Nov 16, 2014

हरिः ॐ | नमो नमः |

After opening prayers, we reviewed the concept of gender in sanskrit. We practiced identifying the gender of a word, by examining the last syllable or the ending of the word.

We then moved on to the topic of the day.

वचनम्  - Number:

In sanskrit, words can be expressed in singular, dual, and, plural numbers. The dual number form is unique to sanskrit; it conveys that a pair or a couple of items are involved, as in the case of eyes, ears, hands, legs, and parents. Plural number in sanskrit, conveys that more than two items are being referred to.

Singular number is known as एकवचनम्
Dual number is known as द्विवचनम्
Plural number is known as बहुवचनम्

We first learned the three different number forms of the pronouns learned in the previous class, and then moved on to nouns in various genders. Here is the summary:

Gender	Singular	Dual	Plural
सर्वनाम शब्दाः  - Pronouns
पुल्लिङ्गः	सः	तौ	ते
स्त्रीलिङ्गः	सा	ते	ताः
नपुंसकलिङ्गः	तत्	ते	तानि
नाम शब्दाः - Nouns
पुल्लिङ्गः	रामः	रामौ	रामाः
स्त्रीलिङ्गः	सीता	सीते	सीताः
नपुंसकलिङ्गः	वनम्	वने	वनानि

We then practised this concept with other masculine, feminine and neuter gender nouns and pronouns, until the class became a pro at it :) We learned many new words in the process.

Homework

Write the dual and plural forms of these nouns, whose singular form is given here. Look up in a dictionary if you do not know the meaning of any of these words, or, the gender of the word.

1. बालकः 
2. बालिका 
3. पुस्तकम् 
4. माला 
5. व्यजनम् 
6. शरीरः 
7. शिरः 
8. हस्तः 
9. कः   * 
10. किम्  *

* - challenge words. 

We concluded with Prayers.
We shall meet again on Nov 23, 2014.

ॐ  शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः ||

Nov 2, 2014

हरिः ॐ | नमो नमः |

After opening prayer and the theme song of the year, we started our study of sanskrit.

सर्वनाम शब्दाः - Pronouns

We reviewed the list of commonly used pronouns that are gender neutral, in singular number:

1. अहम्    = I
2. त्वम्     = You

The rest of the pronouns, starting with, सर्व,  have different forms based on the gender and the number. We then reviewed the three genders in sanskrit, and how to tell if a word is masculine, feminine or neuter gender. Please refer to this earlier post explaining gender in sanskrit.

Pronoun	पुंल्लिङ्गः  Masculine	स्त्रीलिङ्गः   Feminine	नपुंसकलिङ्गः  Neuter
He, She, It, This (close proximity)	एषः	एषा	एतत्
He, She, It, That (at a distance)	सः	सा	तत्
Who	कः	का	किम्
All / Everyone	सर्वः	सर्वा	सर्वम्

We did an exercise to tell the gender of the noun, by looking at the last letter of the word.

akaaraanta pullinga shabda, means, a word that ends with the short vowel 'a', and is of masculine gender. VisargaH typically accompanies the last vowel a.
Ex: रामः, शिरः, हस्तः, एषः

aakaaraanta striilinga shabda means, a word that ends with the long vowel, 'aa', and is of feminine gender. iikaaraanta striilinga shabda means, a word that ends with the long vowel, 'ii'/'ee', and is of feminine gender.
Ex: सीता , माला , का, नदी , लेखनी 

akaaraanta napumsakalinga shabda means, a word that ends with the short vowel 'a' and is of nueter gender. This is typically accompanied by anusvaaraH.
Ex: वनम् , पत्रम् , पुष्पम्, फलम्, सर्वम् 

Note: visargaH and anusvaaraH are not considered as vowels; they are support vowels. Hence the vowel that they accompany are used to tell the ending letter. This pattern of identifying the gender works for majority of the words. However there are exceptions, and other patterns, that we will learn as we advance further.

The students then practised constructing sentences using the words in the vocabulary wall and the learned pronouns.

Reading & Comprehension 

We then read a short sanskrit poem by kālidāsa.
kālidāsa is a renowned sanskrit poet, and a literary genius. He was one of the court poets in the assembly of the king Bhoja-rājā. He is known for his skill to compose poems on any given topic. Once the king posed a challenge to come up with a poem, that ended in ka kha ga gha. This exercise is also known as samasyaa pooraNam. Based on a conversation kālidāsa had with a girl, on the way to the court, it is believed, he composed this poem:

का त्वं बाले ?  काञ्चन माला | Who are you, little girl?. Kanchana Mala.
कस्याः पुत्री ?  कनकलतायाः |  Whose daughter are you? Kanakalata's.
हस्ते किं ते ? ताली पत्रम् |   What is in your hands? Palm leaf.
का वा रेखा ?  क ख ग घ ||   What is the sketch/drawing? ka kha ga gha.

The rest of the poets who failed to complete the challenge, now realized why Bhoja-rājā had chosen kālidāsa for conferring the title of kavi-chakravarty.

Homework

1. Write the list of pronouns with their English meaning in your notebook.
2. Write the poem in sanskrit, in your notebook. Read few times to become fluent.
3. Look up nouns in the spoken sanskrit dictionary. Identify the gender. Build your list of 5 masculine, 5 feminine and 5 neuter gender nouns. Please write the words in Sanskrit, its meaning in English, and the gender.

We concluded with Prayers. We will meet again on Nov 16, 2014.
ॐ  शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः ||

June 8, 2014

हरिः ॐ | Hari OM.
Today, we took a sneak peak in to past tense. We had stumbled upon it a few times earlier in some of the exercises in abhyaasapustakam, but we had reserved it for a later class.

We first reviewed the present tense form of the verbs along with their dhatus that we had learned in the past sessions. Now a crude way to indicate that the action happened in the past, is to add this special word, स्म, to the verb in present tense. This is irrespective of the puruShaH and vacanam. Very simple :) Strictly speaking, this does not exactly represent past tense in sanskrit grammar, but comes to the aid of a beginner communicating in sanskrit, who has knowledge of the present tense forms of the verb, to convey that the action happened in the past, and is not present.

This is hoping that the beginner shall progress further and learn past tense in its true form, and then not rely in this aid. It is similar to taking the help of a float or a noodle to first get comfortable with the water in the swimming pool. Once you learn to swim, of course you do not need to hang on to the noodle :) So until you learn past tense, hang on to स्म  to swim in the ocean of sanskrit :)

Examples:
सीता नृत्यति स्म |  Sita danced in the past, or, Sita used to dance.
अहं ध्यानं करोमि स्म |  I meditated in the past, or, I used to meditate.

We then briefly looked at another way of communicating past tense: using the -ktavat pratyaya, which when suffixed to the verb, gives the past participle form of a verb. The ktavat pratyaya form varies based on the gender and number, but does not change or vary based on the person/puruSha.

Examples:
रामः वनं गतवान् |    Rama had gone to the forest.    
अहं आपणं गतवान् |   I had gone to the store.
        
सा फलं  खादितवती |    She had eaten a fruit.
अहं मात्रुगृहं गतवती |    I had gone to my mother's house.

However once we learn to conjugate the verb roots in past tense, these usages are discouraged.

With that our one year of sanskrit learning came to a conclusion.

Keep reading articles in sanskrit, until we meet again.

धन्यवादाः |
ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः ||