03-28-2004, 11:59 PM
Nachiketa,
Thanks. Sorry for a late reply too.
3x8 tables are called the "shabda-rupa" tables. Each noun/pronoun can take different forms depending upon number (vachana), and case (vibhakti) . Sanskrit has three vachanas and eight vibhaktis
Ekavachana: singular number, as in raamah
Dvivachana : two (not found in english), as in raamau
Bahuvachana: plural number as in raamaah
Sanskrita has 8 cases (vibhaktis) : kartaa, karma, karana, sampradaana, upaadana, sambandha, adhikarana, sambodhana. They are also called prtahmaa, dvitiyaa, tritiyaa, chaturthi, panchami etc.
The question that bothers many people is why have all these modifications in the first place. Present day English, Hindi etc don't use such deformations in the noun and pronoun and seem to work ok.
The reason is quite significant. If you do not include the case information attached to the word then you have to infer the case information by the presence of other words. These other words "must" have a certain order and location with respect to the original word.
In english when you say " book of Rama" Here the Sambandha case "of" is a separate word. In Sanskrit the same phrase will be written as "Ramasya pustakaM". In english the loactiona and order of the word "of" and Rama is important. "Rama of book" means very different from "book of Rama". But in Sanskrit, due to vibhakti being attached to the word, you can move around the words wherever without changing the meaning. So, "Ramasya PustakaM" means same as "PustakaM Ramasya". etc.
This property of words carrying their case with themselves, is very significant for poetry. You can appreciate it that it would be much easier to write poetry in Sanskrit where you can move around the words without changing the meaning! <!--emo&
--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif' /><!--endemo-->
It turns out this property is also very significant from linguistic point of view. For example if you are developing a computer programming language, which style is going to give more flexibility and lack of ambiguity etc. Sanskrit approach is closer to the spirit of the object oriented programming.
Other tables that bug people who want to learn Sanskrit are the Dhatu-Rupa (verb tables of tenses (Lakaara)). Sanskrit officially has 10 Lakaaras although 5 are most often used! (Lat Lakaara is present tense etc.) Each Lakaara has three numbers (Vachana) and three Purushas (person). Purussa(person) can be prathama-purusha first person (I), dvitiya-purusha second person (you)and anya-purusha third person (he). Trying to keep track of each verb's form through 10 possible Lakaaras each of which has 3 vachanas and 3 purushas becomes a tedious task.
Shabda-Rupas and Dhatu-Rupa (Lakaara) tables are some of the most tedious parts of Sanskrit learning. You have to memorize them. Although after learning a few of them you start seeing some patterns which makes memorizing other ones easier.
Thanks. Sorry for a late reply too.
3x8 tables are called the "shabda-rupa" tables. Each noun/pronoun can take different forms depending upon number (vachana), and case (vibhakti) . Sanskrit has three vachanas and eight vibhaktis
Ekavachana: singular number, as in raamah
Dvivachana : two (not found in english), as in raamau
Bahuvachana: plural number as in raamaah
Sanskrita has 8 cases (vibhaktis) : kartaa, karma, karana, sampradaana, upaadana, sambandha, adhikarana, sambodhana. They are also called prtahmaa, dvitiyaa, tritiyaa, chaturthi, panchami etc.
The question that bothers many people is why have all these modifications in the first place. Present day English, Hindi etc don't use such deformations in the noun and pronoun and seem to work ok.
The reason is quite significant. If you do not include the case information attached to the word then you have to infer the case information by the presence of other words. These other words "must" have a certain order and location with respect to the original word.
In english when you say " book of Rama" Here the Sambandha case "of" is a separate word. In Sanskrit the same phrase will be written as "Ramasya pustakaM". In english the loactiona and order of the word "of" and Rama is important. "Rama of book" means very different from "book of Rama". But in Sanskrit, due to vibhakti being attached to the word, you can move around the words wherever without changing the meaning. So, "Ramasya PustakaM" means same as "PustakaM Ramasya". etc.
This property of words carrying their case with themselves, is very significant for poetry. You can appreciate it that it would be much easier to write poetry in Sanskrit where you can move around the words without changing the meaning! <!--emo&
--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif' /><!--endemo--> It turns out this property is also very significant from linguistic point of view. For example if you are developing a computer programming language, which style is going to give more flexibility and lack of ambiguity etc. Sanskrit approach is closer to the spirit of the object oriented programming.
Other tables that bug people who want to learn Sanskrit are the Dhatu-Rupa (verb tables of tenses (Lakaara)). Sanskrit officially has 10 Lakaaras although 5 are most often used! (Lat Lakaara is present tense etc.) Each Lakaara has three numbers (Vachana) and three Purushas (person). Purussa(person) can be prathama-purusha first person (I), dvitiya-purusha second person (you)and anya-purusha third person (he). Trying to keep track of each verb's form through 10 possible Lakaaras each of which has 3 vachanas and 3 purushas becomes a tedious task.
Shabda-Rupas and Dhatu-Rupa (Lakaara) tables are some of the most tedious parts of Sanskrit learning. You have to memorize them. Although after learning a few of them you start seeing some patterns which makes memorizing other ones easier.