Lesson 9 C--- By the way | Lesson Index

                                                                                           Lesson 9 C . By the Way...

 

We were at the garden, Tarangini and the rest of us, studying Shantiniketan style, when she suddenly said to me, "Don't lean against him!"   "Him, who?" i was bewildered, i was just resting against a tree. Then enlightenment struck (seems as if trees and enlightenment have a thing going)

"A tree is masculine in Sanskrit, वृक्षः  | So is a cloud मेघः | A village ग्रामः, a question प्रश्नः | So is space आकाशः | Some neuter words in English are masculine in Sanskrit... and the other way around." From that moment onwards, i stopped comparing the two languages and began appreciating the uniqueness of both.

 

i just check the dictionary to confirm gender. Some dictionaries introduce  masculine words  by giving  the प्रथमा विभक्तिः  एकवचनम्  form . For example, the root noun-word राम is introduced as रामः |  Some others prefer to give the root word (just राम ) and print an "M" next to it to say masculine.
A root noun-word isn't logical...take for example the word, मित्र .

 

The masculine form of मित्रः  means the sun and the neuter form  मित्रम् (as a subject कर्ता in a sentence ) means a friend. Curious as to how a neuter word is declined? Slow and steady...will introduce you to it by and by.

 

i also realized the need to have duals and plurals for names when confronted with five Abhisheks in a class of forty eight. So instead of रामाः गच्छन्ति, i simply said अभिषेकाः गच्छन्ति |

Who says space can't be divided?! We managed it when two of us fought and landed up with आकाशौ ...neither was allowed to trespass into the other's personal space!

 

The richness of  Sanskrit began to come through. We were slowly letting go of preconceived notions of what should and shouldn't be in a language and in that open approach, we created an atmosphere conducive to quicker learning.

 

This lesson has been named Lesson 9 C because we are still dealing with the first two vibhaktis. Let's build  a vocabulary of अकारान्त पुंल्लिङ्ग words and verbs and work on sentence structures. Once we are comfortable with the first two vibhaktis and how they are used, we'll move ahead. Parama Pujya Swamiji constantly refers to श्रवणं, मननं and निदिध्यासनम् | Clubbed with this should be the perfect expression of that which has been absorbed. So with each concept , i will provide you with plenty of exercises for practice. To help you, using our राम table as our guide and standard, here is how you work on the declensions of the first two vibhaktis, using a few examples.

 

विभक्तिः	एकवचनम्	द्विवचनम्	बहुवचनम्
प्रथमा subject	रामः       अभिषेकः       अमरः       वृक्षः       मेघः       ग्रामः       प्रश्नः	रामौ       अभिषेकौ       अमरौ       वृक्षौ       मेघौ       ग्रामौ       प्रश्नौ	रामाः       अभिषेकाः       अमराः       वृक्षाः       मेघाः        ग्रामाः       प्रश्नाः
द्वितीया object	रामम्       अभिषेकम्       अमरम्       वृक्षम्       मेघम्       ग्रामम्       प्रश्नम्	रामौ       अभिषेकौ       अमरौ       वृक्षौ       मेघौ       ग्रामौ       प्रश्नौ	रामान्       अभिषेकान्       अमरान्       वृक्षान्       मेघान्       ग्रामान्       प्रश्नान्

 

 

 

Do you see how the rhyming is done now? Do i also see a question
hovering now as to why these words are अकारान्त पुंल्लिङ्ग  ?
Let's break the राम word. राम = र्  + आ  +म् + अ  (the word राम ends in a अ ) Please refer to our first three lessons.
मेघ = म्  + ए  + घ् + अ Is it clear now?
Why is गुरु an उकारान्त word?  गुरु =  ग्  + उ + र् + उ | Gottit??
In Lesson 9 A , you have been taught  how to develop the verb table.

                                               Armed with this, let's try our hand at sentences. Exercises in Lesson 9 D.

                                                                               ***************************