The Sanskrit Language | Guided Sanskrit Lessons

Lesson 32

Numerals
Dating

Exercises
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Exercise Page 532
Exercise Page 542
CORRECTION: Page 543, the first word should be "किरीटिनं" not "किरीतिनं", and the corresponding vocabulary listing on Page 548 should be "किरीटिन्" not "किरीतिन्".
HINT: 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 here.

Numerals

Numerals are numbers expressed as words. Although there are many rules and options to forming numerals in Sanskrit, they can be translated fairly easily if some basics are known:
  • Numerals 1-9: एक, द्वि, त्रि, चतुर्, पञ्च, षष्, सप्त, अष्ट, नव
  • Decades 10, 20, etc.: दश, विंशति, त्रिंशत्, चत्वारिंशत्, पञ्चशत्, षष्टि, सप्तति, अशीति, नवति
  • Decimals 100, 1000, etc.: शत, सहस्र, अयुत, लक्ष, प्रयुत, कोटि
These are combined in the following ways:
  • Numerals 11-99 are formed by adding the numeral 1-9 in front of a decade, e.g. 25 = पञ्चविंशति (the numerals द्वि, त्रि, and अष्ट become द्वा, त्रयस्, and अष्टा)
  • Multiples of decimals are formed by adding the numeral 1-9 in front of the decimal, e.g. 200 = द्विशत
  • The words ऊन (less) and उत्तर/अधिक (more) are used to form compounds to subtract or add amounts from greater numerals, e.g. 19 = 1 less than 20 = एक-ऊन-विंशति, 108 = 8 greater than 100 = अष्ट-उत्तर-शत or अष्ट-अधिक-शत
Numerals decline in the following ways:
  • एक declines like a pronoun (see Lesson 7)
  • द्वि, त्रि, and चतुर् have their own declension (see Pages 520-521)
  • पञ्च, षष्, सप्त, अष्ट, नव, and दश have no ending for First/Nominative and Second/Accusative cases, and decline with the usual suffixes for the remaining cases (i.e. भिः, भ्यः, आम्, and सु)
  • The decades are feminine singular, with those ending in ति (i.e. विंशति, etc.) declining like मति, those ending in त् (i.e. त्रिंशत्, etc.) declining like विद्युत्
  • Numerals 20 and above are nouns, so when they refer to a number of another noun, the other noun can be placed in Sixth/Genitive Case or in the same case as the numeral, e.g. "twenty citizens" = विंशतिः नागरिकानाम् or विंशतिः नागरिकाः (however since numerals 1-19 are adjectives, they always take the same case as the noun they describe)
Numerals can also be combined with the following endings to form adverbs:
  • -धा (way, manner): e.g. एकधा (in one way or manner)
  • -तय, -कृत्वः (fold, times): e.g. पञ्चतय, पञ्चकृत्वः (five-fold, five times)
  • -शः (in groups of, at a time): e.g. द्विशः (in groups of two, two at a time)

Dating

Unlike a modern date, which usually contains only a day of the week, day of the month, month, and year, Sanskrit dating contains many possible parameters. These parameters and their possible values are listed in the table below. A date is expressed in order of specificity (e.g. year before month), and all words are declined in Seventh/Locative Case.
Sanskrit Date
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