March 1, 2015 - March 15, 2015

हरिः ॐ | नमो नमः |

After opening prayers and the theme song of the year, we started our study of sanskrit. After reviewing genitive case, we moved on to the next topic.

 सप्तमी  विभक्तिः - Locative Case:

A noun is declined in locative case, when it is used to express relative location in space or time. When constructing sentences the place associated with the action/verb, or, the time associated with the action/verb shall be expressed in locative case.

In English the prepositions typically used to express location and time would be " in, on, and, at"

Ex: 

The Lion lives in the forest.

The book is on the table.

The sanskrit class starts at 11 AM.

As with other vibhakti-s, the ending of the noun is modified in sanskrit to indicate locative case.

Spatial location

We first reviewed vocabulary words that indicate relative position: अत्र, तत्र, एकत्र, अन्यत्र, सर्वत्र, कुत्र.
We practiced answering questions using these words. These are indeclinables, and hence their form does not change with gender or number.

Then we studied how the nouns in all three genders would be modified to express location, in singular form.

Gender	Nominative Case	Genitive Case
पुल्लिङ्गः	रामः	रामे
स्त्रीलिङ्गः	सीता	सीतायाम्
स्त्रीलिङ्गः	देवी	देव्याम्
नपुंसकलिङ्गः	वनम्	वने

We practiced constructing sentences adding location.

1. सिंहः वने वसति |
2. पुस्तकानि  स्यूते  सन्ति |
3. पुस्तकम् उत्पीठिकायाम् अस्ति |
4. बालकः नद्यां तरति |

We learned few new words that describe town, state, country, continent, etc. and practiced using those in saptamI vibhakti. The question word to ask "in what" in samskrutam is कस्मिन्.

Chronological location

We reviewed how to tell time in the clock in sanskrit.
Please click here to review cardinal numbers 1 - 20.
Then click here to review time.

After a quick review students answered time related questions, describing when an event or action happened.

Q: भवान् कदा सम्स्कृतगृहपाठम् करोति ?
A:  अहं शनिवासरे सायंकाले  अष्टवादने सम्स्कृतगृहपाठम् करोमि |
Q: भवान्  कदा स्नानं करोति ?
A: अहं प्रातःकाले सार्ध-सप्तवादने  स्नानं करोमि |
Q: संस्कृतकक्ष्या कदा आरभते ?
A: संस्कृतकक्ष्या  एकादशवादने आरभते |

The kids wanted to understand how to describe AM, PM in sanskrit. This lead to the discussion of how the day is divided into segments based on the relative position of sun. The time within a day is expressed relative to sunrise / dawn, mid-day, sunset / dusk, and, midnight. "At 8AM" would hence be stated as प्रातः काले अष्टवादने, and at 8PM would be सायंकाले अष्टवादने.

Please review the vocabulary words learned as part of these lessons.

Reading & Comprehension

We analyzed the following shloka that is chanted in the morning after waking up, and identified all the locative case endings.

कराग्रे वसते लक्ष्मीः  करमध्ये सरस्वती |
करमूले तु गोविन्दः   प्रभाते करदर्शनम्  ||

Goddess Lakshmi resides in the tip of the hand, or,  fingers. Goddess Saraswati resides in the middle of the hand, or in the palm. Lord Vishnu resides in the base of the hand, or the wrist. (Some variations of this shloka have sthitaa gaurI, instead of tu govindaH). In the early morning, one should look at one's hand.

Though this is the literal translation, the verse suggests that, one's destiny is in one's own hands. In order to earn money, one has to work with the hands, in order to gain knowledge, one has to study, and in order to stay strong, one has to actively perform one's duties. God has given us hands, thus blessing us with wealth, knowledge, and health.

When we rise in the morning, chanting this shloka reminds us that our actions alone shape our destiny; thus inspires us to do our best!

Homework

1. Find a shloka that has saptamI vibhakti ending words.
2. Write 5 sentences each using a subject, verb and a noun declined in saptamI vibhakti.
3. Review the vocabulary words. There will be a quiz in the next class.

We concluded with Prayers.
We shall meet again on March 22nd.

ॐ  शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः ||

Feb 8, 2015 - Feb 15, 2015

हरिः ॐ | नमो नमः |

Today we had our first class in the newly constructed Vrindavan Ashram, in Cranbury. In our classroom, Govinda, we all assembled seated on the floor, each student with a lap desk in front of them. It was a new experience, and the class easily adapted to the new style.

After opening prayers and singing the theme song of the year, we started our study of sanskrit. We first reviewed all the concepts that we had studied this year, as we were meeting after a long break. We then moved on to a new topic - relationships between nouns :)

Topic:

षष्ठी विभक्तिः  - Genitive or Possessive Case

Genitive case is used to express a relationship between two nouns. Most commonly the possessive relationship is expressed using this case, and hence the commonly referred to as possessive case. However genitive case is not limited to just possessive relationships. In English, the preposition 'of' or the apostrophe character is used to indicate genitive case. Here are some examples:

the son of Shiva,  or, Shiva's son

the wife of Rama,  or, Rama's wife

the capital of India, or, India's capital

the branches of the tree, tree's branches

the color of the Crow, or, Crow's color

Given the fact that the order of the words in a sentence does not alter the meaning of the sentence in sanskrit, this relationship gets expressed through a specific ending to the root word. 

Let us look at how the ending is modified for the various genders that we have learned in the past.

Gender	Nominative Case	Genitive Case
पुल्लिङ्गः	रामः	रामस्य
स्त्रीलिङ्गः	सीता	सीतायाः
स्त्रीलिङ्गः	देवी	देव्याः
नपुंसकलिङ्गः	वनम्	वनस्य

Here are some examples:

1. शिवस्य  पुत्रः गणेशः मोदकं खादति |  Ganesha, the son of Shiva, eats a modakam.
2. रामस्य पत्नी सीता सुन्दरी अस्ति | Sita, the wife of Rama, is very beautiful.
3. पत्रिकायाः नाम चन्दमामा अस्ति | The name of the magazine is chandamama.
4. देवक्याः सुतः कृष्णः नवनीतम् चोरयति | Krishna, the son of Devaki, steals butter.
5. पुस्तकस्य मूल्यम् शतरूप्यकाणि  | The cost of the book is hundred rupees. 
6. काकस्य वर्णः कृष्णः | The color of the crow is black.

Note:
Remember that ShaShTi vibhakti is applied to the noun with reference to whom or which the relationship is expressed.

Feb 15, 2015:

We learned the genitive case of a few pronouns, in singular number.

Pronoun	Nominative Case	Genitive Case
I	अहम्	मम
You	त्वम्	तव
You (respectful) - masucline	भवान्	भवतः
You (respectful) - feminine	भवती	भवत्याः

Here are some sentences that we have encountered in the past using the genitive form of the pronouns - I and You:

• Q: भवतः नाम किम् ?   What is your name?  (To a boy or a man)
• A: मम नाम  < रामः > |  My name is < Rama >.
• Q: भवत्याः नाम किम् ? What is your name? (To a girl or a lady)
• A: मम नाम  < गौरी > | My name is < Gowri >.
• तव मातृभाषा का ?  What is your mother-tongue?
• मम मातृभाषा  < हिन्दी > |  My mother-tongue is < Hindi >.

Homework

Please review all the vocabulary words we learned today in sanskrit, and their meaning.

1. Write three sentences with a subject, object and a verb.  
2. Write five sentences using genitive case ending of nouns.
3. Write the complete subhaashitam - हस्तस्य  भूषणम्  दानम्  neatly, and underline the nouns in shashThI vibhakti.

We had an oral and written test on genitive case. The students needed more practice in writing sanskrit. Please practice to write in sanskrit to get better in writing.

We concluded with Prayers.
We shall meet again on March 1, 2015

ॐ  शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः ||