We take up some more on सम्भाषणम् (Sambhashanam).
Before we proceed further on the subject of सम्भाषणम् I have omitted some important points on the topic of Anusvaara: tweeted yesterday. Let me explain.
This is about words ending in म् – मकारः If the next word starts with a consonant then मकारः converts into an Anusvaara.
So it is wrong to write as अहम् गच्छामि | The right way to write is अहं गच्छामि | It is because the word गच्छामि starts with ‘ग’ which is a consonant.
Also it is wrong to write as अहं आगच्छामि | Why? Because the next word आगच्छामि | starts with the letter आ which is a svara which is not a consonant. So the right way to write this is अहम् आगच्छामि |
The other rule is when a sentence ends (marked by the sign |) then the मकारः is written as म् and not transformed into an Anusvaara. Example is: तत् चक्रम् | is right and तत् चक्रं | is wrong.
Now we are introducing 2 more words –
(Atra) means here.
(Tatra) means there.
Example usage in sentences of daily use –
(i) लेखफलकम् अत्र अस्ति (The writing board is here).
(ii) समयसूचिका तत्र अस्ति (The clock is there).
(iii) मार्जनी अत्र नास्ति (The duster is not here).
(iv) मम मित्रं रामः तत्र अस्ति (My friend Raama is there).
(v) द्वारम् अत्र अस्ति (The door is here).
(vi) किं वातायनं तत्र अस्ति (Is the window there?) आम् वातायनं तत्र अस्ति (Yes, the window is there).
(vii) अत्र सैकतं तत्र समुद्रः (The sand bank is here, the sea is there).
It is important to note that there are no punctuation marks in Sanskrit. So, you will not find commas, semi-colons or question marks. The only punctuation marks in Sanskrit are । and ॥.
In Prose, । represents पूर्णविराम (PurnaVirama), essentially is Phrase Separator. In Poetry, ॥ represents पूर्णविराम (PurnaVirama) and । represents अर्धविराम (ArdhaVirama) means Half Pause.
We then got introduced to 3 more words –
(i) कुत्र (Kutra) means where
(ii) अन्यत्र (Anyatra) means elsewhere
(iii) सर्वत्र (Sarvatra) means everywhere
Examples of daily use in sentences
(i) तव भ्राता कुत्र अस्ति (Where is your brother?) मम भ्राता अन्यत्र अस्ति (My brother is elsewhere)
(ii) वायुः कुत्र अस्ति (Where is air?) वायुः सर्वत्र अस्ति (Air is everywhere)
(iii) किं अन्धकारः सर्वत्र अस्ति (Is darkness everywhere?) न अन्धकारः सर्वत्र नास्ति (No, darkness is not everywhere)
(iv) सर्वत्र किं अस्ति (What is everywhere?) प्रेम सर्वत्र अस्ति (Love is everywhere)
(v) अत्र किं किम् अस्ति (Who who [who all] – are here?) अत्र सर्वम् अस्ति (Everyone is here)
(vi) किं हस्ती अत्र अस्ति (Is elephant here?) न हस्ती अत्र नास्ति हस्ती तत्र अस्ति (No elephant is not here, the elephant is there)
(vii) रामः कुत्र (Where is Raamah?)
(viii) तव अत्र किं कार्यम् (What work do you have here?)
(ix) किं सुशीतकम् अत्र अस्ति (Is the refrigerator here?)
(x) न सुशीतकम् अत्र नास्ति तत्र अपि नास्ति सुशीतकम् अन्यत्र अस्ति (No, the refrigerator is not here, its not also there, its elsewhere)After listening to these examples, you may frame your own sentences and speak it out. You can construct यत्र…तत्र (Yatra…Tatra) meaning where…there. In this construct, यत्र (Yatra) is a Relative Where (it is not a simple Where) and this goes with तत्र (Tatra). Here are the examples –
(i) यत्र जलं अस्ति तत्र मीनः अस्ति (Where there is water, there is fish)
(ii) यत्र अनलः अस्ति तत्र धूमः अस्ति (Where there is fire, there is smoke)
(iii) यत्र प्राणः अस्ति तत्र जीवनम् अस्ति (Where there is life-force, there is life)
(iv) यत्र पाकशाला अस्ति तत्र रोटिका अस्ति (Where there is kitchen, there is roti)
(v) यत्र असत्यं अस्ति तत्र क्लेशः अस्ति (Where there is falsehood, there is misery)
(vi) यत्र नेता अस्ति तत्र भ्रष्टाचारः अस्ति (Where there is a politician, there is corruption)
(vii) यत्र माता अस्ति तत्र करुणा अस्ति (Where there is mother, there is compassion)
Please note that यत्र…तत्र (Yatra…Tatra) is not to be translated to wherever…there. For wherever, Sanskrit has the construct यत्र यत्र… (Yatra Yatra…).
Now let’s learn about referring to near using ‘this’ and far using ‘that’ . We were introduced to the following words based on the gender that they refer to.
(i) {Near (This) Gender}
(ii) एषः (Eshah) Masculine
(iii) एषा (Eshaa) Feminine
(iv) एतत् (Etat) Neuter
Example usage would be –
(i) (एषः कृष्णः (This is Krishnah)
(ii) एषा गीता (This is Gita)
(iii) एतत् पुष्पम् (This is a flower)
To ask questions, we will ask according to the gender.
{Question Gender}
(i) कः (Kah) Masculine
(ii) का (Kaa) Feminine
(iii) किम् (Kim) Neuter
Example usage in sentences will be –
(i) एषः कः (Who is this?) एषः रामः (This is Raamah) रामः संगणक अभियन्ता (Raamah is a computer engineer)
(ii) एषा का (Who is this?) एषा अर्चना (This is Archanaa) एषा गायिका भाचित्रिका न्यायवादिनी च अस्ति (She is a singer, a photographer and an advocate)
(iii) एषः चिकित्सकः (He is a doctor)
(iv) एतत् किम् (What is this?) एतत् सङ्गणकम् (This is a computer)
(v) एतत् किम् (What is this?) एतत् प्रक्षेपकम् (This is a projector)
(vi) एतत् किम् (What is this?) एतत् चित्रम् (This is a picture)
(vii) कः तत्र अस्ति (Who is there?)
(viii) किं तत्र अस्ति (What is there?)
(ix) किम् एषः तव प्रश्नः (Is that your question?)
(x) किं एषः बालकः तव मित्रं (Is this boy your friend?) न एषः बालकः न मम मित्रं (No, this boy is not my friend)
(xi) किं एषा तव लेखनी (Is this your pen?)
(xii) एतत् पुस्तकं अत्र अस्ति (This book is here)
(xiii) किं एतत् तव स्थानम् (Is this your place?)
(xiv) मम उपनेत्रं कुत्र अस्ति (Where are my spectacles?)
If you don’t happen to know the gender of the subject in advance, then the general question can be एतत् किम् (What is this?) and the general answer can be एतत् + … , i.e. combination. For example, we know that कर्ण (Karna) is Masculine gender.
In case, you don’t happen to know that, you can ask the question – एतत् किम्. In response to that question, there can be 2 possible answers based on the gender of the word कर्ण (Karna):
If you happen to know the gender, you can reply – एषः कर्ण
If you don’t happen to know the gender, then you cannot say – एतत् कर्ण instead you must combine the words like this – एतत्कर्ण , and use as one single word.
The basic word is एतद् (Etad). In Masculine it becomes एषः (Eshah) in Feminine it becomes एषा (Eshaa) and in Neuter it becomes एतत् (Etat). The basic word एतद् (Etad) is never used.
In Sanskrit, the word base, whether it is noun or verb base, it is never used. These base words are called धातु (Dhatu) for verbal base and प्रातिपदिक (Pratipadika) for nominal base.
Whereas the words which are derived from the base words by adding suffixes are called पद (Pada) means usable words or ready-to-use words.
Why all the interrogative sounds in Sanskrit begin with the sound क (Ka)? Is there a logic to this? First, we need to understand the nature of question. What does a question do?
The logic here is that, the sound क (Ka) is the first consonantal sound, immediately it is used after the freely flowing vowels and क (Ka) is produced by obstructing the flow of air at the first position in the oral cavity, so it is the first obstruction.
Similarly, the nature of question is to stop the free flow of thoughts and hence in Sanskrit, every question begins with the sound क (Ka). In fact, every interrogative pronouns in Sanskrit begins with क (Ka).
(i) {Far (That) Gender}
(ii) सः (Sah) Masculine
(iii) सा (Saa) Feminine
(iv) तत् (Tat) Neuter
Example usage in day-to-day sentences –
(i) एषः कृष्णः सः प्रकाशः (This is Krishnah, that is Prakashah)
(ii) एषा गीता सा वर्षा (This is Gita, that is Varsha)
(iii) एतद् द्वारं सः दण्डदीपः (This is door, that is tubelight)
(iv) एतद् द्वारं तत् वातायनम् (This is door, that is window)
(v) एषः कृष्णः सा अध्यापिका (This is Krishnah, that is teacher)
(vi) एषः अध्यापकः सः छात्रः (This is teacher, that is student)
Summary
{Near (This) Far (That) Question Gender}
एषः (Eshah) सः (Sah) कः (Kah) Masculine
एषा (Eshaa) सा (Saa) का (Kaa) Feminine
एतत् (Etat) तत् (Tat) किम् (Kim) Neuter
कः (Kah), का (Kaa) and किम् (Kim) has nothing to do with near and far. They are used attributively for What, Which, Who.
कः बालकः सङ्गणक अभियन्ता (Which boy is computer engineer?)
अत्र कः नरः चिकित्सकः (Who is doctor here?) अत्र श्री रावः चिकित्सकः (Here Mr. Rao is a doctor)
अत्र का बालिका नर्तकी (Who is dancer here?) सा नर्तकी (That is the dancer)
Now learn to count from 1 to 10 in Sanskrit. Please recite the numbers loud and repeat them.
एकम् (Ekam)
द्वे (Dve)
त्रीणि (Trini)
चत्वारि (Chatvari)
पञ्च (Pancha)
षट् (Shat)
सप्त (Sapta)
अष्ट (Ashta)
नव (Nava)
दश (Dasha)
Janamejayan's धर्म जिज्ञासा 