmaḥ is the agent.
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Heart Sūtra study
na vidyā nāvidyā na vidyākṣayo nāvidyākṣayo yāvan na jarāmaraṇaṁ na jarāmaraṇakṣayo na duḥkhasamudayanirodhamārgā na jñānaṁ na prāptitvam ||
na, vidyā, na, avidyā, na, vidyā-kṣayaḥ, na, avidyā-kṣayaḥ, yāvat, na, jarā-maraṇam, na, jarā-maraṇa-kṣayaḥ, na, duḥkha-samudaya-nirodha-mārgāḥ, na, jñānam, na, prāptitvam || vidyā | knowledge || avidyā | the converse of vidyā || vidyā-kṣayaḥ | the destruction of vidyā || avidyā-
kṣayaḥ | the destruction of avidyā || yāvat | up to || jarā-maraṇam | decay and death || jarā-maraṇa-
kṣayaḥ | the destruction of decay and death || duḥkha-samudaya-nirodha-mārgāḥ | suffering, arising,
cessation, and the path || jñānam | knowledge, cognition || prāptitvam | obtainment, or, the quality of
obtaining ||
Dharmasaṅgraha study
āryāṣṭāṅgikamārgaḥ |
1. samyagdṛṣṭiḥ 2. samyaksaṁkalpaḥ 3. samyagvāk 4. samyakkarmāntaḥ 5. samyagājījvaḥ 6. samyagvyāyāmaḥ 7. samyaksmṛtiḥ 8. samyaksamādhiś ceti |
The Noble Eightfold Path:
Correct View,
Correct Thought,
Correct Speech,
Correct Action,
Correct Livelihood,
Correct Effort,
Correct Recollection and
Correct Meditation.
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Exercises
i. learn the devanāgarī for the ta series and pa series with vowels
ii. memorize guru, nadī, bhavet
iii. memorize gurur eva gatir…
iv. memorize the sections of the Heart Sūtra and Dharmasaṅgraha studies today
v. translate the section of the Heart Sūtra studied today
vi. translate: gṛhaṁ gatavatī sītā rāmeṇa dṛṣṭā | bhagavān samādhiṁ samāpannaḥ | rāmeṇa hataḥ
rāvaṇaḥ nipatitaḥ ||
Vocabulary: sītā |Sītā, Rāma’s wife || bhagavān | the Blessed One || samāpanna | entered, reached || hata |
struck, hit || rāvaṇa | Rāvaṇa, Rāma’s antagonist | nipatita | fallen ||
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Lesson 8
Dātṛ | Pitṛ | Pati | Babhūva | Ktvā and lyap
Dātṛ
ṛ-kāra-antaḥ | ending in the letter ṛ
puṁliṅgaḥ | masculine gender
dātṛ-śabdaḥ | the word ‘dātṛ’ (giver)
dātā dātārau dātāraḥ
he dātaḥ he dātārau he dātāraḥ
dātāraṁ dātārau dātṝn
dātrā dātṛbhyāṁ dātṛbhiḥ
dātre dātṛbhyāṁ dātṛbhyaḥ
dātuḥ dātṛbhyāṁ dātṛbhyaḥ
dātuḥ dātroḥ dātṝṇām
dātari dātroḥ dātṛṣu
Most words ending in ṛ are declined as dātṛ. They often indicate someone who does a certain action:
dātṛ is a giver; kartṛ is a doer, and so on. Words of relation and kin, though, have a slightly different
declension, like pitṛ (that follows).
Pitṛ
ṛ-kāra-antaḥ | ending in the letter ṛ
puṁliṅgaḥ | masculine gender
pitṛ-śabdaḥ | the word ‘pitṛ’ (father)
pitā pitarau pitaraḥ
he pitaḥ he pitarau he pitaraḥ
pitaram pitarau pitṝn
pitrā pitṛbhyāṁ pitṛbhiḥ
pitre pitṛbhyāṁ pitṛbhyaḥ
pituḥ pitṛbhyāṁ pitṛbhyaḥ
pituḥ pitroḥ pitṝṇām
pitari pitroḥ pitṛṣu
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Pati
i-kāra-antaḥ | ending in short i
puṁliṅgaḥ | masculine gender
pati-śabdaḥ | the word ‘pati’ (master; husband)
patiḥ patī patayaḥ
he pate he patī he patayaḥ
patim patī patīn
patyā patibhyāṁ patibhiḥ
patye patibhyāṁ patibhyaḥ
patyuḥ patibhyāṁ patibhyaḥ
patyuḥ patyoḥ patīnām
patyau patyoḥ patiṣu
The word pati does not follow the regular declension of hari, as some forms are more similar to pitṛ;
however, when coming at the end of a compound, pati is declined like hari.
Babhūva (liṭ) | Past Perfect
babhūva babhūvatuḥ babhūvuḥ
babhūvitha babhūvathuḥ babhūva
babhūva babhūviva babhūvima
This form refers technically to remote past events, not witnessed by the speaker.
Ktvā and lyap
The suffixes ktvā and lyap are used to form a non-finite verbal form sometimes called absolutive in
English. Ktvā (tvā) is used when the root is not preceded by any prefixes: gam + tvā = gatvā. If the root
is preceded by a prefix, lyap (ya) is employed: āgam + ya = āgamya.
These forms precede other verbs and indicate temporal anteriority: rāmaḥ gṛhaṁ gatvā punar atra
āgacchati | ‘Rāma, having gone home, comes here again’. In this sentence, the action which comes first
is ‘having gone home’, and therefore we have gatvā. More specifically, when two (or more) verbs refer
to the same agent, the ones, which indicate a prior action, take ktvā or lyap (they become absolutives).
bhagavān utthāya sādhukāram adāt | The Blessed One, having raised, bestowed praise.
pāpāni kṛtvā api mahābhayāni uttarati | Even having done sins, one crosses over great dangers.
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aśucipratimāṁ gṛhītvā jinaratnapratimāṁ karoti | Having taken an impure frame, it makes it the jewel-frame of a Jina.
Study the following examples
prajñāpāramitām āśritya viharati
Having resorted to the Perfection of Wisdom, he dwells.
Here āśritya is the lyabanta form. It comes from the root śri, and because the root is preceded by the
prefix ā we get ya (lyap) as opposed to tvā. If the root had been only śri, it would have become
śrayitvā.
Being a lyabanta, it refers to the same agent of the main action (viharati), but at a prior time. In other
words, before doing the action expressed by viharati (he dwells), the same agent performs the action
expressed by āśritya (having resorted to): he resorts to and then he dwells.
Heart Sūtra study
bodhisattvasya prajñāpāramitām āśritya viharati cittāvaraṇaḥ | cittāvaraṇanāstitvād atrasto viparyāsātikrānto niṣṭhanirvāṇaḥ | tryadhvavyavasthitāḥ sarvabuddhāḥ prajñāpāramitām āśrityānuttarāṁ samyaksaṁbodhim abhisaṁbuddhāḥ || bodhisattvasya | of the Bodhisattva || prajñāpāramitām | the Perfection of Wisdom || āśritya | having relied upon || viharati | one dwells || citta-āvaraṇaḥ | with mental obscurations ||| citta-āvaraṇa-nāstitvāt | due to the non-existence of mental obscurations || a-trastaḥ | un-afraid || viparyāsa-atikrāntaḥ | having
gone beyond mental distortions || niṣṭha-nirvāṇaḥ | someone with a sure nirvāṇa || tri-adhva-vyavasthitāḥ | placed in the three times || sarva-buddhāḥ | all the Buddhas || anuttarāṁ, samyak-saṁbodhim | unexcelled, perfect Awakening || abhisaṁbuddhāḥ | they realized || Dharmasaṅgraha study
aṣṭau lokadharmāḥ | 1. lābhaḥ 2. alābhaḥ 3. sukham 4. duḥkham 5. yaśaḥ 6. ayaśaḥ 7. nindā 8. praśaṁsā ceti |
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The eight wordly dharmas:
1. gain
2. no-gain
3. happiness
4. suffering
5. fame
6. bad fame
7. censure
8. and, praise.
Exercises
i. learn the devanāgarī for the ya series, śa series, kṣa and jña with vowels
ii. memorize dātṛ, pitṛ and pati, and the sections of the Dharmasaṅgraha and Heart Sūtra
iii. memorize babhūva
iv. translate the Heart Sūtra
v. translate: vṛkṣaṁ gatvā phalaṁ khādāmi | atra āgamya vada punaḥ | tatra babhūvatuḥ
mahāsattvau ||
Vocabulary: khād, khādati | to eat || ā + gam, āgacchati | to come || vad, vadati | to speak ||
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Lesson 9
Sarvanāma | Saḥ, sā, tat | Parasmaipada and ātmanepada | Edhate | Passive construction
Sarvanāma
Sarvanāma means ‘name for all’ and corresponds to the English pronouns. They are ‘names for all’
since according to context the same pronoun can be used to refer to virtually infinite objects. Everyone
can say ‘I’ or can be addressed as ‘you’, ‘he’ or ‘she’. In Sanskrit, sarvanāma words can be either
independently, or to qualify other nouns (as adjectives). Their gender is not fixed.
Saḥ, sā, tat
da-kāra-antaḥ | ending in the letter ‘d’
puṁliṅgaḥ | masculine gender
tad-śabdaḥ | the word ‘tad’ (he)
saḥ tau te
tam tau tān
tena tābhyāṁ taiḥ
tasmai tābhyāṁ tebhyaḥ
tasmāt tābhyāṁ tebhyaḥ
tasya tayoḥ teṣām
tasmin tayoḥ teṣu
da-kāra-antaḥ | ending in the letter ‘d’
strīliṅgaḥ | feminine gender
tad-śabdaḥ | the word ‘tad’ (she)
sā te tāḥ
tām te tāḥ
tayā tābhyāṁ tābhiḥ
tasyai tābhyāṁ tābhyaḥ
tasyāḥ tābhyāṁ tābhyaḥ
tasyāḥ tayoḥ tāsām
tasyām tayoḥ tāsu
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da-kāra-antaḥ | ending in the letter ‘d’
napuṁsakaliṅgaḥ | neuter gender
tad-śabdaḥ | the ord ‘tad’ (it)
tat te tāni
tat te tāni
tena tābhyāṁ taiḥ
tasmai tābhyāṁ tebhyaḥ
tasmāt tābhyāṁ tebhyaḥ
tasya tayoḥ teṣām
tasmin tayoḥ teṣu
Parasmaipada and ātmanepada
Verbal endings can be of two types, parasmaipada and ātmanepada. Parasmaipada means ‘word for
another’, while ātmanepada means ‘word for oneself’. Originally, the sense of the distinction is that
parasmaipada endings are used when the fruit of the action accrues to someone other than the agent.
For example
pacati means ‘(he) cooks (for someone else)’, while
pacate means ‘(he) cooks (for himself).
In practice, though, the usage of parasmaipada and ātmanepada endings does not always imply this
difference in the meaning. Rather, some verbs take only parasmaipada endings, some only ātmanepada,
while others can take either. Moreover, ātmanepada endings are used to form the passive voice, with
the addition of the suffix ya:
rāmaḥ phalaṁ khādati | Rāma eats the fruit
rāmeṇa phalaṁ khādyate | The fruit is eaten by Rāma
rāmaḥ gṛhaṁ gacchati | Rāma goes to the house
rāmeṇa gṛhaṁ gamyate | The house is reached (‘is gone’) by R ma
Edhate (ātmanepada)
laṭ (present tense)
edhate edhete edhante
edhase edhethe edhadhve
edhe edhāvahe edhāmahe
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Passive construction
As mentioned earlier, the ātmanepada endings are also used to express the passive forms of those verbs,
which use parasmaipada terminations in the active, by adding ‘ya’ before the endings:
gam | gacchati | gam + ya + ātmanepada endings:
gamyate gamyete gamyante
gamyase gamyethe gamyadhve
gamye gamyāvahe gamyāmahe
Accordingly:
rāmaḥ gṛhaṁ gacchati | Rāma goes to the house
rāmeṇa gṛhaṁ gamyate | The house is gone to by Rāma
It can be noticed that now the verbal ending expresses the object of the action (karman), in this case the
house, with which it concords in person and number. For this reason, the passive voice is called in
Sanskrit ‘karmaṇi prayogaḥ’, which means usage in reference to the object of the action. In karmaṇi
prayoga, the agent is expressed by the third vibhakti (rāmeṇa).
If in the active voice the verb employs ātmanepada terminations, the passive is formed by adding ‘ya’:
labhate labhete labhante | becomes | labhyate labhyete labhyante |
vandate vandete vandante | becomes | vandyate vandyete vandyante |
Study the following examples
rāmaḥ phalaṁ khādati
Rāma eats the fruit
rāmeṇa phalaṁ khādyate
The fruit is eaten by Rāma
sītā pustakaṁ paṭhati
Sītā reads the book
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sītayā pustakaṁ paṭḥyate
The book is being read by Sītā
Heart Sūtra study
tasmāj jñātavyaḥ prajñāpāramitāmahāmantro mahāvidyāmantro’ nuttaramantro’ samasamamantraḥ sarvaduḥkhapraśamanaḥ satyam amithyatvāt prajñāpāramitāyām ukto mantraḥ | Therefore, the great Mantra of the Perfection of Wisdom should be known, the Mantra of great
knowledge, the unexcelled Mantra, the Mantra equal to no equal, the pacification of all suffering, truth
because of not being false, the mantra spoken in the Perfection of Wisdom.
Dharmasaṅgraha study
gatayaḥ ṣaṭ | tadyathā
1. narakaḥ 2. tiryak 3. pretaḥ 4. asuraḥ 5. manuṣyaḥ 6. devaś ceti |
There are six destinies:
1. hell
2. animal
3. hungry ghost
4. demigod
5. human
6. and, god.
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Exercises
i. write the word rāma in devanāgarī
ii. memorize saḥ, sā, tat, edhate, and the new sections of Heart Sūtra and Dharmasaṅgraha
iii. write the present tense active and passive of labh and vand
iv. translate: dṛśyante ratnāni atiśobhanāni | saṁskṛtaṁ paṭhyate śiṣyaiḥ | buddhimadbhiḥ
jñānaṁ labhyate ||
Vocabulary: dṛś | to see || ratnam | jewel || ati-śobhanam | very beautiful || paṭh | to study, to read ||
buddhimat | intelligent || jñānam | knowledge || labh | to get, to obtain ||
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Lesson 10
The verb: 10 gaṇas | Eṣaḥ, kaḥ, yaḥ | Aham, tvam
The verb: 10 gaṇas
Sanskrit grammarians classify verbal endings into sārvadhātuka and ārdhadhātuka. The first comprises
the present tense, imperfect, imperative and potential (laṭ, laṅ, loṭ, vidhiliṅ), while the second comprises
the other lakāras. Verbs are classified into 10 groups (gaṇa), where each group forms the sārvadhātuka
tenses and moods in a similar way, by adding the same conjugational sign.
We have so far seen bhavati and edhate: both of them are verbs of the 1
st
gaṇa (bhvādiḥ) and get
modified in a similar manner, by adding a conjugational sign, short a. (In addition, bhū takes guṇa
grade and is therefore transformed into bho).
bhū + a + ti || a is the conjugational sign, ti is the ending
bho + a + ti || bhū takes guṇa and becomes bho
bhav + a + ti || because short a follows, bho changes to bhav (due to eco’yavāyāvaḥ, a sandhi rule)
bhavati || this is the final form
Similarly:
edh + a + te
edhate
The main difference between the verbs of the 10 gaṇas is in the conjugational sign they take.
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Gaṇa Conjugational Sign Process Result
1
st
bhvādiḥ
a bhav + a + ti
edh + a + te
bhavati
edhate
2
nd
adādiḥ
- ad + ti
ās + te
atti
āste
3
rd
juhotyādiḥ
- juho + ti
jihī + te
juhoti
jihīte
4
th
divādiḥ
ya dīv + ya + ti
dīp + ya + te
dīvyati
dīpyate
5
th
svādiḥ
nu su + nu + ti
su + nu + te
sunoti
sunute
6
th
tudādiḥ
a tud + a + ti
tud + a + te
tudati
tudate
7
th
rudhādiḥ
na rudh + na + ti
rudh + na + te
ruṇaddhi
rundhe
8
th
tanādiḥ
u tan + u + ti
tan + u + te
tanoti
tanute
9
th
kryādiḥ
nā krī + nā + ti
krī + nā + te
krīṇāti
krīṇīte
10
th
curādiḥ
aya cor + aya + ti
cor + aya + te
corayati
corayate
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Eṣaḥ, kaḥ, yaḥ
da-kāra-antaḥ | ending in the letter ‘d’
puṁliṅgaḥ | masculine gender
etad-śabdaḥ | the word ‘etad’ (This)
eṣaḥ etau ete
etam (enam) etau (enau) etān (enān)
etena (enena) etābhyām etaiḥ
etasmai etābhyām etebhyaḥ
etasmāt etābhyām etebhyaḥ
etasya etayoḥ (enayoḥ) eteṣām
etasmin etayoḥ (enayoḥ) eteṣu
The forms between brackets are used to avoid repetition, when the standard equivalents have just been
used in the sentence.
ma-kāra-antaḥ | ending in the letter ‘m’
puṁliṅgaḥ | masculine gender
kim-śabdaḥ | the word ‘kim’ (Who?)
kaḥ kau ke
kam kau kān
kena kābhyām kaiḥ
kasmai kābhyām kebhyaḥ
kasmāt kābhyām kebhyaḥ
kasya kayoḥ keṣām
kasmin kayoḥ keṣu
By adding –cid –cana or api, the interrogative pronouns become indefinite pronouns: kaścid, kaścana =
someone, kenacit, kenapi = by somenone, etc.
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da-kāra-antaḥ | ending in the letter ‘d’
puṁliṅgaḥ | masculine gender
yad-śabdaḥ | the word ‘yad’ (Who | relative pronoun)
yaḥ yau ye
yam yau yān
yena yābhyām yaiḥ
yasmai yābhyām yebhyaḥ
yasmāt yābhyām yebhyaḥ
yasya yayoḥ yeṣām
yasmin yayoḥ yeṣu
Aham, tvam
da-kāra-antaḥ | ending in the letter ‘d’
triṣu liṅgeṣu samānarūpaḥ | with the same form in the three genders
asmad-śabda | the word ‘asmad’ (I)
aham āvām vayam
mām (mā) āvām (nau) asmān (naḥ)
mayā āvābhyām asmābhiḥ
mahyam (me) āvābhyām (nau) asmabhyam (naḥ)
mat āvābhyām asmat
mama (me) āvayoḥ (nau) asmākam (naḥ)
mayi āvayoḥ asmāsu
da-kāra-antaḥ | ending in the letter ‘d’
triṣu liṅgeṣu samānarūpaḥ | with the same form in the three genders
yuṣmad-śabdaḥ | the word ‘yuṣmad’ (You)
tvam yuvām yūyam
tvām (tvā) yuvām (vām) yuṣmān (vaḥ)
tvayā yuvābhyām yuṣmābhiḥ
tubhyam (te) yuvābhyām (vām) yuṣmabhyam (vaḥ)
tvat yuvābhyām yuṣmat
tava (te) yuvayoḥ (vām) yuṣmākam (vaḥ)
tvayi yuvayoḥ yuṣmāsu
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Heart Sūtra study
tadyathā gate gate pāragate pārasaṁgate bodhi svāhā || iti prajñāpāramitāhṛdayasūtraṁ samāptam || Dharmasaṅgraha study
katamāni catvāri samyakprahāṇāni | tadyathā
1. utpannānāṁ kuśalamūlānāṁ saṁrakṣaṇam 2. anutpannānāṁ samutpādaḥ 3. utpannānām akuśalānāṁ dharmāṇāṁ prahāṇam 4. anutpannānāṁ punaranutpādaś ceti |
What are the four perfect exertions? It is as follows:
1. guarding the roots of virtue that have already arisen;
2. causing the ones, which have not yet arisen, to arise;
3. abandoning the unvirtuous dharmas that have already arisen;
4. not causing to arise again those which have not yet arisen.
Exercises
i. write the present of bhū (bhavati) and the word phala in devanāgarī
ii. memorize eṣa, kaḥ, yaḥ
iii. memorize aham, tvam
iv. add adequate forms of saḥ, aham, tvam, eṣaḥ and translate:
…. gṛhaṁ gacchāmi | …. khāditaṁ phalam ? | …. nepāle bhavāvaḥ | …. unnatau bhavathaḥ | namaḥ
… bhagavate arhate samyaksaṁbuddhāya ||
Vocabulary: gṛham | house || gam | to go || khād | to eat || unnata | tall || samyak-sambuddha | perfectly
awakened, perfect Buddha ||
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Lesson 11
Yat - tat constructions |The kāraka system | Usages of the 1
st
Vibhakti | Sambodhanā | Jalamuc
Yat-tat constructions
Relative clauses are formed in Sanskrit by employing the relative pronoun yad (yaḥ, yā, yat) in
reference to the pronoun tad (saḥ, sā, tat). Both pronouns need to concord in gender and number, and
this means a great flexibility in their position (since it is not very difficult to understand that they refer
to each other). The vibhakti is not necessarily the same.
yaḥ pratītyasamutpādaṁ deśayāmāsa
taṁ saṁbuddhaṁ vande ||
Here the main sentence is taṁ sambuddhaṁ vande | I salute that perfect Buddha. We have the 2
nd
vibhakti singular of saḥ (tam). yaḥ in the first line, on the other hand, is the 1
st
vibhakti of yaḥ, and the
clause means ‘the one who taught dependent arising’. Both taṁ and yaḥ refer to the same person
(namely, the Buddha): but in taṁ vande that person is the object of the action (karman), while in the
clause the same person is the agent (kartṛ): this different function is expressed by different vibhaktis.
The overall meaning becomes:
I salute that perfect Buddha, who taught dependent arising.
The relative pronoun yad can even appear as part of a compound. For example:
yad-āśrayāt uttarati pāpāni
na āśrīyate tat katham?
How is that not resorted to, relying upon which, one may cross sins?
The kāraka system
Sanskrit grammarians employ a set of explanatory devices to analyze the functions of the various parts
of a sentence. These are called kārakas, which in its simplest explanation means ‘it does something’
(karoti iti). In other words, anything, which helps in the accomplishment of the main action, or
anything, which stands in some relation to the verb that signifies that action, is called kāraka. The
salient feature of this type of analysis is that it centers on the main action or verb (kriyā).
The most important kārakas are six:
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1. kartṛ | agent
‘The autonomous one is the agent’ (svatantraḥ kartā).
Grammatical commentators make it clear that what the definition concerns is whatever one wishes to
describe as the most prominent factor in the accomplishment of the action; without any necessary
implication of factual autonomy or independence. For example, we may say:
devadattaḥ pacati | Devadatta cooks
but also
agniḥ pacati | The fire cooks
the choice depending upon whether we wish to stress the role of Devadatta or of the fire.
2. karman | object of the action
‘That, which the agent desires the most’ (kartur īpsitatamaṁ karma).
Once again, the definition has to be taken flexibly, not so much as implying an actual volition. What
the agent is most concerned with while engaging in a certain action is what is called ‘most desired’, and
this might be the case even if the agent is insentient and has no ‘concern’ literally! For example:
vidyā dadāti vinayam | Knowledge gives modesty
Here vidyā is not a person, but what knowledge most tends to in the action of giving is no other than
modesty (vinayam), which is therefore the karman.
3. karaṇam | instrument
‘That, which is most instrumental, is the instrument’ (sādhakatamaṁ karaṇam).
The main helper to the agent in the accomplishment of the action:
devadattaḥ agninā pacati | Devadatta cooks with fire.
rāmaḥ hastena khādati | Rāma eats with his hand.
4. saṁpradānam | recipient
‘That, which one intends through the object, is the recipient’ (karmaṇā yam abhipraiti sa
sampradānam).
Devadattaḥ saṅghāya dhanaṁ dadāti | Devadatta gives wealth to the saṅgha.
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5. apādānam | point of departure
‘That, which is fixed in case of a departure, is called point of departure’ (dhruvam apāye’pādānam).
‘Point of departure’ means the fixed place, from which another thing gets detached. For example:
grāmāt āyāti | (Someone) comes from the village.
Here the village is fixed, in respect to someone who moves away from it. The definition, though, is not
concerned as to whether the village itself is moving or stable, but only refers to the relative stability of
something in respect to something else that gets detached from it. The following example makes this
clear:
dhāvataḥ aśvāt patati | (Someone) falls from a running horse
6. adhikaraṇam | support
‘Support is something which holds up’ (ādhāro’dhikaraṇam).
kaṭe āste | (Someone) sits on a mat.
sthālyām pacati | (Someone) cooks in a vessel.
mokṣe icchā asti | There is a wish for liberation.
sarvasmin ātmā asti | In everything, the Self is there.
The first two sentences represent a type of support, which actually comes into contact with the thing
supported (aupaśleṣika). In the third, the support is such in the sense of being the subject matter
(vaiṣayika). In the last example, the support is ‘pervasive’ (abhivyāpaka).
Usages of the 1
st
Vibhakti | Sambodhanā
The 1
st
Vibhakti expands upon the information already indicated by the endings of the main verb;
accordingly, its function depends upon the type of sentence. When the verb expresses the agent (kartṛ,
kartari prayogaḥ), the first Vibhakti also indicates the agent:
vṛkṣaḥ tiṣṭhati kānane | the tree stands in the forest
guruḥ eva gatiḥ bhavati | only the teacher is the way
If the verb refers to the object of the action (karman, karmaṇi prayogaḥ), the 1
st
Vibhakti expresses the
same:
rāmaḥ pūjyate | Rāma is worshipped
bhāvāḥ na vidyante | existent things are not found
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The 1
st
Vibhakti therefore expresses a certain amount of information about the agent or the object,
which the verb alone cannot convey. This information is the meaning of the noun’s stem, or, for
example, a specific gender (while the person of the agent or object can be already conveyed by the
verb).
The Vocative (sambodhanā) is considered a subtype of the 1
st
Vibhakti, used to call for someone’s
attention, or to address someone:
he vṛkṣa kiṁ kampase | O tree, why do you shake? pāhi guro | Protect (me), o teacher!
Jalamuc
ca-kāra-antaḥ | ending in the letter ‘ca’
puṁliṅgaḥ | masculine gender
jalamuc-śabda | the word ‘jalamuc’ (cloud)
jalamuk jalamucau jalamucaḥ
he jalamuk he jalamucau he jalamucaḥ
jalamucam jalamucau jalamucaḥ
jalamucā jalamugbhy m jalamugbhiḥ
jalamuce jalamugbhyām jalamugbhyaḥ
jalamucaḥ jalamugbhyām jalamugbhyaḥ
jalamucaḥ jalamucoḥ jalamucām
jalamuci jalamucoḥ jalamukṣu
Exercises:
i. write the word ramā in devanāgarī
ii. memorize: vṛkṣas tiṣṭhati kānane
iii. memorize jalamuc
iv. translate: yaḥ gṛhaṁ gacchati, tasya nāma rāmaḥ | yasya nāma rāmaḥ, saḥ gṛhaṁ gacchati | yasya
patnī sītā, saḥ rāmaḥ | yasya patnī gṛhaṁ gatavatī, tasya nāma rāmaḥ | yaḥ sītayā vivāhitaḥ, saḥ rāmaḥ
patnyā sahā gṛhaṁ gacchati sma ||
Vocabulary: patnī | wife || vivāhitaḥ | married || sahā | together with (+ 3
rd
Vibhakti) ||
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Lesson 12
Verbs of the 2
nd
gaṇa | Usages of the 2
nd
Vibhakti | Kṣudh | eco’yavāyāvaḥ
Verbs of the 2
nd
gaṇa | adādiḥ |
ad | to eat (laṭ)
atti attaḥ adanti
atsi atthaḥ attha
admi advaḥ admaḥ
as | to be (irregular)
asti staḥ santi
asi sthaḥ stha
asmi svaḥ smaḥ
ās | to sit (ātmanepadī)
āste āsāte āsate
āsse āsāthe ādhve
āse āsvahe āsmahe
Usages of the second vibhakti
The most common usage of the 2
nd
vibhakti is to express the object of the action (karman) in case of
active constructions:
kusumitā latā vṛkṣaṁ saṁśritā | The flowered creeper rests on the tree
gurum eva bhaje | I worship only the teacher
rāmaḥ phalaṁ khādati | R ma eats the fruit
rāmaḥ kṛṣṇaṁ paśyati | Rāma sees Kṛṣṇa
kṛṣṇaḥ rāmaṁ paśyati | Kṛṣṇa sees Rāma
The second vibhakti is also found with certain verbs, when one does not wish to express the
saṁpradāna, apādāna or ādharaṇa in a specific manner:
gāṁ dogdhi payaḥ | He milks milk from the cow (yet, gāṁ, ‘cow’, is 2
nd
vibhakti)
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Verbs indicating speech often take the 2
nd
vibhakti (in a construction also referred to as ‘double
accusative’):
āryāvalokiteśvaraḥ āyuṣmantaṁ śāriputram etad avocat | The Noble Avalokiteśvara said this to the
long-lived Śāriputra (where both etad and āyuṣmantaṁ śāriputram are in 2
nd
vibhakti).
The 2
nd
Vibhakti can also be used adverbially:
aśvaḥ śīghraṁ dhāvati | The horse runs fast
Kṣudh
dha-kāra-antaḥ | ending in the letter ‘dh’
strī-liṅgaḥ | feminine gender
kṣudh-śabdaḥ | the word ‘kṣudh’ (hunger)
kṣut kṣudhau kṣudhaḥ
he kṣut he kṣudhau he kṣudhaḥ
kṣudham kṣudhau kṣudhaḥ
kṣudhā kṣudbhyām kṣudbhiḥ
kṣudhe kṣudbhyām kṣudbhyaḥ
kṣudhaḥ kṣudbhyām kṣudbhyaḥ
kṣudhaḥ kṣudhoḥ kṣudhām
kṣudhi kṣudhoḥ kṣutsu
eco’yavāyāvaḥ
eco’yavāyāvaḥ || is another sūtra in Pāṇini’s grammar, used to regulate vowel sandhi: it works in a way
similar to iko yaṇ aci. It means:
ecaḥ | in place of e o ai au let there be
ay-av-āy-āv-aḥ | ay av āy āv
(aci) | when a vowel follows
aci is not found in the sūtra, but it has to be considered as implied (this is common in many of Pāṇini’s
aphorisms). The reason why we get this meaning from the sūtra is that
ec | is a technical term for e, o, ai, au
ayavāyāvaḥ | is an itateretaradvandva listing ay, av, āy, āv
ac | is a technical term for any vowel
For example:
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hare + e = haraye || viṣṇo + e = viṣṇave || nai + akaḥ = nāyakaḥ || pau + akaḥ = pāvakaḥ
Exercises:
i. memorize the verbal forms
ii. memorize kusumitā latā vṛkṣaṁ saṁśritā
iii. memorize kṣudh
iv. memorize eco’yavāyāvaḥ
v. write with sandhi (in devanāgarī): bho + a | kulaputrau + abhavatām |
vi. translate and write in devanāgarī: bhagavān āyuṣmantaṁ śāriputram āmantrayati sma |
āryāvalokiteśvaraḥ āyuṣmantaṁ mahākāśyapaṁ etad uktavān | sītā rāmaṁ prati agacchat ||
Vocabulary: ā + mantr | to address || uktavān | past active participle of vac, to say || prati | towards (+
2
nd
Vibhakti)
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Lesson 13
Bhavitā |Verbs of the 3rd gaṇa | Usages of the 3rd Vibhakti | Idam | Present active participles for
parasmaipada verbs
Bhavitā (luṭ)
bhavitā bhavitārau bhavitāraḥ
bhavitāsi bhavitāsthaḥ bhavitāstha
bhavitāsmi bhavitāsvaḥ bhavitāsmaḥ
Technically, the luṭ refers to future actions, happening beyond today.
Verbs of the 3
rd
gaṇa | juhotyādiḥ |
hu | to sacrifice (laṭ)
juhoti juhutaḥ juhvati
juhoṣi juhuthaḥ juhuthaḥ
juhomi juhuva juhuma
dā | to give (ubhayapadī) | parasmaipade
dadāti dattaḥ dadati
dadāsi datthaḥ dattha
dadāmi dadvaḥ dadmaḥ
dā | to give (ubhayapadī) | ātmanepade
datte dadāte dadate
datse dadāthe dadhve
dade dadvahe dadmahe
Usages of the 3
rd
vibhakti
According to whether the verbal endings refer to the agent (kartari prayogaḥ) or to the object of the
action (karmaṇi), we have two main usages of the 3
rd
vibhakti as the instrument (karaṇa) or as the agent
itself (kartṛ). For example:
rāmaḥ hastena phalaṁ khādati | Rāma eats the fruit with his hand
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rāmeṇa hastena phalaṁ khādyate | The fruit is eaten by Rāma with his hand
Notice that in the second example both rāmeṇa and hastena are in the 3
rd
vibhakti, and we can decide
who the agent is and which is the instrument only from context (not just from the endings). Another
example:
vṛkṣeṇa abhihataḥ gajaḥ nipatitaḥ | The elephant (gajaḥ) struck by the tree (vṛkṣeṇa abhihataḥ) has
fallen (nipatitaḥ)
Here too we might decide to understand the tree (vṛkṣa) as either an agent or an instrument (in case we
interpret the sentence as having an implied agent).
Another important usage of the 3
rd
vibhakti is with some words meaning ‘together with’ or ‘without’:
rāmeṇa saha sītā vanam agacchat | Together with (saha) Rāma, Sītā went to the forest
bhagavān bhikṣusaṅghena sārdhaṁ viharati sma | The Blessed One was dwelling together with
(sārdham) an assembly of monks
sītayā vinā na tuṣṭaḥ rāmaḥ | Without (vinā) Sītā, Rāma is not content
We often find the 3
rd
Vibhakti used adverbially:
sugatānām sutaḥ ucyate kṣaṇena | In one instant, (someone) is called ‘son of the Sugatas’
Idam
ma-kāra-antaḥ | ending in the letter ‘m’
puṁliṅgaḥ | masculine gender
idam-śabdaḥ | the word ‘idam’ (this, for things not as near as ‘etad’)
ayam imau ime
imam (enam) imau (enau) imān (enān)
anena (enena) ābhyām ebhiḥ
asmai ābhyām ebhyaḥ
asmāt ābhyām ebhyaḥ
asya anayoḥ (enayoḥ) eṣām
asmin anayoḥ (enayoḥ) eṣu
ma-kāra-antaḥ | ending in the letter ‘m’
strīliṅgaḥ | feminine gender
idam-śabda | the word ‘idam’ (this)
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iyam ime imāḥ
imām (enām) ime (ene) imāḥ (enāḥ)
anayā (enayā) ābhyām ābhiḥ
asyai ābhyām ābhyaḥ
asyāḥ ābhyām ābhyaḥ
asyāḥ anayoḥ (enayoḥ) āsām
asyām anayoḥ (enayoḥ) āsu
ma-kāra-antaḥ | ending in the letter ‘m’
napuṁsakaliṅgaḥ | neuter gender
idam-śabdaḥ | thw word ‘idam’ (this)
idam ime imāni
idam (enat) ime (ene) imāni (enāni)
anena (enena) ābhyām ebhiḥ
asmai ābhyām ebhyaḥ
asmāt ābhyām ebhyaḥ
asya anayoḥ (enayoḥ) eṣām
asmin anayoḥ (enayoḥ) eṣu
Present active participles for parasmaipada verbs
Active present participles are formed in two different ways, according to whether the verb takes
parasmaipada or ātmanepada terminations. In the first case, we have participles like
gacchat, khādat and so on. Their declension is quite similar to the past active participles (like gatavat):
ta-kāra-antaḥ | ending in the letter ‘t’
puṁliṅgaḥ | masculine gender
gacchat-śabdaḥ | the word ‘gacchat’ (he who is going)
gacchan gacchantau gacchantaḥ
he gacchan he gacchantau he gacchantaḥ
gacchantam gacchantau gacchataḥ
gacchatā gacchadbhyām gacchadbhiḥ
gacchate gacchadbhyām gacchadbhyaḥ
gacchataḥ gacchadbhyām gacchadbhyaḥ
gacchataḥ gacchatoḥ gacchatām
gacchati gacchatoḥ gacchatsu
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ta-kāra-antaḥ | ending in the letter ‘t’
napuṁsakaliṅgaḥ | neuter gender
gacchat-śabdaḥ | the word ‘gacchat’ (that which is going)
gacchat gacchantī gacchanti
he gacchat he gacchantī he gacchanti
gacchat gacchantī gacchanti
gacchatā gacchadbhyām gacchadbhiḥ
gacchate gacchadbhyām gacchadbhyaḥ
gacchataḥ gacchadbhyām gacchadbhyaḥ
gacchataḥ gacchatoḥ gacchatām
gacchati gacchatoḥ gacchatsu
ta-kāra-anta | ending in the letter ‘t’
strīliṅgaḥ | feminine gender
gacchat-śabdaḥ | the word ‘gacchat’ (she who goes)
gacchantī gacchantyau gacchantyaḥ
he gacchanti he gacchantyau he gacchantyaḥ
gacchantīm gacchantyau gacchantīḥ
gacchantyā gacchantībhyām gacchantībhiḥ
gacchantyai gacchantībhyām gacchantībhyaḥ
gacchantyāḥ gacchantībhyām gacchantībhyaḥ
gacchantyāḥ gacchantyoḥ gacchantīnām
gacchantyām gacchantyoḥ gacchantīṣu
Exercises:
i. memorize all the verbs and nouns of the lesson
ii. memorize: vṛkṣeṇābhihato gajo nipatito
iii. translate, writing in devanāgarī: Rāma sees Sītā, who is going to the house | I saw the long-
lived Śāriputra, who was residing in Rājgir |
iv. translate: gṛhaṁ gacchataḥ narasya phalaṁ khādāmi | phalaṁ khādan naraḥ rāmasya gṛhe
hyaḥ viharati sma | gṛhaṁ gacchantyāḥ patnyāḥ phalaṁ khāditvā rāmaḥ tāṁ patnīṁ
sasnehaṁ paśyati ||
Vocabulary: to see | dṛś (paśyati, paśyataḥ, paśyanti, etc.) || naraḥ | man || snehaḥ | affection (sa-
sneha | with affection) ||
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Lesson 14
Verbs of the 4
th
gaṇa | Usages of the 4
th
Vibhakti | Bhāve prayoga | Present active participles for
ātmanepada verbs
Verbs of the 4
th
gaṇa | divādiḥ |
div | to play (laṭ) dīp | to shine (ātmanepadī)
dīvyati dīvyataḥ dīvyanti dīpyate dīpyete dīpyante
dīvyasi dīvyathaḥ dīvyatha dīpyase dīpyethe dīpyadhve
dīvyāmi dīvyāvaḥ dīvyāmaḥ dīpye dīpyāvahe dīpyāmahe
Usages of the 4
th
Vibhakti
The main usage of the 4
th
Vibhakti is to express the recipient of the object of the action (the
saṁpradāna-kāraka):
vṛkṣāya deyaṁ jalam | Water is to be given to the tree
viprāya gāṁ dadāti | He gives the cow to the Brahmin
The 4
th
Vibhakti is also used with words like namaḥ, svasti, svāhā, svadhā:
namaḥ sarvajñāya | (Let there be) bowing to the Omniscient One
namo gurave | (Let there be) bowing to the Teacher
agnaye svāhā | Svāhā to Agni
The word ‘alam’ also takes the 4
th
Vibhakti, when it means ‘enough for’:
daityebhyaḥ hariḥ alam | Hari is enough for the demons
On the other hand, it takes the 3
rd
Vibhakti, when it means ‘enough with’:
alam ativistareṇa | Enough with this excess of elaboration !
Bhāve prayogaḥ
We have already encountered the construction of bhāve prayogaḥ when studying past participles:
rāmeṇa gatam | ‘Going was done by Rāma’
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In this sentence, the participle gata refers neither to the agent (kartari) nor to the object of the action
(karmaṇi): it refers to the action itself, to a state of affairs (bhāve). The same type of construction can
appear with verbs (tiṅantam, words ending in verbal suffixes):
rāmeṇa gamyate | ‘Going is done by Rāma’
dhāvyate aśvaiḥ | ‘Running is done by the horses’
The verbs that can be used in bhāve prayogaḥ are either intransitive verbs, or transitive verbs used in an
intransitive sense. In other words, they are either verbs that cannot take an object (like dhāv, to run), or
verbs that can usually take an object, but are not taking an object in some particular usages (like gam,
to go). The verbal forms themselves are identical to the passive (hence, they have ātmanepada endings
and the addition of ‘ya’).
Present active participles for ātmanepada verbs
Present active participles with ātmanepada verbs can be formed in two ways. For verbs of conjugations
1, 4, 6 and 10, one obtains these participles by adding māna to the verbal base. The verbal base consists
of the verbal root + the conjugational sign (with all the sandhi transformations, when they apply). A
simple way to identify the verbal base of a certain verb is to take its 3
rd
person singular present
(prathamapuruṣa, ekavacana) and remove the ending te. Therefore for labhate the verbal base will be
labha, and accordingly the present active participle will be labhamāna (labha + māna), meaning,
‘someone who obtains’. Labhamāna is declined like rāma in the masculine, like phalam in the neuter,
and like ramā in the feminine.
For verbs of the other conjugations, one adds āna instead of māna: śī (to lie down) | śayāna Again, śayāna is declined like rāma, phalam or ramā according to gender.
Exercises:
i. memorize all the nouns and verbs of the lesson
ii. memorize: vṛkṣāya deyaṁ jalam
iii. explain in English and give examples in Sanskrit for: kartari prayogaḥ, karmaṇi prayogaḥ,
bhāve prayogaḥ |
iv. translate: phalaṁ khādadbhiḥ naraiḥ dhāvyate | bhāṣamānaḥ rāmaḥ sītayā dṛśyate | vṛkṣāt
patat phalaṁ śīghraṁ gacchati | May there be obeisance to the all-knowing one |
Vocabulary: khād | to eat || naraḥ | man || dhāv | to run || bhāṣ | to speak || pat | to fall || śīghra | quick,
fast ||
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Lesson 15
Verbs of the 5
th
gaa | Usages of the 5
th
Vibhakti | Present passive participles | Dvigu | Karin
Verbs of the 5
th
gaṇa | svādiḥ |
su | to press out juice (ubhayapadī) | parasmaipade (laṭ)
sunoti sunutaḥ sunvanti
sunoṣi sunuthaḥ sunutha
sunomi sunuvaḥ\sunvaḥ sunumaḥ\sunmaḥ
su | to press out juice (ubhayapadī) | ātmanepade |
sunute sunvāte sunvate
sunuṣe sunvāthe sunudhve
sunuve sunuvahe\sunvahe sunumahe\sunmahe
Usages of the 5
th
Vibhakti
The 5
th
Vibhakti is predominantly used to express the apādānakāraka, i.e. the point from something
gets detached or moves away:
vṛkṣāt ānaya mañjarīṁ abhinavām | Bring the new sprout from the tree
tasmāt samādheḥ vyutthāya … | Having arisen from that absorption …
As we have seen, the apādāna can itself be a moving thing; its stability is only relative to the other
thing that moves away: dhāvataḥ aśvāt patati | (Someone) falls from a running horse
Another important usage of the 5
th
Vibhakti is to express a cause or logical ground, a usage often found
with words ending in –tva or -tā (roughly corresponding to the English –ness, indicating ‘the fact of’,
‘the quality of’):
sarve bhāvāḥ svabhāvaśūnyāḥ pratītyasamutpannatvāt | All existent things are empty of svabhāva, due
to the fact of being dependently arisen
The 5
th
Vibhakti can also be used adverbially:
sugatātmajasaṁvarāvatāraṁ samāsāt kathayiṣyāmi | I will tell in brief of how to engage in the deeds of
the sons of the Sugatas
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Adding the suffix -taḥ to the nominal stem (instead of using the usual declensions, like rāmāt) usually
expresses the same as the 5
th
Vibhakti:
na svataḥ utpadyante bhāvāḥ | Things do not arise from themselves
Present passive participles
Present passive participles refer to the object of the action (karmaṇi), as opposed to the agent (kartari,
what active participles refer to). To form them, we use once again the ending māna, added to the
passive verbal base, obtained from the 3
rd
person singular (prathamapuruṣa ekavacana) of the present
passive verb: gamyate | gamyamāna (‘That which is being gone to’). In the three genders, gamyamāna
is declined like rāma, phalam and ramā, respectively.
Dvigu
Dvigu compounds are a subtype of karmadhāraya (hence, the first term qualifies the second and both
are in the same vibhakti). In dvigu samāsa, though, the first term is a numeral. The compound then can
become either a word in the singular, or respect the number expressed:
trilokī (singular) | The three worlds (loka)
saptarṣayaḥ (plular) | The seven (sapta) sages (ṛṣayaḥ)
Karin
na-kāra-antaḥ | ending in the letter ‘n’
puṁliṅgaḥ | masculine
karin-śabdaḥ | the word ‘karin’ (elephant)
karī kariṇau kariṇa he karin he kariṇau he kariṇaḥ
kariṇam kariṇau kariṇaḥ
kariṇā karibhyām karibhiḥ
kariṇe karibhyām karibhyaḥ
kariṇaḥ karibhyām karibhyaḥ
kariṇaḥ kariṇoḥ kariṇām
kariṇi kariṇoḥ kariṣu
Words like karin form the corresponding feminine simply by adding long ī, becoming like nadī (hence,
kariṇī, ‘she elephant’).
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Exercises:
i. memorize vṛkṣād ānaya mañjarīm abhinavām |
ii. memorize the verbs and nouns of the lesson
iii. write in devanāgarī and translate: unnatebhyaḥ vṛkṣebhyaḥ patyate janaiḥ | sarvaṁ kṣaṇikaṁ
ghaṭavat kṛtakatvāt | samāsāt vadāmi | gataṁ na gamyate | agataṁ na gamyate |
gamyamānaṁ na gamyate ||
Vocabulary: janaḥ | a person || kṣaṇika | momentary || ghaṭa | a pot || -vat | suffix meaning ‘just like’ ||
kṛtaka | a product || -tva | -ness, the fact of being such and such, the quality of being such and such ||
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Lesson 16
Verbs of the 6
th
gaṇa | Usages of the 6
th
Vibhakti | Matiḥ
Verbs of the 6
th
gaṇa | tudādiḥ |
tud | to wound (ubhayapadī) | parasmaipade | (laṭ)
tudati tudataḥ tudanti
tudasi tudathaḥ tudatha
tudāmi tudāvaḥ tudāmaḥ
tud | to wound (ubhayapadī) | ātmanepade |
tudate tudete tudante
tudase tudethe tudadhve
tude tudāvahe tudāmahe
Usages of the 6
th
Vibhakti
The 6
th
Vibhakti differs from the others, since it does not express a relationship with the verb, but
rather with another noun. We can usually understand the 6
th
Vibhakti as indicating possession of one
thing by another:
vṛkṣasya śākhā unnatā | The branch of the tree is tall
śiśuḥ asmi guroḥ | I am a child of the Teacher
Not unlike the English genitive (Elisabeth’s kindness), when the 6
th
Vibhakti joins a noun to an action,
the action may be ‘possessed’ by the noun in two different senses: either as being its agent, or its
object:
rāmasya darśanam | Rāma’s sight
It might either mean that Rāma is the one who sees, or the one who is seen.
This Vibhakti is also used when we want to specify the number of something:
caturaśītisāhasraṁ strīṇām | 84000 women (women being in the 6
th
Vibhakti).
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Matiḥ
ikārāntaḥ | ending in the letter ‘i’
strīliṅgaḥ | feminine gender
matiśabdaḥ | the word ‘mati’ (mind)
matiḥ matī matayaḥ
he mate he matī he matayaḥ
matim matī matīḥ
matyā matibhyām matibhiḥ
matyai\mataye matibhyām matibhyaḥ
matyāḥ\mateḥ matibhyām matibhyaḥ
matyāḥ\mateḥ matyoḥ matīnām
matyām\matau matyoḥ matiṣu
Exercises
i. memorize all the verbs and nouns of the lesson
ii. memorize vṛkṣasya śākhonnatā |
iii. translate: bhāvānāṁ niḥsvabhāvānāṁ na sattā vidyate | asya utpādād idam utpadyate |
Vocabulary: sattā | existence, being || vidyate | is found, is known || utpāda | arising || ut+pad | to arise
(ātmanepadī) ||
iv. translate: || namaḥ sarvajñāya || evaṁ mayā śrutam | ekasmin samaye bhagavān śrāvastyāṁ
viharati sma jetavane’nāthapiṇḍadasya ārāme mahatā bhikṣusaṅghena sārdham
ardhatrayodaśabhir bhikṣuśatair abhijñātābhijñātaiḥ sthavirair mahāśrāvakaiḥ sarvair
arhadbhiḥ |
Vocabulary: śrāvastī | name of a city || jetavana | name of a forest || anāthapiṇḍada | lit. ‘Giver of
food to those without a protector’, name of a householder || ārāma | pleasant garden || ardha-
trayodaśa | half of thirteen || śata | hundred || abhijñātābhijñāta | having realizations || sthavira | elder ||
mahāśrāvakaḥ | great Hearer ||
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Lesson 17
Verbs of the 7
th
gaṇa | Usages of the 7
th
Vibhakti | Abhūt | ād guṇaḥ | Ātman
Verbs of the 7
th
gaṇa | rudhādiḥ |
rudh | to oppose (ubhayapadī) | parasmaipade | (laṭ)
ruṇaddhi rundhaḥ rundhanti
ruṇatsi rundhaḥ rundha
ruṇadhmi rundhvaḥ rundhmaḥ
rudh | to oppose (ubhayapadī) | ātmanepade |
rundhe rundhāte rundhate
runtse rundhāthe rundhve
runddhe rundhvahe rundhmahe
Usages of the 7
th
Vibhakti
The 7
th
Vibhakti expresses the adhikaraṇakāraka, meaning the place, time or general condition within
which the action occurs:
vṛkṣe nīḍam idaṁ kṛtaṁ śakuninā | On the tree, this nest was made by the bird
matir asti gurau mama | My mind is on the Teacher
ekasmin samaye bhagavān rājagṛhe viharati sma | At one time, the Blessed One was residing in Rajgir
asmin sati, idam bhavati | This being there, that exists
It also tells us the thing, to which something else refers, as in the expressions ‘kartari prayogaḥ’,
‘karmaṇi prayogaḥ’ and ‘bhāve prayogaḥ’, meaning ‘usage in reference to the agent’, ‘usage in
reference to the object of the action’ and ‘usage in reference to the state of things’ respectively (where
kartari, karmaṇi and bhāve are all in the 7
th
Vibhakti).
Abhūt (luṅ)
abhūt abhūtām abhūvan
abhūḥ abhūtam abhūta
abhūvam abhūva abhūma
This form (called aorist), can either be used for the past in general, or more specifically for very recent
past events (adyatanabhūta, past within today).
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ād guṇaḥ
When a vowel is preceded by the vowel a (whether short or long), it takes guṇa grade, which becomes
the single substitute for both:
upa + indraḥ = upendraḥ | gaṅgā + udakam = gaṅgodakam |
Ātman
nakārāntaḥ ending in the letter ‘n’
puṁliṅgaḥ masculine gender
ātman-śabdaḥ the word ‘ātman’ (self)
ātmā ātmānau ātmānaḥ
he ātman he ātmānau he ātmānaḥ
ātmānam ātmānau ātmanaḥ
ātmanā ātmabhyāṁ ātmabhiḥ
ātmane ātmabhyāṁ ātmabhyaḥ
ātmanaḥ ātmabhyāṁ ātmabhyaḥ
ātmanaḥ ātmanoḥ ātmanām
ātmani ātmanoḥ ātmasu
Exercises
i. memorize all the verbs and nouns of the lesson
ii. memorize vṛkṣe nīḍam idaṁ kṛtaṁ śakuninā
iii. memorize ād guṇaḥ
iv. solve, writing in devanāgarī: mahā + indraḥ | sarva + īśi |
v. translate: asmin sati idaṁ bhavati | mama matiḥ asti gurau | luṁbinyāṁ bhagavataḥ janma |
Vocabulary: san | present participle of ‘as’ (to be) || janman | birth ||
vi. translate: tadyathā | sthavireṇa ca śāriputreṇa, mahāmaudgalyāyanena ca mahākāśyapena ca
mahākapphiṇena ca mahākātyāyanena ca mahākauṣṭhilena ca revatena ca śuddhipanthakena
ca nandena ca ānandena ca rāhulena ca gavāṁpatinā ca bharadvājena ca kālodayinā ca
vakkulena ca aniruddhena ca | etaiś cānyaiś ca saṁbahulair mahāśrāvakaiḥ |
Vocabulary: tadyathā | just like || anya | other, another || saṁbahula | many || (The rest of the new
words are proper names of the Arhats)
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Lesson 18
Verbs of the 8
th
gaṇa | Bhūyāt | Tumun (infinitives) | Principles of prosody: anuṣṭubh | vṛddhir eci |
Madhu |
Verbs of the 8
th
gaṇa | tanādiḥ |
tan | to spread (ubhayapadī) | parasmaipade | (laṭ)
tanoti tanutaḥ tanvanti
tanoṣi tanuthaḥ tanutha
tanomi tanuvaḥ\tanvaḥ tanumaḥ\tanmaḥ
tan | to spread (ubhayapadī) | ātmanepade |
tanute tanvāte tanvate
tanuṣe tanvāthe tanudhve
tanve tanuvahe\tanvahe tanumahe\tanmahe
Bhūyāt (āśīrliṅ)
bhūyāt bhūyāstām bhūyāsuḥ
bhūyāḥ bhūyāstam bhūyasta
bhūyāsam bhūyāsva bhūyāsma
This mood (called benedictive) is not frequently found: it can be used to express desire, hope or
blessing.
Tumun (infinitives)
Infinitives are indeclinables (avyaya) formed by adding the suffix tumun (which becomes ‘tum’) to the
verbal root:
khād + tumun = khāditum | dṛṣ + tumun = draṣṭum |
These could be generally translated as ‘to eat’ and ‘to see’, which well captures the main usages of this
form: to indicate an action, towards which the main action tends:
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kṛṣṇaṁ draṣṭum yāti | He goes to see Kṛṣṇa
phalaṁ khāditum icchasi | You want to eat a fruit
or, to indicate an action, and that it is the time to do it:
kṛṣṇaṁ draṣṭuṁ kālaḥ | The time to see Kṛṣṇa
phalaṁ khādituṁ velā | Time to eat a fruit
Principles of prosody: anuṣṭubh
Sanskrit meters are based on quantity, not on stress. There are two ways of calculating quantity: the one
we will look at divides syllables into either guru (heavy) or laghu (light). Any syllable containing a
long vowel, or a short vowel followed by more than one consonant, is guru: others are laghu.
A verse is characteristically divided into four ‘feet’ (pāda): the number of syllables in each pāda and
the specific succession of guru and laghu make up for different types of verses. Perhaps the commonest
and simplest of Sanskrit verses is the anuṣṭup, made of 8 + 8 + 8 + 8 syllables, where only the second
half of each p da is fixed. The following verse is both a definition, and an example of, this type of
verse:
pañcamaṁ laghu sarvatra
saptamaṁ dvicaturthayoḥ |
ṣaṣṭhaṁ gurū vijānīyāt
etac chlokasya lakṣaṇam ||
The 5
th
is always laghu,
the 7
th
(is so) in the second and the fourth (pādas);
one should understand the 6
th
to be guru:
this is the definition of a ‘śloka’.
vṛddhir eci
This rule is an exception to ād guṇaḥ. If the letter a (whether short or long) is followed by ec (e o ai au),
the latter letter takes vṛddhi grade and this becomes the single substitute for both:
kṛṣṇa + ekatvam = kṛṣṇaikatvam | gaṅgā + oghaḥ = gaṅgaughaḥ | deva + aiśvaryam = devaiśvaryam |
kṛṣṇa + autkaṇṭhyam = kṛṣṇautkaṇṭhyam |
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Madhu
ukārāntaḥ | ending in the letter ‘u’
napuṁsakaliṅgaḥ | neuter gender
madhuśabdaḥ | the word ‘madhu’
madhu madhunī madhūni
he madho-he madhu he madhunī he madhūni
madhu madhunī madhūni
madhunā madhubhyāṁ madhubhiḥ
madhune madhubhyāṁ madhubhyaḥ
madhunaḥ madhubhyāṁ madhubhyaḥ
madhunaḥ madhunoḥ madhūnām
madhuni madhunoḥ madhuṣu
Exercises
i. memorize all the verbs and nouns of the lesson
ii. memorize vṛddhir eci
iii. solve: rāmeṇa + eva | jana + oghān | prathama + aupapattyaṁśikam |
iv. translate: saṁbahulaiś ca bodhisattvair mahāsattvaiḥ | tadyathā mañjuśriyā ca
kumārabhūtena, ajitena ca bodhisattvena, gandhahastinā ca bodhisattvena, nityodyuktena ca
bodhisattvena, anikṣiptadhureṇa ca bodhisattvena | etaiś ca anyaiś ca bodhisattvair
mahāsattvaiḥ |
Vocabulary: kumārabhūta | in the form of a young prince ||
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Lesson 19
Verbs of the 9
th
gaṇa | abhaviṣyat | akaḥ savarṇe dīrghaḥ | Āśis
Verbs of the 9
th
gaṇa | kryādiḥ |
krī | to buy (ubhayapadī) | parasmaipade | (laṭ)
krīṇāti krīṇītaḥ krīṇanti
krīṇāsi krīṇīthaḥ krīṇītha
krīṇāmi krīṇīvaḥ krīṇīmaḥ
krī | to buy (ubhayapadī) | ātmanepade |
krīṇīte krīṇāte krīṇate
krīṇīṣe krīṇāthe krīṇīdhve
krīṇe krīṇīvahe krīṇīmahe
abhaviṣyat (lṛṅ)
abhaviṣyat abhaviṣyatām abhaviṣyan
abhaviṣyaḥ abhaviṣyatam abhaviṣyata
abhaviṣyaṁ abhaviṣyāva abhaviṣyāma
This mood (the conditional) is used in ‘if… then…’ type of sentences, when one wishes to express that
the condition was not fulfilled:
yadi rāmaḥ āgamiṣyat, aham tasmai dakṣiṇam adāsyam | Had Rāma come, I would have given him the
priestly fare.
yadi śatruḥ bāṇapatham ayāsyat tarhi saḥ amariṣyat | Had the enemy gone within the range of arrows,
he would have died.
yadi is used to express ‘if’, while tarhi means ‘then’: either can be omitted, as it will be understood as
implied. The implication in the two sentences is that the condition was not fulfilled (i.e., R ma did not
come, the enemy did not go within the range of arrows). If we want to express a condition which may
or may not be fulfilled, we need to employ the potential mood (like bhavet).
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akaḥ savarṇe dīrghaḥ
When ak (a i u ṛ ) is followed by an homogeneous letter (savarṇa), the long form (dīrgha) is the single
substitute for both:
daitya + ariḥ = daityāriḥ | śrī + īśaḥ = śrīśaḥ | viṣṇu + udayaḥ = viṣṇūdayaḥ | hotṛ + ṛkāraḥ = hotṝkāraḥ
āśis
sakārāntaḥ | ending in the letter ‘s’
strīliṅgaḥ | feminine gender
āśis-śabdaḥ | the word ‘āśis’ (Blessing)
āśīḥ āśiṣau āśiṣaḥ
he āśīḥ he āśiśau he āśiṣaḥ
āśiṣam āśiṣau āśiṣaḥ
āśiṣā āśīrbhyāṁ āśīrbhiḥ
āśiṣe āśīrbhyāṁ āśīrbhyaḥ
āśiṣaḥ āśīrbhyāṁ āśīrbhyaḥ
āśiṣaḥ āśiṣoḥ āśiṣām
āśiṣi āśiṣoḥ āśṣu
Exercises
i. memorize all the verbs and nouns of the lesson
ii. memorize akaḥ savarṇe dīrghaḥ
iii. memorize and write in devanāgarī: vṛkṣas tiṣṭhati kānane kusumitā latā vṛkṣaṁ saṁśritā |
vṛkṣeṇābhihato gajo nipatito vṛkṣāya deyaṁ jalam || vṛkṣād ānaya mañjarīm abhinavāṁ
vṛkṣasya śākhonnatā | vṛkṣe nīḍam idaṁ kṛtaṁ śakuninā he vṛkṣa kiṁ kampase ||
iv. solve: mahā + ādarāt | samvṛti + īritam | madhu + utpāda | dhyātṛ + ṛdhhiḥ |
v. translate: śakreṇa ca devānām indreṇa, brahmaṇā ca sahāṁpatinā | etaiś cānyaiś ca
saṁbahulair devaputranayutaśatasahasraiḥ || 1 ||
Vocablary: śakra | name of Indra || sahāmpati | Lord of the Sahā universe || devaputra | sons of the
gods || nayuta | million || śata | hundred || sahasra | thousand ||
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Lesson 20
Verbs of the 10
th
gaṇa | īdūdeddvivacanaṁ pragṛhyam | sarva |
Verbs of the 10
th
gaṇa | curādiḥ |
cur | to steal (ubhayapadī ) | parasmaipade | (laṭ) cur | to steal (ubhayapadī) | ātmanepade |
corayati corayataḥ corayanti corayate corayete corayante
corayasi corayathaḥ corayatha corayase corayethe corayadhve
corayāmi corayāvaḥ corayāmaḥ coraye corayāvahe corayāmahe
īdūdeddvivacanaṁ pragṛhyam
This is an exception to the sandhi rules studied so far: ī (īt) ū (ūt) and e (et), when they are endings for
the dual number (dvivacanam) are to be retained without modification (pragṛhyam):
harī + etau = harī etau || viṣṇū + imau = viṣṇū imau || gaṅge + am = gaṅge am ||
sarva
‘sarva’ is a good example of pronominal declension, resembling tad, idam and so on.
akārāntaḥ | ending in the letter ‘a’
puṁliṅgaḥ | masculine gender
sarvaśabdaḥ | the word ‘sarva’ (All)
sarvaḥ sarvau sarve
he sarva he sarvau he sarve
sarvam sarvau sarvān
sarveṇa sarvābhyāṁ sarvaiḥ
sarvasmai sarvābhyāṁ sarvebhyaḥ
sarvasmāt sarvābhyāṁ sarvebhyaḥ
sarvasya sarvayoḥ sarveṣām
sarvasmin sarvayoḥ sarveṣu
ākārāntaḥ | ending in the letter ‘ā’
strīliṅgaḥ | feminine gender
sarvāśabdaḥ | the word ‘sarvā’ (All)
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sarvā sarve sarvāḥ
he sarve he sarve he sarvāḥ
sarvāṁ sarve sarvāḥ
sarvayā sarvābhyāṁ sarvābhiḥ
sarvasyai sarvābhyāṁ sarvābhyaḥ
sarvasyāḥ sarvābhyāṁ sarvābhyaḥ
sarvasyāḥ sarvayoḥ sarvāsām
sarvasyāṁ sarvayoḥ sarvāsu
akārāntaḥ | ending in the letter ‘a’
napuṁsakaliṅgaḥ | neuter gender
sarvaśabdaḥ | the word ‘sarva’ (All)
sarvaṁ sarve sarvāṇi
he sarva he sarve he sarvāṇi
sarvaṁ sarve sarvāṇi
sarveṇa sarvābhyāṁ sarvaiḥ
sarvasmai sarvābhyāṁ sarvebhyaḥ
sarvasmāt sarvābhyāṁ sarvebhyaḥ
sarvasya sarvayoḥ sarveṣām
sarvasmin sarvayoḥ sarveṣu
Exercises
i. memorize all the verbs and nouns of the lesson
ii. memorize īdūdeddvivacanaṁ pragṛhyam
iii. solve: gurū + utpādyete | phale + icchā | harī apaśyat |
iv. translate: tatra khalu bhagavān āyuṣmantaṁ śāriputram āmantrayati sma | asti śāriputra
paścime digbhāge ito buddhakṣetraṁ koṭiśatasahasraṁ buddhakṣetrāṇām atikramya
sukhāvatī nāma lokadhātuḥ | tatra amitāyur nāma tathāgato’rhan samyaksaṁbuddha etarhi
tiṣṭhati dhriyate yāpayati, dharmaṁ ca deśayati | tat kiṁ manyase śāriputra kena kāraṇena sā
lokadhātuḥ sukhāvatīty ucyate ? | tatra khalu punaḥ śāriputra sukhāvatyāṁ lokadhātau nāsti
sattvānāṁ kāyaduḥkhaṁ na cittaduḥkham | apramāṇāny eva sukhakāraṇāni | tena kāraṇena
sā lokadhātuḥ sukhāvatīty ucyate || 2 ||
Vocabulary:
khalu | indeed|| ā + mantr | to address|| paścima | western || dik-bhāga | direction-part (the part of the
direction) || itaḥ | from here || kṣetra | field || koṭi | ten millions || ati + kram | to go beyond || sukhāvatī
| lit. ‘Endowed with happiness’, name of Amitābha’s Buddha field || loka-dhātu | world sphere ||
etarhi | now || sthā (tiṣṭhati) | to stay || dhṛ (ātmanepadī, dhriyate) | to be or to exist, to live || yā
(causative, yāpayati) | to spend time || diś (causative, deśayati) | to teach || kāraṇa | reason || kāya |
body || a-pramāṇa | without measure
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Lesson 21
Description of vṛtti | kṛdanta | taddhita | sanādyanta | ekaśeṣa | samāsa
Description of vṛtti
Sanskrit can often express the meaning of two or more words through a single word. Just like ‘A son of
Vasudeva’ can be expressed through the single word ‘Vāsudeva’. This is called ‘vṛtti’, and subdivided
into five types:
i. kṛdantavṛttiḥ | ii. taddhitavṛttiḥ | iii. sanādyantadhātuvṛttiḥ | iv. ekaśeṣavṛttiḥ | v. samāsavṛttiḥ
kṛdanta
kṛdanta means ‘ending in kṛt suffixes’. kṛt suffixes are added to a verbal root to form nouns, usually
indicating agency. Most Sanskrit nouns are formed through kṛdanta terminations:
bhajate iti bhaktaḥ | one who is devoted is called a ‘devotee’
bhaj | To be devoted to | dhātoḥ || 3 | 1 | 91 || This sūtra tells us that kṛt suffixes are attached to the roots
| kartari kṛt || 3 | 4 | 67 || This sūtra tells us that kṛt suffixes are used in reference to
the agent
bhaj + kta | | ktaktavatū niṣṭhā || 1 | 1 | 26 || This sūtra tells us that kta and ktavatu are called
‘niṣṭhā’
| niṣṭhā || 3 | 2 | 102 || This stra tells us that niṣṭhā is used in reference to the past:
thus, our form must be a past participle. Moreover, it must be either in reference
to bhāva or karman if it is kta (an exception to the general rule that kṛt suffixes
refer to the agent)
Thus we know that bhakta must be a past participle, referring either to the object or to bhāva.
mriyate iti martyaḥ | one who dies is called a ‘mortal’
jñāyate anena iti jñānam | that, through which one knows, is called ‘knowledge’
ucyate iti vāk | it is spoken, thus it is called ‘speech’
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taddhita
taddhita are secondary affixes: just like kṛt endings are added to verbal roots, taddhita endings are
added to nouns:
manoḥ apatyāni pumānsaḥ | mānuṣāḥ || Men, who are descendent of Manu, are called ‘Mānuṣāḥ’
daśarathasya apatyaṁ pumān | Dāśarathiḥ || A man, who is a descendent of Daśaratha, is called
‘Dāśarathiḥ’
sanādyantadhātu
Verbs can modify their meaning by adding a series of affixes between the verbal root and the verbal
endings: these are called ‘san-ādi-anta’ (endings, beginning with san):
1. sannantāḥ (desideratives):
bhavitum icchati | bubhūṣati || (Someone) wants to exist
gantum icchati | jigamiṣati || (Someone) wants to go
bhū + san + śap + tip
root the letter ‘s’ the letter ‘a’ the ending ‘ti’
The root bhū becomes reduplicated in front of the affix ‘san’.
2. ṇijantāḥ (causatives)
bhāvayati || (Someone) causes to exist
gamayati || (Someone) causes to go
bhū + ṇic + śap + tip
Bhū takes vṛddhi.
3. yaṅantāḥ (Frequentatives)
atiśayena bhavati | bobhūyate || (Someone) exists excessively, exists frequently
atiśayena dīpyate | dedīpyate || (Someone) illuminates excessively, illuminates frequently
bhū + yaṅ + ātmanepada terminations
Bhū is reduplicated, and the first bhū takes guṇa grade (bho), unaspirated (bo).
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4. yaṅlugantāḥ (Frequentatives)
atiśayena spardhate | pāspardhate || (Someone) competes excessively, frequently
atiśayena karoti | carkarīti || (Someone) does excessively, frequently
spardh + śap + tip
spardh is reduplicated, the yaṅ goes away.
5. nāmadhātavaḥ (Denominatives)
kāmyac
putram ātmanaḥ icchati | putrakāmyati || (Someone) wants a son for oneself
yaśaḥ ātmanaḥ icchati | yaśaskāmyati || (Someone) wants fame for oneself
kyac
putram ātmanaḥ icchati | putrīyati || (Someone) wants a son for oneself
yaśaḥ ātmanaḥ icchati | yaśasyati || (Someone) wants fame for oneself
Alternatively:
putram iva ācarati | putrīyati || (Someone) behaves like a son
pitaram iva ācarati | pitrīyati || (Someone) behaves like a father
prāsāde iva ācarati | prāsādīyati || (Someone) behaves as if in a palace
ācārakvip
haṁsaḥ iva ācarati | haṁsati || (Someone) behaves like a wild goose
kṛṣṇaḥ iva ācarati | kṛṣṇati || (Someone) behaves like Kṛṣṇa
kyaṅ
haṁsaḥ iva ācarati | haṁsāyate || (Someone) behaves like a wild goose
kṛṣṇaḥ iva ācarati | kṛṣṇāyate || (Someone) behaves like Kṛṣṇa
siṁhaḥ iva ācarati | siṁhāyate || (Someone) behaves like a lion
kyap
lohitaḥ bhavati | lohitāyati, lohitāyate || (Someone) has the color of copper (red)
mandaḥ bhavati | mandāyati, mandāyate || (Someone) is slow
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yak
kaṇḍūyati || (Someone) scratches
asūyati || (Someone) has envy
ekaśeṣa
In this vṛtti, one word remains out of a pair: this is usually the case for words in the dual, when they
express a feminine + a masculine term:
mātā ca pitā ca | pitarau || sā ca sa ca | tau || śivā ca śivaś ca | śivau ||
samāsa
Compounds are formed by the coming together of two nouns: the first noun loses its vibhakti endings.
For more on compounds, see the previous lessons.
Exercises: Translate a text (ask the teacher).
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Glossary of important grammatical terms in Sanskrit
ac || vowels
ajanta || ending (anta) in a vowel (ac)
avyaya || indeclinable
avyayībhava || a type of compound that turns into an avyaya
ātmanepada || lit. ‘word for oneself’. One of the two voices verbs can have.
ārdhadhātuka || terminations that do not affect the system of the present and the classification of verbs
into gaṇas
uttamapuruṣa || lit. ‘best person’. The first person
ekavacana || lit. ‘speech for one’. The singular
kartṛ || agent, doer
karman || the object of the action
karmadhāraya || subtype of tatpuruṣa compound, where both members are in the same vibhakti and one
qualifies the other
kāraka || a term indicating a relation with the verb or with the action signified by the verb in the main
sentence
kta || a particle used to form past participles, like gataḥ or śrutam
ktavatu || a particle used to form past active participles, like gatavat
ktvā || a particle used to form absolutives, like kṛtvā or gatvā
gaṇa || a group of verbs conjugated in the same manner (only in reference to the system of the present,
the sārdhadhātuka endings)
tatpuruṣa || a type of compound where the second member is the main referent and where the first
member is in some vibhakti relation to the second
taddhita || additional endings added to nouns to express special meanings: for example, ‘the son of
Daśaratha’ becomes ‘Dāśarathi’
tiṅ || a verbal suffix, an ending which is attached to verbs
dvandva || a type of compound where both members are equally important, thus resembling a list
dvigu || a type of karmadhāraya compound, where the first member is a number
dvivacana || the dual number
dhātu || literally an ‘ore’, a verbal root
napuṁsakaliṅga || neuter gender
padam || a word
parasmaipada || ‘word for another’, one of the two voices which verbs can take in Sanskrit
puṁliṅga || masculine gender
prathamapuruṣa || ‘first person’, equal to the English 3
rd
person (he\she\it)
bahuvacana || plural
bahuvrīhi || a type of compound, which refers to a term outside of itself (exocentric)
madhyamapuruṣa || ‘middle person’, equal to the English 2
nd
person (you)
lakāra || verbal endings, attached to the modified root the can express person, number, tense and mood
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lyap || a particle used to form the absolutive, when the verbal root is preceded by a prefix, like
ā+gam+lyap | āgamya
vibhakti || nominal declension
samāsa || compound
sarvanāma || a pronoun (lit. ‘name for all’)
sārvadhātuka || those tenses and moods that are part of the ‘system of the present’, i.e. fall within the 10
gaṇa classification
sup || a nominal suffix, an ending which is attached to nouns
strliṅga || feminine gender
hal || a consonant
halantam || ending (hal) in a consonant
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गुणव ोषरिहतं या वा पु तकं मम । यता ंपठनाथाय न सव खिलतं मया ॥
य द पु यं मयाव ं देवभाषापरी या । श दातीतमहाबु ंप य तु ये ऽ दुःिखताः ॥
guṇavad doṣarahitaṁ
syād na vā pustakaṁ mama |
kṣamyatām paṭhanārthāya
na sarvaṁ skhalitaṁ mayā ||
yadi puṇyaṁ mayāvaptaṁ
devabhāṣāparīkṣayā |
śabdātītamahābuddhaṁ
paśyantu ye’tra duḥkhitāḥ ||
म गलम ्॥
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