Sanskrit grammar

In the grammatical and semantic analysis of the BhG text presented here we partly gave up standard European terms for the benefit of traditional Indian grammar. Therefore the presentation of Sanskrit grammar given below is according to Indian standard. It seems to be more natural to study the grammar of the language wih the help of tools worked out in this language. It shows how people who use that language, think of it and its structures, and takes us closer to understand the culture in which the language is used.

Alphasyllabary of Sanskrit (varṇa-krama) distinguishes 49 phonems (akṣara): 14 vowels (svara) i 35 consonants (vyañjana):

TABLE 1
14 vowels (svara)

hrasva – short	a  i  u  ṛ  ḷ
dīrgha – long	ā  ī  ū  ṝ  ḹ	e  ai  o  au (sandhi-akṣara – diphthongs)

35 consonants (vyañjana)

	a-ghoṣa, alpa-prana voiceless, unaspirated	a-ghoṣa, mahā-prana voiceless, aspirated	sa-ghoṣa, alpa-prana voiced, unaspirated	sa-ghoṣa, mahā-prana voiced, aspirated	nāsikā – nasals
kaṇṭhya – velar	ka	kha	ga	gha	ṅ		a  ā  ha
tālavya – palatal	ca	cha	ja	jha	ñ		i  ī  ya  śa
mūrdhanya – retroflex	ṭa	ṭha	ḍa	ḍha	ṇa		ṛ   ṝ  ra  ṣa
dantya – dental	ta	tha	da	dha	na	va	ḷ  ḹ  la  sa
oṣthya – labial	pa	pha	ba	bha	ma		u  ū
	ṃ – anusvāra,       ḥ – visarga,        ‘ – avagraha

Words (pada) are divided into verbs (ākhyāta) and all others called nominals (nāman). They have their base form, which is different from nominative of infinitive (nominal root and verbal root – dhātu) or the inflected form with suffixes. They further divide into:

TABLE 2

nāman – nominals	ākhyāta – verbs
1. viśeṣya – substantive 2. viśeṣaṇa / vācya – adjective –         saṃkhyā – numeral –         sarva-nāman – pronoun 3. avyaya / aliṅga – indeclinable	1. kṛt-vṛtti – verb + promary sufixes 3. dhātu-vṛtti – verb derived from verbal root: –          [ṇ]y-anta – causative –          sa[n]-anta – desiderative –          ya[ṅ]-anta – intensive –          nāma-dhātu – denominal verb

Suffixes (pratyaya) are of four types:
suffixes of declension (sv-ādi);
suffixes of conjugation (tib-ādi);
primary suffixes (kṛt-pratyaya) which form the nominals directly from the verba root – these are especially different kinds of participles;
secondary suffixes (taddhita-pratyaya) formed from nominal bases;

Gramarians supply the suffixes with the indicatory letters (it / anubandha – here witten in square brackets). Their aim is to differentiate the same suffixes, to help the pronunciation or to indicate special grammar process (e.g. changes in the root). The table below presents the most important primary and secondary suffixes:

TABLE 3

	name	sufix	examples
kṛt	vartamāne kṛd-anta – present participles of: 1) parasmaipāda verbs; 2) ātmanepāda verbs; could be formed from the base of: 3) future tense and 4) passive voice	[ś]at[ṛ] / [ś]āna	1) kurvant – who is doing; 3) kariṣyant – who will be doing; 2) gacchamāna – who is going; 3) gamiṣyamāna – who will be going; 4) gamyamāna – that is being gone;
	bhūte kṛd-anta – past participles – 1) passive; 2) active;	[k]ta / [k]tavat[u]	1) kṛta – done; 2) kṛtavat[u] – he who has done;
	absolutive, gerund	[k]tvā / ya[p]	kṛtvā / anukṛtya – after doing / having done;
	bhaviṣyati kṛd-anta – future participles, necessitativum	tavya / ya / aniya	kārya / kartavya / karaṇīya – to be done;
	infinitive	tum[u]	kartum – to do;
	agent noun	tṛ[l]	kartṛ – doer;
taddhita	feminine terminations	ā[p] / ī[p]	kṛṣṇā / gopī;
	avyaya pañcamī – indeclinable ablative	tas[i]	mattaḥ – from me;
	avyata saptamī – indeclinable locative	tra	sarvatra – everywhere;
	abstract noun	tā[p] / tva	samatā, samatva – sameness
	superlative and comparative	tama / tara	guhytama, guhyatara – the most secret, more secret;
	possesor	mat[u] / vat[u]	śrīmant, bhagavant – who has majesty, who has opulence;
	similarity	vat[i]	daṇḍavat – like stick;

Nominals, apart from the indeclinables (avyaya), are inflected by case (vibhakti) and number (vacana), and have their own gender (liṅga). The cases in Sanskrit are named with the subsequent ordinals:

TABLE 4

	vibhakti	kāraka	Latin
1	prathamā	kartṛ (agens)	nominativus
2	dvitīyā	karman (object)	accusativus
3	tṛtīyā	karaṇa (instrument)	instrumentalis
4	caturthī	sampradāna (recipient)	dativus
5	pañcamī	apādāna (source)	ablativus
6	ṣaṣthī	sambandha (relation)	genetivus
7	saptamī	adhikaraṇa (location)	locativus
8	aspect of prathamā	sambodhana (address)	vocativus

TABLE 5

vacana – number	liṅga – gender
eka-vacana – singular	puṃ-liṅga – masculine
dvi-vacana – dual	strī-liṅga – feminine
bahu-vacana – plural	napumsaka-liṅga – neuter

There are ten tenses and moods in Sanskrit listed one by one. The verb (ākhyāta) inflects by number and person (puruṣa). In addition it can have other forms: causative, desirative, intensive / frequentative or coming from denominal verb (see Table 2):

TABLE 6

	Pāṇīni	description	Latin
1	laṭ	vartamāna – present;	praesentis
2	liṭ	parokṣa-bhūta – past, of which one was not a witness;	perfectum
3	luṭ	anadyatana-bhaviṣyat – future, not the same day;	futurum periphrasticum
4	lṛṭ	bhaviṣyat – future;	futurum
5	loṭ	ājñā – imperative mood;	imperativus
6	laṅ	anadyatana-bhūta – past, not the same day;	imperfectum
7	vidhi-liṅ	vidhi – optative mood;	potentialis
8	āśīr-liṅ	āśīs – benedictive mood;	benedictivus
9	luṅ	bhūta – past;	aorist
10	lṛṅ	saṃketa – conditional mood	conditionalis

TABLE 7

vacana – number	puruṣa – person
eka-vacana – singular	prathama-puruṣa – 3rd person
dvi-vacana – dual	madhyama-puruṣa – 2nd person
bahu-vacana – plural	uttama-puruṣa – 1st person

Verbs in their root form are grouped in ten classes (dhātu-gaṇa) which determine the way they are conjugated:

TABLE 8

name of the class		sufixes that form the base
1	bhv-ādi	[ś]a[p]
2	ad-ādi	[ś]a[p] mahāhara
3	hv-ādi	dvir-vacana
4	div-ādi	[ś]ya
5	sv-ādi	[ś]nu
6	tud-ādi	[ś]a
7	rudh-ādi	[ś]na[m]
8	tan-ādi	u
9	kry-ādi	[ś]nā
10	cur-ādi	[ṇ]y + [ś]a[p]

Indian grammarians give special consideration to the function of the verb in the sentence. They call it application (prayoga) or that what is to be said (vācya). Application relates to the voice, transition and use of objects. Application is of six types: sakarmaka, akarmaka, dvikarmaka, kartari, karmaṇi, bhave. The first three are different from the other three put in locative (applied in…). The first three are related to the object (on which the action is done – karman), mostly expressed in accussative. The second three are voices. Kartari prayoga is the active voice, which may be expressed by the verb with parasmai-pada suffixes (the recipient of action is someone else) or wih ātmane-pada suffixes (the recipient of action is the agens). Many verbs can have both forms and they are called ubhaya-pada. Karmaṇi prayoga is the passive voice with only ātmane-pada suffixes and the verbal root undergoes specific modification. Bhave prayoga is the passive voice from intransitive verbs (which do not take the object). Here are some examples:

TABLE 9

1	akarmaka – intransitive	rāmo bhavati – Rāma is;
2	dvikarmaka – transitive with two objects	rāmo gām dugdhaṃ dogdhi – Rāma milks the cow of milk;
3	sakarmaka – transitive	rāmo bhaktān rakṣati – Rāma protects the devotees;

TABLE 10

1	kartari prayoga – active voice	parasmai-pada – active voice (‘for the other’) ātmane-pada – middle voice (‘for oneself’) ubhaya-pada – both voices (active, middle)	bhakto harim stauti / stute (P / Ā) – devotee praises Hari (for the benefit of Hari / for his own benefit);
2	karmaṇi prayoga – passive voice	ātmane-pada	viṣṇunā prapañcaḥ kriyate – by Viṣṇu the creation is done;
3	bhave prayoga – passive voice of intransitive verbs (impersonal)	ātmane-pada-prathama-puruṣaika-vacana – middle voice, 3rd person singular	rāmeṇa sthīyate – standing [is done] by Rāma;