Lesson 11

Simple Sanskrit – Lesson 11

सरलं संस्कृतम् – एकादशः (11) पाठः

Comprehensive study of any धातु would cover studying not only its inflections in all लकार-s, but also studying all its verbal derivatives धातुसाधित-s (also called as कृदन्त-s). These are mainly adjectives or indeclinables. We have seen in Lesson 9, two adjectival धातुसाधित-s, the ppp and app. All adjectives will have 72 inflections by 3 genders (लिङ्ग), 8 cases (विभक्ति) and 3 numbers (वचन).

Indeclinables अव्यय-s are simpler, because there are no inflections. There are three types of indeclinable अव्यय verbal derivatives धातुसाधित-s / कृदन्त-s.

• त्वान्त अव्यय-s have the meaning “on doing” or “by doing” for example कृत्वा. It is an adverb of time, rather, with a shade of past tense. It is obtained by affixing a suffix त्वा to the धातु such as कृ. So कृत्वा means “on doing” or “by doing”.
  • But there are variations, for example
    • गम् + त्वा = गत्वा meaning “on going” or “by going”
    • लभ् + त्वा = लब्ध्वा meaning “on gaining” or “by gaining”
    • दा + त्वा = दत्वा meaning “on giving” or “by giving”
  • If there is a prefix affixed with the धातु then the suffix to be affixed is य Grammarians call it as ल्यप्. The indeclinable then is called as (ल्यप् + अन्त =) ल्यबन्त For example
    • निर् + गम् + य = निर्गम्य meaning “on going away” or “by going away”
    • उप + लभ् + य = उपलभ्य meaning “on acquiring” or “by acquiring”
    • आ + दा + य = आदाय meaning “on taking” or “by taking” or “on bringing in” or “by bringing in”
    • May it be noted that the adverbial suffix ल्यप् actually adds only a य to the धातु. ल्यप् is only the grammatical name of the suffix.
• तुमन्त अव्यय-s have the meaning “for doing”. They are adverbs of purpose or reason. For example
  • कर्तुम् (कृ + तुम्) means “for doing”
  • दा + तुम् = दातुम् means “for giving”
  • गम् + तुम् = गन्तुम् means “for going”
  • आ + गम् + तुम् = आगन्तुम् means “for coming”. Note that here the prefix आ does not cause the mode of formation to be different.
  • लभ् + तुम् = लब्धुम् means “for gaining”
• The third type of धातुसाधित अव्यय is adverb of manner, answering the question “how कथम्?”. The प्रत्यय (suffix) to obtain these verbal derivatives is given the name णमुल्-प्रत्यय The verbal derivative is called as णमुल् कृदन्त or णमुल् धातुसाधित. Its meaning is similar to that of the gerund. For example –
  • गम् → गामम् meaning “going”
  • कृ → कारम् meaning “doing”
  • दा → दायम् meaning “giving”
  • लभ् → लाभम् meaning “gaining”

Adjectival विशेषणात्मक कृदन्त-s are of 10 types, as shown in Table 10-3 below.

Table 11-1

Adjectival कृदन्त-s of आत्मनेपदी धातु “लभ्”

Given below are प्रातिपदिक-s for 3 genders.

They have further inflections by cases (विभक्ति) and 3 numbers (वचन)