S;Sk t &;-;; pircy

An Introduction to Sanskrit : Unit V

M. R. DWARAKANATH

(This unit will review the material covered previously and build on them.)
1 X l o k (Sloka)

m u ; t E v m u ; i d v (A harsh consonant is
followed by a vowel. The harsh consonant is
replaced by
the corresponding soft
consonant)

a g u m;] pu WoNtr;Tm; sd; jn;n; dye si;iv .

t Sv;CzrIr;t p[ v Ohe N mu;idve W Ik; /w y e R , .
t iv;CzummOt t iv;CzummOtimit

Ev EWIk; EveWIk; ( The vowel E is preceded

by a . The two vowels coalesce with the
strengthening of the vowel, E by the process
of Guna.)

pdCze d (Word decomposition)

a g um;] puW aNtr;Tm; sd; jn;n; dye si;iv
t Sv;t xrIr;t p[ v O h e t mu ;t Ev EWIk; /w y e R , t iv;t
xu amO t t iv;t xu amO t Eit

(33 x B d k o x (Vocabulary)

aqR (Meaning)

3 a s u b N t ; (Nouns, Adjectives, etc.)

The inner self (aNtr;Tm;), the Purusha (pu W),

the size of a thumb (a g u m;]) is ever (sd;)
ensconced (si;iv) in peoples (jn;n; ) heart
(dye ) . One should elicit (p[ v O h e t ) that (t ) with
courage (/w y e R , ) from ones (Sv;t ) body (xrIr;t ) ,
like the stalk (EWIk;) from a type of grass
(mu ;t ) . From learning (iv;t ) , that inner self
(t ) is to be understood as (Eit) pure (xu ) and
eternal (amOt ). The last phrase is repeated for
emphasis.
siN/ p[kr,m (Explanation of Sandhi)
pu W aNtr a;Tm; pu WoNtr;Tm; (Visarga sandhi
where visarga is preceded and followed by
a . The visarga changes to combines with
the preceding a to become ao. The second
a is suppressed and replaced by the
avagraha.) s m i ni v s i ;i v (AnusvAra
sandhi where m is replaced by n to correspond
to the following dental sound.)

Lap

kp;l

Skull

icbuk

Chin

g[Iv;

Neck

j~;n

Hip

avyv

Limb

aih

Snake

nkul

Mongoose

g<@k

Rhino

Camel

kpot

Dove

lUk

Owl

vm[

Ant

kI$

Worm

anl

Fire

ainl

Wind

vIR

Earth

rods

Heaven

i&Wj

Doctor

iTvj

Priest

ays

Iron

ais

Sword

]pu

Tin

sIs

Lead

yv

Barley

ip[ygu

Millet

it

Bitter

itGm

Hot

3 E i t N t ; (Verbs) : The roots and

(stems) of more Sanskrit verbs:
nNd nNd

rejoice

mud mod

rejoice

Sv;t xrIr;t Sv;CzrIr;t ( The x following a

consonant is replaced by z . Now we have a
dental t followed by a palatal z . The dental
is replaced by the corresponding palatal c .

vs vs

dwell

vO W vWR

rain

p[ v O h e t mu ;t p[ v O h e N mu ;t (AnunAsika sandhi the dental consonant t followed by m is

replaced by n the dental nasal.)

Nd

30

N d cry

Jvl

J v l burn

jOM& jOM& yawn

vd vd

speak

k m k M y

tire

j jIyR

age

k ikr

scatter

zd z;dy

cover

cud cody

inspire

? y grow

vc vc

speak

iW iW

hate

ivd ivd

know

/; d/;

place

&I ibi&

fear

a;p a;p u

obtain

xk xKnu

be able a x

no ambiguity about the modifier and the

modified. Let us see how this works with the
following examples:
1 m;t;Tmj kipkur vIr me/;vI hnum;n mht
i]kU$Sy lMbe t$e iSqt; r;v,p;ilt; rMy; purI l;
apXyt.

a X n u eat

3 a V y y p d ; i n (Indeclinables)
%lu

Indeed

ikl

Indeed?

nnu

Surely?

nUn

Surely

idv;

By day

By night

p[;k

Eastern

p[Tyk

Western

y;vt

So long as

t;vt

Until

p[;du

Manifest

sU+m

Subtle

mx

Gradually

shs;

Suddenly

The above sentence appears forbidding for

introductory Sanskrit, but it is not; as we shall
see. The verb apXyt means saw. Who saw(?) Hanuman. What did he see(?) - Lanka. The
sentence boils down to hnum;n l; apXyt .
Hanuman saw Lanka. The rest of the words
are adjectives that describe Hanuman and
Lanka.
Hanuman is the agent of seeing (ktOR ) and as
such is in the nominative. All the other words
in nominative are adjectives for Hanuman.
m;t;Tmj kipku r vIr me / ;vI describe him as
the son of the wind god, the noblest among
monkeys (literally elephant among monkeys,)
the valorous and the intelligent. The
adjectives are all in masculine, nominative,
singular, in agreement with Hanuman.

6 s u b N t p [ k r , m Declension
In Unit-IV, we saw how cases are used to
relate precisely the various nouns to the verb
(action.) We also noted how the Genitive is
different in this respect; it does not relate to
the verb, but rather to another noun and
expresses possession.
The vocative case or s b o/n p[ q m; iv&i is used
for address where the nominal is asked
(requested etc.) to carry out the action. This
is subtly different from the nominal being the
agent of the action; the nominal may or may
not carry out the action! The following
example should clarify the usage of the
vocative:
=mSv

puWoTtm

puWoTtm

=mit

he

puWoTtm

=mSv

Lanka is the object (kmRn) of Hanumans seeing

and is in the accusative. The other words in
accusative are: i S q t ; r ; v , p ; i l t ; r M y ; p u r I It
describes Lanka as a beautiful city protected
by Ravana and situated (on the tall peak of
the great Trikuta mountain.) The words for
situated, protected by Ravana, beautiful and
city are all in feminine, accusative, singular
because Lanka has the same attributes. The
word situated is a participle which is used as
a noun but has the force of a verb. We learn
about participles in a future unit.

The 2nd sentence is a statement that the Lord

forgives. In the 1st , the Lord is (addressed)
entreated to forgive. When the vocative used
the he is often suppressed; however, puWoTtm is
vocative singular but pu WoTtm is nominative
singular.

The location of Lanka is given by lMbe t$e .

The tall peak of the great Trikuta mountai
(mht i]kU $ Sy) the words for tall and peak are
in locative or sPtmI iv&i . The peak belongs
to the great Trikuta range. The words for
great and Trikuta are placed in the genitive
or W I i v & i .

In unit-4, we noted that an adjective

modifying a noun should agree with that noun
in gender number and case so there would
31

2
r;m;qRisye
sIt;NveW,;y
s
/wyeR, t; purI r;]* ap[;ivxt .

Sven

final vowel, the suffix (actually infix for the

7 th gana,) exceptions and the number of
verbal roots in each gana.

pe,

In this sentence the verb is - entered. The

purpose of entry is given by the two words in
dative - to accomplish Ramas task (r;m;qRisye )
and to search for Sita (sIt;NveW,;y . The means
of entry are given by the three words in
instrumental - by his own (Sven) form (pe,) and
with courage(/wyeR,). The time of entry is placed
in the locative (r;]*). The underlying sentence
is again He (Hanuman) entered the city - s
pu r I ap[ ; ivxt .
g ,

m?ySvSvr

aNTySvr

ivkr,

The shaded region, comprising 4 ganas, have

their stems ending in a . The other 6 ganas
have their stems ending in any sound other
than a . It can even be a; . In a dictionary,
the roots are listed and typically followed by
a number (1 to 10) and an alphabet (P, A or
U.) The number indicates the gana and the
alphabet shows the pada. Many roots belong
to more than one gana with differing
s:y;

>v;id

gu,

gu,

1079

idv;id

140

tud;id

157

1 0

cur;id

gu,

vOi

a y

ad;id

luk

juhoTy;id

luk

Sv;id

nu

/;id

tn;id

1 0

;id

n;

6 1

7 i t N t p k r , m Verbs - Conjugation

Sometimes medial
a takes vOi

410
7 2

a>y;s

2 4
3 4

ivkr,

/;to

m?ye

a;y;it

2 5

meanings. Some examples of deriving stems

from roots:

So far, we have studied two tenses (present

and simple past) and two moods (imperative
and potential.) These four conjugations
(lk;r;) belong to a class of tenses and moods
called s;vR / ;tu k ; . The s;vR / ;tu k ; tenses and
moods require that the verbal roots be
changed to verbal stems before the
characteristic terminations are affixed. The
rules for forming the stem from the root
depends on the verbal category, called g,;.
There are 10 ganas. The g,; and the rules
for forming the stems from the roots are
summarized in the table below. The table
lists the gana number and name, the rules
for handling the medial short vowel and the

The root &U belonging to the 1st gana, changes

to &o through guna or augmentation of vowel
strength. To this is added the suffix a
resulting in &v . Similarly idv of the 4th gana
becomes idVy by simply adding the suffix.
tud of the 6th gana becomes tud . cur of the 10th
gana becomes cory . Like wise /O1 becomes
/r
.
yu/4

yu?y
.
il%6

il% . ~;u W 10 ~;oWy . The second gana

appears the simplest as the terminations are
directly attached to the root. However, this
gana includes many irregular constructs and a
number of very important verbs belong to this
gana. We will take up the other ganas later!
32

Exercises :

12
13

You will find a x B d k o x

handy for the
following exercise. It is a catalog of
declensions and typically arranged by the
gender and the final sound of the p[;itpidk .

Clues Down:
2
Constellation
3
Ankle ornament
4
Present participle of speak
6
One with elephant face
7
Brahma - Born of lotus
8
Snatching, taking away
9
Long eared - elephant

1. Bring the adjective in agreement with the

noun. The adjective is given as a primitive
(p[;itpidk) and the noun is in a specific case
and number. (The primitive of the noun
and gender are provided for reference.)
Primitive
Adjective

Noun

Primitive
Noun, gen.

vO
mht

aged
great

r;_
Snehen

r;jn pu
Sne h pu

rSy

juicy

a;m[e

a;m[ npu

p;<@ur

white

&vneWu

&vn npu

suri&

fragrant

pu-pw

pu - p npu

tI+,

sharp

xre,

xr pu

tu

tall

I>y

bOht

big

cMvo

cmU I

two

m;s*

m;s pu

i]

three

ndI

ndI

~;n

thick

m/unI

m/u npu

Gold
Took away - past tense ( il$ )

10
11

12

I
13

2. F o r m t h e s t e m s f r o m t h e f o l l o w i n g
roots(gana):

Solutions to Exercises from Unit 4

1. p [ ; , . W ; v i t . j g C z ; s k . t i S m ; u d k m .
icNmy. rit . tCz;y; . p[ ; m u % . aiSm L loke .
jgLlIl;. a;k;x;@ @ yte . v;GZrI . iv . v;G/ot;.
td[ U p . arIyit . bl;St;@yit .

bu/1 @I1 Kp1 /O1 ?yw

1 =Iv 1 ku p 4 tO p 4 i=p
6 il% 6 m;gR 10 pUj 10 .

2. sTy;t n
Av . yiSmn
tt ;u T v; .
bhU n ixiLpn
gIt;

Sanskrit Crossword #5
(One syllable per box)
Clues Across:
1
Creeper
4
Speech
5
Minister - Kings man
6
Arithmetician
8
Fire
10
Bee
11
Mongoose

p[ m idtVym . a;k;x;t v;yu . a;t ih

Ed . t hrit . t Z;y; . v;k my.
tt ju h oit . aSm;t lok;t . W$ iv x it.
. sn l+mIhInm . ipt n tpR y . &gvt

3. Solution to Crossword #4 :
1 i=p[ . 4 a . 5 ve $e r. 6 knk . 8 cNdn.
10 r=tu . 11 ili%t . 12 rhSy
. 13 lv
2 p[ v e x n . 3 n$e x
7 krtl . 8 ctu r
33

. 4 arivNd . 6 kp;iln .
. 9 nmSyit

prSmwpd

l$

34

lo$

il

a;Tmnepd

it

aiNt

p[qm

puW

te

Ete a;te

is

m?ym

puW

se

Eqe a;qe

?ve

im

Ttm

puW

E A

vhe

mhe

t;m

an

p[qm

puW

Et;m

a;t;m

tm

m?ym

puW

q;

Eq;m

a;q;m

am

Ttm

puW

tu t;t

t;m

aNtu

p[qm

puW

t;m

Et;m

a;t;m

tm

m?ym

puW

S v

Eq;m

a;q;m

a;in

a;v

a;m

Ttm

puW

Ae

a;vhw

a;mhw

ERt y;t

ERt;m y;t;m

ERyu yu

p[qm

puW

ERt

ERy;t;m

ERrn

ER y;

ERtm y;tm

ERt y;t

m?ym

puW

ERq;

ERy;q;m

ER?vm

ERym y;m

ERv y;v

ERm y;m

Ttm

puW

ERy

ERvih

ERmih

A k

bhu

A k

bhu

t;t

ih

aNte

aNt

ate

at

?vm

vih

mih
aNt;m

at;m

?vm

The l terminations include a prefix as well as the suffixes shown. The prefix is always a in both padas. When multiple terminations are indicated, the 1st termination applies to a ending stems of the 1st, 4th, 6th and 10th g,;. The
second termination applies to the non a ending stems of the other 6 g,; . The shaded boxes indicate strong terminations requiring the strengthening of the vowel(s) through gu, for the non a ending stems.