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yajvan
27 April 2016, 02:58 PM
hariḥ oṁ
~~~~~~
namasté

Pāṇini-ji was the prathamavaiyākaraṇa (distinguished/1st rate) vyākaraṇaḥ¹ or grammarian. Historians put him around 700 B.C. His most notable work is called aṣṭādhyāyī grantha¹ containing 4,000 sūtra-s. Within the 4,000 are 3,959 rules¹ (sūtrāṇi) of grammar. Some count the work as containing 32,000 syllables ( that’s just how grammarians think no doubt), yet this 3+2+0+0+0 = 5 and is a ‘code’ for śivaḥ. How so? Akṣarasamāmnāya or akṣara + samāmnāya : samāmnāya = enumeration or mentioned together + akṣara = syllable, indestructible.
The recitation of akṣara or phonemes are the 14 phonemes ( sound forms/syllables) that are offered in pāṇini-ji’s work; note 14 is 1+4 = 5. This akṣara + samāmnāya is most-often called śiva-sūtrāṇi or the the rules in sūtra form offered by śivaḥ, hence the '5' connection as His 5 acts ( creation, dissolution, grace, etc)

I thought to offer some of these rules that I find interesting and useful … I myself am no more than the student (śiṣyaḥ). I also would like to offer them inspirationally i.e. as I find one a rule of interest at the moment. My intent ? Sharing vs. trying to teach anyone a specific mode of grammar and its rules.

Let me start with saṁskṛtam
Why do we sometimes see it written saṅskrit or sanscrit ? These two alternate ways of writing the term saṁskṛtam may be for easier reading. Yet the nasal ‘n’ shown as ‘ṅ’ has some merit in scripting, but let’s start at the beginning.

saṁskṛtam is made of the compound sam + kṛta


sam = union, thoroughness, completeness , placed together
kṛta = done , made , accomplished , performed


So , sam + kṛta = thoroughly done, highly complete, well formed & placed together.
Saṁskṛtam as a definition of a language is come to be known as a well formed, complete, and highly polished language. The notion of ‘well formed’ = according to accurate rules and regular derivation.

Now the rules of combining sam + kṛta .

We are informed that anytime this ‘m’ comes at the end of a word it is transformed into ‘ṁ’ if the next sound is a consonant ( like a ka, ca, ga, ja, da, pa, na, etc).
This ‘ṁ’ is called anusvāra which is defined as ‘the after-sound , the nasal sound’ which is marked by a dot.

Here is an example: śivam namaḥ becomes śivaṁ namaḥ. We followed the rule precisely. Yet there are exceptions ( as there always are).The rule is different for the term sam and and pum. It says when this is encountered the ‘m’ becomes ‘ṁs’ when followed by any root form of ‘kṛ’. The ‘kṛ’ root indicates to do , make , perform , accomplish , cause , effect , prepare , undertake.
Note that we have this condition: sam + kṛta. This term when combined becomes saṁskṛta.

This rule of ‘m’ also has another flavor. It says if you are combining words and this ‘m’ is found at the joining/union point of the 2 words and the 2nd word begins with a consonant ( as mentioned before) you then change it to the corresponding nasal sound associated with that consonant.
Example: tattvam + karoṣi becomes tattvaṅkaroṣi , yet could be written as tattvaṁ karoṣi.
Another: kṛtam + ca becomes kṛtañca, yet could also have been written kṛtaṁ ca.

There are two questions ( at least).
a. Why combine words? Simple answer, for the efficient use of space; the esoteric answer is one of communicating wholeness.
b. Which nasal sounds are substituted for which consonants? And why these sounds ?
Why - is based upon easy pronunciation and the existing position if the tongue at for the existing phonemes/ akṣara that are in use at that moment)

Now the which ...
I will let you look this up but let me give you a few indicators


when ka sounds ( called kaṇṭhya or guttural, throat) are encountered as the consonant then the nasal ṅ is used.
when ca sounds ( called tālvya or palatal) are encountered as the consonant then the nasal ñ is used.
when ṭa sounds ( called mūrdhanya or cerebral, roof) are encountered as the consonant then the nasal ṇ is used.
when ta sounds (called danta or dental , teeth) are encountered as the consonant then the nasal n is used.
when pa sounds (called oṣṭhya or labial, lips) are encountered as the consonant then the nasal m is used


nasal ṅ is used – as in sing
nasal ñ is used – as in enjoyable
nasal ṇ is used – as in Monday or gentle
nasal n is used as in nut
m is used – as in mother
But what of ūṣman sounds ( called sibilants) i.e. ṣ, ś, s and ha ? different rules apply.

Back to square one
Why do we sometimes see it written saṅskrit or sanscrit ? These writings have it almost right… but they are still incorrect.

Next post
How does śivaḥ + aham ( I am śivaḥ) become śivo’ham ?

इतिशिवं
iti śivaṁ

words


some call out 3,995 rules
pāṇini comes from pāṇin-a meaning son of pāṇina. One must ask then what is pāṇin ? The core of the name ? It means ‘the hand’ suggesting writing and IMHO the perfect connection for one dealing with grammar or vyākaraṇa grammatical correctness , polished or accurate language. He the author of several other works i.e. the dhātupāṭha , gaṇapātha , liṅgānuśāsana and other śikṣā-s works as we are told.
grantha – binding, stringing together and suggests pages or leafs bound together to compose a book. It too means treatise , literary production , book in prose or verse , text. Yet grantha also means wealth. This suggests the ‘wealth’ of knowledge that is bound within this book aṣṭādhyāyī. Since the book contains ‘rules’ the offer of aṣṭādhyāyī is rule-bound.
For those wondering this aṣṭādhyāyī contains 8 chapters, that he divided into 4 pādāḥ . Note that 3+ 9+5+9 = 26.

2+6 = 8.
The name aṣṭādhyāyī can be looked at this way:




aṣṭādhyāyī = a collection of 8 books or chapters as adhyāya = a chapter, lesson or lecture
aṣṭa ( or aṣṭan or aṣṭā́ ) = 8 ; note too that aṣṭa also means marked/branded
ādhyāyī - ādhyai = to meditate on, consider. So we can consider aṣṭādhyāyī as a collection of 8 chapters one may wish to meditate on

yajvan
29 April 2016, 10:06 AM
hariḥ oṁ
~~~~~~
namasté


How does śivaḥ + aham (I am śivaḥ) become śivo’ham ?

Let me offer a few steps…

Step 1
Within the rules of visarga (ḥ) sandhi we are told when ḥ is preceded by an ‘a’ and the next term is also an ‘a’ or another
soft consonant ( ga, ja, ba, da, ḍa, etc.) then visarga (ḥ) is changed to a ‘u’. If we look at śivaḥ + aham we have this condition; śivau – the ‘u’ has been substituted for the ḥ, yet here is the additional rule. By another rule a+u = o. We say ‘the guṇa is formed’ when ‘a’ comes in contact, or is added to ‘u’ – and that guṇa (additional quality , virtue , merit) of a+u=o. These are within the svara sandhi¹ rules ; said differently these are within the rules found in using vowels co-mingling together: śivau now becomes śivo . This is step one of two.

A bit more on this rule
Let me offer you a most basic rule (niyama). If I have an ‘a’ and add a ‘u’ ( a+u) I get an ‘o’. Example: kaṭha upaniṣad . Most all know of this upaniṣad. Yet if I wish to join them ( saṁhita – put together) kaṭha+upaniṣad; the final sentence is now kaṭhopaniṣat. We can see the ‘o’ is the guṇa of a+u coming together or joining.
Hey, but wait a minute what happened to the ‘d’ at the end of upaniṣad ? That is a different rule which has less compliance (even by me, but I promise I will get better) and will address at another time.

So, with this guṇa rule for vowels (svara) it informs us how vowels can come together to form a stronger sound, called guṇa, such as:


a+i=e
a+u=o
a+ ṛ= ar
a+ ḷ= al

Note that in each case above it is the addition of an ‘a’ that forms the guṇa that is created. This ‘a’ is a big deal and we can talk of this most noble fundamental sound at another time.

But where is a+a in the list above ? The guṇa of a+a = ‘a’. This again is an exception rule. But if I were talking vṛddhi (growth, increase) rules for vowels an ‘a’ + ‘a’ = ā. And, for each guṇa ( e, o, ar, al ) it has an increase (vṛddhi) also, and a combined sound form is made by the addition of ‘a’ or ‘ā’ to each one of them. One then can come to appreciate why saṁskṛtam is defined as a language that is ‘well formed’ i.e. guided by rules.

Step 2
Back now to śivaḥ + aham in which we have śivo + aham. The rule continues and says if the next term/ akṣara is an ‘a’
It is replaced/substituted with an apostrophe ( ‘ ) . Let me show you what it looks like in devanāgarī compositional script ( ऽ ) :
शिवोऽहम् śivo'ham - I am śiva , from where we started this post.

Are there other rules on various sandhi applications ? Yes, no doubt, but we have accomplished what we started by defining how
śivaḥ + aham becomes śivo’ham.


इतिशिवं
iti śivaṁ

words

niyama – any fixed rule.
note for sandhi – it starts as samdhi but ‘ṁ ‘ does not replace it in this case .Why so ? based upon the rules ( see post 1) it starts out as samdhi. Since the akṣara ‘da’ is next or follows ‘m’ we take that nasalization for that group ‘da’ is found in called danta or dental , teeth, and the nasal ‘n’ replaces ‘m’. The groups and their replacements was reviewed in post 1 above.
sandhi = junction , connection , combination , union with; if you look it up in a dictionary you will need to enter saMdhi ( or saṁdhi) to find it. There are 5 types.

yajvan
29 April 2016, 07:11 PM
hariḥ oṁ
~~~~~~
namasté


With this guṇa rule for vowels (svara) it informs us how vowels can come together to form a stronger sound, called guṇa, such as:

a+i=e
a+u=o
a+ ṛ= ar
a+ ḷ= al

Note that in each case above it is the addition of an ‘a’ that forms the guṇa that is created. This ‘a’ is a big deal and we can talk of thiss
most noble and fundamental sound at another time.

But where is a+a in the list above ? The guṇa of a+a = ‘a’. This again is an exception rule. But if I were talking vṛddhi (growth, increase)
rules for vowels an ‘a’ + ‘a’ = ā. And, for each guṇa ( e, o, ar, al ) it has an increase (vṛddhi) also, and a combined sound form is made by the
addition of ‘a’ or ‘ā’ to each one of them.
How often do we encounter the term maha-rishi in our readings i.e. vasiṣṭha , bhṛgu, nārada, vālmīki , vyāsa?
Properly spelled it looks like this: mahā - ṛṣi. When we add the terms mahā+ṛṣi it becomes maharṣi. That is because ā+ṛ = ar. Said another way,
ā+ṛ forms the guṇa ‘ar’. That is because:

ā+ṛ = ar
a+ṛ = ar
ā+ṝ = ar
a+ṝ = ar

So, when we pronounce this term maharṣi (महर्षि) it is properly said ma-harshee. Yet many say ( incorrectly) ma-ha-ree-shee.

इतिशिवं
iti śivaṁ

yajvan
05 May 2016, 12:06 PM
hariḥ oṁ
~~~~~~
namasté

Here are a few śloka-s from the gurugītā and viṣṇu sahasrānam that people see and repeat yet wonder, ‘where does that ‘r’ come from’ ?

गुरुर्ब्रह्मा गुरुर्विष्णुर्गुरुर्देवो महेश्वरः ।
गुरुरेव परं ब्रह्म तस्मै श्रीगुरवे नमः ॥१
gururbrahmā gururviṣṇurgururdevo maheśvaraḥ |
gurureva paraṃbrahma tasmai śrīgurave namaḥ ||

most know this says,
guruḥ is brahmā guruḥ is viṣṇuḥ guruḥ devaḥ is maheśvaraḥ |
guruḥ is paraṃbrahma tasmai¹ śrīgurave I bow ||

We note that ‘guru’ is a noun. It is classified as masculine, singular-nominative that ends in ‘u’. The nominative case is simply the subject within the sentence. For this example it is the (one) guruḥ when written in this method and considered masculine gender format. (See the foot notes for more than one entity or person)

Now for this classification of noun ( there can be 8 of them) we are told the proper ending is ‘gurus’. And, by the grammatical rules offered by pāṇini-ji, a word ( or sentence) ending in ‘s’ or ‘r’ is changed to visarga or ‘ḥ’ . In saṁskṛt’s devanāgarī script it looks like a colon : ( look to the the end of saṁskṛt verses shown above and you will see this visarga written as ‘:’ So, ‘gurus’ becomes guruḥ. Many write it without the ḥ as ‘guru’ for convenience. This simplified form ( guru) is called the stem or prātipadika form i.e. the base of a noun before the case is added to form the noun in use (subanta¹). This prātipadika or stem form is usually what you will find in a saṁskṛt dictionary.

Yet this convenience of using the prātipadika form does not serve the writer when the terms/words have to be assembled into a contiguous sentence or verse.
Then another rule is applied when the term is put into a sentence or added to other words that are used in a sentence. That is, guruḥ + brahma becomes gururbrahmā just as guruḥ+viṣṇuḥ+guruḥ+devaḥ becomes gururviṣṇurgururdevo … Do not be concerned with the ‘o’ at the end of devo, as that too is another rule .

What’s the rule being applied here for 'r' ? It says when you have this visarga ḥ that is preceded by a vowel ( except the ‘a’ or ‘ā’ vowel) and is then followed by a vowel (a or ā is okay in this position) or by a soft consonant (ga, ba, da, ja, ḍa, etc.) then on your re-insertion of this term into a sentence ‘r’ is then substituted for ḥ . Hence ‘gurus’ becomes ‘guruḥ’ and finally ‘gurur’.

Yet for those with a keen eye you may say I missed a term śrīgurave … That is a different case ending ‘rave’ which falls under using ‘gurus’ as gurave , the masculine, singular-dative usage. Think of dative as simply for whom a thing is done or being addressed to… ‘ for the sake of’ is the best definition I heard that was easy to remember.


गुरुर्बुद्ध्यात्मनो नान्यत् सत्यं सत्यं न संशयः।
तल्लाभार्थं प्रयत्नस्तु कर्तव्यो हि मनीषिभिः॥९॥

gururbuddhyātmano nānyat satyaṁ satyaṁ na saṁśayaḥ|
tallābhārthaṁ prayatnastu kartavyo hi manīṣibhiḥ ||9

From the viṣṇu sahasrānam …
कामदेवः कामपालः कामी कान्तः कृतागमः ।
अनिर्देश्यवपुर्विष्णुर्वीर्ōनन्त्ō धनञ्जयः ॥ ७०
kāmadevaḥ kāmapālaḥ kāmī kāntaḥ kṛtāgamaḥ |
anirdeśyavapurviṣṇurvīrōnantō dhanañjayaḥ || 70

This line ( 70) calls out the various names of viṣṇuḥ :

kāmadevaḥ: One who is desired by persons in quest of the four values of life – Dharma, Artha, Kama and Moksha.
kāmapālaḥ: One who protects or assures the desired ends of people endowed with desires.
kāmī: One who by nature has all his desires satisfied.
kāntaḥ: One whose form is endowed with great beauty. Or one who effects the 'Anta' or dissolution of 'Ka' or Brahma at the end of a Dviparardha (the period of brahma's lifetime extending over a hundred divine years).
kṛtāgamaḥ: He who produced scriptures like Shruti, Smruti and Agama.
anirdeśya-vapuḥ: He is called so, because, being above the guna-s, His form cannot be determined.
viṣṇuḥ: One whose brilliance has spread over the sky and over the earth; 'all pervading'
vīraḥ: One who has the power of gati or movement.
anantaḥ: One who pervades everything, who is eternal, who is the soul of all, and who cannot be limited by space, time, location, etc.
dhananjayaḥ: Arjuna is called so because by his conquest of the kingdoms in the four quarters he acquired great wealth.


इतिशिवं
iti śivaṁ

words



tasmi is rooted in ‘tad’ meaning thus , in this manner , with regard to; ‘tasmi’ is the dative case and as you recall dative in its simplest notion means ‘for the benefit of’ for the sake of, regarding, some say ' to that' which is the subject of the sentence.
subanta - a technical expression for an inflected noun as ending with a case-termination. That is a noun in use properly declined (some say adorned).

​Example: this form of ‘śiva’ is written in the is the stem or prātipadika. Yet for the singular nominative case it is written as śivaḥ. If I was using a dual case ( 2 of them) it would be written as śivau (the two śiva-s) and as a plural śivāḥ ( the śiva-s , implying many, more than 2). So, there is singular, dual, plural uses in 8 cases = 3x8=24 ways of writing the prātipadika stem ‘śiva’.
Add to this the various genders: masculine, feminine and neuter. If a noun ends in an ‘a’ the noun (or adjective, yikes!) is masculine or neuter. If it ends in an ‘ā’ it could be masculine or feminine. Yet too the noun can end in a consonant and different rules to case endings apply as to how the noun is finally written changes. This is why I am just a student. It will be some time before I am confident and comfortable with all the variations.

yajvan
09 May 2016, 05:08 PM
hariḥ oṁ
~~~~~~
namasté

I bumped into a few rules I put to practice today…

Within saṃskṛtām, there are 10 gaṇa-s or classes of verbs or svara. The 1st class or group is called bhvādi gaṇa. That made me pause a moment to think how this word was formed. It comes from bhū + ādi. The term bhū (भू) = be, become + ādi = 1st , 'beginning with'. So, this group or class is the 1st one, beginning with the term bhū.

From a grammar assembly-rules process ( or sandhi) we are told the following: Two vowels cannot be placed together:


When ‘i, ī’ (long or short), ‘u, ū ’ (long or short), ṛ or ṝ, or ḷ , is followed by a dis-similar vowel then y, v, r, and l , in that order, is substituted for that 1st vowel.


Hence I had this condition: bhū + ādi and ‘v’ is substituted for ū, and what remains is bhvādi.

Another example would be the following: yogi + uttama ( or the chief/highest amoungst yogi’s) = yogyuttama

इतिशिवं
iti śivaṁ

yajvan
19 May 2016, 01:21 PM
hariḥ oṁ
~~~~~~
namasté

The first words within the vijñāna bhairava kārikā-s are:
श्री देव्युवाच।
śrī devyuvāca |

This term devyuvāca is made up of devī + uvāca. The saṁdhi¹ (containing a conjunction or transition from one to the other ) rule that is used says when i or ī is followed by a dissimilar vowel ( in this case ‘u’) then ‘y’ is substituted for the ī. In fact this rule that no two vowels can be placed together ( one after another) is one of the primary rules used in sentence construction. It is
called the yaṇa sandhi rules. The term yaṇ means the semi-vowels y,v,r & l. It is when these are substituted for i,u, ṛ and ḷ.

For English speaking people a,e,i,o, u and sometimes y are the common vowels. Yet in saṃskṛtam along with its writing thereof in devanāgarī script, it includes a,e,i,o, u; ‘y’ is ‘ya’ and considered a semi-vowel ( this term yaṇ). Yet in saṃskṛtam ṛ, ṝ, ḷ, as root (mūla) vowels are used and ai & au are derived vowels ( called vṛddhi or graduated,increased, swelled). Within this vṛddhi vowel set you too will find ār and āl.

इतिशिवं
iti śivaṁ



saṁdhi- this term is also written as sandhi – yet you will find it in the dictionary as saṁdhi. The term is also called ‘saṁhitā’ or placed side-by-side. We see this term used often for the ṛg veda saṁhitā. All the verses placed side-by-side that are connected and agreeable ( another definition of saṁhitā).

yajvan
22 September 2016, 12:39 PM
hariḥ oṁ
~~~~~~
namasté

An example: śrī+mat bhaga+vat +gītā

Note the suffixes (pratyaya¹) mat and vat above. We run into these suffixes all the time. They are attached to the end of ‘raw’ nouns (prakṛti¹), creating derivative nouns and adjectives called taddhiānta¹.

The endings above ( mat and vat) are primarily used to indicate possession; a few examples will show this:

buddhimat – possessed of intelligence ; dhanavat – possessed of wealth ; smṛtimat – possessed of memory.

Yet when words are added together the rules of phonics and sandhi (some write saṁdhi¹) take place within saṃskṛta and it’s written form, devanāgarī . Applying ‘mat’ or ‘vat’ is based upon how the prakṛti stem ( called prātipadika ) ends. Usually if the stem ends in an a or ā then ‘vat’ is applied; for other endings ‘mat’ is used. We can see this in the examples just shown above and in this term I am using: śrī+mat bhaga+vat +gītā

So, what occurs with this term we usually read in books ? It’s transformed tośrīmad bhagavadgītā. Why did this happen ? There is a grammar rule that says when a hard consonant is placed before a soft letter this hard consonant sound is changed to a soft consonant within its family. As you know there are always exceptions and special cases, of which I will just leave alone for this example.
Note the hard consonant (t) and soft sound (bha & g ) here: śrī+mat bhaga+vat +gita
Pāṇini-ji’s rules inform us when we add these sounds together the ‘t’ is transformed into a ‘d’ the very 1st soft consonant we encounter in the list of danta ( dental) sounds. They are ta ( where we started) followed by tha, da, dha, and na.

As you know all the sounds of saṃskṛta are grouped in sets or divisions (varga); consonants (vyañjana) have 5 groups. And like all good groups there are sub-groups. The consonants’ subgroups are hard , hard aspirated, soft, soft aspirated, and soft nasal. These subgroups inform the speaker how the sound comes out of one’s mouth or how it should resonate, or where the sound originates within the throat, mouth, etc. and where the tongue needs to be placed.

So in the danta (dental) varga just mentioned we would read this group from left to right , as they neatly fall into their sub-group of hard, soft, etc. Hence, ta, tha, da, dha, and na as the last soft nasal sound. A very well managed and orderly approach. So it is by the rules offered by Pāṇini-ji that the assembly of śrī+mat bhaga+vat +gita becomes śrīmad bhagavadgītā. What does this term say ?

gītā (some write gīta) the song
bhaga - the ‘dispenser’ the gracious Lord, good fortune , happiness , welfare , prosperity
vad = vat = possessor
śrī = splendid , radiant
mad = mat = possessing

The song of He who is radiant, who dispenses and possess good fortune, the gracious Lord



Now the question... but why change these letters/sounds ? Simply for melodious speech. Saṃskṛta is considered ‘highly polished, well formed’ by definition. It allows and encourages saṁhitā (jointed, togetherness, placed side-by-side) pāṭha – allowing the collected recitation of the veda-s to occur. Then what ? Goodness comes to mankind.

There is no knowledge in this world which is graspable without words¹... vākyapadīya 1.119

http://www.intuitiveflow.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/500x375xvedic_chanting.jpg.pagespeed.ic.SyqcPsFkz4.jpg


इतिशिवं
iti śivaṁ

terms used


pratyaya -an affix or suffix to roots (forming verbs , substantives , adjectives and all derivatives) ; yet too this term is defined as belief , firm conviction , trust , faith , assurance or certainty of
prakṛti – we know as ~nature~ yet in grammar it is the elementary form of a word , base , root , an uninflected word; it aligns nicely as it too is defined as the original or natural form or condition of anything , original or primary substance which = ~ base~ of a word, its original substance i.e. its cause or source or nature
taddhiānta or tiddhita - an affix forming nouns from other nouns or a derivative noun
saṁdhi - euphonic junction of final and initial letters in grammar
Pāṇini-ji was the prathamavaiyākaraṇa (distinguished/1st rate) vyākaraṇaḥ or grammarian. Historians put him around 700 B.C. His most notable work is called aṣṭādhyāyī grantha¹ containing 4,000 sutra-s. Within the 4,000 are 3,959 to 3,995 rules (sūtrāṇi) of grammar.
vākyapadīya – authored by bhartṛhari - which is his treaty on words and sentences. It is divided into 3 sections or kāṇḍa: brahma-kāṇḍa, the vākya-kāṇḍa, and the pada-kāṇḍa (or prakīrṇaka 'miscellaneous'). He writes much about sphoṭa theory (sphoṭavāda) or ‘bursting forth’ and the notion of the initial idea + medium + the final sound and words :

varṇa-sphoṭa, at the syllable level of sound
pada-sphoṭa, at the word level
vakya-sphoṭa, at the sentence level
More on this can be found here: http://www.iep.utm.edu/bhartrihari/

yajvan
23 September 2016, 11:54 AM
hariḥ oṁ
~~~~~~
namasté


So in the danta (dental) varga just mentioned we would read this group from left to right , as they neatly fall into their sub-group of hard, soft, etc. Hence, ta, tha, da, dha, and na as the last soft nasal sound. A very well managed and orderly approach. So it is by the rules offered by Pāṇini-ji that the assembly of śrī+mat bhaga+vat +gita becomes śrīmad bhagavadgītā.
Note that I used the term danta in the paragraph above. Yet if properly written it would be dantya or pertaining to, regarding teeth. It is one of the 5 locations within our ‘sound system’ i.e. the mouth , throat, and nose - where sound is generated or formed.
The five locations (ṣthāna) are:


kaṇṭhya – regarding the throat ; the 1st sound in this group is ‘ka’ or kakāra = 'ka' maker or doer; like the sound in skate
tālavya – regarding the palate ( some call soft palate); the 1st sound is 'ca' or cakāra; like the sound in cello the musical instrument, or chair)
mūrdhanya – regarding the roof of the mouth (some call hard palate or cerebral); the 1st sound is 'ṭa' or ṭakāra; like the sound in ‘stop’ or ‘start’)
dantya – regarding the teeth ; the 1st sound is 'ta' or takāra , like the sound in water
oṣṭhya – regarding the lips; the 1st sound in this group is ‘pa’ or pakāra; like the sound in put ( some say like ‘spin’)


The sounds I listed where consonants , yet vowels or svara also find their origin points within these 5 ṣthānaya. Yet too it is possible to have combinations e.g. kaṇṭha-tālu.
And, some sounds require more air, less air and some are aspirated as in visarga ḥ (as in namaḥ)

At the end of the day it seems the grammarians look to our mouth, lips, teeth, etc. as an instrument that can be played.





https://qph.ec.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-a27b0cd466bdbeb3b69d85e12d030f19?convert_to_webp=true

इतिशिवं
iti śivaṁ

yajvan
27 November 2016, 01:26 PM
hariḥ oṁ
~~~~~~
namasté

from the aṣṭāvakra gītā 4.3

तज्ज्ञस्य पुण्यपापाभ्यां स्पर्शो ह्यन्तर्न जायते
न ह्याकाशस्य धूमेन दृश्यमानापि सङ्गतिः ॥ ४-३
tajjñasya puṇyapāpābhyāṁ sparśo hyantarna jāyate |
na hyākāśasya dhūmena dṛśyamānāpi saṅgatiḥ || 4.3

This says in general,
he that knows That is untouched by good or bad deeds
just like the sky that is untouched by smoke , however much it appears to be so.

The term tajjñasya is interesting in its composition. It comes into its existing form by applying the rules of saṁdhi¹ (containing a conjunction or transition from one to the other ). Tajjñasya comes from tat+jñasya which comes from tad+jñasya ( this can be broken down more but this is a good place to show the rule being applied)

tad+jñasya


tad = That; yet at the same time ‘tad’ = he or she. ‘That’ = brahma = pure consciousness, some call SELF or Being. Note it is not brahmā of the trimūrti e.g. brahmā , viṣṇu , śiva
jña = knowing
ya – as a suffix informs us ‘belonging to’

'sya' is the genitive case ending ( 1st person, singular use)'belonging to' ; similar to the English use of 'apostrophe s' ('s) to show possession e.g. Bob's pen; Mary's bike.



First when I add tad+jñasya the rules of saṁdhi informs us that a term that ends in a soft consonant such as ‘tad’ when added into a sentence ( as we are doing) is transformed into the corresponding ‘hard’ letter and that turns out to be ‘t’ within the vyañjana (consonant) family of sound-forms; specifically within the dental (danta) sub-group of consonants (see post 8 above for the mouth position). Really, it is the ‘da’ sound at the end of ‘tad’ that is transformed/converted to ‘ta’. Now we have tat+jñasya. Yet we are not done.

There is another rule ( again of saṁdhi) that says when a ‘t’ comes in contact with a ‘j’ sound, it is transformed to a ‘j’ also. Now we end with taj+jñasya and our final term tajjñasya. This same rule of ‘t’ co-joining a ‘c’, ‘ch’, ‘j’ ( as we have just applied) or a ‘jh’ will change this ‘t’ into something else.

See post 7 & post 2 above for another example of how ‘t’ is transformed.

Why did the grammarians do this? For the smooth flow of voice. It allows and encourages saṁhitā (jointed, togetherness, placed side-by-side) pāṭha – allowing the collected recitation of the veda-s to occur. Then what ? Goodness comes to mankind.


इतिशिवं
iti śivaṁ

1. saṁdhi- this term is also written as sandhi – yet you will find it in the dictionary as saṁdhi. The term is also called ‘saṁhitā’ or placed side-by-side. We see this term used often for the ṛg veda saṁhitā. All the verses placed side-by-side that are connected and agreeable ( another definition of saṁhitā).

yajvan
29 November 2016, 05:26 PM
hariḥ oṁ
~~~~~~
namasté & hello,

from the aṣṭāvakra gītā 4.6

आत्मानमद्वयं कश्चिज्जानाति जगदीश्वरम् ।
यद् वेत्ति तत्स कुरुते न भयं तस्य कुत्रचित् ॥४-६॥
ātmānamadvayaṁ kaścijjānāti jagadīśvaram |
yad vetti tatsa kurute na bhayaṁ tasya kutracit ||4.6

This says in general,
rare is the man who knows himself as the undivided Lord of the world,
and he who knows this is not afraid of anything.

There are a few interesting (saṁdhi¹) rules that are applied here... if one compares and contrasts them to the posts aforementioned above, there could be some confusion. This confusion becomes a learning point for one that says, “I thought the rule was _____, and not ______" ; so, the learning by example and comparison.

Let’s take a few I have highlighted above:
Note that yad vetti are two separate terms. If you recall from posts 7 & 9 it informs us that if I insert a term into a continuous sentence a term cannot end in a ‘d’ or ‘da’ sound (example chāndogya upaniṣad combined becomes chāndogyopaniṣat , see post 2 above), yet we see it here in this verse.

If I viewed this term as yad+vetti यद्वेत्ति (a connected term) then I could have concludes that it came from yat+vetti. I would reverse a rule to get to the original term being used as the example ‘yat’. Let me inform you now before I go further this would be incorrect, and would lead me in the wrong direction on the term’s definition that is being used. Let me explain.

First the rule. It says any final hard consonant placed before a soft letter is changed to the respective soft letter in its family of sounds¹ . That is, ‘ta’ is hard and placed before ‘va’ in yat+vetti; 'va' which is a semi-vowel and is considered soft; then ‘ta’ becomes ‘da’ , the 1st soft sound in the dental family.
The final result would be yadvetti (यद्वेत्ति) and incorrect! Why so? For this reason:


yat = going, moving; to keep pace, to exert one’s self; to strive or attain.
yad = who; which
vetti – in my opinion is vid+ti or ‘he knows’ ;therefore becomes vit+ti or vitti. I look to stand corrected by others more knowledgeable.


If the term is combined the definition becomes more of the sense of he that goes (yat) or moves or strives verses yad vetti, which means he who (yad) knows. See the point? If one accidentally combined the terms it would change the verse to striving to know vs. one who knows already.

We will look at kaścijjānāti jagadīśvaram in the next post...

इतिशिवं
iti śivaṁ

terms


saṁdhi- this term is also written as sandhi – yet you will find it in the dictionary as saṁdhi. The term is also called ‘saṁhitā’ or placed side-by-side. We see this term used often for the ṛg veda saṁhitā. All the verses placed side-by-side that are connected and agreeable ( another definition of saṁhitā).
Pāṇini-ji’s rules inform us when we add these sounds together the ‘t’ is transformed into a ‘d’ the very 1st soft consonant we encounter in the list of danta ( dental) sounds. They are ta ( where we started) followed by tha, da, dha, and na.

yajvan
22 December 2016, 12:24 PM
hariḥ oṁ
~~~~~~
namasté & hello,

I wrote in post 9 above,
from the aṣṭāvakra gītā 4.3
Note the aṣṭāvakra sounds in this word.
Within saṁskṛt and its written form (devanāgarī) there are three ‘s’ sounds that are used. We find them in other languages such as english but within saṃskṛt they are more defined ( as I have found) of when they’re to be used.

The s sounds (s, ś , ṣ ) are called sibilants; the official name in saṁskṛt is ūṣman ( or heated). They belong to a group of consonants called spṛṣṭa meaning ‘stops’. What is stopped ? The air flow when these sounds are formed.

Now there are ~light~ stops (īṣat- spṛṣṭa) and hard stops , and there are ½ stops (arda-spṛṣṭa) and this is where the s sounds (s, ś , ṣ ) fall in. What would be a ~hard~ stop? A ‘ta’ sound or ‘ka’ sound or ‘ga’ sound. When talking of groups (varga) the first 25 consonants fall into the spṛṣṭa ‘stops’ category. People usually call out the 1st sound of each sound to suggest the ones they’re talking about e.g. ‘oh, you know, ka, ca, ṭa, ta, pa sounds’. Each of these sounds are produced by the 5 points of articulation within the throat, roof of the mouth, lips, teeth, etc. The graphic for this can be found in post 9 above.

Back to the ’s’ sounds
These sounds as mentioned are ½ stops (arda-spṛṣṭa) and are called heated (ūṣman). But what do they sound like?
I have over the years tried to get these sounds correct. It takes some time because of their slight difference:


s - this ‘s’ most of us get with no issue. It is like the ‘s’ in son, or sun, or sweet. We ca hear the ‘a’ influence (sa)
ś - like in sure or shine. We can pick up the ‘h’ influence.
ṣ - this ‘s’ is a bit different. It is the sound that is in efficient. One must listen carefully on the dental and lip use to get to this sound. here is a bit more dental-tongue used than ‘lips pursed’ use that is found in the ‘sh’ sound. Most just revert back to the ‘sh’ sound found in the ‘ś’ use but that would be incorrect. Some books call out the example of ‘shun’ as the proper sound, but for me that gets too much ‘h’ involved in the sound; I found the sample sound of efficient being ideal ( for me). Well you ask , why split hairs on this? Because by definition saṁskṛt is defined as ‘highly polished’ or completely formed. Allowing ‘ṣ’ to sound like ‘ś’ or ‘s’ would not be considered ‘fully cooked’ , some say ‘fully dressed’.


Back to this aṣṭāvakra term
We know it means bent in 8¹ ways but that is not the point of this post. It is a grammar rule I wish to point out.

First rule: An ‘s’ changes to an ‘ṣ’ if its preceded by a vowel except an ‘a’ or ‘ā’ . We look at this term aṣṭāvakra and say wait a minute, an ‘a’ comes before the this ‘ṣ’ why then did it not stay as an ‘s’ ? That is because of another rule ( go figure), that is:
Second rule: when an ‘s’ is followed by a ‘t’, or ‘th’, or an ‘n’ then the ‘s’ transforms to ‘ṣ’


These rules are called internal saṁdhi ( also written sandhi when certain rules are applied). It is internal because it is within the word. Contrast this to saṁdhi that appears at the end of word one and the beginning of word two , where two sounds come together ( such as śrī+mat bhaga+vat +gita found in post 7 above).

Here’s an example of the 1st rule: bhīṣma - the ‘i’ that comes before the ‘s’ is a vowel and the rule can be applied. Same in this term tvidameteṣāṁ. The ‘s’ is preceded by the vowel ‘e’ and is therefore trasformed to ṣ . I am using a verse from the bhāgavad gītā (1.10) talking of bhīṣma as commander and his military force - this term tvidameteṣāṁ is used there ( but + this + of theirs) which offers multiple rules we can leave for another time.

Now, there are many-many more rules/conditions I left out so we should not cloud the waters. But a reasonable question to ask: is there a condition when an ‘s’ changed to an ‘ś’. Sure. consider namas śivāya. Most of us are use to seeing this like this: namaḥ śivāya ( post 1 and 2 hints to this, and also the rules of visarga (ḥ) apply); yet if I wish to put these two terms together namas+śivāya the rules of saṁdhi say s+ś = śś and therefore namaśśivāya is also proper form.
In fact the rule tells us if this ‘s’ is combined with any other palatal ( the palate area of the mouth called tālavya), this ‘s’ becomes ś. So, what are those tālavya sounds ? They are c, ch, ja, ñ. This then forms śc, śch, śja, śñ. So, śivas + ca ( which is śiva + and) would be śivaśca. As mentioned before the rules of visarga (ḥ) can also apply and this could be written as śivaḥ ca.

There are so many rules that can be used... the place that I study many of these are within the śrīmad bhāgavad gītā. It is perfectly written and the rules are applied for ones use and examination; that is where the study comes in and
am no more than the student.

इतिशिवं
iti śivaṁ

terms
8 – written in devanāgarī looks like this ८ ( an upside down 7 ?) ; yet a 7 looks like a 6 (७) a ‘4’ looks like this ४ ( almost an 8, no?); 6’s look like backwards 3’s (६) & 3’s look like 3’s (३) . How does one all keep it straight!

yajvan
22 December 2016, 05:34 PM
hariḥ oṁ
~~~~~~
namasté & hello,

I wrote,




First rule: An ‘s’ changes to an ‘ṣ’ if its preceded by a vowel except an ‘a’ or ‘ā’ . We look at this term aṣṭāvakra and say wait a minute, an ‘a’ comes before the this ‘ṣ’ why then did it not stay as an ‘s’ ? That is because of another rule ( go figure), that is:
Second rule: when an ‘s’ is followed by a ‘t’, or ‘th’, or an ‘n’ then the ‘s’ transforms to ‘ṣ’

Here is a line from the śrīmad bhāgavad gītā ( 1.21) and the same rule applies for 's' becoming an ṣ.

हृषीकेशं तदा वाक्यमिदमाह महीपते।
hṛṣīkeśaṁ tadā vākyamidamāha mahīpate |

Yet for many they say, 'hey! where is the vowel ? I don't see it.' Well, within saṁskṛt ṛ (ri) is considered a vowel as is ṝ (rī ), ḷ (lri) and some too call out ḹ (lṝ):



ṛ as in rythem
rī as in marine

ḷ (lri) as in reverlry

ḹ (lṝ) as in reverlrī ( just a long ī at the end) - its rare to see this ḹ but every now and then it shows up.


Yet note that 'ra' is not considered a pure vowel but within a semi-vowel or antaḥstha ( meaning in-between) group. There is ya, ra, la, and va that are considered antaḥstha and are considered part consonant and part vowel. These sounds are found regularly in most if not all saṁskṛt writings.

Here's something I do not 'get'
So, let me mention something I do not understand when I apply the rules ( any help is welcomed)...
I look at the term madhusūdanaḥ¹, another name for kṛṣṇaḥ-jī . Note the vowel preceding the 's' , yet the 's' is not transformed into ṣ.
I have yet to find the rule that applies.

इतिशिवं
iti śivaṁ

1. madhusūdanaḥ = the destroyer/slayer of madhu.

yajvan
03 January 2017, 12:20 PM
hariḥ oṁ
~~~~~~
namasté & hello,

This verse has a few interesting rules that are applied:
न चैतद्विद्मः कतरन्नो गरीयो यद्वा जयेम यदि वा नो जयेयुः।
यानेव हत्वा न जिजीविषामस्तेऽवस्थिताः प्रमुखे धार्तराष्ट्राः॥६॥
na caitadvidmaḥ kataranno garīyo yadvā jayema yadi vā no jayeyuḥ|
yāneva hatvā na jijīviṣāmaste'vasthitāḥ pramukhe dhārtarāṣṭrāḥ||6

Arjuna is speaking and says,
we do not know which is better for us: that we should conquer them or they conquer us. The sons of dhārtarāṣṭrāḥ stand face-to-face with us. If we kill them we should not desire to live ourselves.

This term caitadvidmaḥ = ca + etad+ vid+maḥ = and + in the manner (or thus) + we know (vid is in plural format by adding ‘mas’ = maḥ when properly declined). The term caitadvidmaḥ is changed to ‘we do not know’ due to the very first term of the sentence - ‘na’.

We see the terms are combined ( due to the rules of saṁdhi) ca + etad now becomes caitad. The saṁdhi rule says 2 vowels cannot be placed together. If this in fact occurs then they are transformed or ~combined~ or strengthened to form their guṇa or vritti form.
When one thinks of guṇa usually they are thinking 3 guṇa-s (or triguṇya). Yet this term (guṇa) also means strength or power or might. Within grammar and this application it means the ~power~ of adding an ‘a’ or ‘ā’ to simple vowels. This forms its guṇa. If it is repeated more ~strength~ is added and its vṛtti form is created. This term (vṛtti) has many uses from ‘form’ to ‘state or condition’. So, with simple vowels a new form or condition is created by adding ~strength~ on top of its guṇa form.

A simple example of guṇa formation & vṛtti formation would be with an ‘a’ : The guṇa of ‘a’ is ‘a’. That may give some a ‘brain cramp’ but just go with it for now. I can explain later.

Let’s say two ‘a’s come together, it will now be combined to its vṛtti formation. Here’s the rule: when two 'a's come together long (dīrgha) ‘ā’ or short (hrasva) ‘a’ doesn’t matter, we end up with a sound ā. So we can write the rule like this:
· a + a = ā
· a + ā = ā
· ā + a = ā
· ā + ā = ā

This long ā is the vṛtti form of ‘a’.

Another rule offers the following to create the guṇa form; doesn’t matter if this 'a' is long ā (dīrgha) or short a (hrasva).
The rule is when this ‘a’ or ‘ā’ is added to a simple vowel its guṇa form is created. Said differently,
the simple vowel (say i) is strengthened by adding ‘a’ to it to form its guṇa ‘e’.
· a ( long or short) + i ( i can be long ī or short i) = e
· a + u ( u can be long or short) =o
· a + r ( r in saṃskṛtā is a vowel, and can be long or short ) = ar
· a + l ( l in saṃskṛtā is a vowel and can be long or short) = al

Here’s a quick simple example: chāndogya + upaniṣad = a+u = o. This is written as one word chāndogyopaniṣad; properly written is chāndogyopaniṣat
So, the march of vowels goes from their simple form -> to guṇa form -> to vṛtti form. All are used. It is when vowel-sounds comingle with each other that the guṇa form & to vṛtti form comes into use. Why ? It allows the speaker to flow from one sound to the other with the mouth-tongue being in the best postion to form the sounds in an effective and melodious manner.

Back to the word at hand
I am writing all this stuff to get the reader to our final goal; this is, how caitadvidmaḥ is formed coming from its components ca + etad + vid + maḥ . Well, now this is simple to answer because you have been introduced to guṇa formation & vṛtti formation.
When the grammarian adds ca + etad , a + e = ai andcaitadvidmaḥ is formed.

To the astute reader who may have read some of the previous posts on saṁdhi construction methods may ask, why doesn’t ‘etad’ get changed to ‘etat’ ? ;~ usually~ ‘d’ is changed to ‘t’ when it is the last sound of a word being inserted into a sentence. Well, the rule also says if this ‘t’ is followed by a soft sound, then this ‘t’ is converted to the 1st soft sound within its class or family of sounds. Since ‘t’ is in the danta ( dental) class of sounds, and the next sound in the term is ‘vi’ that should is a soft semi vowel. We then are obligated to change this ‘t’ to the 1st soft sound in the dental class which is ‘d’. Hence caitadvidmaḥ.

So, we know this – how to create a vritti form when these sounds are found in appostion (~ side-by-side~):

a or ā + e = ai i.e. the guṇa ‘e’ + a or ā results in the vritti form ‘ai’
a or ā + o = au i.e. the guṇa ‘o’ + a or ā results in the vritti form ‘au’
a or ā +ar = ār i.e. the guṇa ‘ar’ + a or ā results in the vritti form ‘ār’
a or ā +al = āl i.e. the guṇa ‘al’ + a or ā results in the vritti form ‘āl’


This ‘ai’ sound formation is used often and found many places. It is useful to de-construct a word and finds its components that can be looked up and defined, so a person knows what a term means. In verse 2.19 of the śrīmad bhāgavad gītā the term yaścainaṁ is used. Note the ‘ai’ use. It tells me that it was formed by a or ā + e = ai . Hence I can then assume the term is a compound word of yaśca+enaṁ.
I also note that when an ‘s’ comes in contact with a ‘ca’ sound it then is transformed to an ‘ś’. Hence I would look at this word as yas + ca + enam. Note that I do not write the ‘m’ as ṁ simply because I have reversed engineered the word and ‘undo’ the rule that made the ‘m’ an ṁ. The rule says when and ‘m’ comes at the end of the word and is followed by a consonant then it is transformed to ṁ ( called anusvāra). Now I can define what this compound word is offering:

yas – to exert or strive after ; some use this as ‘the one who’
ca – and
enam – this , that (it is used when something is referred to which has already been mentioned in a sentence, or the existing sentence) example: Bob was that man who swam in the ocean.


The verse reads like this:
he who understands that (enam) to be the slayer and he who takes that (enam) to be the slain, both fail to perceive the truth. He neither slays nor is slain.
What is being referred to (enam)? It is Self, that was offered in previous verses ( starting with 2.17)

more rules in future posts...

इतिशिवं
iti śivaṁ

yajvan
31 January 2017, 11:58 AM
hariḥ oṁ
~~~~~~
namasté & hello,

I offered the following from a post above:


Another rule offers the following to create the guṇa form; doesn’t matter if this 'a' is long ā (dīrgha) or short a (hrasva).
The rule is when this ‘a’ or ‘ā’ is added to a simple vowel its guṇa form is created. Said differently,
the simple vowel (say i) is strengthened by adding ‘a’ to it to form its guṇa ‘e’.
· a ( long or short) + i ( i can be long ī or short i) = e
· a + u ( u can be long or short) =o
· a + r ( r in saṃskṛtā is a vowel, and can be long or short ) = ar
· a + l ( l in saṃskṛtā is a vowel and can be long or short) = al

Let's apply this guṇa form to a well known sound.

Who has not heard of om̐ ? Rare indeed is that person within sanātana dharma that is unfamiliar with this sound form.
Some see it as om̐ or even as ॐ yet how does it come to us as a u m ?

Note how it is used in the māṇḍūkya upaniṣad (māṇḍūkyopaniṣat) and the very first verse:
हरिः ओम् ।
ओमित्येतदक्षरमिदं सर्वं तस्योपव्याख्यानं भूतं भवद्भविष्यदिति सर्वमोङ्कार एव |
यच्चान्यत्त्रिकालातीतं तदप्योङ्कार एव ॥ १ ॥

hariḥ om |
omityetadakṣaramidaṃ sarvaṃ tasyopavyākhyānaṁ bhūtaṁ bhavadbhaviṣyaditi sarvamoṅkāra eva |
yaccānyattrikālātītaṁ tadapyoṅkāra eva || 1

hariḥ om |
om, the word, is all this. a clear explanation of it ( will follow). All that is past, present and future is verily om |
that which is beyond the triple conception of time, is also truly om ||

Then in the following verses this upaniṣad goes on to explain each pāda1 of om as a u m. How does this occur ? Why not om as written in the verse?
The simple answer is this... I can reverse engineer an 'o'. By reversing the guṇa form of 'o' I get 'a' + 'u' . As mentioned in several posts above a+u = o. Hence this is what this upaniṣad is doing. This rule is even applied in the form of māṇḍūkya upaniṣad; when I add māṇḍūkya + upaniṣad we get māṇḍūkyopaniṣat. I talked about the 't' at the end in other posts above, so you can look up stream to see the rule applied.

Another question one might have is within the verse om is written as 'oṅ' in sarvamoṅkāra and in tadapyoṅkāra. This is another rule of transformation that is covered within saṃskṛtām. We will look at that one at another time.

And, what of this ॐ ? This ऊ symbol is none other than a long ū which is pronounced like ( but not perfectly like) a long ō ( row, bow, toe, snow, etc.); examples for this sound is closer to pool, rude.
And the symbol on top ॐ ? That is the 'code' for nasalization (ṁ) of this ऊ (ū) called candrabindu ँ ; that is, this nasalization completes the final sound and 'caps off' the sound form (ū). Hence ॐ called praṇava , oṁkāra by some, auṁkāra by others is a symbol and and a sound-form at the same time.

इतिशिवं
iti śivaṁ

1. In this upaniṣad it called out 4 pāda or pada... 4 measures, four sections, four parts. But this is just for our understanding. As the last 4th is turīya and it is partless, whole, full and , in fact, expresses itself in as the other 3.

yajvan
06 February 2017, 11:46 AM
hariḥ oṁ
~~~~~~
namasté & hello,

A rule or two from the śrīmadbhāgavadgītāḥ. Chapter 2,

धस्वधर्ममपि चावेक्ष्य न विकम्पितुमर्हसि।
धर्म्याद्धि युद्धाच्छ्रेयोऽन्यत्क्षत्रियस्य न विद्यते॥३१
svadharmamapi cāvekṣya na vikampitumarhasi|
dharmyāddhi yuddhācchreyo'nyatkṣatriyasya na vidyate||31

the says,
even if you consider your own dharma you should not waiver for there
is nothing better (śreyaḥ) for a kṣatriya (warrior) than battle in accord with dharma

Some interesting rules of saṁdhi are offered here: yuddhācchreyo'nyatkṣatriyasya , when inspected, has to be taken apart to see its components. Then we can re-assemble it and show the rules that were applied: yuddhācchreyo'nyatkṣatriyasya = yuddhāt + śreyaḥ + anyat + kṣatriyasya
1. When ś ( which is in the family class called ūṣmán i.e glow, heat) is preceded by ‘t’, then it is ~optionally~ changed to ‘ch’.
Now the term looks like this: yuddhātchreyaḥ. But, then another rule applies. When ‘t+ch’ occurs, the resulting sound = ‘cch’ and now we have the following” yuddhācchreyaḥ

As an aside this ‘t’ when it encounters a ‘c’ , ‘ch’, ‘j’ or ‘jh’ then the newly produced sound is ‘cc’ , ‘cch’ ( which was just used in the example ‘t+ch’), ‘jj’ or ‘jjh’ .

One caveat that is offered... I mentioned this rule is optionally applied. I have found ( so far) that the rule is ~usually~ applied.
The other finer point is the rule just applied says that the next sound following this ‘cch’ should be a vowel, semivowel a nasal, or an ‘h’ for this rule to be optionally applied.


If we look to the example yuddhācchreyaḥ , the cch is followed by an ‘r’. Well if you speak English ‘r’ is not a vowel, yet
in saṁskṛt this ‘r’ sound as ṛ (ऋ) and ṝ (ॠ)1 are considered vowels; the standard ‘r’ (र ) is a semi-vowel. Hence ‘r’ meets the requirement and the rule can be applied.

2. The next set of rules for śreyaḥ + anyat will be reviewed in the next post.


इतिशिवं
iti śivaṁ

1. ṛ (ऋ) as in rhythm and ṝ (ॠ) as in marine.

yajvan
18 February 2017, 04:49 PM
hariḥ oṁ
~~~~~~
namasté & hello,
This post is outside of pāṇini's rules of grammar - I have not found it there (yet).
I go to the 1st verse of the ṛg vedaḥ.

agnisūkta ( the hymn to agniḥ )
madhucchandā vaiśvāmitraḥ | agniḥ | gāyatrī| ( this calls out the ṛṣi or seer of the hymn, the devaḥ, and the meter)
prathamaṃ maṇḍalam| ( this tells the reader that it is the 1st book or maṇḍala of the ṛg veda)

अ॒ग्निमी॑ळे पु॒रोहि॑तं य॒ज्ञस्य॑ दे॒वमृ॒त्विज॑म् ।
होता॑रं रत्न॒धात॑मम् ॥१
agnimīḻe purohitaṃ yajñasya devamṛtvijam |
hotāraṃ ratnadhātamam ||1

Looking at this 1st term agnim + īḻe
agnim is agniḥ. Now agnim is used in this form to let us know it is the direct object in question of this sūkta’s line 1; that is why it is spelled in this manner, agnim.

In the English language the direct object is given the term ‘accusative’; Within saṃskṛt grammar (vyākaraṇa1) it is called karman or what the agent seeks most to attain (the object). Who is an agent? It is the subject or kartṛ – the one who makes or does or acts or effects, considered a doer.
Other ~official~ names for these two are the following:


prathamā ( subject) = first or foremost; the first or nominative case when we look at the 8 cases ( some call 7) a term may take on.
dvitīyā (object) = 2nd ; the 2nd case , the accusative or its terminations when we look at the 8 cases a term may take on.

If I were praising agniḥ as in O’agniḥ it would be written as ‘agne’ which is one of the 8 cases, called vocative case in the English language and sambodhana2 in saṃskṛt; it means an interjection like Oh! or Hey!

Now in this verse, we know agniḥ (agnim) is the object. But of what? In this verse, it is of one’s adoration.

All of the above sets the stage to talk of one rule...
agnim+īḻe
Note the following:


īḷā √ īḍ = to praise (√ = ‘is rooted in’)

iḍ ( with a short i) = the flow of speech , the stream of sacred words and worship as it is rooted √ in ‘iṣ’ – which is to send out, stream out, flow out.


iḍa = agni = who is to be addressed with prayers , or invoked with the stream of flow of praise, and iḍas = objects of devotion.


Now the rule in use
When the sound form ḍa ( or even ḍha) has vowels on both sides of it then ḍa becomes ḷa and ḍha becomes ḷha
Hence agnim+īḻe started off as agnim+īḍe . As far as I can tell this only occurs in vedic saṃskṛt and not classical ( or pāṇinian3) saṃskṛt.

Now why does this rule occur ? ( of which I have been searching for some time now) was explained by an example:
When something white has crimson on both sides of it the white changes in color slightly. Like that when ḍa has a vowel on both sides, it changes to ḷa, hence īḍe becomes īḻe.
What does the hymn say ?
agnim+īḻe = agniḥ I adore. Hence the 1st verse of the ṛg veda reads,
agniḥ I adore, placed in front, the devaḥ of yajña, the ṛtvij4 |
he (agniḥ) is the summoning priest (hotṛ5) and activates ratna (anything valuable or best of its kind),
bestowing the most desired (dhātamam) || 1

इतिशिवं
iti śivaṁ

terms
1. vyākaraṇa – grammar; grammatical correctness , polished or accurate language
2. sambodhana – awakening, arousing ( like wake up!); this is the 8th case.
3. pāṇini's aṣṭādhyāyī or 8 chapters of grammar rules.
4. ṛtvij - sacrificing at the proper time , sacrificing regularly; when a ‘k’ is added (ṛtvijk) then it is a priest.
5. hotṛ √ hu - an offerer of an oblation or burnt-offering (with fire).

There are 4 ṛtvijk-s at the yajña: hotṛ , adhvaryu , brahman , and udgātṛ ; each of them has three companions sometimes called puruṣa-s , so that the total number is sixteen. Why 16? It is considered wholeness, fullness.

yajvan
20 February 2017, 11:30 AM
hariḥ oṁ
~~~~~~
namasté & hello,

Awareness takes the name sadā sarvadṛk. To be a bit more specific this term is used for invariable (pure) awareness and that would be turīya (the 4th).
With this term sadā sarvadṛk there is a grammatical rule that is worth mentioning. Note sarvadṛk. It is seen as sarva + dṛk. It means whole, entire, all + to see, cause to see, or to see by divine intuition, knowing. Yet the definition of ‘dṛk’ comes from ‘dṛś’ of which you will find in a saṃskṛt dictionary.

It is by specific grammar rules applied that the term dṛś specifically the ś , appears at the end of final word or word that will be inserted in a sentence must be changed to a ‘k’ or a ‘ṭ’. The ~rule~ is, only vowels (except ṛ, ṝ, ḷ), unaspirated hard consonants (ka, ṭa,etc.) except ca, nasals (ṇ, ṅ, ṁ m̐) except ñ, visarga (ḥ) and the semi vowel la ( or l) can appear at the end of a word or final word in a sentence. Anything other than these qualified endings must be changed/swapped out based on specific rules.

So, in the example given dṛś becomes dṛk. If this ending was an ṣ then it converts to ṭ. Why is this important? Well, you cannot look up the term if you cannot find the proper spelling of it.

We now know term in question is sarva + dṛś and have its definition. And, regarding the first term sadā, we can get a clear view of what invariable (pure) awareness, the 4th, called sadā sarvadṛk is:


sadā ( note it ends in a vowel) = continual, always, perpetual
sarva = whole, entire, all
dṛk-> dṛś = to see, cause to see, or to see by divine intuition, knowing.


This pure/invariable awareness is whole, without break or pause, knowing-divine intuition; some would suggest it to be continual/whole and all seeing.


इतिशिवं
iti śivaṁ

yajvan
29 March 2017, 06:31 PM
hariḥ oṁ
~~~~~~
namasté & hello,

I wrote in another folder and post : http://hindudharmaforums.com/showthread.php?4837-Ga%E1%B9%87e%C5%9Ba-s-name/page3


gaṇapati or gaṇapatiṁ -Lord of the multitudes. gaṇa is a flock , troop , multitude , number , tribe , series , class + pati is Lord, master,. Yet this pati is also 'husband' when uncompounded. It also can be used as 'wife' when taken as female gender use. Hence this word can be used for those devotees of gaṇeśa i.e. the group/tribe (gaṇa) that are husband or wife (pati) of gaṇeśa.
I wanted to add some additional information that applies within grammar.

If we look at the term gaṇa we know it means ‘flock troop, multitude’... it also means ‘class’. Well, within saṃskṛtam and its grammar of verbal roots (dhātu-s) we too find a multitude, 10 classes, or daśagaṇaḥ. It is from these verbal roots that all things ( seen and unseen) can be called out, identified, contrived, idealized, etc. Consider it like the periodic table of elements that calls out the very foundation of that which exists in material form.. Yet for daśagaṇaḥ it also has the ~element~ to call out non-material things , and that will be found in the 1st term of the 1st gaṇa, which I will call out in a moment. Hence the total field of all classes is presided over by gaṇapatiṁ, ganeṣa-ji lord of all gaṇa-s. What are these ?

dhātupāṭha
The sum of all these roots = 1,943. Yet some of them are repeated a few times and the entry goes to 2056 dhātu-s. Let me list out the 10 classes (daśagaṇaḥ). Each one is known by its first name of that class.
1. bhvādi - the way to look at this is the class of roots (dhātu-s) that begin (ādi) with bhū. Some will say shouldn’t that say begins with ‘bhv’ per the term offered? For those interested I will explain in foot note 1.
Now this ‘bhū’ is in its rightful place as the 1st entry because the root is defined as ‘be, to become’. It is existence itself and all that ‘becomes’. Within pāṇini-ji’s work2, the dhātupāṭha, from where all this resides, he gives a brief definition for each class (gaṇaḥ) entry ( as mentioned there’s 10 or daśagaṇaḥ & 1943 entries). For this first entry, bhū, he offers this meaning: sattāyām . For me only , I look at this term as sattā + āyām

sattā – existence, being ( note too that satta – without the long ā means seated)
āyām - to be reduced to , become anything
sattā + āyām = everything can be reduced to, seated in being; or, all existence to become anything, is seated in being.

Hence bhū = sattā + āyām.
Can anyone inform me of one thing that does not have this quality? Hence, we do not even need to go further than this one term to say that ganeṣa-ji lords over all and any-thing existing or not existing.

Now there is a bit more to this ‘bhū’ and will take it up in the next post, and begin to identify the other 9 classes of roots at that time.

इतिशिवं
iti śivaṁ

1. bhvādi = bhū + ādi ; ū + ā = vā , bhv+ādi = bhvādi. When a ‘ū’ ( or u) is followed by a dissimilar vowel , in this case an ‘ā’ then a ‘v’ is substituted for the ‘ū’. This applies to words ending in i-ī, ū-u, ṛ-ṝ, and ḷ. What then are substituted for these vowels? ( In the same order) y, v, r, and l.
So, let’s say I combine yogi + aṇga; we have the condition of 2 dis-similar vowels coming together. We apply the rule and substitute ‘y’ for the letter ‘i’ and then combine the terms to get yogyaṇga.

We know that bhū = being, becoming we can take this notion and create a word ‘ he is’. This is done by a rule that is applied for this class of words ( 1c class as this group is called out). It says : guṇa of the dhātu (root) + ‘a’ + ending . That is the formula that is applied. So, I will use it for bhū.
[*=1]The guṇa of bhū is bho + a + ending ( I will use the ‘ti’ ending which means ‘he\she or it').

[*=1] bho + a + ti.


[*=1] Now I have to apply another rule – when ‘o’ and ‘a’ are in apposition ( next to each other) the ‘o’ becomes ‘av’:

[*=1]bhav + a + ti = bhavati which is ‘ he is’ or ‘she is’.
[*=1]This modification or formula guṇa of the dhātu (root) + ‘a’ is called vikaraṇa, defined as ‘ producing change’.
[*=1]That is exactly what happens to the root bhū. The term bhū is changed into a stem or limb (aṇga).
[*=1] Then endings or terminations ( called tiṅ ) are added.

[*=1]bhavati which is ‘ he is’ or ‘she is’
[*=1]bhavasi which is ‘ you are’
[*=1]bhavāmi which is ‘I am’




2. pāṇini's grammar consists of four parts:
• śivasūtra: phonology (notations for phonemes specified in 14 lines)
• aṣṭadhyāyī: morphology (construction rules for complexes)
• dhātupāṭha: list of roots (classes of verbal roots)
• gaṇapāṭha: lists classes of primitive nominal stems

yajvan
30 March 2017, 07:47 PM
hariḥ oṁ
~~~~~~
namasté & hello,


within verbal roots (dhātu-s) we too find a multitude, 10 classes, or daśagaṇaḥ
You would think that if you have 10 classes or groups, there might be an even distribution of the 1,943 roots across these 10 classes; yet this is not the case. In the 1c class, that is, the first one called bhvādi and reviewed in the last post, 52% of all the roots (dhātu-s) reside here. As I list out the classes below I will add the % of roots that reside within each class ( from 1c to 10c) as an fyi.

I said in the last post that there is just a bit more to say about the 1st entry ‘bhū’ found in the 1c class. I mentioned this: sattā + āyām = everything can be reduced to, seated in being; or, all existence to become anything, is seated in being. When this notion is applied to the world it appears as active (kriyā) and stationary (dravya). The term dravya also means a tree and hence ‘stationary’. It also means a substance , thing , object.

We now can see how this applies.

kriyā is active & dynamic and appears in grammar as verbs1.

from kriyā (active) -> bhāva (dynamic) -> ākhyāta (verbs)


dravya being a substance, thing or object appears as nouns ( person , place or thing by definition).

from dravya (stationary) -> satva (balanced/static) -> nāma (nouns)



That is why each word in saṃskṛtam and its grammar is modeled after bhū-> sattāyām -> kriyā & dravya; bhū is at its root (dhātu).

The 10 classes or daśagaṇaḥ


bhvādi - be, becoming Some say to be, to exist. 52% of the dhātu-s reside in this class (1class)
adādi - to eat, to be nourished. 3.7% of the dhātu-s reside in this class (2c)
hu or juhavādi2 – to offer, to perform yajña. 1.3% of the dhātu-s reside in this class (3c)
divādi – to play, entertain. 7.3% of the dhātu-s reside in this class (4c)
su or svādi – to press or extract . 1.8% of the dhātu-s reside in this class (5c)
tudādi – to strike . 8.2% of the dhātu-s reside in this class (6c)
rudādi – to support or block. 1.3% of the dhātu-s reside in this class (7c)
tanādi – to proliferate, stretch, or ~mushroom~ . 0.6% of the dhātu-s reside in this class (8c)
krī or krayādi – to engage, trade . 3.1% of the dhātu-s reside in this class (9c)
curādi – to steal, covet. 21.1% of the dhātu-s reside in this class (10c)


I could have called out the 10 listed above by the pratyāhāra ( or put together, bringing together) method. This approach is to name the 1st and last member of a group e.g. bhvādi-curādigaṇa. It is like saying ‘from A to Z’ , which implies all the letters in-between.
One could even call out the 1st dhātu (bhū) and the last dhātu (tutha) or 1,943rd entry roots, and consider those the ‘bookends’ for the pratyāhāra list.
Now why mention this? Because the first term bhū is being and becoming, and the last term tutha, which is another name for brahman , the term means cover, spread, praise. Hence this is the field of gaṇapatiṁ -Lord of the multitudes, that is all encompassing, from bhū to tutha.

इतिशिवं
iti śivaṁ

1. verbs (ākhyāta) - a word used to describe an action, state, or occurrence, and forming the main part of a sentence, such as hear, become, happen.
2. juhavādi – this is formed by the rule for 3c roots before adding ‘ādi’ or ‘beginning with’.
It says: abhyāsa + guṇa of root + ending
· abhyāsa = reduplication and ‘what is prefixed’, hence the first syllable is reduplicated-> hu+hu
· yet there is a specific rule ( as you would guess) that says in this type of construction the 1st ‘h’ is turned into a ‘j’
Now we have juhu. Then;
· the guṇa of juhu = juho ( the guṇa of ‘u’ is ‘o’)
· last, juho + ādi . When ‘o’ + ‘ā’ combine, the result is ‘av’ . The result is juh+av+ ādi = juhavādi
· Here’s a few examples :

juho+mi - (no additional rule for ‘o’ + ‘m’ is needed) juhomi = I offer
juho+si - (no additional rule for ‘o’ + ‘s’ is needed) = juhosi = you offer
juho+ti - (no additional rule for ‘o’ + ‘t’ is needed ) = juhoti = he offers



We also could do ‘you both offer’ , and we all offer’ by changing the ending for dual and plural applications.· I have seen this term juhavādi written as juhotyādi of which I do not comprehend the rules that were applied.

yajvan
01 April 2017, 02:46 PM
hariḥ oṁ
~~~~~~
namasté & hello,

this post is a continuation in thought from here, but from a gramatical point of view: http://hindudharmaforums.com/showthread.php?14859-vitatha-an-incorrect-view&p=130266#post130266

naiva kiñcitkaromīti yukto manyeta tattvavit|
paśyañcchṛṇvanspṛśañjighrannaśnaṅgacchansvapanśvasan||8

pralapanvisṛjangṛhṇannunmiṣannimiṣannapi|
indriyāṇīndriyārtheṣu vartanta iti dhārayan||9

(the) one who is in union (yuktaḥ) with the divine and who knows the truth (tattvavit) will maintain1 , ‘I do not act at all’ ;
· in seeing (paśyan),
· hearing (śṛṇvan),
· touching (spṛśan),
· smelling (jighran),
· eating (aśnan),
· walking2 moving (gacchan),
· sleeping (svapan),
· breathing (śvasan),
· speaking (pralapan),
· letting go (visṛjan),
· seizing (gṛhṇan),
· even opening the eyes and closing the eyes (unmiṣan & nimiṣan).
he holds simply that the senses (indriyāṇi) are occupied (vartante) or act among the objects (artheṣu) of sense indriya-s...iti || 8-9

There’s many grammatical gems found in these 2 śloka-s (ślokau) . I thought to point out just a few.

Within grammar , or at least pāṇini-ji’s grammar which has been the subject at hand , there’s 5 groupings, some say units, that gives rise to saṃskṛtam and therefore how it is also written in devanāgarī script:


varṇa – sound
akṣara – syllables ( even at the bīja or seed level)
śabda – words
pada – word construction that includes construction and rule application i.e. modifications; the term here means a portion of a verse , portion of a line or stanza
vākya – sentences , and therefore proper grammatical rules for verbs, nouns, adjectives, adverbs, past, present, future tenses, etc.


Once at the word level, pada ( word construction) application of rules begin. The rules insure proper construction, flow, and sounds that are melodious and work with each other i.e. complimentary sounds. To get these sounds in proper order some changes may occur to the words/sounds. This could be deletions ( lopa), modifications (vikāra) and additions (āgama).

The method that is employed is saṁdhi (or sandhi) rules. The rules work upon vowels (svara) consonants (hala or vyñjana), aspiration of breath (visarga), and ṣatva (palatalization, tongue placement for sound forms). Hence saṁdhi = junction, combination, connection or union between sounds where lopa, vikāra, and āgama may occur.

Let's begin
Note the terms of seeing, hearing, smelling, touching, etc in the verse above. One should see a pattern or form for each term ( notice they all end in ‘an’). The words have been placed in the vartamāne kṛdanta form. That is, in the present participle formation. This form suggests or expresses that an action is still in progress. The first word is ‘seeing’ (paśyan). Notice it is not suggesting a passed action ( had seen) or a future action (will see) , but seeing in general. I will not show how these are made, yet like most words they come from a root and stem with the proper endings and case applied.
Why is this of any importance? It suggests that seeing and hearing continues for that person in union (yuktaḥ) with the divine.

Vyākaraṇa ( explanation , or literally, ‘taken apart’)
Let's look to the second line of verse 8 and the 1st verse of 9 where seeing, hearing, etc. is called out. The technique that is used in the verses is various forms of saṁdhi applied to the terms ( usually not visible to most1) as they are combined and merged into one pada. So, one needs to reverse engineer the sentence to its components, then re-assemble to see and all out the rules being applied

paśyañcchṛṇvanspṛśañjighrannaśnaṅgacchansvapanśvasan||8
paśyan + śṛṇvan + spṛśan + jighran + aśnan + gacchan + svapan + śvasan ||8

pralapanvisṛjangṛhṇannunmiṣannimiṣannapi|
pralapan + visṛjan +gṛhṇan + unmiṣan + nimiṣan + napi |

We will take a look at the saṁdhi rules that were applied in the next post.

इतिशिवं
iti śivaṁ
1. most here means mleccha prayoga = ‘a foreigner (mleccha) ~coming to a meal~ (prayoga)’; one ignorant in the voice of saṃskṛtam. Now, what’s the deal with prayoga ? Well the notion is coming to a meal and not being able to converse with others fluent in saṃskṛt. I could have used another definition of prayoga ( utterance, position, usual form) yet thought the one provided was most interesting and apropos. Note this includes me as I am just the śiṣya (pupil) being taught (śiṣṭa).

yajvan
02 April 2017, 02:44 PM
hariḥ oṁ
~~~~~~
namasté & hello,

The verse in the last post was disassembled (vyākaraṇa) for inspection, now it will be put back together (pratyāhāra or put together ) with the rules of saṁdhi applied. Let me start here:

paśyan + śṛṇvan + spṛśan + jighran + aśnan + gacchan + svapan + śvasan ||8



n + ś when these two sounds combine there are a few rules that come into play.

[*=1]the rule 1st says an optional ‘t’ in the middle can be inserted , n + t + ś and call it a day, yet this is usually not done.
[*=1]n + t + ś , the ś is transformed to a ‘ch’, so now you have n + t + ch. Another suggests this:
[*=1]n + t + ch, when ‘t’ comes in contact with ’ch’, it too can be changed to a ‘c’ ; we have n + c + ch; then
[*=1]n + cch , when ‘n’ comes in contact with ‘c’ we use the nasal sound that is found in this family and that is ñ.


Why not ṇ , ṅ or for that matter m nasal sounds ? It is because this ñ is part of the tālu (palatal) family of sounds along with ‘ca’; the articulation within one’s mouth and throat area are complimentary. It suggests the ease in shifting from one sound to another... that is the ~polishing~ or smoothness of complimentary sounds.

now we have ñcch and the combined word of paśyañcchṛṇvan as it appears in the verse. This occurs for another reason; it is optional only if the orginal ś is followed by a vowel ( it is, ṛ a vowel)1.


One last thing; there is a rule that says if a consent is followed by another consonant of the same kind2 e.g. c+ch it may be optionally dropped, therefore paśyañcchṛṇvan could be paśyañchṛṇvan. I find it done both ways. I chose to keep the consonants in place.

Now when you look at the rules above it makes your head swim. That is why its not for everyone. Why me then? I use it for my studies and for me to get to root word meanings (nirukta) or etymology. It is the 4th of the 6 vedāṅga-s ( limbs of the veda).


इतिशिवं
iti śivaṁ


1. followed by a vowel - in this case ṛ. Yet too the rule can be used if a semi-vowel was next, a nasal, or 'h'.
2.of the same kind - excludes nasal sounds (ṇ,ṅ,n,ma), semi-vowels (ya, ra,la, va), and 'h'.