Introductory Level: Lesson Two: Äkäça Gaìgä
Introductory Level: Lesson Two: Äkäça Gaìgä
Sanskrit Grammar
A grammar of any language defines the proper usage of that language. It lists the
rules for the proper ways of using the vocabulary, and divides the units of
vocabulary into the different grammatical categories. Grammar guides us in the
formation and analysis of written or articulated expressions in that particular
language.
The Sanskrit word vyäkaraëa (from the verbal root vy-ä-kå-) corresponds directly
to the English word grammar. Its manifold meanings include “detailed analysis,
breaking a language into parts, a detailed study of a language and the rules
involved in its formation.” If grammatical analysis is concerned with separating the
expressions in a particular language down to its smallest units, then syntax is the
opposite process, a method of arranging these units into unlimited meaningful
expressions.
“Sanskrit is the divine perfect language used by the maharñis.” (Kävyädarça, 1.33)
The Vedic scriptures give us an elaborate account of how the subtle elements of
the universe descend to the lower spheres and materialize on our earthly level. The
Supreme Lord and His assistants, the demigods, speak the divine language,
Sanskrit, and therefore even now its main script is called devanägaré, the script
used in the cities of the demigods (deva – demigod, nagara – city). Speech and
writing have initially manifested from Lord Näräyaëa, and in the second phase of
creation became available to the mortals through Lord Brahmä, other demigods
and sages.
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Since those of us who do not hail from traditional Indian background are new to
many of the aspects of Sanskrit that are left uncovered in traditional grammars, we
need crutches on all sides to be able to catch up with traditional scholars. Within
this course you will find a mellow beginning that will carry you over the initial
difficulties, and give you enough inspiration to continue on your own. Much self-
study can be done by anyone who is motivated and knows where to look.
Hundreds of textbooks for learning Sanskrit grammar have been written before,
and many more will, quite possibly much better than the present one. But one
advantage this course hopes to offer is that its compilers have had their own share
of difficulties in learning Sanskrit, and can empathize with others who have them.
From another angle, our lives have been profoundly influenced by Vedic literature
and culture, and we hope to convey that through the course. If you share this
fascination with Vedic India with us, you will probably agree that lessons full of
traditional content and the léläs of the Supreme Lord in His manifold incarnations
are a far better way to learn Sanskrit than dry secular stories and mere lists of
grammar rules. This course is deeply inspired by the terminology and purpose of
Çréla Jéva Gosvämé’s Hari-nämämåta-vyäkaraëa (The Grammar of the Nectar of
Lord Hari’s Names), but simplified into a gradual introduction to the world of
Sanskrit.
The spiritual message of the Vedas can be transmitted and understood within any
language, and the translated works of His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta
Swami Prabhupäda testify to that. Nevertheless, ancient Vedic sages used to refer
to languages other than Sanskrit as präkåta, colloquial, or even corrupt, compared
to their perfect divine origin, saàskåta. Therefore learning Sanskrit is an additional
endeavor to come closer to the Vedic ideal of purity. Even if we do not understand
it, Sanskrit has its profound potency and a tangible spiritual charm. And by
understanding its exact meaning, its message will be even more direct.
“At the beginning of creation, Lord Brahmä obtained the knowledge of the names
for various objects and the respective duties of mankind from the Vedas.” (Manu-
saàhitä 1.21 and Mahäbhärata, Çänti-parva, 232.25)
Lord Brahmä is the ädi-kavi and the first guru in each particular universe, and
vyäkaraëa or Sanskrit grammar is one of the great Vedic sciences, one of the six
Vedäìgas (the other five being: jyotiña, astrology, chanda, science of verse meters,
çikñä, phonetics, nirukta, etymology of Sanskrit words, and kalpa, science of Vedic
rituals). The paramparä for the descent of Sanskrit knowledge thus begins from
Lord Brahmä who then instructs Båhaspati, the guru of the demigods. Båhaspati in
turn teaches the science of Sanskrit grammar to Lord Indra. Indra then teaches
Båhaspati’s son, sage Bharadväja, who in turn disseminates the knowledge of
grammar to many other sages. In this way, Sanskrit knowledge descends from the
higher realms of the universe to the earth. Another lineage of its descent is
through Lord Çiva, who blessed the ancient Vedic grammarian Päëini with a
special collection of sütras, also known as the Çiva-sütras. These 14 sütras open the
famous grammar of Päëini and because they are like code definitions, they make
the whole grammar extremely concise.
“I offer my obeisances to sage Päëini, who received the special collection of sütras
from Maheçvara and was then able to compose the entire grammar of Sanskrit.”
Päëini was a young brähmaëa from the province of Gandhära who was very eager
to study grammar, but an astrologer told him that his palm has no rekhä (line) for
knowledge. Disappointed, Päëini drew a line on his hand with a knife. When his
teacher saw his determination to learn, he made a vow that he will make him a
great grammarian. Päëini then prayed to Lord Çiva who eventually blessed him by
revealing to him the so-called Çiva-sütras which begin his grammar. In India,
Päëini’s ancient grammar is still widely studied. It is called the Añöädhyäyé (the
grammar of eight chapters, adhyäyas) and is the most comprehensive and
outstanding grammar of any language in the whole world, consisting of 4000 short
sütras that take up only a few printed pages.
Päëini is said to have quarreled with his grammar teacher about the meaning of the
word “vyäghra,” which means tiger. His teacher was deriving the meaning from
the verbal root vy-ä-ghrä-, which means to smell, saying that tigers have an
exceptional sense of smell, but Päëini objected that tigers not only smell their prey
but also devour it. They were both so committed to their particular explanations of
the word that they ended up cursing each other to die of a tiger’s attack. This was
eventually Päëini’s fate and it happened on trayodaçé, so each and every trayodaçé
is still a holiday in many traditional gurukulas in India.
Päëini was teaching in the famous Vedic university in Takñaçilä, which was at that
time the capital of the Gandhära province (today Afghanistan and Pakistan).
Takñaçilä hosted tens of thousands of students from all over Bhärata-varña and
even from far away places like China and Greece. Along with Päëini, Cäëakya
Paëòita was a teacher there as well, teaching artha-çästra. Another famous teacher
there was Caraka, the author of the famous Caraka-saàhitä, a treatise on äyurveda
which is still being used today.
Two great commentators have added their valuable input to Päëini’s terse sütras,
Katyäyana in his Värtikas, and Pataïjali, another great grammarian, in his Mahä-
bhäñya. These three grammars have become collectively known as the Tri-muni-
vyäkaraëa, the grammar of the three great sages.
“I bow down to the best of sages, Pataïjali, who blessed the world with the science
of yoga for the serenity of mind, the science of Sanskrit grammar for the clarity of
speech and a treatise on äyurvedic medicine for the health of mankind.”
Since the ancient times when the intelligence was sharp enough to keep thousands
of sütras in one’s memory, many grammarians have tried to make Sanskrit
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The king was once spending his leisure time at the side of a palace pond, sprinkling
his queen with water. She responded, “Modakaà dehi!” What she wanted to say is,
“Stop sprinkling me with water, mä udakaà dehi.” But the king, not so familiar
with rules of sandhi, understood that she was asking for modakas, another name
for laòòus, and ordered the servants to bring a tray of sweets. When he realized his
mistake, he was so ashamed of his lack of Sanskrit knowledge that he asked his
court paëòita Çarvavarmä to compose a shortened Sanskrit grammar so that he
could get a better grasp of it. Çarvavarmä prayed to Lord Çiva’s son Kärttikeya for
the mercy to be able to write the grammar. Because the knowledge was transferred
from Kärttikeya to the paëòita through Kärttikeya’s carrier, the peacock (kaläpé),
the grammar has become known as the Käläpa-vyäkaraëa. It contains less than
2000 simplified sütras and all extraneous material related to Vedic mantras has
been removed.
Hari-nämämåta-vyäkaraëa
But his grammar has a very unique quality. The whole grammatical terminology
consists of names of Lord Viñëu and His incarnations. Even many of the
grammatical operations are explained in light of the Gauòéya Vaiñëava siddhänta.
In traditional Sanskrit grammars, a word is called pada, but Çréla Jéva Gosvämé
instead calls it Viñëu-pada (which means the abode of Viñëu).
Jéva Gosvämé explains the process of adding case endings to nouns in the following
sütra:
viñëu-bhakti-siddhaà viñëu-padam
“We get words (Viñëu-padas) by adding case endings (Viñëu-bhakti) to root forms
of nouns (prakåti).”
“We attain Vaikuëöha (Viñëu-pada) by devotion to Lord Viñëu, or, even the
material world (prakåti) changes to Vaikuëöha if we are Kåñëa conscious.”
Çréla Jéva Gosvämé opens his grammar with a famous quote from Çrémad-
Bhägavatam:
“One who chants the holy name of the Lord is immediately freed from the
reactions of unlimited sins, even if he chants indirectly [to indicate something else],
jokingly, for musical entertainment, or even neglectfully. This is accepted by all the
learned scholars of the scriptures.” (Çrémad-Bhägavatam, 6.2.14)
All these categories are known to anyone who speaks any of the modern
Indoeuropean languages. The time has come for us to dig out of our memory all
that irrelevant knowledge of grammar we have learned in our elementary and high
schools: predicates, subjects, objects, nouns, pronouns! Who would ever imagine
all that could be of any use?
Sanskrit Nouns
Nouns are the most numerous elements in the vocabulary of every language. They
include common nouns for things and abstract nouns for all abstract ideas, as well
as personal and geographical names. When we use them in a Sanskrit sentence, we
need to think of their case, gender and number.
The eight cases
Cases are modifications of meaning that are added right at the end of the noun, as
a suffix:
to Kåñëa kåñëäya
from Kåñëa kåñëät
The names for cases in Sanskrit are ordinal numbers in feminine. In English, we
use names inherited from Latin. For now, do not worry about all these cases, this
enumeration is given simply for your overall information.
Singular : eka-vacanam
Dual : dvi-vacanam
Plural : bahu-vacanam
Theoretically, then, any noun can appear in all three numbers and in any of the
eight cases. This gives us a grid of twenty-four different forms for each noun.
Number
eka-vacanam dvi-vacanam bahu-vacanam
Case
The following three verses use all the eight cases in singular, of nouns ending in
short a: Gaura, Kåñëa and Räma.
“May Kåñëa, the spiritual master of the three worlds, protect us. Continually bow
down to Kåñëa. Kåñëa has killed all our enemies. Obeisances to Kåñëa. From Kåñëa
alone this world has come into being. I am the servant of Kåñëa. This entire
universe rests within Kåñëa. O Kåñëa, please protect me!”
(King Kulaçekhara, Mukunda-mälä-stotra, verse 43)
“Eternal victory to Lord Räma, the jewel among kings. I worship Räma, the Lord
of the goddess of fortune. Räma has slain the army of Räkñasas. I bow down to
Räma. There is no higher truth than Räma. I am Lord Räma’s servant. Let my
consciousness always rest in Räma. O Räma, please deliver me.”
(Çré Räma-rakñä-stotra, verse 37)
Sanskrit nouns are grouped into different declensions, some for nouns of only one
gender and others common throughout the three genders. A declension is a
particular collection of case endings for a group of nouns. Once you know the set
of endings, it becomes very easy to predict how the nouns from that particular
declension will behave. The following are some examples of nouns in the most
common declensions:
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Sanskrit Verbs
Sanskrit verbs are organized into ten different classes. Verbs in each class have a
similar conjugation. The names of the ten classes are made of the representative
verb of that class:
Each verb can be used in many different tenses (present tense, past, future) and
moods (potential, imperative). There are altogether ten tenses and moods which
have Latin names in English. The ancient grammarian Päëini gives them code-
names in his grammar, and Çréla Jéva Gosvämé calls them by the names of Çré
Viñëu. The following table showing these different terminologies is just for your
information.
In Sanskrit, the names for the grammatical persons (I, you, he/she/it) are slightly
different than in the Western grammatical tradition. Since other people are more
important than ourselves in the Vedic tradition, we give precedence to others and
call the Western third person “the first person.”
Western: Traditional:
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Just like in the case of nouns, we will have a theoretical verbal grid with the three
possible numbers (singular, dual and plural) and the three possible persons (he,
you, I). This gives us a table of nine different forms for each verb in a particular
tense.
Number
eka-vacanam dvi-vacanam bahu-vacanam
Person
Each of the Sanskrit verbs then, will have nine different forms, as in the above
table, for each of the ten tenses and moods. Before we become too discouraged, let
us conclude this short introduction with the wise words of Viñëuçarmä, the author
of the Païcatantra, a famous collection of ethical and moral instructions:
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