HINDUISM AND SANATAN DHARMA

Hinduism,Cosmos ,Sanatan Dharma.Ancient Hinduism science.

sanskrit lesson 3

Learning Sanskrit by a fresh approach – Lesson 3

Posted in Learning Sanskrit by fresh approach, Lessons 01 to 10 by slabhyankar अभ्यंकरकुलोत्पन्नः श्रीपादः on May 21, 2010
Learning Sanskrit by a fresh approach
Lesson 3
 
Glossary 3
No. English Sanskrit in transliteration Sanskrit in Devanagari
1 in post-rainy season sharadi शरदि
2 no, not, does not na
3 rains varShati वर्षति
4 thunders garjati गर्जति
5 during rainy season varShAsu वर्षासु
6 quiet, noiseless niH-svanaH नि:स्वनः
7 cloud meghaH मेघः
8* noiseless cloud niHsvano meghaH निःस्वनो मेघः
9 mean-minded, lowly neechaH नीचः
10 talks, prattles vadati वदति
11* (the) lowly prattles neecho vadati नीचो वदति
12 does kurute कुरुते
13 good person, gentleman sujanaH सुजनः
14 does karoti करोति
15 only eva एव
16* does only karotyeva करोत्येव

Here we have three conjugations. The conjugated phrases are marked by *

(6) + (7) = (8) नि:स्वनः + मेघः = निःस्वनो मेघः

(9) + (10) = (11) नीचः + वदति = नीचो वदति

(14) + (15) = (16) करोति + एव = करोत्येव

 

In the first two conjugations two words haven’t really merged into each other. But the visarga (:) at the ending of the first word has become ओ
निःस्वन् + अः –> निःस्वन् + ओ = निःस्वनो
नीच् + अः –> नीच् + ओ = नीचो
 

In the third one करोति + एव = करोत् + इ + एव = करोत् + य् + एव = करोत्येव

Here vowel इ merges into vowel ए to become य् + ए. Then we have merging of त् + य् + ए becoming त्ये
There is no need to become unduly over-conscientious of this explanation of the third one. Even if you say करोति एव, करोति एव at some speed, you will realise that it does become करोत्येव. So, rules of conjugation are all logical and natural. Thanks to the sages like PaaNinee that naturally happening pronunciations also have been refined, structured into rules. The very name of the language “Sanskrit” means refined. It is these refinements which have made the language chaste. There is no other language in the world, which can match the chastity of Sanskrit.
Word #15 एव is not new. It was there in glossary 1. It is repeated just for the sake of convenience.

 

Exercises 3 From the words 1 to 16 in the glossary, prepare the following phrases –

 

No. Phrase Sanskrit in transliteration Sanskrit in Devanagari
1 cloud, in post-rainy season, not, rains, thunders __________  __________ ___________ __________  __________  _________
2 quiet (noiseless) cloud, during rainy season, rains __________  ___________  ________ __________  __________  ________
3 the lowly person, prattles, not, does __________  __________  _________ __________  __________  ________
4 not, talks, gentleman, does only __________  __________  _________ __________  __________  ________

 

In the glossary, you have the word “cloud” only once. You have to use it both in phrases (1) and (2). Likewise the word “not” is to be used at three places.

For the English word “does” we have in the glossary two Sanskrit words कुरुते and  करोति. They are interchangeable. Or even any one of the two can be used at both the places. But to keep the matter simple, in phrase 3, I have put “does” independently after “not”. In phrase 4, I have put it together “does only” as in the glossary. Use the glossary. So you will know which fits better where.

Now you can write down two-two phrases in one line. By that it becomes a good two-line verse, a good saying a सुभाषितम् !!

 

Here it is, how it reads –

sharadi na varShati garjati varShati varShAsu niHsvano meghaH

neecho vadati na kurute na vadati sujanaH karotyeva

शरदि न वर्षति गर्जति वर्षति वर्षासु निःस्वनो मेघः ।

नीचो वदति न कुरुते न वदति सुजनः करोत्येव ॥

 

Say it aloud. You will appreciate what musical rhythm is built in here by the poet, having composed it with quite some Onamatopoeia. Doesn’t that make it so easy to commit it to memory ? And there is of course a message, a moral, explained with an example of a very commonplace experience. To derive moral out of a commonplace experience is again refinement. Language itself is a refined language. Poetry shall of course be !

I am sure you will like this good saying सुभाषितम्. Learn it by heart.

 

You may think that for every lesson, I advise, “Learn it by heart”. But this is all poetry, music and easy knowledge, wisdom, eternal wisdom, saturated and condensed in such short verses. Why not learn it by heart ?

More the wisdom you have within your memory bank, wiser you will be. So learning Sanskrit is not just learning another language. It is enriching ourselves with all that wisdom you have in the literature of Sanskrit. That is my basic idea of “Learning Sanskrit by a fresh approach”. How do you like that ?

Also, once you remember the verses, your vocabulary is also automatically building up. You do not have to make any separate effort to mug up words and their meanings. If the verse is understood along with its meaning, it is so many birds in one stone!

 

शुभमस्तु |

Leave a comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Information

This entry was posted on December 17, 2013 by in Uncategorized.

I'm just starting out; leave me a comment or a like :)

Follow HINDUISM AND SANATAN DHARMA on WordPress.com
type="text/javascript" data-cfasync="false" /*/* */