deriv LSK ETT STT aSTA ALPH OLDHOMEPAGE NEWHOMEPAGE

@enclitic

The words /vA /ca /hi /tu' cit चित् cana चन /eva /iva /api /tvA'' are called "enclitics" (Ancient Greek for "leaners on"). This means that

1. they are always attached AFTER a word,
2. you should never make a pause before them, and
3. they cannot be first word in a sentence.

So when we say —

sItA rAjAca vAnarIca सीता राजाच वानरीच "Seetaa and the king and the she-monkey"

that is pronounced as three words nor six, because /ca always "leans" on the word that it joins.

Enclitics joining two sentences usually go AFTER the first word. So when we join this sentence —

vedAhaM samatItAni vartamAnAni cArjuna bhaviSyANi ca bhUtAni
वेदाहं समतीतानि वर्तमानानि चार्जुन भविष्याणि च भूतानि
"I know all beings past present and future"

and this sentence

mAM veda na kaz cana
मां वेद न कश्चन
"no one knows me"

and we want a "but" before the second sentence, the /tu' most naturally goes after the first word in the second sentence, like this —

vedAhaM samatItAni vartamAnAni cArjuna |
वेदाहं समतीतानि वर्तमानानि चार्जुन ।
bhaviSyANi ca bhUtAni mAn tu veda na kaz cana ||
भविष्याणि च भूतानि मां तु वेद न कश्चन ॥
"I know all beings past present and future, but they do not know me"

In verse, however, /tu' can be placed anywhere in the second sentence. EXCEPT where we'd place it in English, ie at the very start.

On what authority do you say this? Does any grammar rule forbid ca च from being placed at the very start, or does any rule forbid a pause being made between vartamAnAni वर्तमानानि and cArjuna चार्जुन?

No grammar rules in the /pANinIya say that. Yet the authority for that are millenia of literary tradition, the opinion of later grammarians, and the current usage of Sanskrit speakers.

So, if you make a zloka line with vartamAnAni | cArjuna वर्तमानानि । चार्जुन straddling the pause at mid-verse, you are not technically breaking any sUtras, but it's still a childish mistake and that's not a correct zloka line.