हरिः ॐ | नमो नमः |
After opening prayer and the theme song of the year, we started our study of sanskrit.
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.
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.
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.
ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः ||
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:
- अहम् = I
- त्वम् = You
| 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
- Write the list of pronouns with their English meaning in your notebook.
- Write the poem in sanskrit, in your notebook. Read few times to become fluent.
- 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.
ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः ||
