chandas and laukikammmmmmmmm ^ C+ 1711

The laukika is the variety of language that was considered "best" by language teachers in times of pANini. We can guess that it was the register used by the upper classes and by educated people, and that the speech of most of the population was quite near it, but sort of drifting away from it.

The chandas ("songs", "verses") are the veda. The language of the vedas was not too far away from the laukika of those times, but far away enough that it deserved some teaching. I mean, priests had to be taught details like "thou means you" or "wrought means made".

The pANinIya has two purposes: teaching correct spoken language, and helping to understand and preserve the vedas.

About vedic rulesmmmmmmmmm ^ C+ 1712

The vedic rules are only useful for people that study the veda. They warn the student of the veda about the grammar differences betwen the ancient language of the vedas and the laukika, so that he may rest assured they are not grammar mistakes nor misrememberings.

Example. Rule 11013 ze just teaches that in a certain passage of the veda, namely, asme::indrAbRhaspatI, the fact that asme did not change into asma by ecoya is not a mistake -- that's a quirk of the old language, and that's how it must be sung.

When I say that a rule is vedic, you may safely ignore it. This website is made for people that are not interested in learning the veda, by a teacher also uninterested.

About the veda.mmmmmmmmm ^ C+ 1713

The veda are some very ancient collections of holy songs. Roughly explained, they are a bit like the Bible. They are supposed to be very holy and very magic, and all knowledge comes from them, directly or indirectly.

The veda is divided in four parts, the biggest of which is the Rgveda.

The language of the veda is Sanskrit, but slightly different because it is very old. The difference however does not amount to much. It would be, I guess, comparable to the difference between Shakespeare's English and 21st century English -- there are differences, but we can understand most of it. This is way less than the difference between, say, Shakespeare and the Beowulf.

There are pAnini rules that explain the differences between the everyday language described by pANini (the laukika) and the language of the veda. These are called vedic rules.

strong affixes.mmmmmmmmm ^ M- C+ 1714

The affixes that are added to a nounbase can be strong or weak.

If the nounbase is neuter, only zi is strong (by zisa).

Otherwise, su au jas am au are strong (by suDa).

All other nounbase affixes are weak.

Being strong or not strong makes rules like rAjAnam and alloponaH work or not work.

Summary of replacing one letter or many.mmmmmmmmm ^ M+ C+ 1715

Summary of rules alontyasya, AdeHparasya, anekAlzit, Gicca --

one-letter replacements replace one letter

See examples at alontyasya and AdeHparasya

many-letter replacements replace the whole

See examples at anekAlzit

BUT

one-letter replacements that have z label replace the whole

See examples at anekAlzit

many-letter replacements that have G label replace one letter

See examples at Gicca

Back to alontyasya.

Back to anekAlzit.

Back to AdeHparasya.

Back to Gicca.