The Gerundive: अनीयर् तव्यत् (& य)

The gerundive in Sanskrit grammar is also called the prescriptive passive participle, and indicates something that should be done, or is worth doing. It has the force of the विधि लिङ् (optative mode) and is formed by adding the suffixes य, तव्य and अनीय​ to the root of the verbal action. 

Examples:

ज्ञा >>ज्ञेय to be known
पा >>पेय to be drunk
भू >>भव्य​ to be

भू >>भवितव्य to be, to happen
कृ >>कर्तव्य to be done
पठ् >>पठितव्य​ to be read/studied

कृ >>करणीय worth doing, to be done
पठ् >>पठनीय to be read 
पूज्  >>पूजनीय​ worthy of being worshiped

The meaning remains pretty much the same, though one root can have many gerundives:
कृ >>कृत्य, कार्य, कर्तव्य, करणीय

In terms of usage in a sentence, like the कर्मणि and भावे  prayoga, the कर्तृ or the 'doer' of the action​ is expressed in तृतीया or the instrumental case (though often it is found in षष्ठी or the genitive case e.g. सः मे मान्यः =he is respected by me.) However the participle/gerundive itself will be formed in two ways - depending on whether the verbal root is सकर्मक (transitive) अकर्मक (intransitive). Let is see how*.

सकर्मक (transitive)

Notice that the gerundive agrees with the कर्मन् (object) in gender, number and case. And that like the कर्मणि (passive) prayoga, the object is in the nominative, or प्रथमा vibhakti.

न केनपि ब्राह्मण: हन्तव्यः
A brahmin should not be killed by anyone
नारी अपि न कदापि हन्तव्या
A woman too is never to be killed

रामेण राज्यम् करणीयम्
RAma should rule the kingdom (राज्यम् nominative, neuter प्रथमा नपुंसक​)
मया पाठ: पठनीय​:
I should study this lesson

मया ग्रन्थः पठितव्य:
I should study this text (lit. this text is worthy of being studied by me)


अकर्मक (intransitive)

The gerundive of the intransitive is equivalent to भावे prayoga. So the कर्तृ doer is in तृतीया or the instrumental case or in षष्ठी or the genitive case. However since there is no कर्मन् (object) with which it has to agree (see above), it is nominative, singular, neuter प्रथमा एक नपुंसकलिन्ङ्ग.

अत्र मया स्थातव्यम्

Lit. It is to be stayed here by me = I ought to stay here. 
______________________________________________________
Note:
भू is used idiomatically sometimes in the sense of probability or likelihood. In which case, the subject and predicate will be in the same case:

तेन राज्ञा भवितव्यम्
(he must be/become king)
_______________________________________________________
*The formation is different for आत्मने पद​ verbs, but we'll deal with them in a separate write-up.
​

Sanskrit Grammar: The Periphrastic Perfect

Roots of a certain kind do not form the ordinary reduplicated perfect.  These roots have an initial vowel that is गुरु either by nature (itself long or संयुक्त) or by position (preceding a conjunct consonant). The perfect for these is formed with a fixed nominal and a variable verbal form. It's actually quite simple. The nominal element is formed by suffixing - आम् directly to the root. This is then followed by the appropriate लिट् of √अस् √कृ and sometimes √भू in parasmaipada. In Ātmanepada, only √कृ is used.

Let's see some examples of the  Ātmanepada first:

आस् + आम्+चक्रे 

आसां चक्रे he/she sat   

एध् +आम् + चक्रे

एधां चक्रे he/she grew

In parasmaipada you would get:

आस् +आम् +आस 

आसामास 

or

आस् +आम् +चकार 

आसांचकार 

or

आस् +आम् + बभूव 

आसांबभूव 

The periphrastic perfect used with verbs from the 10th गण (चुरादि). Except here the  आम् is added to the present stem rather than to the root. Let's see some examples:

चुर् --->चोरय + आम् + आस = चोरयामास he stole

चिन्त्  ---> चिन्तय + आम् + आस = चिन्तयामास  he thought, he considered

  

Sanskrit Grammar: The Perfect Tense (परोक्षभूते लिट्) PART 1

Sanskrit has various ways of expressing the past tense.

रामो वनं गच्छति स्म (लट्)

रामो वनमगच्छत्  (लङ्)

रामो वनं गतः (भूते कृदन्त)

रामो वनं गतवान्  (क्तवतु)

रामो वनं जगाम  (लिट्)

In this post we examine only the most commonly occuring forms of  लिट् लकार. Named 'perfect tense' by Western philologists, you would be familiar with it stereotyped usage in epic/purāṇic texts e.g. Rāma uvāca (said), and the end of some purāṇic texts which say iti hāsa (iti+ha+āsa) 'thus it was'. uvāca is from वच् (to speak) while āsa is from अस् (to be)

Like लङ्, लिट् functions as a simple narrative past, and is very frequently used in the Classical Sanskrit. Traditional Indian grammarians distinguish between लङ् (imperfect past) and लिट् (perfect past) saying that लिट् refers to past time not directly perceived (परोक्षभूत काल) , while  लङ् refers to past time (not today) that has been seen by the speaker (अनद्यतनभूत काल). But in practice this distinction is not maintained. For instance, Sanjaya, witnesses the Mahābhārata, and relates the ongoings to the king, but the perfect form is frequently used.

Typical characteristics of लिट् 

1. अभ्यास, or repetition, commonly referred to in English as reduplication (examples: बभूव,चकार पपाठ, पप्रच्छ)

2. Special personal endings (i.e. not same as the conjugation you are used to e.g. गच्छति, लभे) 

3.Strong weak alternation in the लिट् stem

4. Use of the periphrastic for those roots which do not reduplicate  (e.g. चोरयामास, चिन्तयामास)    

In part 1, we will only look at the process of reduplication and only the most common forms, as this will make लिट् recognisable right away. Reduplication is pretty much the same as the verb class 3  (जुहोत्यादि गण) with minor differences and some additional rules. You will recall:

√हु -->जुहु 

√दा -->ददा 

√भृ -->बिभृ 

Naturally the लिट् (perfect) system covers all verbs, not just the 3rd गण. Let us look as some notable examples:

√जि-->जिगाय (he won)

√हन् -->जघान (he killed)

√कृ -->चकार (he did, made)

√भृ -->बभार (he bore)

Certain common roots beginning with व followed by a single consonant e.g. वच् वद् वप् वश् वस् वह्  (and यज्) are subject to distinctive weakening called सम्प्रसारण

√वच् -->उवाच (he/she said)

√वस् -->उवास (he/she lived)

while √यज् -->इयाज (he/she sacrificed)

Roots beginning with अ (and the आ of √आप्) reduplicate and coalesce to become आ  

√अस् --> आस (he/she was) 

√अह् -->आह  (he/she said)

√आप् -->आप   (he/she obtained)

इ and उ (to be addressed after discussing strong/weak alternation in the लिट् stem)

If the root is consonant-vowel-consonant (त्+अ+प् =तप्) and the medial vowel is अ 

√पत् --> पपात (he fell)

√शक् -->शशाक (he was able)

√गम्  -->जगाम (he went)

Roots ending in a long आ  

√या -->ययौ (he went)

√दा -->ददौ (he gave)

√पा -->पपौ (he drank)

√धा -->दधौ  (he placed)

So far we have only looked at the third person singular forms (he/she). 

Examples of the full table in परस्मैपद and आत्मनेपद:

Material for this blog post has been taken from: 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Devavanipravesika-An-Introduction-Sanskrit-Language/dp/0944613004

http://www.amazon.com/Samskrta-Subodhini-Sanskrit-Primer-Michigan-Southeast/dp/089148079X

http://www.sanskritexams.org.uk/file/documents/rupanis/Separate%20IGCSE%20Kriya%20and%20summary/IGCSEKriyaRupani1.pdf

Building words from verbal roots: Primary Suffixes (कृत् प्रत्यय) 2

क्विप्, अ, आ, अन, अ:, ति, मन्, त्र,  तृ, अक  

सेव् (1A) to serve => सेवा (f) service 

कृत्  प्रत्यय  'आ'  

A number of roots for feminine action nouns with the suffix आ। For instance:

सेव् (1A) to serve => सेवा (f) service 

भाष् (1A) to speak => भाषा (f) speech, language

क्रीद् (1U)  to play => क्रीडा game, sport  

चिन्त्(10P) to think  => चिन्ता (f) thought, anxiety

वि+भूष् (1P) adorn  =>विभूषणम् ornament, adorning

कृत्  प्रत्यय  'अन' 

The suffix अन is one of the most important and productive suffixes. Like अ it forms action nouns freely from many roots, but unlike अ which forms mostly masculine nouns, this suffix forms mostly neuter nouns, a good way to recognise which is - the nominative singular will end in म् rather than a visarga. The root vowel often [but not always] takes गुण before it. 

गम् (1P) to go => गमनम् going 

हन् (2P) to kill => हनहम् killing 

दा (3P) to give => दानम्  giving, gift

भुज् (7P) to eat/enjoy => भोजनम् enjoyment, food

वद् (1P) to speak => वदनम् mouth, face 

वि+भूष् (1P) adorn  =>विभूषणम् ornament, adorning

स्था (1P) to stand  => स्थानम् place 

श्रु (5P) to hear  => श्रवणम् hearing

आस् (2A) to sit  => आसनम् seat, posture

वह् (1P) to carry  => वाहनम् carrying, mount, carriage

Building words from verbal roots: Primary Suffixes (कृत् प्रत्यय)

Pāṇini

One of the reasons for the extraordinary richness of the Sanskrit lexicon is the derivation of nouns and adjectives from verbal roots. By using prefixes (उपसर्ग-s) , and  derivational suffixes (प्रत्यय-s) it is possible to generate upto 2,500 words from a single root.* For those of you who have shown a keen interest in learning Sanskrit, I'm happy to share pure grammar lessons, which will help you recognise and analyse words  you encounter in the texts you are reading. All the material for these lessons come from textbooks cited at the bottom of this article.

Derivational suffixes (प्रत्यय-s) fall into two broad categories - primary (कृत्  प्रत्यय), when they are added directly to the root, and secondary (तद्धित प्रत्यय) if they are added to a form already derived by कृत् . Before we move further though, you must know or revise grades of vowel strength (गुण and वृद्धि) of which I am posting a table here for your convenience:

if this is blurred or not clear, please leave a comment. I'll re-post.

Let us now look at major primary (कृत्  प्रत्यय) suffixes.** What we are discussing here is the creation of "nouns", words which lose their verbal character, despite being 'raised' from a verbal root.

क्विप् or the zero suffix: A few mainly feminine nouns are created by this method, where the root itself is used as a noun. There may or may not be a prefix. What matters is the treatment of the verbal root.

E.g: 

√दृश् (4P)*** => दृश्  sight; fem noun 

√युध् (4A) => युध् fight, battle; fem noun 

उप+नि +√सद् (1P) => उपनिषद् to sit down near; fem noun  

सम्+√सद् => संसद् to sit down together, assembly

परि+√सद् => परिषद् to sit around; assembly 

आ+√पद् (1P)=> आपद् calamity, misfortune; fem noun  

The 'अ' कृत्  प्रत्यय:      

This is the most important suffix in Sanskrit. It is added to roots to form 'action' nouns, mostly masculine. Before this suffix, the root vowel (e.g. the उ in युज्) will take गुण  and become an ओ (see table above). A medial अ (e.g. in  त्यज्) could take वृद्धि (त्याग), as can some final vowels. Let's look at some examples to see what this means:

जि (1P) to conquer=> जयः conquest, victory; masc noun

So the इ of जि becomes an ए। When the ए is followed by the अ suffix, we get जय [if you remember, ए  is अ+ इ and by rules of vowel sandhi, the इ becomes a य् before the अ] Since it is a masculine noun, there is a visarga. Likewise:  

कुप् (4P) to be angry=> कोपः anger; masc noun

क्रुध् (4P) to be angry=> क्रोधः anger; masc noun

उद्+√इ (2P) to go up => उदयः ascension, the rising; masc noun

भिद् =>(7P) to split भेदः separation, a split, to make a distinction; masc noun

शुच् (1P) to grieve => शोकः grief; masc noun

युज् (7P) to join, to yoke => योगः union; masc noun 

लुभ् (4P) to be greedy => लोभः greed; masc noun

विद् (2P) to know => वेदः sacred knowledge; masc noun

भुज् (7P) to enjoy => भोगः enjoyment; masc noun

वृ (9A) to choose=> वरः boon; masc noun  

Sometimes we get a neuter noun like भयम् from √भी (3P). And from the root कृ we can get agent nouns by the same process. E.g. भास्करः maker of light, the sun.

Next post: the suffixes आ and अन. Please send requests if you have doubts or problems. Will help the best I can.     

Material for these grammar lessons is taken from the following books. Providing links in case you wish to buy them:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Devavanipravesika-An-Introduction-Sanskrit-Language/dp/0944613004

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Samskrta-Subodhini-Sanskrit-Primer-Michigan-Southeast/dp/089148079X

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Primer-Sanskrit-Language-A-F-Stenzler/dp/0728601931

*This refers to commonly used words. I don't even want to hazard a guess of what the real number is!

** [Participial, infinitive, gerundives and gerund suffixes like -त, -न, -तुम्, -तव्य, -य, -अनीय, -त्वा & -त्य will be discussed separately]. 

*** All roots will be marked by a number, which indicates which group it belongs to - there are 10 groups assigned by grammarians. And the P, A or U indicates whether a verb is parasmaipada, aatmanepada or ubhayapada.

Samskrit or Sanskrit? The Mighty anusvāra

Last week, we had a bit of a flutter on the English spelling of संस्कृत in our Twitter group. Some people spell it Sanskrit, others Samskrit or Samskrut. I think this is the perfect opportunity to revisit the अनुस्वार (anusvāra), which, as you know, is the dot above the line in a Devanagari word. It marks a nasal sound (anunāsika). For example in संस्कृत, कंकर, गंगा, चंचू  रंजन, दंत, पंपा I I'd like you to study this table* before we proceed:

The confusion is caused by the way Sanskrit is transliterated/romanised. The anusvāra is represented by an m with a dot underneath it - 'ṃ'. This is pronounced according to its surroundings. When it precedes consonants from the five rows of stops i.e क varga, च, ट, त & प varga - it is pronounced as the 'varga' nasal - which means गंगा is गङ्गा,  चंचू  is चञ्चू ,  रंजन is रञ्जन, दंत is दन्त and पंपा is पम्पा I 

In academic writing if you leave the dot out from under the m, your marks will be cut for making a spelling mistake. But outside the classroom, it doesn't seem to matter so much. Hence the confusion.

As you can see from the table above, स, श, ष and ह are also assigned to the five vargas by ancient grammarians. Since the anusvāra precedes a स in "Sanskrit", and स belongs to the त varga, the anusvāra denotes a न, not a मI So you know right away that 'Samskrit' is incorrect. The English/romanised spelling with 'm' is a misguided attempt to represent the anusvāra of the Devanagari spelling - but without a dot below the 'm' it neither corresponds to the spelling, nor to the pronunciation.  

Now coming to 'kri' vs 'kru' for कृ।  The syllabic ṛ was lost in India by the time of the Pali language long before the common era. It has been  pronounced either ri in North and East India, and ru in Western and Southern usage. So the verb गृह्णामि (I sieze/grab) is pronounced gruhṇāmi in some parts of the country, and grihṇāmi in others. So too, with Sanskrit vs Sanskrut. In the sense that it is attested local pronunciation, kri vs kru is neither right nor wrong. It's just what you grow up with.

I would like to thank @kishoredattu for raising this question, and  @thinkeron and @deshrajeev  for contributing their thoughts and response to it.

It is also an opportunity to revisit transliteration in general. Pl see the table here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Alphabet_of_Sanskrit_Transliteration)

I am guilty of simplification myself. Throughout this post I have spelt this famous past participle as 'Sanskrit' for reasons of convenience, because we are used to it. Really it should be saṃskrita. Also because the त at the end is actually त् + अ  like अनुस्वार is anusvāra  not anusvār. 

Talking of which, please also see: http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7261097102178676559#editor/target=post;postID=388453601051482365 on the all important 'a' in Sanskrit.

*The table is taken from Robert & Sally Goldman's Sanskrit Primer.

I'm eternally grateful to Dr. Renate Sӧhnen-Thieme not just for her help in understanding this topic, but for helping me realise how precise Sanskrit is.

Revise Sandhi: III Hal-Sandhi

As vowel sandhi was called अच्सन्धिः and in it we studied what happens when a vowel at the end of one word meets a vowel at the beginning of the next word. Today we are going to look at  हल्संधिः in which word-final consonants meet word-initial consonants (as well as vowels) and the changes that come about. The key sandhis are those of the final 't' त् 'n' न् and 'm' म् 

त् remains a त् before  क् ख् त् प् फ् and स् There is no change in it - it will appear as a half 't' as it does in Hindi:  

तत् + कर्म becomes तत्कर्म

तत् + पतति becomes तत्पतति

तत् + फलम् becomes तत्फलम्

एतत् + कदा becomes एतत्कदा

However if the त् is followed by another त् it will become a double tt - त्त, exactly as we are used to in Hindi: For example:

तत् + तत् becomes तत्तत्

तत् + तदा becomes तत्तदा 

If the त् is followed by a vowel, it will become a द्

मत् + इदम् becomes मदिदम्

मत् + अस्ति becomes मदस्ति 

अस्मात् + आसीत् becomes अस्मादासीत्

तस्मात् + ऋषि becomes तस्मादृषि

(please don't forget that ऋ is a vowel!!)

In addition there is a series of almost 20 consonants before which त् will become a द् . (In Paninian terms I refer to the हश् pratyahaara) At our level you are most likely to meet about 9 of these. The two consonants will conjoin and appear just like they do in Hindi: for instance: 

त् --->  द् + य् = द्य

त्  --->  द् + व् = द्व

त्  ---> द् + र् = द्र 

त् ---> द्  + भ् = द्भ्

त् ---> द्  + ब् = द्ब

त् ---> द्  + द् = द्द

Let us look at some examples:

युष्मत् + धनम् becomes युष्मद्धनम्

वृक्षात् + भूमिः becomes वृक्षाद्भुमिः

अपतत् + यदा becomes अपतद्यदा 

अभवत् + राजा becomes अभवद्राजा 

तत् + वचनम् becomes तद्वचनम्

त् also changes before specific consonants - each has a formal grammatical name, but as you know, in this course our objective is to learn the fundamentals first. You'll be pleasantly surprised by how easy it is to acquire the formal grammar terminology both in Sanskrit and English, once you know what's actually going on! At least that was my experience.

त् if followed by a च् itself becomes a च् ---> तत् + च् = तच्च्

त् if followed by a ज् itself becomes a ज् ---> तत् + ज् = तज्ज्

त् if followed by a न् or a म् itself becomes a  न् ---> तत् + न = तन्न and तत् + म = तन्म

तत् + चरति = तच्चरति

आसीत् + जीवति = आसीज्जीवति 

अभवत् + नमति = अभवन्नमति

अभवत् + मित्रम् = अभवन्मित्रम्

Now just a few more to go with त् ...

त् + ल् becomes तल्ल्

त् + श्  are BOTH replaced by च्छ

त् + ह् are  BOTH replaced by  द्ध्

Some examples:

तत् + लीला = तल्लीला

त्वत् + लिखति = त्वल्लिखति

तत् + श्रुत्वा = तच्छ्रुत्वा

तत् + शान्ति = तच्छान्ति

तत् + हस्तिन् = तद्धस्तिन्

मत् + हरि = मद्धरि

Top tip for today: In all sandhi if you say the word aloud slowly two or three times you will automatically be able to tell what the component words are. Try these:

तद्राक्षसः

अभवज्जितः

अस्मच्च

Now for sandhi of the final 'n' न्. If followed by a च् both coalesce into a nasal and a श् like so:

तान् + च् = तांश्च (the sh+ch might appear as श्च of course)

And न् If followed by a त् it become a nasal + स् like so:

तान् + त् = तांस्त्

A न् if followed by a ज् or a श् becomes a ञ (I couldn't put a halant on this, sorry! but of course there is meant to be one.)

रामान् + जलम् = रामाञ्जलम्

If a final इन् or अन् meets a vowel, theन् doubles:

अभवन् + इति = अभवन्निति

तस्मिन् + एव = तस्मिन्नेव

A न् followed by a ल् will give you a double ल्ल, and a chandrabindu on top - sorry I couldn't do this on the typing system I use -but the description should suffice.

And finally the sandhi of the final 'm' म्

If followed by a vowel it will simply join up with the vowel in a manner familiar to all Hindi speakers: 

म् + अ, आ, उ, ऊ etc = म मा मि मी मु मू etc

And if it is followed by ANY consonant, it will become an anusvaara अनुस्वार.

So रामम् + अस्ति = राममस्ति

but रामम् + वा ---> रामं वा

At this juncture another top tip - all consonants, very much like the 'm' example combine with the initial vowel of the next word.  So in verses you have to be very careful. The most famous example of course is अभ्युथानमधर्मस्य from यदा यदा हि धर्मस्य, (BG IV:7) where in the second part of the verse it is a-dharmasaya that is being talked about rather than dharmasya as it seems from the word.

अभ्युथानमधर्मस्य =   अभ्युथान् + अधर्मस्य