Guide Sanskrit

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Sanskrit Guide

learnsanskrit.org

November 25, 2012

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About

learnsanskrit.org

November 25, 2012

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Sanskrit

Seek Govinda, seek Govinda — seek Govinda, you fool!

For when you've come to your final hour, grammar will not save you.[1]

Sanskrit is a language of many faces. At one moment, it is the millennia-old language of theauthorless Vedas and all the texts in their tradition. At another, it is the supple verses of

Kalidasa and Bilhana, or the intricate puzzle boxes of Magha and Bharavi. And in between are

its meditations on nearly every part of human life: existence, reality, religion, love, duty,

marriage, war, sex, death, violence, laughter, beauty, perception, nature, anatomy, urbanity,

ritual, desire, food, purpose, meaning, language, and many more. At once, it is primordial and

strikingly modern.

So it is appropriate that Sanskrit itself has many names. It was just called "the language" once,

but this plain name gave way to loftier ones, like "perfected speech" and "the language of the

gods." "Sanskrit" is just one of these many names. The word has been translated in dozens of ways, like "perfected" or "perfectly made" or "put together" or just "assembled." All of these

meanings are part of the word "Sanskrit."

And lurking in the word "Sanskrit" is the notion of something unnatural. For although

Sanskrit spent more than a thousand years as a fluid native language, it "froze" in the 5th

century BCE when the grammarian Panini formalized it. He described Sanskrit so

comprehensively that it has remained nearly the same for more than two thousand years. To

him, Sanskrit was just "the language" spoken by the learned men of his time. But to those that

followed him, Sanskrit was the "perfected" language forever protected from the fluidity of

human life.

When Sanskrit was formalized in this way, it lost some of the vitality that we find in other

languages. But in exchange, it became a timeless and placeless language unlike any other. It

speaks from a world that has long disappeared from the earth. By learning Sanskrit, we can

open our ears to that world and let some of its voices be heard once more.

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krishnahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krishna


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The Guide

Learning Sanskrit

This guide tries to make Sanskrit as easy, simple, and intuitive as possible. To understand

this approach, we should start from the beginning.

The hard way

When Panini set out to describe Sanskrit comprehensively, he formalized the language into

four thousand rules, known together as the Ashtadhyayi . The text is a complex algebraic

system with meta-rules, exceptions, counter-exceptions, and many other technical devices.

Together they form a complete algorithmic machine, with basic "chunks" of language for its

raw material and complete Sanskrit sentences for its results.

But although the Ashtadhyayi is clean and efficient, Sanskrit is not. It has plenty of

complicated forms, rare idioms, redundant phrases, and ambiguities. These things are

inherent to all natural languages. But they can make mastering Sanskrit a long and difficult

process.

Still, it is possible to master the language. Sanskrit writers had no choice but to do so. They

wrote for highly educated audiences who knew Sanskrit already, and in order to be taken

seriously, they had to have total mastery of the language. And the best way to gain that

mastery was to study the Ashtadhyayi in detail.

But if your goal is just to read Sanskrit texts, this approach is slow and wasteful. It's like building a skyscraper from the top down.

The easy way

Today, most people who learn Sanskrit do not use the Ashtadhyayi. These days, there are

dozens of books and courses available, and to some extent, they all try to make it easier to

learn to read Sanskrit texts. But surprisingly, many of these resources have some of the same

problems as the Ashtadhyayi:

• They assume a strong knowledge of grammar or linguistics.

• They use unfamiliar technical terms when simpler terms are available.

• They teach concepts in an unintuitive or sub-optimal order.

• They illustrate patterns, but not always clearly.

• They focus on Sanskrit by itself.

• They teach Sanskrit grammar instead of Sanskrit itself.

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To some extent, each of these problems is unavoidable. But it is possible to lessen their effects

and make them less difficult. That is what this guide sets out to do:

• The guide assumes almost no background knowledge. If you understand English,

you know enough to use this guide.

• Wherever possible, the guide uses simple English terms to describe concepts. Many of these concepts come with several examples.

• The guide teaches the common and powerful parts of Sanskrit early on. Each of the

early lessons has a direct and significant impact on your ability to learn Sanskrit.

• The guide explicitly identifies patterns wherever possible.

• The guide has optional content of all kinds. Digressions, extra lessons, and a large

number of footnotes give you a break from Sanskrit while still connecting Sanskrit to a

larger universe of ideas and concepts.

• The guide tries to treat Sanskrit as as a language, not a rule book. Many lessons

have examples from real Sanskrit texts to connect the material to something real and

illustrate Sanskrit concepts in an authentic context.

In this guide

In this guide, we will study the basic and intermediate parts of Sanskrit and learn enough of

the language to read texts like the Bhagavad Gita and the works of the poet Kalidasa. In the

future, this guide might also discuss the more advanced parts of Sanskrit and focus on moredifficult texts, like commentary and technical literature. In either case, the guide provides a

strong Sanskrit foundation that you can extend however you please.

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End matter

Footnotes

1. ^ Bhaja Govindam verse 1. This devotional song is attributed to the sage Adi Shankara.

The original text and a translation can be found here.

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhaja_Govindamhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adi_Shankarahttp://www.sankaracharya.org/bhaja_govindam.phphttp://www.sankaracharya.org/bhaja_govindam.phphttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adi_Shankarahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhaja_Govindamhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhaja_Govindam


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Sounds

learnsanskrit.org

November 25, 2012

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a and ā Almost any language resource will start by describing its language's sounds. This guide will do

the same. But unlike most other languages, Sanskrit requires total mastery of its different

sounds. They shift, blend, and transform constantly, and unless you are very familiar with

them, Sanskrit will be difficult to understand.

Fortunately, the Sanskrit sound system is easy to master. It has remained nearly the same for

thousands of years, and we know almost exactly how Sanskrit once sounded.

a

Let's start with the very first sound in the Sanskrit alphabet. It is a fundamental sound that we

can produce effortlessly:

When you produce this sound, let your breath flow cleanly through your mouth, without any

breaks or stops. Sounds produced in this way are calledvowels.

As you learn the Sanskrit sounds, study the recordings carefully and consult the

knowledgeable people around you. Use the English approximations as a last resort.

ā To get the second sound of the alphabet, we make a twice as long as it was before. The soundof the vowel changes slightly:

a is called short because it is not as long as ā . ā is called long because it is longer than a . As

you pronounce these vowels, try to make ā exactly twice as long as a .

a "u" in "but"

ā "a" in "father"

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http://guide/static/audio/a.mp3http://guide/static/audio/a.mp3http://guide/static/audio/aa.mp3http://guide/static/audio/aa.mp3http://guide/static/audio/aa.mp3http://guide/static/audio/aa.mp3http://guide/static/audio/aa.mp3http://guide/static/audio/aa.mp3http://guide/static/audio/aa.mp3http://guide/static/audio/aa.mp3http://guide/static/audio/a.mp3http://guide/static/audio/a.mp3http://guide/static/audio/a.mp3http://guide/static/audio/a.mp3http://guide/static/audio/a.mp3http://guide/static/audio/a.mp3


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Blended sounds

Background

Some languages, such as English, have writing systems that do not match the sounds of the

language well. For example, the English word "enough" does not have a "g" sound, but a "g" is

added anyway.

Other languages, such as Spanish or Italian, have writing systems that match the sounds of the

language very well. Even if you do not know either of these languages, you can probably

pronounce words like plaza or numero fairly well.

But Sanskrit goes one step further. In almost every text, written Sanskrit is a perfect record of

the sounds that appear in spoken Sanskrit.

This might be confusing. Let's see some examples.

Examples

Here are two simple Sanskrit sentences:

बालाय आह bālāya āha He speaks for the boy.

सा आिोतsā āpnoti She obtains.

Try reading the first sentence out loud ten times.

As you might have noticed, it is tiresome to keep stopping after bālāya and keep starting againat āha . That pause is difficult to pronounce, and it takes too much extra time. Because of thesepauses, speaking Sanskrit can feel hard and slow.

The earliest Sanskrit speakers solved this problem by blending words together. Blended words

are easier to say, and it takes much less time to say them. In bālāya āha , for example, it is somuch easier to blend a and ā into bālāyāha .

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This is how Sanskrit is usually written down, too. Even if two words are supposed to be

separate, they are blended wherever possible:

बालाय आह→ बालायाह bālāya āha → bālāyāha

He spoke for the boy.

सा आिोत→ सािोतsā āpnoti → sāpnoti She obtains.

In the wild

This blending occurs almost everywhere. Try to blend the words in the sentences below:

प णू म ए्व अिवशत ेpūrṇam eva avaśiṣyate

न अन शुोिच िपडताःna anuśocanti paṇḍitāḥ

िनश ने अ िअन अभावःnityaśabdena atra anityatvasya abhāvaḥ

These sentences are all from real Sanskrit texts, like the Upanishads:

(प णू प णू म आ्दाय) प णू म वेािवशत े(pūrṇasya pūrṇam ādāya) pūrṇamevāvaśiṣyate (Taking the full from the full,) the full itself remains.

— Īśa Upaniṣad

the Bhagavad Gita:

(गतास नू अ्गतास ू ं) नान शुोिच िपडताः(gatāsūn agatāsūṃśca) nānuśocanti paṇḍitāḥ The learned do not grieve (for the dead or the living).

— Bhagavad Gita 1.11

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and technical works, like this logical treatise from the 6th century:

िनश नेािानाभावः (उत )ेnityaśabdenātrānityatvasyābhāvaḥ (ucyate)By the word "permanent" here (is meant) the absence of impermanence.

— Nyāyapraveśa 2.3

So even though blending comes from spoken Sanskrit, it can appear in written Sanskrit as well.

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Simple Vowels

Sounds and letters

When most people think of written Sanskrit, they think of Devanagari :

त िेज नावधीतम ुMay our studies be glorious.

— Upanishads (various)

But although Devanagari is standard now, it wasn't always. Historically, every Indian script

has been used to write Sanskrit:

�তিজ নাবধীতম

તિેજ�વ નાવધીતમ�તુ

ਤੇ ਿਜਸ� ਨਾਵਧੀਤਮਸ੍ ਤੁ

�ೇಜ ಾವೕತಮಸು

േതജസ�ി നാവധീതമ

େତଜସ�ି ନାଵଧୀତମୁ

தஜ� நவதம�

�జ వతమ

This fact is deeply connected to the Sanskrit tradition, which has always valued speech over

writing. Even when writing was abundant and widely known, the Vedas and other important

texts were learned from the mouth of a teacher and memorized so that they could be taughtlater on. And although it is weaker now, this tradition has survived to the present day. This

emphasis on speech over writing helps to explain why words are blended in so many Sanskrit

texts.

But it also leads to a more practical matter. If Sanskrit has no script of its own, we can choose

whatever script we like.

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Devanagari is an obvious choice. But Devanagari takes some time to learn, especially if you

have never learned another Indian script. Moreover, Devanagari was not built for Sanskrit,

and it can be awkward and clumsy when used to write it.

Instead, we could use romanized Sanskrit. It is almost as common as Devanagari, and it was

built to be easy to learn:

tejasvi nāvadhītamastu

As a compromise, this guide will use romanized Sanskrit and switch to Devanagari over time.

With this approach, we can spend less time on reading and writing and more time on Sanskrit.

And speaking of Sanskrit, let us continue with the alphabet.

Seven vowels

Four of these vowels have English counterparts:

Three do not:

ḷ is extremely rare. Most texts do not have it, and it does not have a long form. Generally, youcan pronounce it however you like.

Short and long

We have studied 9 vowels so far. Of these, five are short:

and four are long:

i "i" in "bit"

ī "ee" in "teeth"

u "u" in "put"

ū "oo" in "mood"

ḷ

ṛ (no match)

ṝ (no match)

(no match)

a i u ṛ ḷ

ā ī ū ṝ

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http://guide/static/audio/i.mp3http://guide/static/audio/i.mp3http://guide/static/audio/ii.mp3http://guide/static/audio/ii.mp3http://guide/static/audio/u.mp3http://guide/static/audio/u.mp3http://guide/static/audio/uu.mp3http://guide/static/audio/uu.mp3http://guide/static/audio/r.mp3http://guide/static/audio/r.mp3http://guide/static/audio/rr.mp3http://guide/static/audio/rr.mp3http://guide/static/audio/rr.mp3http://guide/static/audio/rr.mp3http://guide/static/audio/rr.mp3http://guide/static/audio/rr.mp3http://guide/static/audio/rr.mp3http://guide/static/audio/rr.mp3http://guide/static/audio/r.mp3http://guide/static/audio/r.mp3http://guide/static/audio/r.mp3http://guide/static/audio/r.mp3http://guide/static/audio/r.mp3http://guide/static/audio/r.mp3http://guide/static/audio/uu.mp3http://guide/static/audio/uu.mp3http://guide/static/audio/uu.mp3http://guide/static/audio/uu.mp3http://guide/static/audio/uu.mp3http://guide/static/audio/uu.mp3http://guide/static/audio/u.mp3http://guide/static/audio/u.mp3http://guide/static/audio/u.mp3http://guide/static/audio/u.mp3http://guide/static/audio/u.mp3http://guide/static/audio/u.mp3http://guide/static/audio/ii.mp3http://guide/static/audio/ii.mp3http://guide/static/audio/ii.mp3http://guide/static/audio/ii.mp3http://guide/static/audio/ii.mp3http://guide/static/audio/ii.mp3http://guide/static/audio/i.mp3http://guide/static/audio/i.mp3http://guide/static/audio/i.mp3http://guide/static/audio/i.mp3http://guide/static/audio/i.mp3http://guide/static/audio/i.mp3


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Together, these nine vowels are called simple vowels.

Blending simple vowels

The simple vowels are easy to blend:

बालाय आह→ बालायाह bālāya āha → bālāyāha He spoke for the boy.

सा आिोत→ सािोतsā āpnoti → sāpnoti She obtains.

गित ईरः → गतीरःgacchati īśvaraḥ → gacchatīśvaraḥ The lord goes.

गित मध ुउदकम →् गित मध दूकम ्gacchati madhu udakam → gacchati madhūdakam He goes to the sweet water.

In these sentences, the vowels that blend resemble each other. ā blends with ā , i blends with ī ,u blends with u , and so on. In each case, the vowels are roughly the same, although they mighthave different lengths.

Let's call such vowels similar. For example, ṛ is similar to ṛ and ṝ , but it is not similar to u .

In the wild

Try to blend the words in the phrases below:

न अिद िइतna anyadasti iti

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एष त ुउ शेतःeṣa tu uddeśataḥ

These phrases are from the Bhagavad Gita:

नादिीतnānyadastīti (The unwise, who delight in the letter of the Vedas and proclaim) "there is

nothing else", …


एष त ू शेतःeṣa tūddeśataḥ (What I have declared) is just an example (of my many splendors.)


These two blends are common all throughout Sanskrit literature.

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Compound Vowels

Just as simple tin and copper can combine to make bronze, two vowels can combine to make a

compound vowel.

Compound vowels vowels are a crucial part of Sanskrit and are used in simple but powerful ways. But for now, let us just pronounce them.

The vowels

Sanskrit has four compound vowels. Each is a long vowel. And each is made by a different

combination.

Since the compound vowels are combinations of two vowels, they aresimilar to nothing.

a/ā + simple vowel

Consider the combinations a + i and a + u . These combine in an obvious way:

a + i → ai

a + u → au

But it can be tiresome to keep these two sounds separate. So, the early Sanskrit speakers

blended the two sounds into something a little easier:

The other combinations (aī, āi, āī, aī, āu, āū ) blend in the same way.

As you pronounce e and o , try to make the sound "flat" and constant. If you are a nativeEnglish speaker, this can be hard; English "e" sounds like Sanskrit ei and English "o" soundslike Sanskrit ou .

For now, let's ignore combinations with ṛ and ṝ .

a/ā + compound vowel

Consider the combinations a + e and a + o . These combinations are not obvious. But if weremember that e comes from a + i and that o comes from a + u , they become easy:

a + ai → āi

e "a" in "mane"

o "o" in "go"

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http://guide/static/audio/e.mp3http://guide/static/audio/e.mp3http://guide/static/audio/o.mp3http://guide/static/audio/o.mp3http://guide/static/audio/o.mp3http://guide/static/audio/o.mp3http://guide/static/audio/o.mp3http://guide/static/audio/o.mp3http://guide/static/audio/o.mp3http://guide/static/audio/o.mp3http://guide/static/audio/e.mp3http://guide/static/audio/e.mp3http://guide/static/audio/e.mp3http://guide/static/audio/e.mp3http://guide/static/audio/e.mp3http://guide/static/audio/e.mp3


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a + au → āu

But it can be tiresome to spend so much time pronouncing a vowel. So, the early Sanskrit

speakers made the ā sound a little shorter:

The other combinations (āe, āo ) blend in the same way.

Can we combine ai and au with anything? We can try:

a + ai → āi

a + au → āu

But they shorten back to ai and au , with no changes. The other combinations (ā+ai, ā+au ) dothe same.

As you pronounce ai and au , try to make the "a" part of ai and au sound just like the vowel a .The shorter it is, the better.

Blending compound vowels

When two vowels are similar, they blend easily:



And if they are not similar, they still blend easily.a and ā combine like they do above:

सा इित→ स ेितsā icchati → secchati She wants.

ai "i" in "fight" au "ow" in "cow"

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http://guide/static/audio/ai.mp3http://guide/static/audio/ai.mp3http://guide/static/audio/au.mp3http://guide/static/audio/au.mp3http://guide/static/audio/au.mp3http://guide/static/audio/au.mp3http://guide/static/audio/au.mp3http://guide/static/audio/au.mp3http://guide/static/audio/au.mp3http://guide/static/audio/au.mp3http://guide/static/audio/ai.mp3http://guide/static/audio/ai.mp3http://guide/static/audio/ai.mp3http://guide/static/audio/ai.mp3http://guide/static/audio/ai.mp3http://guide/static/audio/ai.mp3


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त उदकम →् तोदकम ्tasya udakam → tasyodakam his water

बाल ओदनम ्→ बालौदनम ्bālasya odanam → bālasyaudanam the boy's rice

त ऐय म →् त ैय म ्tasya aiśvaryam → tasyaiśvaryam his power

In the last example, note that a + a i combine with no change. Also, remember that nothing issimilar to a compound vowel.

In the wild


पय एताम ्paśya etām

हा एतान ्hatvā etān

सखा िइत माsakhā iti matvā

च ओषधीःca oṣadhīḥ

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न असद ्आसीन न् उ सद ्आसीत ्na asad āsīn na u sad āsīt

These words blend as you would expect:

पय तैाम ्paśyaitām Look at this (army of the Pandavas, O master).


ह तैान ्hatvaitān Having killed them, …


सख िेत माsakheti matvā Thinking (of you) as a friend, …


चौषधीःcauṣadhīḥ And (I nourish all) the plants.


नासद ्आसीन न्ो सद ्आसीत ्nāsad āsīn no sad āsīt Then there was neither nothing nor anything.

— Nāsadīya Sūkta

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Semivowels

How do two vowels blend together? If they are similar, they become long:


If they are not similar, the blend depends on the first vowel. a and ā , for example, combine tocreate compound vowels:


But there are other combinations that are more puzzling:

गित अःgacchati aśvaḥ The horse goes.

साध ुआ ेsādhu āste He sits well.

To blend the vowels in these sentences, we need a new kind of letter.

Semivowels

Consider the combinations i + a and u + a . These combine in an obvious way:

i + a → ia

u + a → ua

It can be tiresome to keep these two sounds separate. But these sounds do not blend easily.

They fight for space, like two wrestlers in the ring. And only one of them can remain.

Instead of blending, one of the sounds collapses and becomes shorter. Wherever possible, the

first sound is the one that shortens:

i + a → ya

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u + a → va

These shortened vowels are called semivowels. And apart from a and ā , every vowel has one:

Since semivowels can only exist around other vowels, they are all listed with the vowel a . As you pronounce these letters, keep them as short as possible.

Blending vowels

When vowels cannot blend or combine, one of them becomes a semivowel:

गित अः→ ग अ्ःgacchati aśvaḥ → gacchaty aśvaḥ The horse goes.

साध ुआ े→ सा आ् ेsādhu āste → sādhv āste He sits well.

With compound vowels

This applies to compound vowels, too. We just have to remember where they come from. For

example, au comes from a + a + u , or āu . So, we get:

अौ इित → अाउ इित→ अाव इ्ितaśvau icchati → aśvāu icchati → aśvāv icchati He wants the two horses.

In the wild


भिवत िइत अन शु ु मुbhavati iti anuśuśruma

न त ुएव अह ं जात ुन आसम ्na tu eva ahaṃ jātu na āsam

ya "y" in "yellow"

ra (no match)

la "l" in "loose"

va "v" in "vase"

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त िेज नौ अधीतम अ् ुtejasvi nau adhītam astu

ियद िअप एत ेन पियyadi api ete na paśyanti

These words blend as you would expect:

भवती अ्न शु ु मुbhavatīty anuśuśruma (They dwell eternally in hell) — so we have heard.


न ए्वाह ं जात ुनासम ्na tv evāhaṃ jātu nāsam Never was I ever not.


त िेज नाव अ्धीतम अ् ुtejasvi nāv adhītam astu May our studies be glorious.


य अ् ए्त ेन पियyady apy ete na paśyanti But even if they do not see, …


Other sounds

We can now describe how the Sanskrit vowels blend and interact. This knowledge is highly

useful and will be especially important later on.

But there are still many other sounds to consider. Let's take a break from the vowels and see

what some of these sounds are. These sounds are much simpler, and they will be much easier

to learn.

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Stops and Nasals

Other sounds

In the Vedic tradition, the Vedas are divine and "otherworldly."[1]

And as the language of the

Vedas, Sanskrit was seen this way, too. As a result, some saw Sanskrit as a metaphor for a

deeper divine truth. Thus Krishna says:

Of sounds I am a . Of compounds I am the dual.I alone am unending time, the Founder facing every side.


To understand the metaphor, we must think about the vowel a . It is a simple and effortlesssound, and it is the sound we make when we breathe out. So when seen in this way, a is the

basis of all speech.

But we can take that metaphor and apply it to something more practical.

Vowels and semivowels

Picture the flow of air that makes the vowel a . It starts in the lungs, moves through the throat,and flows cleanly through the mouth, like a river flowing straight.

By changing the shape of this flow, we change the sound of the vowel. This is what the tongue

does. It creates simple vowels like i and ī . And if we change from one flow to another, we getthe compound vowels, like ai and au .

By squeezing this flow tight, we change the sound again. This creates the semivowels, like ya and va . Although the flow of air is pressed tight, it still flows cleanly through the mouth, withno breaks or obstacles.

But we can alter this flow in more drastic ways.

Stops and nasals

Try pronouncing the vowel a . While pronouncing the vowel, stop the flow of air entirely, thenquickly let it flow again. This produces sounds like ka and ta and pa . We can call such soundsstops, since they are made when the air flow stops.

Once more, try pronouncing the vowel a . While pronouncing the vowel, stop the flow of airentirely — then redirect it through your nose. Then let the air flow normally. This produces

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sounds like na and ma . We can call such sounds nasals, since they are made with help fromthe nasal cavity.

Let us study these stops and nasals. They are much simpler than the vowels, so they will take

much less time.

But you might be wondering: do simple sounds like ka and na really need so muchintroduction? Not quite. But by learning to become aware of how sounds are formed and why

they sound the way they do, you will have less trouble learning Sanskrit.

Stopping the flow of air

The mouth is a large cavern with a long roof. We can stop the flow of air at many points.

Sanskrit uses five of these points, and you can see them below:

In Sanskrit, the flow of air is stopped only in these five places.

These five points are:

• The soft palate

• The hard palate

• The hard bump on the roof of the mouth

• The base of the teeth

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• The lips

Together, we can call these places points of sound . These five are used to create the stops and

nasals:

Soft palate

We start at the soft palate, at the back of the mouth:

Hard palate

Moving forward, we reach the hard palate:

ca looks and sounds similar to the English "ch" sound. But the two are distinct. The English"ch" is pronounced near the teeth. ca is pronounced much further back. Getting this soundright can take some practice.

Hard bump

Further still, we reach the hard bump on the roof of the mouth:

For convenience, let us say that these sounds are retroflexed . This word evokes a tongue that

has bent ("flex") backward ("retro") to produce the sound.

Retroflexed sounds do not exist in English. If you have trouble pronouncing them, try curling

your tongue further back.

Base of the teeth

A little further, we reach the base of the teeth:

ka "k" in "skill"

ṅa "ng" in "lung"

ca (no match)

ña (no match)

ṭa (no match)

ṇa (no match)

ta "t" in "thumb"

na "n" in "nose"

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This is the base of the teeth, not the tip. At the tip, you get the English "th". At the base, you

get the Sanskrit ta . The difference is small but still noticeable.

Lips

And finally, we reach the lips:

Blending stops and nasals

We have seen that vowels blend with each other in several ways. But stops and nasals are

much simpler.

Here are a few simple sentences:

तत न् आम ्tat na āsyam That is not a mouth.

राट ्नरःrāṭ naraḥ The king is a man.

Try reading the first sentence out loud ten times.

As you might have noticed, it is tiresome to shift from t to n when pronouncing tat na . Becauseof clustered sounds like these, speaking Sanskrit can feel hard and slow.

But as you might have guessed, the earliest Sanskrit speakers solved this problem by blending

stops and nasals together. Whenever a stop is in front of a nasal, it becomes nasal, too:

तत न् आम →् तन न्ाम ्tat na āsyam → tan nāsyam That is not a mouth.

pa "p" in "spill"

ma "m" in "mill"

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When a stop becomes nasal like this, it keeps its point of pronunciation. It is like a diamond

dropped in the mud; it may be dirty, but it is still a gem:

राट ्नरः→ राण न्रःrāṭ naraḥ → rāṇ naraḥ

The king is a man.

Still, too much blending can be a bad thing. Letters help to make one word distinct from

another. This is the main job of the stop letters. So, stops only blend between words, not

inside them.

In the wild


तात न् अहा वय ंह मु ्tasmāt na arhā vayaṃ hantum

यच ् ेयः ात ि्िनत ं िूह तत म् ेyac chreyaḥ syāt niścitaṃ brūhi tat me

सादात म्या अ तुtvatprasādāt mayā acyuta

These phrases are from the Bhagavad Gita:

तान न्ाहा वय ंह मु ्tasmān nārhā vayaṃ hantum Thus it is not right that we kill …


यच ् ेयः ान ि्िनत ं िूह तन म् ेyac chreyaḥ syān niścitaṃ brūhi tan me

Truly, tell me that which would be best.— Bhagavad Gita 2.7

सादान म्या तुtvatprasādān mayācyuta My (delusion is gone, and I've come to wisdom,) by your favor, O Krishna.


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Voice and Aspiration

The stop letters are simple sounds produced in a simple way:

But as with many things in life, these letters become more interesting when they become more

complex. For one, we can make a stop voiced :

or unvoiced , like ka . These letters are in English, too. You can feel the difference between thesetwo letters by touching your windpipe while you produce them.

But Sanskrit complicates the stops letters in a second way. Recall that a stop is produced when

the flow of air stops then quickly resumes. In ka , this flow resumes normally, like water from atap. But this flow can also resume explosively, like water bursting through a dam:

Sounds like kha are aspirated ("breathy"), and sounds like ka are unaspirated ("not breathy").

And of course, these aspirated letters can be voiced, too:

The stops and nasals

Each of the five points of sound has four stops and one nasal. Together, these give us the

following 25 sounds:

ka "k" in "skill"

ga "g" in "gill"

kha "k" in "kill"

gha (no match)

ka "k" in "skill"

kha "k" in "kill"

ga "g" in "gill"

gha (no match)

ṅa "ng" in "lung"

ca (no match)

cha (no match)

ja (no match)

jha (no match)

ña (no match)

ṭa (no match)

ṭha (no match)

ḍa (no match)

ḍha (no match)

ṇa (no match)

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This arrangement is over 2800 years old. It stands at the beginning of the Indian linguistictradition.

varga

The word varga lets us create a shortcut to refer to certain groups of consonants. The stops andnasals at the soft palate (ka, kha, ga, gha, ṅa ) are together called kavarga . And we have namesfor the other groups of stops and nasals, too:

cavarga

ca, cha, ja, jha, ña ṭavarga

ṭa, ṭha, ḍa, ḍha, ṇa tavarga

ta, tha, da, dha, na pavarga

pa, pha, ba, bha, ma

We can also refer to the semivowels with the termyavarga .

Blending stops

Stops blend very easily, whether with nasals:

तत न् आम ्tat na āsyam That is not a mouth.

ta "th" in "thumb"

tha (no match)

da "th" in "this"

dha (no match)

na "n" in "nose"

pa "p" in "spill"

pha "p" in "pill"

ba "b" in "bill"

bha (no match)

ma "m" in "mill"

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राट ्नरःrāṭ naraḥ The king is a man.

or with most other letters. Stops become voiced in front of any voiced letter, including vowels:

तत अ्सत →् तद ्असत ्tat asat → tad asat That is false.

वाक ्एव→ वाग ए्वvāk eva → vāg eva speech itself

semivowels:

तत य्ित→ तद ्यितtat yacchati → tad yacchati He restrains it.

and other stops:

स राट ्भिवत→ स राड ्भिवतsa rāṭ bhavati → sa rāḍ bhavati He becomes a king.

but like a diamond in the mud, these stops keep their value: they use the same point of sound.

As before, stops only blend between words, not inside them. Otherwise, we would become

hopelessly confused:

तन म्म ्tan mantram

That is a mantra.

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तन म्म ्tan mandram That is charming.

In the wildTry to blend the words in the phrases below:

न असत आ्सीत न् उ सत आ्सीत त्दानीम ्na asat āsīt na u sat āsīt tadānīm

उत अमतृ ईशानो यत अ् ने िअतरोिहतuta amṛtatvasya īśāno yat annena atirohati

These are lines from various Vedic hymns:[2]

नासद ्आसीन न्ो सद ्आसीत त्दानीम ्nāsad āsīn no sad āsīt tadānīm Then there was neither nothing nor anything.


उतामतृ शेानो यद ्अ िेनातरोिहतutāmṛtatvasyeśāno yad annenātirohati And he is the lord of immortality, who grows further by food.

— Purusha Sukta

The first example is from one of the most popular Vedic hymns. The line had all of its blending

undone, but we were able to fully restore it.

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Other Consonants

Generally, any sound that is not a vowel is called a consonant . Sanskrit has 33 consonants in

all: the 25 stops and nasals, the 4 semivowels, and the 4 sounds that we will study in this

lesson.

The consonants

Like all Sanskrit consonants, these four use the following "points of sound":

In Sanskrit, the flow of air is stopped only in these five places.

As you pronounce these letters, be mindful of these five points.

"s" sounds

Once more, picture the flow of air that makes the vowel a . It starts in the lungs, moves throughthe throat, and flows cleanly through the mouth, like a river flowing straight.

Normally, the air flows simply and straight. But when this air flow becomes turbulent , we get a

"hissing" sound, like the "s" in "snake" or the "sh" in "shore." For convenience, let us call these

sounds "s" sounds.

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English has two "s" sounds: the "s" in "snake" and the "sh" in "shore." But Sanskrit has three:

śa uses the hard palate. ṣa is retroflexed. sa is just like the English "s".

ha

If you breathe out and make your breath voiced, you'll hear a sound like "haaa." That "h" is our

last consonant:

ha is the same breathy sound that you hear in gha , jha , ḍha , dha , and bha . ha is pronounced with the soft palate, at the back of the mouth.

śavarga

Together, these four sounds are called śavarga .

Special combinations

Three consonant combinations are pronounced in a distinct way. jña is pronounced more like

gña . hma and hna are pronounced like mha and nha .

The history of these special pronunciations is uncertain. But this is how Sanskrit is

pronounced today.

A new convention

The a at the end of a consonant makes the consonant easy to pronounce. But this a can also beconfusing sometimes. So let us create a new convention. From now on, this guide will not

add a to the end of consonants.

Blending t

Of all consonants, t blends the most. Just as water spreads to fill its container, t changes to blend with the letter after it.

śa (no match)

ṣa (no match)

sa "s" in "snake"

ha (no match)

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Like other stops, t can become nasal:


तत म्म →् तन म्म ्tat mantram → tan mantram That is a mantra.

and voiced:

तत अ्सत →् तद ्असत ्tat asat → tad asat That is false.

We have seen these changes already.

But t can also change its point of sound. If the next sound is a stop that uses the tongue,then it changes:

तत च्ापम →् तच च्ापम ्tat cāpam → tac cāpam That is a bow.

तत ट्ीकास ु→ तट ्टीकास ुtat ṭīkāsu → taṭ ṭīkāsu That is in the commentaries.

तत त्िनोतtat tanoti He spreads that.

even if those sounds are voiced:

तत ज्ायत े→ तज ज्ायत ेtat jāyate → taj jāyate That is born.

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तत ड्मरौ → तड ्डमरौtat ḍamarau → taḍ ḍamarau That is in the drum.

तत द्िहत→ तद ्दिहतtat dahati → tad dahati That burns.

For other stops (kavarga and pavarga ), the point of sound does not change:

तत क्ठोरम ्tat kaṭhoram That is hard.

तत ग् ुम →् तद ्ग ुम ्tat gurum → tad gurum That is heavy.

तत फ्लम ्tat phalam That is a fruit.

तत ब्ीजम ्→

तद ्बीजम ्tat bījam → tad bījam That is a seed.

In the wild

Try to blend the words in the phrase below:

यत भ् तू ंयत च् भम ्yat bhūtaṃ yat ca bhavyam

This phrase is from the Puruṣ a Sūkta, one of the most popular Vedic hymns:

यद ्भ तू ंयच च् भम ्yad bhūtaṃ yac ca bhavyam (He is all of this) which has been and which is yet to be.

— Puruṣ a Sūkta

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Our Sanskrit alphabet is almost complete. Only two sounds remain.

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Anusvāra and Visarga The two sounds here are fundamentally different from the others we have studied. They

appear only because of blending. They can be pronounced in multiple ways. They must follow

vowels. And although they seem to be consonants, the tradition calls them something else.

Each sound has its own special term.

anusvāra

This sound is called the anusvāra ("after-sound"). It is a "pure nasal" sound that appears only in front of consonants.

It is difficult to pronounce a "pure nasal." But the anusvāra is easy to pronounce. Generally, ituses the same point of sound as the sound that follows it:

Written as Sounds like

śaṃkara śaṅkara

saṃjaya sañjaya

saṃskṛta sanskṛta

saṃbuddha sambuddha

The anusvāra in different contexts

Because of this behavior, saṃskṛta is spelled in English as "Sanskrit."

visarga

This sound is called the visarga ("release").

Originally, the visarga was probably just like the "h" in "house." We could think of it as an "s"sound pronounced at the soft palate. But today, it is usually pronounced as an echo of the

vowel before it: aḥ like aha , and iḥ like ihi .

aṃ (no match)

aḥ (no match)

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Blending the visarga

The visarga is a difficult sound. So wherever possible, it blends with the letters around it. Infront of unvoiced consonants, the visarga becomes the "s" sound with the same point of sound:

नरः चिरत→ नरश च्िरतnaraḥ carati → naraś carati The man walks.

नरः तिरत→ नरस त्िरतnaraḥ tarati → naras tarati The man crosses.

ताः टीकाः→ ताष ट्ीकाःtāḥ ṭīkāḥ → tāṣ ṭīkāḥ Those are commentaries.

This change also occurs in front of other "s" sounds, like ś and s . But surprisingly, the changeis rarely written out:

नरः शोिचत (नरश श्ोिचत)naraḥ śocati (naraś śocati)The man grieves.

नरः िरत (नरस ्िरत)naraḥ smarati (naras smarati)The man remembers.

The Sanskrit alphabet

We have now studied every sound in the alphabet.. Unlike the English alphabet, the

Sanskrit alphabet is intuitive and easy to remember:

Vowels

We start with the thirteen vowels:

a ā i ī

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anusvāra and visarga

The anusvāra and visarga are not quite the same as normal consonants, so they are listed withthe vowels:

Stops and nasals

Next come the stops and nasals:

Semivowels

Then the semivowels:

"s" sounds and ha

And, finally, the "s" sounds and ha .

u ū ṛ ṝ ḷ e ai

o au

aṃ aḥ

ka kha ga gha ṅa ca cha ja jha ña ṭa ṭha ḍa ḍha ṇa ta tha da dha na pa pha ba bha ma

ya ra la va

śa ṣa sa ha

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Syllables

We have now studied every sound in later Sanskrit (with one small exception). But although

real language is made of sounds chained together, we have studied these sounds in isolation. If

we cannot pronounce these sounds together, we will be like those musicians who can play

beautiful notes but no songs.

So let us spend our last lesson here on meter, the study of how sounds flow together. Even if

you can pronounce Sanskrit well already, a good knowledge of meter is vital to understanding

certain parts of how Sanskrit behaves.

Along with phonetics (śikṣā ), meter (chandas ) is one of the six vedāṅga , the "limbs" of the Vedas that support the study of its contents. Four of the sixvedāṅga focus on language.

Definition

We start with the most basic part of meter: the syllable. Syllables are simple. They have

exactly one vowel:

इ i

काkā

नौnau

योyo

ह ेhe

they start with consonants wherever possible:

फलम →् फ-लम ्phalam → pha-lam

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िइत→ इि-तiti → i-ti

and they end with the anusvāra and visarga wherever possible:

नरः पिचत→ न-रः-प-चि-तnaraḥ pacati → na-raḥ-pa-ca-ti

त ंचिराम→ त -ंच-राि-मtaṃ carāmi → taṃ-ca-rā-mi

Sometimes, however, a phrase can be divided in multiple ways:

प ुः→ प -ुः, प तु -्रःputraḥ → pu-traḥ, put-raḥ

धम ः → ध-म ः, धर -्मःdharmaḥ → dha-rmaḥ, dhar-maḥ

In these cases, you can divide the phrases however you like. Traditional grammar tries to make

syllables end in vowels (dha-rmaḥ ). But this makes some parts of Sanskrit more difficult lateron. So let us make our own convention:

A syllable should end with a consonant if possible, without breaking the rules above.

With this convention, all phrases can be divided in only one way:

प ुः→ प तु -्रःputraḥ → put-raḥ

धम ः → धर -्मःdharmaḥ → dhar-maḥ

Now we can split any Sanskrit phrase into syllables:

अन केवनयनम →् अ-न -ेक-वक -्-न-य-नम ्anekavaktranayanam → a-ne-ka-vak-tra-na-ya-nam

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Light and heavy

A syllable that ends in a short vowel is light . All other syllables are called heavy. Heavy

syllables last exactly twice as long as light syllables. This is the key insight of this lesson.

Let's see some examples. In this sentence, every syllable here is heavy:

व ृो व ृस ि्त अ् े→ व दृ -्धो-व कृ -्षस ्ि-तष ्-ठत -्यग -्र ेvṛddho vṛkṣas tiṣṭhaty agre → vṛd-dho-vṛk-ṣas-tiṣ-ṭhat-yag-re An ancient tree stands ahead.

Even though some of these syllables have short vowels, each syllable lasts the same amount of

time.

Here is another example. In this sentence, every syllable is light:

स श कुम ि्अप िगिरत → स-श -ुक-मि-पि-ग-रि-तsa śukam api girati → sa-śu-ka-ma-pi-gi-ra-ti It swallows the parrot, too.

Like the previous example, this example has eight syllables. But since every syllable here is

light, this example lasts exactly half as long.

Finally, consider this example:

अज ु न→ अर -्ज -ुनarjuna → ar-ju-na Arjuna

"ar " and " juna " last for exactly the same amount of time, even though all of these vowels areshort.

As you read Sanskrit, try to be mindful of these light and heavy syllables. They do more than

control how Sanskrit is pronounced; they also give Sanskrit poetry some of its beauty and

power.

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Hard bumpṭa ṭha ḍa ḍha ṇa ra ṣa

Teethta tha da dha na la sa

Lips pa pha ba bha ma va

Blending

Sometimes, it can be tiresome to pronounce certain sounds next to each other. The earliest

Sanskrit speakers solved this problem by blending words together.

Blending vowels

It is easy to blend vowels. Simple vowels are the easiest:


सा आिोत→ सािोतsā āpnoti → sāpnoti

She obtains.


गित मध ुउदकम →् गित मध दूकम ्gacchati madhu udakam → gacchati madhūdakam He goes to the sweet water.

Otherwise, vowels can blend in several ways. They can combine:


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त उदकम →् तोदकम ्tasya udakam → tasyodakam his water

बाल ओदनम ्→ बालौदनम ्bālasya odanam → bālasyaudanam the boy's rice

त ऐय म →् त ैय म ्tasya aiśvaryam → tasyaiśvaryam his power

or one can become a semivowel:

गित अः→ ग अ्ःgacchati aśvaḥ → gacchaty aśvaḥ The horse goes.

साध ुआ े→ सा आ् ेsādhu āste → sādhv āste He sits well.

त िेज नाव अ्धीतम अ् ुtejasvi nāv adhītam astu May our studies be glorious.


Blending consonants

It is easy to blend consonants, too. Stops can become nasals:


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राट ्नरः→ राण न्रःrāṭ naraḥ → rāṇ naraḥ The king is a man.

or they can just become voiced:

वाक ्एव→ वाग ए्वvāk eva → vāg eva speech itself

तत य्ित→ तद ्यितtat yacchati → tad yacchati He restrains it.

स राट ्भिवत→ स राड ्भिवतsa rāṭ bhavati → sa rāḍ bhavati He becomes a king.

न असत ्आसीत ्न उ सत ्आसीत ्तदानीम ्→ नासद ् आसीन ्नो सद ्आसीत त्दानीम ्na asat āsīt na u sat āsīt tadānīm → nāsad āsīn no sad āsīt tadānīm Then there was neither nothing nor anything.


t , especially, blends very easily :

तत च्ापम →् तच च्ापम ्tat cāpam → tac cāpam That is a bow.

तत ट्ीकास ु→ तट ्टीकास ु

tat ṭīkāsu → taṭ ṭīkāsu That is in the commentaries.

तत ज्ायत े→ तज ज्ायत ेtat jāyate → taj jāyate That is born.

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तत ड्मरौ → तड ्डमरौtat ḍamarau → taḍ ḍamarau That is in the drum.

Blending the visarga Just like t , the visarga blends often and easily :

नरः चिरत→ नरश च्िरतnaraḥ carati → naraś carati The man walks.

नरः तिरत→ नरस त्िरतnaraḥ tarati → naras tarati The man crosses.

ताः टीकाः→ ताष ट्ीकाःtāḥ ṭīkāḥ → tāṣ ṭīkāḥ Those are commentaries.

Meter

We studied Sanskrit syllables and learned how they affect the way Sanskrit is spoken.

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End matter

Footnotes

1. ^ alaukika "not of (this) world" or apauruṣeya "not of mankind".

2. ^ Like most all Vedic Sanskrit, the lines here are open to some interpretation.

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Basics

learnsanskrit.org

November 25, 2012

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How Sanskrit Works

Learning Sanskrit is like building a massive house. Our materials are the various Sanskrit

sounds, which we combine and blend to make new materials. Our techniques are the rules of

grammar, which start out quite simply but soon become much more subtle and interesting.

And our approach is a practical one: build a basic shelter before expanding further.

But without a steady foundation, the house cannot stand. If we have even a basic

understanding of how Sanskrit generally works, we can greatly reduce our problems later on.

Moreover, this basic understanding will also help us put Sanskrit's different parts in

perspective.

So before we begin with Sanskrit itself, let's quickly discuss what the language is like.

Word order

Here is a basic English sentence:

Elephants eat fruits.

Let's see how this sentence appears in Sanskrit:

गजाः फिलान खािदgajāḥ phalāni khādanti Elephants fruit eats. ("Elephants eat fruits.")

As you can see, the came concepts appear in different orders in both languages. But

surprisingly, the word order does not matter much in Sanskrit:

गजाः खािद फिलानgajāḥ khādanti phalāni Elephants eat fruits. ("Elephants eat fruits.")

फिलान खािद गजाःphalāni khādanti gajāḥ Fruits eat elephants. ("Elephants eat fruits.")

खािद फिलान गजाःkhādanti phalāni gajāḥ Eat fruits elephants. ("Elephants eat fruits.")

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Inflection

Sanskrit is so flexible because its words carry extra information with them. We take a basic

word, like gaja ("elephant"), and somehow mark it to show two things:

• There are multiple elephants.

• These elephants are eating (but the fruits are not).

And likewise for phala ("fruit"):

• There are multiple fruits.

• These fruits are being eaten (but the elephants are not).

We add this extra information by changing part of the word: gaja becomes gajāḥ , and phala

becomes phalāni . When we change a word to add information like this, we say that we inflect the word.

Words are inflected in English, too, but not very much. For example, we say "I play" and "you

play," but we say "he plays," not "he play." If we see just the word "plays," we can guess that

the person doing the playing is "he" or "she," but probably not "I" or "you." This is because the

word has been inflected to show who is doing the playing.

As another example, we say "I play" and "I will play," but we say "I played." The word "play"

changes to show that the playing has already happened. We can work backward from the word

"played" and figure that out.

Sanskrit words are inflected much more than English words. Even complex ideas can be

represented as single words:

ामान ब्ालौ िजगिमयिषgrāmān bālau jigamayiṣanti They want to make the two boys go to the villages.

There are also uninflected words, which always remain the same:

स एव गितsa eva gacchati Only he goes.

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Making words

One of Sanskrit's richest and most rewarding features is the ability to make your own words

. Starting from basic sounds and syllables, we can quickly create words of great subtlety and

nuance:

भज →् भग→ भगवत →् भागवतbhaj → bhaga → bhagavat → bhāgavata adore, love → adoration, love → glorious, fortunate; the blessed one, Lord →

concerning the blessed Lord

य जु →् योग → ियोगन ्yuj → yoga → yogin

connect, bind, prepare→

concentration, exertion ( yoga)→

yogin

Just as many branches grow from the same trunk, many words can grow from the same basic

elements. By learning these elements and some basic rules, we can quickly understand

thousands of new words.

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Present Tense Verbs

Actions

Generally, every Sanskrit sentence is just some action. The simplest sentences are just actions

and nothing else:

गितgacchati He goes.

Words that describe actions are calledverbs. gacchati is a verb. So is the word below:

गतःgacchataḥ The two of them go.

gacchati and gacchataḥ both start the same way, with gaccha . This part of the verb is calledthe stem; just as many flowers bloom from the same plant stem, many verbs are formed from

the same verb stem. We add an ending to a stem to make a complete word:

ग + ित → गितgaccha + ti → gacchati He goes.

ग + तः → गतःgaccha + taḥ → gacchataḥ The two of them go.

ग + ि→ गिgaccha + nti → gacchanti They go.

ित + ित → ितितtiṣṭha + ti → tiṣṭhati He stands.

ित + तः → िततःtiṣṭha + taḥ → tiṣṭhataḥ The two of them stand.

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ित + ि → ितिtiṣṭha + nti → tiṣṭhanti They stand.

पय + ित→ पियतpaśya + ti → paśyati He sees.

पय + तः→ पयतःpaśya + taḥ → paśyataḥ The two of them see.

पय + ि→ पियpaśya + nti → paśyanti They see.

And of course, we can talk about other sorts of people. We can talk about you:

गिसgacchasi You go.

गथःgacchathaḥ The two of you go.

गथgacchatha You all go.

ितिसtiṣṭhasi You stand.

ितथःtiṣṭhathaḥ The two of you stand.

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ितथtiṣṭhatha You all stand.

पियसpaśyasi You see.

पयथःpaśyathaḥ The two of you see.

पयथpaśyatha You all see.

And we can talk about me:

गिामgacchāmi I go.

गावःgacchāvaḥ The two of us go.

गामःgacchāmaḥ We all go.

ितिामtiṣṭhāmi I stand.

ितावःtiṣṭhāvaḥ The two of us stand.

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ितामःtiṣṭhāmaḥ We all stand.

पियामpaśyāmi I see.

पयावःpaśyāvaḥ The two of us see.

पयामःpaśyāmaḥ We all see.

In this way, Sanskrit lets us talk about some action and the people who perform it.

The present tense

The verbs above let us describe what is happening right now . In English, these verbs are

called present tense verbs.

गितgacchati He goes.

पयावःpaśyāvaḥ The two of us see.


पयामःpaśyāmaḥ We all see.

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गतःgacchataḥ The two of them go.

ितथtiṣṭhatha You all stand.

ितथःtiṣṭhathaḥ The two of you stand.

गिgacchanti They go.

पियामpaśyāmi I see.

These Sanskrit verbs have a broader meaning than their English counterparts:

गितgacchati He is going.

िततःtiṣṭhataḥ The two of them are standing.

पियpaśyanti They are seeing.

And they have many others too. As much as possible, we should focus on Sanskrit words and

sentences, not their counterparts in English. The more we rely on English, the less we learn

about Sanskrit itself.

The forms of this verb are often presented in a table, like the one below:

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[3s] [3d] [3p]

[2s] [2d] [2p]

[1s] [1d] [1p]

But we have seen all of these forms already, and there is no need to linger on a table like this.

In the wild

Our goal is to read Sanskrit texts. So along the way, we will study many examples of real

Sanskrit. As we read these examples, we see new concepts in a real setting. And we can

measure how much we have learned so far.

So consider the text below. We know enough to pronounce it correctly. But how much can we

understand?

अा योगस िंिस ंका ंिगत ंक ृ गितaprāpya yogasaṃsiddhiṃ kāṃ gatiṃ kṛṣṇa gacchati If he has not attained perfection in yoga, Krishna, on which path does he go?—

Bhagavad Gita 6.37

Focus on the highlighted words above; the rest of the example is too difficult right now. But

even this difficult example teaches us something about Sanskrit. Note that gacchati appears atthe end of the sentence. Most verbs do. Note, too, that the anusvāra appears inyogasaṃsiddhim without a space after it. This indicates that the anusvāra can appear within a word, not just at the end of it.

We can also recognize some familiar words, like yoga and kṛṣṇa . These words appearthroughout the Bhagavad Gita, and we will see them many times.

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Ātmanepada The verbs we just studied are called parasmaipada verbs. The verbs we will study below arecalled ātmanepada verbs. But what makes one verb different from another? And just what doparasmaipada and ātmanepada mean, anyway?

Both questions have roughly the same answer. Traditionally, ātmanepada verbs are used whenthe action benefits the person who performs it (ātmane , "for the self"; pada just means"word"), and parasmaipada verbs are used everywhere else (parasmai , "for another"). Weshow this difference in meaning by using different verb endings:

पिचतpacati He cooks.

पचत ेpacate He cooks for himself. (He's cooking himself a meal.)

पचतःpacataḥ The two of them cook.

पच ते ेpacete The two of them cook for themselves.

पिचpacanti They cook.

पच ेpacante They cook for themselves.

The stem is the same, but the endings are different. Just as two different flowers can

sometimes grow from the same stalk, so too can parasmaipada and ātmanepada forms grow from the same verb stem.

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Endings

The ātmanepada endings are closely related to the parasmaipada endings. They follow similarpatterns:

पिचतpacati He cooks.

पचत ेpacate He cooks for himself. (He's cooking himself a meal.)

पिचpacanti They cook.

पच ेpacante They cook for themselves.

पिचसpacasi You cook.

पचस ेpacase You cook for yourself.

Even when these patterns are not immediately clear:

पचतःpacataḥ The two of them cook.

पच ते ेpacete The two of them cook for themselves.

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पचथःpacathaḥ You two cook

पच थे ेpacethe You two cook for yourselves.

पचावःpacāvaḥ The two of us cook.

पचावह ेpacāvahe The two of us cook for ourselves.

पचामःpacāmaḥ We all cook.

पचामह ेpacāmahe

We all cook for ourselves.

But in two instances, there is no pattern at all:

पचथpacatha You all cook.

पच ेpacadhve You all cook for yourselves.

पिचामpacāmi I cook.

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पच ेpace I cook for myself.

Weak distinctionsThe distinction between parasmaipada and ātmanepada is not always strong. Someātmanepada verbs act just like the ones we have seen so far, without any strong sense of acting"for the self":

लभत ेlabhate He obtains.

लभ ते ेlabhete The two of them obtain.

लभ ेlabhante They obtain.

लभस ेlabhase You obtain.

लभ थे ेlabhethe The two of you obtain.

लभ ेlabhadhve You all obtain.

लभ ेlabhe I obtain.

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लभावह ेlabhāvahe The two of us obtain.

लभामह ेlabhāmahe We all obtain.

But generally these verbs do describe things that affect us, like being born, enjoying

something, dying, or simply thinking:

मत ेmanyate He thinks.

मावह ेmanyāvahe The two of us think.

म ेmanyadhve You all think.

म ते ेmanyete The two of them think.

म थे ेmanyethe The two of you think.

मामह ेmanyāmahe We all think.

मस ेmanyase You think.

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म ेmanye I think.

म ेmanyante They think.

Traditionally, verbs are presented in a table, like the one below:

[3s] [3d] [3p]

[2s] [2d] [2p]

[1s] [1d] [1p]

But we have already seen all of these forms, and there is no need to linger on a table like this.

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Nouns in Case 1

Generally, every Sanskrit sentence is just some action. The simplest sentences are just actions

and nothing else:

पियतpaśyati He sees.

लभ थे ेlabhethe The two of you obtain.

मामह ेmanyāmahe We all think.


Unfortunately, these sentences tell us very little. If we see just paśyati , how can we tell whosees, or what is seen? And how and where does this "seeing" happen?

To fill these gaps, we use nouns. Nouns describe ideas as simple as elephants and fruits, and as

complex as places and concepts. Just like verbs, nouns are inflected :

गजः पियतgajaḥ paśyati The elephant sees.

गजौ पयतःgajau paśyataḥ The two elephants see.

गजाः पियgajāḥ paśyanti The elephants see.

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And just like verbs, nouns have a stem. Here, the stem is gaja . Just as many flowers bloomfrom the same plant stem, many nouns are formed from the same noun stem. And as with

verbs, we add an ending to a noun to make a complete word:



गजाः पियgajāḥ paśyanti

The elephants see.

नरः पचत ेnaraḥ pacate The man cooks for himself.

नरौ पच ते ेnarau pacete The two men cook for themselves.

नराः पच ेnarāḥ pacante The men cook for themselves.

अस ि्तित (अः ितित)aśvas tiṣṭhati (aśvaḥ tiṣṭhati)The horse stands.

अौ िततःaśvau tiṣṭhataḥ The two horses stand.

अास ि्ति (अाः िति)aśvās tiṣṭhanti (aśvāḥ tiṣṭhanti)The horses stand.

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Note the blending that occurs in aśvas tiṣṭhati and aśvās tiṣṭhati . Now that our sentences havemultiple words, we have to be mindful of how the sounds in the two words affect each other.

Noun roles

In each example above, the noun defines what performs the verb action. But nouns can defineother parts of the action, too. With paśyati , for example, we can define what is seen:

गजः पियत नरम ्gajaḥ paśyati naram The elephant sees the man.

Or where the elephant sees:

ाम ेगजः पियतgrāme gajaḥ paśyati The elephant sees in the village.

Or what the elephant sees with:

नयन ने गजः पियतnayanena gajaḥ paśyati The elephant sees with his eye.

Here, the role of the noun changes when we change the noun ending. So in addition toshowing the number of items involved, the noun ending shows the noun's role. Generally,

these roles are called cases. Still, roles and cases are not quite the same thing.

Case 1

Case 1 usually defines what performs the action:



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गिजािgajāstiṣṭhanti The elephants stand.

In these examples, the consonant that comes after the visarga is not voiced. What if theconsonant is voiced instead?

नरः लभत ेnaraḥ labhate The man obtains.

नराः लभ ेnarāḥ labhante The men obtain.

Try repeating these entences ten or twenty times. Eventually it will become tiresome to

transition between the unvoiced visarga in naraḥ and narāḥ and the voiced l in labhate andlabhante . It is much easier to blend the two words.

For the first sentence, this blending is against all of our intuitions. It is the sort of change we

must just accept.

नरः लभत े→ नरो लभत ेnaraḥ labhate → naro labhate The man obtains.

The -aḥ ending became o . This happens in front of voiced consonants of any kind.

For the second sentence, the blending is much more reasonabl

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