MAY 17, 2023
If you imagine the very early days before any construction or grammer of the language has taken place the possibility tht people spoke in sentences to communicate with each other is in escapable. Then the realized that the sentences are composed of words. Then the words are broken into letters where upon it was found that the letters are unbreakeable and so they are called अक्षर (the imperishable).
The sentences formed the literatures of Sanskrit and they are of three kinds. They are:
- वैदिक
- लौकिक and
- दैविक
The important one among the above is लौकिक that comprised of
a) पुराण
b) इतिहास
c) धर्मशास्त्र
d) तन्त्रशास्त्र
e) दर्शनशास्त्र and then comes
f) साहित्य
As I said before the sound that was the basic communication got transcribed into अक्षर and they brought into being the words and sentences. The combination of sentences became treasure trove that is bequethed to humanity in the form of literatures. Most of our literatures in Sanskrit is in the form of poems and some in prose. For example the earliest compositions, viz. Ramayana and Mahabharata were written in poetic languages only. So also the Vedas are almost poetic.
Now let us continue with the lessons.
Let us recapture some topics we already discussed and add new ones if necessary.
अक्षराणि (alphabets). In Sanskrit, these letters/sounds are called वर्ण.
वर्ण are classified into स्वर (swara) (vowels) and व्यन्जन ( vyanjana) (consonants)
स्वरा:
स्वयम् राजन्ते इति स्वरा: says Patanjali. This means that the स्वरा: stand on their own feet and they do not need any support for pronounciation.
ह्रस्व स्वराः अ इ उ ऋ ऌ
Transcription a i u ṛ ḷ
दीर्घ स्वराः आ ई ऊ ॠ ॡ
ranscription ā ī ū ṝ ḹ
नित्य दीर्ग स्वरा (No ह्रस्व स्वराः for them).
ए ऐ ओ औ
Transcription e ai o au
व्यञ्जनानि (vyanjanaani)
There are 33 व्यञ्जन in total.
कण्ठव्य क ख ग घ ङ
Transcription k kh g gh ṅ
तालव्य च छ ज झ ञ
Transcription c ch j jh ñ
मूर्धन्य ट ठ ड ढ ण
Transcription ṭ ṭh ḍ ḍh ṇ
दन्तव्य त थ द ध न
Transcription t th d dh n
ओष्ठव्य प फ ब भ म
Transcription p ph b bh m
अन्तन्स्थाः (Semi-vowels)
विशिष्ट व्यन्जन य र ल व
Transcription y r l v
ऊमाणाः (Sibilants)
विशिष्ट व्यन्जन श ष स ह
Transcription ś ṣ s h
Remember we said क to ह are called व्यञ्जन (vyanjana) – consonants. So keep व्यञ्जन in mind! We are now going to talk of what is called the meeting of two consonants called सन्धि (sandhi).
The first one we are taking up is called jashtva sandhi (जश्त्व सन्धि). What happens when When the 1st व्यञ्जन (consonant) of any ‘ वर्ग’ (group) faces a vowel?
Soft consonant (except nasal (अनुनासिक)), the consonant is replaced by the 3rd व्यञ्जन of its respective वर्ग. The examples below will make it more clearer –
(i). वाक् + अर्थ = वागर्थ; क् + अ = ग
(ii) सम्यक् + उत्तरम् = सम्यगुत्तरम्; क् + उ = गु
(iii) अच् + अन्तम् = अजन्तम् ; च् + अ = ज
(iv) कश्चित् + उद्यानवनम् = कश्चिदुद्यानवनम् ; त् + उ = दु
(v) कुर्यात् + रामः = कुर्याद्राम; त् + रा + द्रा
(vi) सुप् + अन्तम् = सुबन्तम् ; प् + अ = ब
Let’s take up visarga sandhi (विसर्ग सन्धि). There are 4 actually 5 types of visarga sandhi-s.
Let’s start with visarga becomes उकार. When the first word ends with अः and the second words starts with a soft consonant or अ, the visarga becomes उ.
When I say a soft consonant I mean the last 3 vargIya vyanjanas of all 5 vargas. Together, अ + उ = ओ. It will be more clear from some examples below.
(i) अधः + गतिः अ + ग become ओ + ग = अधोगतिः
(ii) शिवः + अहम् अ + अ become ओ + ऽ (अवग्रह chinham, stands for ‘अ’) = शिवोऽहम्
NOTE:
Elision means the omission of a sound or syllable when speaking. In Sanskrit it is called अवग्रह or प्रश्लेष-चिन्हं. It is depicted by the symbol S, and is principally to denote the the silent अकार. When written twice as SS then आकार is silent or not to be uttered.
Example of the first:
देहिनोऽस्मिन्यथा देहे कौमारं यौवनं जरा ।
तथा देहान्तरप्राप्तिर्धीरस्तत्र न मुह्यति ॥ २-१३॥
Example of the second:
यथा सर्वगतं सौक्ष्म्यादाकाशं नोपलिप्यते ।
सर्वत्रावस्थितो देहे तथाऽऽत्मा नोपलिप्यते ॥ १३-३३॥
(iii) कुतः गतः अ + ग become ओ + ग = कुतोगतः
Now I will take up with instances where the visarga disappears (लोप). When the first word ends in आः and the second begins with a vowel or soft consonant, the visarga disappears (लोप).
(i) अश्वाः आगच्छन्ति Here : disappears (लोप) and it becomes अश्वा आगच्छन्ति.
(ii) गजाः गताः Here : disappears (लोप) and it becomes गजा गताः
When अः is followed by any vowel other than अ visarga disappears. For example, कुतः आगतः Here : disappears (लोप)) and it becomes कुत आगतः
We will take couple more variations of (लोप)) later. Now let’s take up visarga becomes रेफ.
Any visarga other than अः/आः (इः/ईः/उः/ऊः/…../औः followed by a vowel or soft consonant, becomes a र् .
(i) हरिः + इयम् ; इः + इ become इर् + इ (with visarga disappearing) = हरिरियम् .
(ii) पतिः + आगच्छति where इः + आ become इर् + आ making it पतिरागच्छति.
In such a case, if the second word starts with र्, then the previous vowel becomes long. Example,
भ्रातुः + रक्षति
तुः + र
तू + र
भ्रातू रक्षति
Now let’s take up where visarga becomes स/श/ष-कार. visarga followed by त् /थ् /स् becomes स्.
(i) तरुः + तत्र
रुः + त
रुस् + त
तरुस्तत्
(ii) तरुः + साक्षी
रुः + स
रुस् + स
तरुस्साक्षी / तरुः साक्षी (the sandhi is optional for second word beginning with स्).
च् /छ् /श् becomes श्.
(i) रामः + चेत्
मः + च्
मश् + च्
रामश्चेत्
(ii) रामः + शेते
मः + श्
मश् + श्
रामश्शेते / रामः शेते (the sandhi is optional for second word beginning with श्).
(iii) ट् /ठ् /ष् becomes ष्.
क्लिष्टः + टवर्गः
टः + ट्
टष् + ट्
क्लिष्टष्टवर्गः
(iv) पुत्रः + षण्मुखः
रः + ष्
रष् + ष्
पुत्रष्षण्मुखः / पुत्रः षण्मुखः (the sandhi is optional for second word beginning with ष्)
Visarga preceding क/ख has to be pronounced as a जिह्वामूलीय (jihvaamUlIya – back of the tongue). For eg. काकः काकः becomes काकೱ काकः
Visarga preceding प/फ has to be pronounced as a उपद्मानीय (upadmaanIya – breathed at). For eg. पिकः पिकः becomes पिकೱ पिकः
Visarga preceding क्ष has to be pronounced completely as a visarga itself!
(i) सुखः + क्षमी
सुखः, क्षमी
(ii) उद्भवः + क्षोभणः
उद्भवः, क्षोभणः
Janamejayan's धर्म जिज्ञासा 