Lesson 27

Exercise Page 387

Exercise Page 391

CORRECTIONS:

Page 390, the second line of Verse 25 should start उवाच पार्थ (not उवाच पार्थं, i.e. the anusvāra should not be there)
Page 395, note 16 has a typo: अनुपच्यामि should be अनुपश्यामि

HINTS:

The words of the exercise verses from the Bhagavad Gītā should be reordered in order to facilitate translation. If you are having trouble working out the anvaya or word order, you can download the suggested word order here.
Verse #21 contains the word आह. This is the root अह् in perfect III/1 (the reduplication of अ becomes आ). This verb is commonly used only in perfect III/1 (आह) and III/+ (आहुः).

Verse #23 contains the word योत्स्यमानान्. This is 2/+ of the future active participle योत्स्यमान. A future participle is formed by adding the same suffixes as present participles (i.e. त् to परस्मैपद verbs, and मान to आत्मनेपद verbs and passive stems) to the future stem. The future stem can be found by taking the suffix off the future third person singular form of the verb. For example, the future third person singular of युध् (fight) is योत्स्यते, so the future stem is योत्स्य, and the future active participle is योत्स्यमान.

Meter

A meter is a specific number and arrangement of long and short syllables that give a rhythmic quality to a verse. In Sanskrit, no specific knowledge is required to correctly recite a metered line. If pronounced correctly, the recitation of a line will automatically fit the meter in which it is written. Here are some important rules for pronunciation:

A long vowel (आ, ई, ऊ, ॠ, ए, ऐ, ओ or औ) takes exactly twice the time to pronounce as a short vowel (अ, इ, उ, ऋ, or ऌ).
When a conjunct consonant (more than one consonant) is preceded by a short vowel, the first of the consonants is doubled, e.g. कुरुक्षेत्रे is pronounced कुरुक्क्षेत्रे because the conjunct क्ष् is preceded by the short vowel उ.
Visarga is pronounced as a release of air only if it is at the end of a sentence. Otherwise:
If it is followed by a sibilant (श्, ष्, or स्) it is pronounced as that sibilant
If it is followed by क् or ख् it is pronounced as a guttural aspiration (called जिह्वामूलीय)
If it is followed by प् or फ् it is pronounced as a labial aspiration (called उपध्मानीय)

Since words must often be rearranged out of their conventional order to fit a meter, it is necessary to reorder the words back into their conventional order for ease of translation. This process is called 'anvaya'. In the solutions to the exercises, words of verses are reordered to their conventional order. Here are some useful tips for doing anvaya:

Try to identify the main clause first, i.e. subject, object, and verb.
Group words with the same case and number together to identify adjectives and the nouns they describe.
Word like च, वै, तु, हि, and एव are often used in verse to satisfy the meter and do not convey any significant meaning. If they do not fit the context, it is not necessary to translate them.
Verses that are part of conversations often include several words in Vocative Case. These can be simply moved to the beginning or end of a sentence as they are not part of the main sentence.
The full-stops ' । ' and ' ॥ ' do not indicate the end of a sentence, but the end of the first and second halves of a verse respectively. The grammatical sentence may continue past either of these full-stops.

For example, the first verse of the Bhagavad Gītā given on Page 381 is:

धर्मक्षेत्रे कुरुक्षेत्रे समवेता युयुत्सवः ।
मामकाः पाण्डवाश्चैव किमकुर्वत सञ्जय ॥

The anvaya for this verse is सञ्जय मामकाः पाण्डवाः च एव युयुत्सवः धर्मक्षेत्रे कुरुक्षेत्रे समवेताः किम् अकुर्वत, which means "O Sañjaya, my sons and the pāṇdavas, desirous of fighting, gathered together in field of dharma kurukṣetra, did what?"

TIP: Correct recitation of a metered verse requires that stress or accent be placed on the correct syllable of a verse. Accent is discussed on Pages 45-46 and can be summarized as follows:

A heavy or गुरु syllable is one that contains a long vowel, or a short vowel followed by a conjunct consonant
Any other syllable is light or लघु
Stress or accent is placed on the last गुरु syllable in a word, excluding the final syllable
If no syllable is गुरु, stress or accent is placed on the antepenult (third-last) syllable

Passive Stems

The following verb forms are derived from the verb stem: present, imperfect, optative, imperative, and present participles. The process of deriving the active verb stem depends on the class of the verb (as seen in Lessons 5, 25, and 26). The process of deriving the passive verb stem is the same for all verbs, and is governed only by a few rules as listed on Page 383.

The most important features of a passive verb stem are the addition of the syllable य ('ya') to the root, and the use of only आत्मनेपद ('middle') suffixes for all verbs. Verbs formed using passive stems can be translated as follows, using the III/1 forms of the verb दृश् ('see') as examples:

Present: दृश्यते = 'he/she/it is seen'
Imperfect: अदृश्यत = 'he/she/it was seen'
Optative: दृश्येत = 'he/she/it would have been seen'
Imperative: दृश्यताम् = 'may he/she/it be seen'
Present Passive Participle: दृश्यमान = 'being seen'

Gerundives

The gerundive is a 'potential passive participle', translated as 'to be VERBed' and formed by adding one of three suffixes to a root:

अनीय (causes गुण): e.g. दृश् + अनीय = दर्शनीय ('to be seen')
तव्य (causes गुण): e.g. कृ + तव्य = कर्तव्य ('to be done')
य (causes वृद्धि): e.g. भृ + य = भार्य ('to be carried')

Technically, any of the three suffixes can be added to any root, but a particular root usually takes one more commonly than the others. As any other participle, a gerundive must agree in GENDER, NUMBER, and CASE with the noun it describes.

Passive Impersonal

Sanskrit passive verb forms include: verbs and participles formed with passive stems, gerundives, and the past passive participle (from Lesson 6). These passive verb forms are usually made from transitive verbs, and they indicate the object of the action denoted by the verb. Passive verb forms can also be made from intransitive verbs to indicate the very action itself. This intransitive use of passive verb forms is called the 'passive impersonal' or 'भाव-प्रयोग' in Sanskrit. The purpose of the passive impersonal is to emphasize the action, rather than the agent or subject.

By default, a passive impersonal verb form will be in III/1, and neuter if it is a participle. The passive impersonal can be difficult to translate since it does not exist in English, and often it is simpler to convert it to an active verb in English. For example, using the verb गम् ('go'):

Present: तेन गम्यते = तेन गम्यमानम् = 'It is going by him' = 'He is going'
Past: तेन अगम्यत = तेन गतम् = 'It was gone by him' = 'He went'
Potential: तेन गम्येत = तेन गन्तव्यम् = 'It is to be gone by him' = 'He should go'