Sanskrit grammar

The Sanskrit grammar has a complex verbal system, rich nominal declension, and extensive use of compound nouns. It was studied and codified by Sanskrit grammarians over two millennia ago.

Grammatical tradition

Sanskrit grammatical tradition (IAST|vyākaraṇa, one of the six Vedanga disciplines) began in late Vedic India and culminated in the IAST|Aṣṭādhyāyī of IAST|Pāṇini (ca. 5th century BC), which consists of 3990 sutras (rules). After a century from IAST|Pāṇini (around 400 BC) Kātyāyana composed Vārtikas on IAST|Pāṇinian sũtra. Patañjali, who lived three centuries after IAST|Pāṇini, wrote the "IAST|Mahābhāṣya", the "Great Commentary" on the IAST|Aṣṭādhyāyī and Vārtikas. Because of these three ancient Sanskrit grammarians this grammar is called Trimuni Vyākarana (i.e., grammar of three sages). To understand the meaning of sutras, Jayāditya and Vāmana had written a commentry Kāśikā 600 AD. IAST|Kaiyaṭa's (12th century AD) commentary on Patañjali's IAST|Mahābhāṣya also exerted much influence on the development of grammar. But more influential was the "Rupāvatāra" of Buddhist scholar Dharmakīrti which popularised simplified versions of Sanskrit grammar. After these ancient and early mediaeval scholars, the most influential work was "Siddhānta Kaumudi" (and its various versions) of IAST|Bhaṭṭoji Diksita, which is still regarded as a must for Sanskrit scholars.

IAST|Pāṇinian grammar is based on 14 Shiva sutras. Here whole Mātrika (alphabet) is abbreviated. This abbreviation is called Pratyāhāra. [Kāśināth V. Abhyankar, A dictionary of Sanskrit Grammar, Gāekwād's Oriental Series, No. 134, Oriental Institute, Barodā, 1986]

Indian grammatical tradition surives to the present day, with scholars such as Vagish Shastri, who has developed a mnemonic method. [Sanskrit without tears, Life positive, Vol. 4, No.3, June, 1993, p.17] [Fr. Sadanand D'souza, Miraculous vagyoga mnemonic method of learning Sasnkrit based on Para Vidya, Mytic India, Occult foundation, Vol. 2, No.3, March 1996, p.125-127]

Verbs

Classification of verbs

Sanskrit has ten classes of verbs (plus one used in the Vedas : the IAST|Laṭa लाति lakār [ [http://spokensanskrit.de spokensanskrit] dictionary, input: लाति] , for "take", "receive" or "give") divided into two broad groups: athematic and thematic. The thematic verbs are so called because an "a", called the theme vowel, is inserted between the stem and the ending. This serves to make the thematic verbs generally more regular. Exponents used in verb conjugation include prefixes, suffixes, infixes, and reduplication.

Tense systems

The verbs tenses (a very inexact application of the word, since more distinctions than simply tense are expressed) are organized into four 'systems' (as well as gerunds and infinitives, and such creatures as intensives/frequentatives, desideratives, causatives, and benedictives derived from more basic forms) based on the different stem forms (derived from verbal roots) used in conjugation. There are four tense systems:
*Present (Present, Imperfect, Imperative, Optative)
*Perfect
*Aorist
*Future (Future, Conditional)

Present system

The present system includes the present and imperfect tenses, the optative and imperative moods, as well as some of the remnant forms of the old subjunctive. The tense stem of the present system is formed in various ways. The numbers are the native grammarians' numbers for these classes.

Perfect system

The perfect system includes only the perfect tense. The stem is formed with reduplication as with the present system.

The perfect system also produces separate "strong" and "weak" forms of the verb — the strong form is used with the singular active, and the weak form with the rest.

Aorist system

The aorist system includes aorist proper (with past indicative meaning, e.g. "abhūUnicode|ḥ" "you were") and some of the forms of the ancient injunctive (used almost exclusively with "mā" in prohibitions, e.g. "mā bhūUnicode|ḥ" "don't be"). The principal distinction of the two is presence/absence of an augment – "a-" prefixed to the stem. The aorist system stem actually has three different formations: the simple aorist, the sibilant aorist, and the reduplicating aorist, which is semantically related to the causative verb.

Future system

The future system is formed with the suffixation of "sya" or "iUnicode|ṣya" and guUnicode|ṇa. Verbs then conjugate as though they were thematic verbs in the present system. The imperfect of the future system is used as a conditional.

Verbs: Conjugation

Each verb has a grammatical voice, whether active, passive or middle. There is also an impersonal voice, which can be described as the passive voice of intransitive verbs. Sanskrit verbs have an indicative, an optative and an imperative mood. Older forms of the language had a subjunctive, though this had fallen out of use by the time of Classical Sanskrit.

Basic conjugational endings

Conjugational endings in Sanskrit convey person, number, and voice. Different forms of the endings are used depending on what tense stem and mood they are attached to. Verb stems or the endings themselves may be changed or obscured by sandhi.

i- and u-stems

Unicode|ṛ-stems

Unicode|ṛ-stems are predominantly agental derivatives like "dātUnicode|ṛ" 'giver', though also include kinship terms like "pitUnicode|ṛ́" 'father', "mātUnicode|ṛ́" 'mother', and "svásUnicode|ṛ" 'sister'.

Compounds("samāsa")

One other notable feature of the nominal system is the very common use of nominal compounds, which may be huge (10+ words) as in some modern languages such as German. Nominal compounds occur with various structures, however morphologically speaking they are essentially the same. Each noun (or adjective) is in its (weak) stem form, with only the final element receiving case inflection. Some examples of nominal compounds include:

; unicode|Amreḍita ::A compound consisting of the same word repeated twice, but with the first occurrence being accented. [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_go2081/is_200310/ai_n9761222] Amreditas are used to express repetitiveness; for example, from "dív" ("day") we obtain "divé-dive" ("day after day", "daily") and from "devá" ("god") we obtain "IAST|deváṃ-devam" or "devó-devas" ("god after god"). [http://www.utexas.edu/cola/centers/lrc/eieol/vedol-EI-X.html]

; Avyayibhāva : :The first member of this type of nominal compounds is an indeclinable, to which another word is added so that the new compound also becomes indeclinable (i.e., avaya). Examples : yathā+śakti, upa+IAST|kriṣṇam (near IAST|kriṣṇa),etc. In avyayibhāva compounds, first member has primacy (pūrva-pada-pradhāna), i.e., the whole compound behaves like an indeclinable due to the nature of the first part which is indeclinable.; unicode|Tatpuruṣa (determinative):: Unlike the avyayibhāva compounds, in unicode|Tatpuruṣa compounds second member has primacy (uttara-pada-pradhāna). There are many tatpuruUnicode|ṣas (one for each of the nominal cases, and a few others besides). In a tatpuruUnicode|ṣa, the first component is in a case relationship with another. For example, a doghouse is a dative compound, a house "for" a dog. It would be called a "caturtitatpuruUnicode|ṣa" (caturti refers to the fourth case—that is, the dative). Incidentally, "tatpuruUnicode|ṣa" is a tatpuruUnicode|ṣa ("this man"—meaning someone's agent), while "caturtitatpuruUnicode|ṣa" is a Karmadhāraya, being both dative, and a tatpuruUnicode|ṣa. An easy way to understand it is to look at English examples of tatpuruUnicode|ṣas: "battlefield", where there is a genitive relationship between "field" and "battle", "a field of battle"; other examples include instrumental relationships ("thunderstruck") and locative relationships ("towndwelling"). All these normal unicode|Tatpuruṣa compounds are called vyadhikarana unicode|Tatpuruṣa, because the case ending should depend upon the second member because semantically second member has primacy, but actually the case ending depends upon the first member. Litarally, vyadhikarana means opposite or different case ending. But when the case ending of both members of a unicode|Tatpuruṣa compound are similar then it is called a Karmadhāraya unicode|Tatpuruṣa compound, or simply a Karmadhāraya compound.; unicode|Karmadhāraya (descriptive):: It is a variety of unicode|Tatpuruṣa as shown above, but treated separately. The relation of the first member to the last is appositional, attributive or adverbial, e. g. uluka-yatu (owl+demon) is a demon in the shape of an owl.
Dvigu and nñ-samāsa are varieties of unicode|Tatpuruṣa, but are enumerated as separate types.;Dvigu : In a karmadhāraya compound one part behaves like an adjective for the other. :If the part behaving like an adjective is a number, it is called dvigu. Dvigu itself is a compound : dvau+gāvau. In a dvigu componds, later part is principal, like a unicode|Tatpuruṣa compound.;nñ-samāsa : :Example : na + IAST|brāhamaṇa = vIAST|brāhamaṇa , in which 'n' vanishes and only 'only the 'a' of 'na' remains. But with words beginning with vowel this 'a' becomes 'an' : na+aśva > (na > a > an) anaśva.; unicode|Dvandva (co-ordinative) :: These consist of two or more noun stems, connected in sense with 'and'. There are mainly two kinds of "dvandva" constructions in Sanskrit. The first is called "itaretara dvandva", an enumerative compound word, the meaning of which refers to all its constituent members. The resultant compound word is in the dual or plural number and takes the gender of the final member in the compound construction. e.g. "rāma-lakşmaņau" – Rama and Lakshmana, or "rāma-lakşmaņa-bharata-śatrughnāh" – Rama, Lakshmana, Bharata and Satrughna. The second kind is called "samāhāra dvandva", a collective compound word, the meaning of which refers to the collection of its constituent members. The resultant compound word is in the singular number and is always neuter in gender. e.g. "pāņipādam" – limbs, literally hands and feet, from pāņi = hand and pāda = foot. According to some grammarians, there is a third kind of dvandva, called "ekaśeşa dvandva" or residual compound, which takes the dual (or plural) form of only its final constituent member, e.g. "pitarau" for mātā + pitā, mother + father, i.e. parents. According to other grammarians, however, the "ekaśeşa" is not properly a compound at all.; unicode|Bahuvrīhi (possessive):: Bahuvrīhi, or "much-rice", denotes a rich person—one who has much rice. Bahuvrīhi compounds refer (by example) to a compound noun with no head -- a compound noun that refers to a thing which is itself not part of the compound. For example, "low-life" and "block-head" are bahuvrihi compounds, since a low-life is not a kind of life, and a block-head is not a kind of head. (And a much-rice is not a kind of rice.) Compare with more common, headed, compound nouns like "fly-ball" (a kind of ball) or "alley cat" (a kind of cat). Bahurvrīhis can often be translated by "possessing..." or "-ed"; for example, "possessing much rice", or "much riced".;Madhyama-pada-lopī-samāsa ::It is that variety of "Karmadhāraya" unicode|Tatpuruṣa compound in which middle part vanishes. E.g., IAST|devapūjakaḥ+brāhamaṇaḥ = devaIAST|brāhamaṇaḥ; Śrīyukta+IAST|Rāmaḥ = IAST|Śrīrāmaḥ;Upapada-samāsa ::It is a variety of unicode|Tatpuruṣa compound in which nouns make unions with verbs, like Kumbham+karoti = IAST|kumbhakāraḥ.;Aluk-samāsa : :Case endings do not vanish, e.g., ātmane+ padam = ātmanepadam.

yntax

Because of Sanskrit's complex declension system the word order is free (with tendency toward SOV).

Notes

References

* W. D. Whitney, ""
* W. D. Whitney, "The Roots, Verb-Forms and Primary Derivatives of the Sanskrit Language (A Supplement to His Sanskrit Grammar)"
*Wackernagel, Debrunner, "Altindische Grammatik", Göttingen.
**vol. I. phonology [http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN1421247127&id=mWaIUMIoUvkC&dq=Altindische] Jacob Wackernagel (1896)
**vol. II.1. introduction to morphology, nominal composition, Wackernagel (1905) [http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN1421247100&id=qql6RRqTAuIC&dq=Altindische]
**vol. II.2. nominal suffixes, J. Wackernagel and Albert Debrunner (1954)
**vol. III. nominal inflection, numerals, pronouns, Wackernagel and Debrunner (1930)
* B. Delbrück, "Altindische Tempuslehre" (1876) [http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN1421246880&id=_-9K_xT8OBAC&dq=Altindische]

Topics in Sanskrit morphology and syntax
*Frits Staal, "Word order in Sanskrit and Universal Grammar", Foundations of Language, supplementary series 5, Springer (1967), ISBN 978-9027705495.