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metronymic
About castes.
laT of dA and dhA
te disambiguation
Natvam means changing n to N
Satvam means replacing s with S
Sixteen-vowel style.
decoration before pause
eight-vowel style
"Do not break" lines.
zloka, verse and pAda
about the letter x in rules
badly split lines
ch and cch
aN disambiguation
proto-indo-european
About "limb".
"moonfaced" means beautiful
some vedic chanting videos
Ni
There are two sorts of Nic.
conjugation of han
About Nic plus san.




(@metronymic) (@metro)

metronymicmmmmmmmmm glosses glosses ^ 1727

A metronymic is a variant of a word that is only used to make a verse fit.

For instance, the ramAyaNa will often lengthen the u of hanumAn, to make verses fit more easily --

tasmin plavagazArdUle plavamAne hanUmati

or replace the name of queen kaikeyI with kaikayI --

zrutvaivaM vacananM tasyA mantharAyAs tu kaikayI

In some cases the metronymics in the epics break the grammar. For instance, in the last word of this line of the rAmAyaNa --

hrasvatAmM paramAmM prApto bandhanAny avazAtayat

rule luGlaG should have worked, but that would have screwed up the metre.

467 letters. -- 99000randomthings.bse 1650 -- popularity none




(@caste) (@cast)

About castes.mmmmmmmmm glosses glosses ^ C- 1728

Old Indian societies were divided in four endogamic castes. From high to low, they were --

brAhmaNa- intellectuals -- priests, teachers

kSatriya- government -- politicians, military, police

vaizya- capitalists -- landowners, traders

zUdra- servants of the above three

The three first castes are called the upper castes.

See also Wikipedia on Caste system in India.

283 letters. -- 99000randomthings.bse 1661 -- popularity none




(laTofdAanddhA) (laTd)

laT of dA and dhAmmmmmmmmm glosses glosses ^ C- 1729

In the laT laG liG, the root dA turns into dadA before non- Git affixes --

dadAti "he gives"

dadAsi "you give"

dadAmi "I give"

and into dad before everything else --

adaddhvam "y'all give"

adadus "they gave"

dadmas "we give"

dattas "both give"

this happens because of rule znA;'bhyastayor AtaH, that erases the A of dadA.

Notice that other zluclass roots that end in A (like hA), and the znaclass roots, are more involved. These keep their A before the aGit, and before the Git, they lose their A before vowels and replace it with i before consonants. See IhalyaghoH for examples.

446 letters. -- 99000randomthings.bse 1699 -- popularity 1




(tedisambiguation) (ted)

te disambiguationmmmmmmmmm glosses glosses ^ C+ 1730

There are three te words --

te' fn "those two, they", from tad- fn + au, which is not a hanger

as in

te kukkuTyau those two hens

te'' "you, to you, your", a hanger

as in

namas te "hi!"

te'''' "those, they", from tad- m + jas, which is not a hanger

as in

te kapayaH "those monkeys"

and one te affix --

te''' as in plavate "jumps"

230 letters. -- 99000randomthings.bse 1722 -- popularity 2




(/Natvam) (/Nat)

Natvam means changing n to Nmmmmmmmmm glosses glosses ^ C+ 1731

Natvam (literally "N-ness") is the change of n into N that happens after r S because of several rules.

These are some of the rules, and an example of each --

84001 raSA -- n changes into N after a r R RR S that is in the same word

takSan + zas alloponaH takSnas raSA takSNas "carpenters"

84002 aTkupvAGnu -- even if certain other letters come in between

rudh + znam + laT tip midaco runadhti jhaSastatho runadhdhi jhalAMjazjhazi runaddhi aTkup ruNAddhi "he stops it"

84037 padAntasya -- wordfinal n is unaffected

kR + laG jhi → .. → akurvan "they did" (keeps n)

no Natvam before serious -- n followed by serious is unaffected

rudh + laT mas → .. → rundhmas "we stop it" (keeps n)

445 letters. -- 99000randomthings.bse 1763 -- popularity 68




(/Satvam) (/Sat)

Satvam means replacing s with Smmmmmmmmm glosses glosses ^ C+ 1732

Satvam (literally "S-ness") is the change of s into S that happens after ku, r, ic because of the kric rule.

Some notes:

The Natvam change happens absolutely always. But the Satvam change only happens after a suffix has been added, or when a Sa-root is involved (see Adezapra).

The wordfinal s is unaffected. So no S change here even though s is right after an ic --

mAtR- + zas prathamayo mAtRRs "mothers"

The s of sr is unaffected. Exception narapara.

Unlike the Natvam change, the Satvam change only happens right after the letter that triggers it.

There are a few exceptions:

dhanUMs + i makes dhanuMSi by numvisarja, even though there is n between u and s.

vi + aT + sIdat makes vyaSIDat by sadiraprateH in spite of the intervening a (see prAksitAd)

kathA 0105013c zakaTAlo vyaSIdac ca mad-buddhiM vIkSya durjayAm

622 letters. -- 99000randomthings.bse 1785 -- popularity 6

486 !adyazvIna- means (likely to give birth) soon.

1053 Some roots get /Satvam after /pari /ni /vi

1058 After !gavi and !yudhi, !sthiraH (gets /Satvam when @latter, to make [@proper name]s).




(sixteenvowelstyle) (si)

Sixteen-vowel style.mmmmmmmmm glosses glosses ^ C+ 1733

Sometimes zlokas are chanted as two verses of sixteen syllables each, with no pause in the middle.

Let's listen to two examples.

First, we will listen to the guru zloka, that is ---

gu ru rbra hmA gu ru rvi SNu rgu ru rde vo ma he zva rahAAA |

gu ru sHsA kSA tpa ram bra hma ta smai zrI gu ra ve na mahAAAA ||

It is in this video, from 0:03 to 0:15 --

Guru Brahma Guru Vishnu - Vedic Chants - Guru Mantra - Pudukkotai Mahalinga Sastri

Now we'll listen to the first zloka of the viSNusahasranAma. It is --

vi zvaM vi SNu rva Sa TkA ro bhU ta bha vya bha va tpra bhuHu |

bhU ta kR dbhU ta bhR dbhA vo bhU tA tmA bhUta bhA va naHa ||

Here it is in the voice of Ishaan Pai --

Vishnu Sahasranamam | Vande Guru Paramparaam | Ishaan Pai

A zloka line has sixteen vowels and a pause at the end, and the vowel before the pause gets a decoration before pause . This "decoration" thing means that the syllables rahAAA mahAAA bhuHu naHa above are pronounced rahAAA mahAAA bhuHu naHa but written raH maH bhuH naH. Whatever goes before a pause is lengthened.

Next: eight-vowel style .

890 letters. -- 100000notesfish.bse 16 -- popularity 4

1721 half /sandhi

1736 "[@Do not break]" lines.

1739 badly split lines




(decorationbeforepause) (de)

decoration before pausemmmmmmmmm glosses glosses ^ C- 1734

When chanting verses or sutras, the last letters before a pause are seldom chanted in the same way they are written. Instead, the grammatically correct form of the last vowel is replaced by a "decorated" version, that is always longer.

When chanting, before a pause, --

1. A short vowel is always lengthened.

2. Long vowels too are lengthened.

3. ai au are replaced with aihi auhu.

4. aH iH etc are replaced with ahAAA ihIII

5. AH IH etc are replaced with AAAha IIIhi

6. Final t T k p sound as ta Ta ka, pa, with a very short a, and the vowel before the t T k p may be lengthened too.

7. Many people like to lengthen the final m of a verse.

8. Other people will read everything spelled as M in the paper they are reading aloud from as mmmm.

These changes are not taught by grammarians. Your chanting teacher teaches you to chant this way.

As different teachers have different opinions, not everybody follows points 1 to 8 above. Those points are a general guide that will come in handy if you listen at chanters in, say, Youtube videos. But when you chant yourself you have to follow the instructions of your teacher, not those eight points.

Example. Listen to this kid chanting ooom vizvaM viSNur vaSaTkAro bhUta-bhavya-bhavat-prabhuHu | bhUta-kRd bhUta-bhRd bhAvo bhUt'-AtmA bhUta-bhAvanaHa || --

Vishnu Sahasranamam | Vande Guru Paramparaam | Ishaan Pai

The last words of these two verses must be chanted as prabhuHu and bhAvanaHa. Because they have been chanted that way since anyone can remember.

Yet, they are invariably written as prabhuH and bhAvanaH.

Why? Because according to pANini and all the ancient grammarians, these words must be pronounced, when not chanting, as prabhuH bhAvanaH, both with an H sound at the end, not Hu Ha. In those times, they used the H sound in the everyday language, but Hu Ha when reciting the veda.

How do I know that? Because otherwise, we would have a pANini rule teaching us something like "replace aH with aHa before a pause". That replacement is not a compulsory grammar rule; rather, it is something done as a decoration, when chanting.

1671 letters. -- 100000notesfish.bse 64 -- popularity 2

1733 Sixteen-vowel style.

1735 eight-vowel style




(eightvowelstyle) (ei)

eight-vowel stylemmmmmmmmm glosses glosses ^ C+ 1735

Nowadays, most zlokas are chanted as four groups of eight vowels each, with a full pause after each group. The last vowel of each group gets a decoration before pause .

Let's listen to the same guru zloka we heard earlier, but this time in eight-vowel style . What we are going to hear is --

gu ru rbra hmA gu ru rvi SNuhUUU

gu ru rde vo ma he zva rahAAA |

gu ru sHsA kSA tpa ram bra hmAAAA

ta smai zrI gu ra ve na mahAAAA ||

In a female voice --

Guru Shloka | Authentic Chant | Lakshya Yoga

in a male voice --

Guru Shloka, meaning with Hindi & English || Karthik athreya

(The second has parabbrahma, the first parambrahma, both are ok.)

IMPORTANT WARNING. Even though the eight-vowel style is the most common way of chanting nowadays, all zlokas are always spelled as common grammar would want us to say them when speaking, and as if we were not going to make a pause in the middle. This causes no end of problems to many people that try to chant while reading aloud from a piece of paper, because they don't knwow how to do the split in the middle.

Example. You will find this in writing --

anye ca bahavazH zUrA mad-arthe tyakta-jIvitAH

Reading this aloud as it written, with a visarga at the end, is perfectly grammatical if you don't pause at the middle. You will say it like this --

anyecabahavazHzUrAmadarthetyaktajIvitAH

But if we are chanting in the sixteen-vowel style, then it should be chanted like this, with AAAha at the end --

anyecabahavazHzUrAmadarthetyaktajIvitAAAha

And with a pause at the middle, it should be this --

anyecabahavazHzUrAAAha ( pause) madarthetyaktajIvitAAAha

because the last word before the pause is zUrAs and, when we make no pause, it loses its s before m. And before pause, As becomes AAAha.

But, of course, in these days of kaliyuga, most people chanting the bhg have no idea that bahavAzH zUrAH means "many heroes" and is a plural and lost the H before m, so they will just stick in a pause anywhere between the eight vowel and the ninth and chant something like this, very wrongly --

anyecabahavazHzUrAAA ( pause) madarthetyaktajIvitAAAha

1705 letters. -- 100000notesfish.bse 178 -- popularity 4

1733 Sixteen-vowel style.

1736 "[@Do not break]" lines.

1739 badly split lines




(@donotbreak) (@don)

" Do not break" lines.mmmmmmmmm glosses glosses ^ C+ 1736

A "do not break" zloka verse is a verse that should not be chanted with a pause in the middle.

Nowadays zlokas are mostly always chanted in the eight-vowel style . Yet, in the past the sixteen-vowel style was the most common, and all zlokas are written as if they were chanted in the sixteen-vowel style.

Old poets assumed you would chant in sixteens, so they assuimed that therewould be caesura between vowels eight and nine, not a pause. That's why, once in while, we find a zloka line that cannot be chanted witha pause in the middle. If we try to do so, we get a half-line with nine vowels, or a pause in the middle of a word. Both of which are ugly.

Example. This line can be chanted easily in the sixteen-vowel style --

ahaM vai kurubhir yotsyAmy avajeSyAmi te pazUn "I will fight with the Kurus and recover the cattle for you"

but if we pause between words, the first half has nine vowels --

ahaM vai kurubhir yotsyAmi ( pause) avajeSyAmi te pazUn

and if we pause where the melody wants us to pause, the word yotsyAmi gets cut in the middle (ungrammatical and ugly) --

ahaM vai kurubhir yotsyA ( pause) my avajeSyAmi te pazUn

ahaM vai kurubhir yotsyAm ( pause) yavajeSyAmi te pazUn

Second example --

rAjanyA rAja-kanyAz cApy Anayantv abhiSecanam "let the queens and princesses bring those for your coronation"

rAjanyA rAja-kanyAz ca pause apy Anayantv abhiSecanam (nine vowels in the second half)

rAjanyA rAja-kanyAz cApi pause Anayantv abhiSecanam (nine vowels in the second half)

rAjanyA rAja-kanyAz cA pause py Anayantv abhiSecanam (word api split in two)

Pausing makes us break the rythm or the grammar.

My personal advice is --

When you are chanting anything seriously in an eight-vowel style,

chant these do not break lines in the the sixteen-vowel style. No pause at all.

But if you are teaching your students to chant by the usual method (chant eight vowels, wait for students to repeat, chant next eight),

then split after the eight vowel and nvm about the grammar.

After the students have memorized all the half verses, then you can teach them that in some places they must not pause.

1660 letters. -- 100000notesfish.bse 378 -- popularity none




(/zloka) (/zlo)

zloka, verse and pAdammmmmmmmm glosses glosses ^ C+ 1737

A zloka, also called anuSTubh, is a particular sort of stanza made of two verses of sixteen vowels each.

Each verse, or " zloka line", has a caesura between the eight vowel and the ninth. In other words, each verse of 16 vowels is made of two parts with eight vowels each.

Each of these parts is called a pAda "quarter, fourth part".

Example: this is a zloka --

udyamena hi sidhyanti kAryANi na manorathaiH |

na hi suptasya siMhasya pravizanti mukhe mRgAH ||

This is a verse --

udyamena hi sidhyanti kAryANi na manorathaiH |

And these two are pAdas --

udyamena hi sidhyanti

kAryANi na manorathaiH |

Because of an old custom, we must write a stick after the second pAda and two sticks after the fourth.

Please do not use the word "shloka" in English to mean "any sort of Sanskrit stanza". That it not what the word means. I only use the word to mean a specific sort of stanza.

zlokas can be chanted in two styles --

sixteen-vowel style

eight-vowel style

This gadget will allow you to test if anything with sixteen vowels in it is a zloka line or not --

zloka tester

In the epics, two light syllables can replace the first syllable of a zloka verse, as in --

janamejayasya rAjarSesH sarpasattre mahAtmanaH

where the first half-verse has nine vowels. Be careful to chant the ja and the na very fast, and with the same note.

1051 letters. -- 100000notesfish.bse 486 -- popularity 8

909 {RR}-enders, /Rcch and !R to (/guNa before /liT).

1272 @Ignore verse [@filler]s.

1689 !zloka tester

1736 "[@Do not break]" lines.

1739 badly split lines




(abouttheletterxinrules) (let)

about the letter x in rulesmmmmmmmmm glosses glosses ^ C+ 1738

If you see any letter x inside some rules, please ignore it completely. Chant the rule TeHx as if it were written TeH. wafti.

I add x to some rules so that all pANini rules in this website have different letters. For instance, there is TeH and TeHx, oraJ and oraJx, AtmanepadeSvanyatarasyAm and AtmanepadeSvanyatarasyAmx.

259 letters. -- 100000notesfish.bse 536 -- popularity 2

1001 (Optionally,) !d (of a root to !s before /sip).




(badlysplitlines) (bad)

badly split linesmmmmmmmmm glosses glosses ^ C+ 1739

Earlier, we said that the same verse can be chanted either in sixteen-vowel style as --

yajJaziSTAzinasHsantomucyantesarvakilbiSaiHi ( pause)

or in eight-vowel style as --

yajJaziSTAzinasHsantahAA ( pause) mucyantesarvakilbiSaiHII ( pause)

Here you have a recording of that verse in eight-vowel style . The last word of the first pAda is pronounced santahA because there is a pause after it --

sri sri 3 13

And this is a recording of the same verse in sixteen-vowel style , with no pause in the middle. Therefore the last word is pronounced santo, because it is followed by m without a pause --

Brava 3 13

And here is a recording of another style that you will find often in the internet: random style. In this verse, there is a pause between the two halves, but, unlike in the eight-vowel style above, there is no santahA before the pause, but santo instead --

sanskritchannel 3 13

Doing this is extremely common in internet. Do not do this. If you don't know how to split, don't do your splitting yourself; instead, trust someone that knows.

903 letters. -- 100000notesfish.bse 541 -- popularity none




(chandcch) (chcch)

ch and cchmmmmmmmmm glosses glosses ^ C+ 1740

The pANini rules AGmAGozca ff are written under the assumption that there is some sound difference between ch and cch. Grammatical theory considerations appear to lead to the conclusion that ch is a normal consonant, with the same duration as say c or d or bh, while cch is a double consonant , and lasts the same time as any two-consonant cluster.

However, many people, like me, make no distinction at all between the two sounds, and always pronounce cch as a doubled consonant -- even when the pANini rules say that it may be spelled as ch. I don't think I ever heard anyone saying ch.

The following spectrogram shows the word gacchati as an example of how the cch looks --

In that image, you can see that the puff of the cch has a very high airflow, far higher than the puff in English CH. As far as I know, nowadays, everybody pronounces both ch and cch in that way. I might be wrong. It is also possible that in the times of pANini there was a faster way of saying ch, which has been now lost to time.

This lack of difference explains why in the manuscripts some people spelled gacchati as gachati, which is nowadays considered to be an incorrect spelling. It also explains why some words, like Anarcchus, are sometimes spelled Anarcchus and other times Anarchus. The pronunciation is always gacchati Anarcchus, the spelling.

Summarizing: I think you should always pronounce both ch and cch as cch, because everybody else does that, no matter what pANini says.

1167 letters. -- 100000notesfish.bse 578 -- popularity 3

559 /AG /mAG compulsorily (get /tuk before !ch).

561 @wordfinal (@long gets /tuk before !ch) optionally.

909 {RR}-enders, /Rcch and !R to (/guNa before /liT).




(aNdisambiguation) (aN)

aN disambiguationmmmmmmmmm glosses glosses ^ 1741

aN in a rule can mean --

aN -- a taddhita affix

aN' -- a kRt affix

aN'' -- the vowels a A i I u U

63 letters. -- 100000notesfish.bse 590 -- popularity 3




(@pie) (@pie)

proto-indo-europeanmmmmmmmmm glosses glosses ^ C+ 1742

According to the views of Westermn grammarians, Sanskrit evolved from an older language called pie, about which you can read about in [WIKIProto-Indo-European_language].

Be that true or not, when I say that some Sanskrit word, like tiSThati, "comes from the pie root sta meaning staying", that means there are words in many non-Indian languages (germanic, slavic, Romance, Celtic, Avestan) that sound vaguely like "sta" and mean roughly "staying".

All I know about pie I got from etymonline dot com, fantastic website.

435 letters. -- 100000notesfish.bse 600 -- popularity 2

1204 /sthA "stop, stay, stand"

1210 /yuj "join"




(@limb) (@lim)

About " limb".mmmmmmmmm glosses glosses ^ C+ 1743

Rule svAGgAcco mentions svAGga- " ones' own limb ".

A " limb ", technically, is a nonfluid material thing that is, or used to be, naturally part of the body of a moving being. For instance, a head or a leg, but not the blood.

By analogy, a limb can also be a part of anything nonmoving that bears with it that same sort of relationship. Like the branch of a tree or the peak of a mountain.

295 letters. -- 100000notesfish.bse 610 -- popularity 1




(moonfacedmeansbeautifu) (moo)

"moonfaced" means beautifulmmmmmmmmm glosses glosses ^ C+ 1744

In English, when we say someone is moonfaced, we mean that their face is round like the full moon, therefore ugly.

In Sanskrit, when we say that someone's face is like the moon (candramukhA-), we mean that her face is beautiful like the moon, it shines and attracts attention.

217 letters. -- 100000notesfish.bse 636 -- popularity 1

426 /GIS (is optional) after a @latter that means one's own @limb, is @subordinate, and ends in non-@cluster plus !a.




(somevedicchantingvideo) (someve)

some vedic chanting videosmmmmmmmmm glosses glosses ^ 1745

0 letters. -- 100000notesfish.bse 645 -- popularity none




(/Ni) (/Ni)

Nimmmmmmmmm glosses glosses ^ C- 1746

Ni means Nic and NiG.

Nic is an extremely common affix.

There are two sorts of Nic added to roots.

Rule muNDa;mizra adds it to some nouns.

NiG is very uncommon, made by rules puccha;bhANDa and kamerNiG.

158 letters. -- 100000notesfish.bse 670 -- popularity 13




(/Nic) (/Nic)

There are two sorts of Nic.mmmmmmmmm glosses glosses ^ C+ 1747

(N)i(c) is one of the Ni affixes. It

can be added to roots of verb classes one to nine,

must be added to nichclass roots,

and cannot be added to sanAdyanta roots.

There are two common sorts of Nic --

(1) causative Nic. It is added to roots of the verb classes one to nine, and means "getting others to do the action of the root"

pacati "cooks"

pAcayati "makes others cook"

(2) Nichclass Nic. It is always added to nichclass roots, and adds no meaning.

cintayati "thinks"

Then there are two uncommon sorts of Nic --

(3) The causative Nic after a nichclass verb. The grammar allows adding the causative Nic to nichclass roots, but then one of the two Nic disappears. Which means that according to the theory, cintayati can either mean "think" or "make others think". In practice however, nobody uses cintayati to mean "make others think", as that would cause confusion.

(4) The "useless Nic" or "epic Nic". Grammar does not allow to add Nic, to roots of classes one to nine unless the sense changes to make others do. Yet, in the epics it is sometimes added without change of sense. Often metri causa, I guess.

For instance, in good grammar, pravrajitum means becoming a mendicant, and pravrAjitum means making others become mendicants. But in the verse pravrAjitum ihecchAmi tapas tapsyAmi duzcaram, the wrong one is used, most likely metri causa.

1042 letters. -- 100000notesfish.bse 685 -- popularity 45




(conjugationofhan) (conj)

conjugation of hanmmmmmmmmm glosses glosses ^ C+ 1748

If you look at the first four tenses of the root han in inria conjugation, it appears to be quite messy.

The logic is this. The root han --

becomes ha before the serious Git (by anudAttopadeza),

turns into ghn before vowel Git (by gamahana and hohante),

and turns into ja before hi''' (by hanterjaH)

and therefore only stays as han before y v m and before the pit affixes.

In haMsi "you kill", the n turned into M by nazcA.

In the laG, s''' and t''' were lost by halGyA (not by saMyogAnta).

The zatR is of course ghnat-, because zatR is Git.

479 letters. -- 100000notesfish.bse 754 -- popularity 1




(aboutNicplussan) (Ni)

About Nic plus san.mmmmmmmmm glosses glosses ^ C+ 1749

The sanAdyanta roots (such as pAci, from pac + Nic) can get the same affixes as the ordinary roots, such as tenses --

pAci + laT tip → .. → pAcayati "he makes others cook"

and kRt affixes --

pAci + tumun → .. → pAcayitum "to make others cook"

pAci + tavya → .. → pAcayitavya- "that should be made to cook"

However, these sanAdyanta roots cannot get a second sanAdi affix.

The exception to that are the Nijanta roots, which can get san. Example --

nI plus Nic makes nAyi --

nI + Nic acoJNiti nai + i ecoya nAyi "make others lead"

and that Nayi can get san --

nAyi + san sanyaGoH nAnAyi + san sanyataH ninAyi + sanninAyi + iSan hardsoft ninAye + iSa ecoya ninAyayiSa "want to make others lead, being about to make others lead"

as in --

putreNa senAnM ninAyayiSati rAjA "the king wants to make his son lead the army"

557 letters. -- 100000notesfish.bse 770 -- popularity 2

1048 After the @stammer of a [@Sa-root] that is before !San, only !stu and [/Ni]-enders get /kric.
















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