Sanskrit Maxims

Namaste to all, I feeling very glad that after a long gap we are meeting again to
appreciate Sanskrit on #SanskritAppreciationHour. Today we will explore some
Sanskrit Maxims which are known as - in Sanskrit and which can be
applied in our day to day life. In Hindi we call them s.
Before we begin, I would like to dedicate this session to our beloved Acharya
@iksusara (Acharya Ramanuja Devanathan) who has guided us a lot.
Before starting as usual let us pray Lord Vakratunda

https://shurpakarna.wordpress.com/2017/03/05/lord-ganesha-on-sah-2/
What is a maxim? In English we give the definition as - a short, pithy statement
expressing a general truth or rule of conduct.

Nyaya in Sanskrit is a popular maxim (proverbial saying) that illustrates a general truth,
fundamental principle or rule of conduct.

Looks interesting no? So shall we start with our first laukika-nyya?

As I am Vaiyakarana (Grammarian), initially I would like to take some nyyas from

Vyakarana Texts.

So here is one of my favourite Maxim

To make this easy for our beginners, here is the translation first. Let the curd be given to
Brahmins [and] buttermilk to Kaun d inya Now what can this mean? Let us see the
translation and then a little story to tell you the background.

The nyya is Meaning of nyya in Sanskrit is

Let us see word by word translation first

() /dative plural To/for Brahmins.

() / neuter, accusative, singular Curd

, -, -/3rd, singular, passive imperative let it be

given

() / neuter, accusative, singular Butter-milk

 () /dative singular To Kaun d inya

The story goes thus Once there was a gathering in kings court. He invited 10 Brhmins for
lunch. Kaun d inyawas one of them. All sat for lunch and had a grand meals. At the end King
asked server to serve curd to all the Brhmin saying Server started
serving the curd. When server reached Kaun d inya and was about to serve curd to him, King
realized that Kaun d nya doesnt eat curd and he stopped him (server) and said .
Which means give butter-milk to Kaun d inya.

Can anybody guess where or in which context we can use this maxim?

Ok let me tell you one context. We can use this nyya wherever we need general and
exception case. As in maxim we saw that curd was generally served to all but butter-milk
became its exception.

In Vyakarana we have some general rules which can be applied universally and those rules
are set aside by exceptional rules.

In computer language we have such programming system where we use if---else looping
system. But in this context if part (exception part) is placed first and then general part.

I will be really glad if you can give me such examples from your field or if you can take this
maxim as a solution to some problem and share with all of us.

Hope everybody got it clear. Shall we move on to next?

Ok. Here is the next nyya

Meaning in English Even though the tail of Dog is cut, it is dog itself, it is neither a horse
nor a donkey.

, , , , , , , , , , ,
, , , , ,

Let us understand the form of nyya first here is a word by word description which will
help you in understanding the nyya better:

defect in a portion

() not as other/different

(), -, , is
It means - that is -

Defect in portion or lose of a portion of a thing doesnt make the thing different.

Example -

() Having cut

() Tail

() Dog

() Dog

(Indeclinable word) only

- (Indeclinable word) neither

() horse

- (Indeclinable word) nor

() Donkey.

In Sanskrit the word which we use must be always a . What is ? For knowing this term
you need to know the Pninian rule it means (Word
ending with one of the suffix from suffix-set and is known as
Suffix-set and - picture will be added.
You all have heard verbs in Sanskrit like , , etc. here you can feel at the end
of word so you can say that this is a (Verbal form ending with )
You also have heard the verbal words , etc. But these doesnt end with , So how
can we call them ? Because here in the letter got substituted by the letter
here is where the maxim is used. Though in the letter got substituted with still it
is nothing else.

I know Vyakarana example looks bit difficult. But you need not think much about this
example because the maxim itself is very easy to understand.