ASSEB Higher Secondary Skill Subject Advance Sanskrit cheat sheet

Pāṇini's Aṣṭādhyāyī is arranged in 8 adhyāyas of 4 pādas each and contains about 3,959 sūtras; the first sūtra is 'vṛddhir ādaic' and the last is 'a a'.

The 14 Śiva-sūtras generate pratyāhāras: 'aṇ' = all vowels, 'ak' = simple vowels, 'ik' = i, u, ṛ, ḷ, 'hal' = all consonants; anubandha letters mark boundaries.

Ten lakāras: laṭ (present), laṅ (imperfect), lṛṭ (future), lṛṅ (conditional), leṭ (Vedic subjunctive), loṭ (imperative), liṅ (optative), āśīrliṅ (benedictive), luṅ (aorist), luṭ (periphrastic future).

Kāraka roles and their case endings: kartṛ→nominative, karma→accusative, karaṇa→instrumental, sampradāna→dative, apādāna→ablative, adhikaraṇa→locative; genitive expresses sambandha, not a kāraka.

Guṇa grade: i/u/ṛ/ḷ→e/o/ar/al; a/ā→a/ā. Vṛddhi grade: i/u/ṛ/ḷ→ai/au/ār/āl; a/ā→ā. Both are triggered by specific suffixes such as -a, -tva and -ya.

Sandhi rules: savarṇa-dīrgha a+a=ā; guṇa a+i=e; vṛddhi a+e=ai; yaṇ i+v=y; ścutva t/ś→c/ś before palatals; anusvāra before consonants; visarga -aḥ→-o before voiced sounds.

Four samāsa classes: avyayībhāva (adverbial, first member indeclinable), tatpuruṣa (determinative; dvigu is a subtype), bahuvrīhi (possessive, refers to something outside), dvandva (coordinative).

Subanta declension has 8 vibhaktis including sambodhana and 3 numbers; tiṅ endings are tip tas jhi / sip thas tha / mip vas mas (parasmaipada) and ta ātām jha / thās āthām dhvam / iṭ vahi mahiṅ (ātmanepada).

Sanskrit gadyakāvya is divided into kathā (invented narrative) and ākhyāyikā (narrative with a historical or real basis), a distinction drawn in Daṇḍin's Kāvyādarśa.

Bāṇa (7th c. CE) wrote the ākhyāyikā Harṣacarita, on King Harṣa, and the kathā Kādambarī; the latter's unfinished portion was completed by his son Bhūṣaṇabhaṭṭa.

Subandhu's Vāsavadattā (c. 6th-7th c.) is an ornate prose romance with long compounds and embedded tales; it is a standard example of Sanskrit gadyakāvya.

Daṇḍin's Daśakumāracarita narrates the adventures of ten princes; its prose is simpler than Bāṇa's and includes Prakrit passages.

Pañcatantra (Viṣṇuśarman) and Hitopadeśa (Nārāyaṇa) are framed animal-fable collections; Vetālapañcaviṃśatikā and Siṃhāsanadvātriṃśikā are further story-cycles.

The Bṛhatkathā of Guṇāḍhya survives only through adaptations, notably Kṣemendra's Bṛhatkathāmañjarī and Somadeva's Kathāsaritsāgara; the latter is in verse, not prose.

Ornate prose characteristically uses dīrgha-samāsa, anuprāsa, yamaka and utprekṣā; description (varṇanā) outweighs plot, and Sanskrit prose often embeds Prakrit speech.

Campū is a mixed prose-and-verse genre; classical examples include Trivikramabhaṭṭa's Nalacampū. Modern Sanskrit prose from the 19th-20th centuries added short stories, novels and essays.

Mahākāvya convention: sarga-baddha, at least 8 cantos, a noble hero (dhīrodātta), descriptions of cities, mountains, oceans, seasons, love and war, and a benedictory conclusion.

Khaṇḍakāvya is a shorter poem, often on a single theme; Meghadūta and Ṛtusaṃhāra are standard examples.

Kālidāsa's Raghuvaṃśa has 19 cantos on the Raghu dynasty; Kumārasambhava has 8 cantos in the shorter recension and 17 in the longer, on Śiva and Pārvatī.

Meghadūta is a sandeśa-kāvya in 2 cantos and mandākrāntā metre; a yakṣa sends a message to his wife through a cloud.

Bhāravi's Kirātārjunīya (18 cantos) and Māgha's Śiśupālavadha (20 cantos) are the standard mahākāvyas after Kālidāsa, famed for alaṅkāra and verbal complexity.

Aśvaghoṣa's Buddhacarita and Saundarananda (c. 2nd c. CE) are early Sanskrit mahākāvyas with Buddhist themes.

Śrīharṣa's Naiṣadhīyacarita (12th c., 22 cantos) retells the Nala-Damayantī story and is known for śleṣa and intricate metre.

Jayadeva's Gītagovinda (12th c.) is a gīti-kāvya of 12 cantos on Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa; each song ends with a refrain naming the poet.

Bharata's Nāṭyaśāstra (c. 2nd c. BCE-2nd c. CE, 36 chapters) is the foundational treatise on drama, dance and music; its rasa-sūtra is 'vibhāvānubhāvavyabhicārisaṃyogād rasa-niṣpattiḥ'.

Ten rūpakas: nāṭaka, prakaraṇa, aṅka, vyāyoga, bhāṇa, samavakāra, vīthī, ḍima, īhāmṛga, prahasana; Dhanañjaya's Daśarūpaka systematises them.

Nāṭaka: 5-10 aṅkas, dhīrodātta hero, śṛṅgāra or vīra as principal rasa, no death or battle on stage; prakaraṇa has a Brahmin or merchant hero and an invented plot.

Five sandhis: mukha, pratimukha, garbha, vimarśa, nirvahaṇa; each is linked to the avasthās of the hero and to the progression of the plot.

Four abhinayas: āṅgika (gesture), vācika (speech), āhārya (costume and make-up), sāttvika (inner emotion); the Nāṭyaśāstra details each.

Kālidāsa's plays: Abhijñānaśākuntalam (7 acts), Mālavikāgnimitra (5), Vikramorvaśīya (5); the first is based on the Śakuntalā episode of the Mahābhārata.

Other major plays: Śūdraka's Mṛcchakaṭika (10 acts, prakaraṇa), Viśākhadatta's Mudrārākṣasa (historical intrigue), Bhavabhūti's Uttararāmacarita (7 acts).

Stage conventions: nāndī (benediction), sūtradhāra (manager), naṭī, vidūṣaka (jester), kañcuki (chamberlain), yavanikā (curtain); Prakrit is used for women and low characters.

Rasa theory: eight rasas (śṛṅgāra, hāsya, karuṇa, raudra, vīra, bhayānaka, bībhatsa, adbhuta) plus śānta added by later theorists.

Sanskrit and Assamese are SOV; English is SVO. During translation the Sanskrit finite verb moves from the end to the middle or front of the English clause.

Split all sandhi first, then parse each pada: identify stem, gender, number, case (vibhakti) and verbal ending (tiṅ) before assigning English words.

Vibhakti mapping: nominative→subject; accusative→direct object; instrumental→by/with; dative→to/for; ablative→from; genitive→of/'s; locative→in/on/at.

Sanskrit compounds are expanded from the last member backwards; bahuvrīhi is translated as 'one whose ...' and tatpuruṣa by an explicit case relation.

Locative absolute (sat/sati) and genitive absolute become English 'when/while/if' clauses; the participle agrees with its noun in gender, number and case.

The absolutives -tvā and -ya mean 'having done'; render them by a coordinate verb ('he did X and ...') or an 'after/when' clause.

Particles: ca=and, api=also/even, eva=only/indeed, iti=thus/quote, tu/paraṃ=but, na=not, mā=do not; they control the tone and logical relation of the sentence.

Assamese uses postpositions (babe, para, loi) and classifiers (khan, jon, tā) where Sanskrit uses case endings; the Sanskrit genitive often becomes Assamese -r/-ar.

IAST transliteration: ā, ī, ū, ṛ, ṝ, ḷ, ṃ, ḥ, ś, ṣ, ṭ, ḍ, ṇ, ñ, ṅ; Sanskrit proper names and technical terms retain IAST in academic translation.

Comprehension procedure: split sandhi → separate upasarga, root and suffix → identify samāsa type → assign vibhakti → determine sentence syntax (SOV).

Common upasargas: pra- (forth), vi- (apart), sam- (together), anu- (after), ava- (down), ud- (up), nir- (out), abhi- (towards), adhi- (over), upa- (near), apa- (away), ati- (beyond).

Roots and presents: √bhū→bhavati, √kṛ→karoti, √gam→gacchati, √dṛś→paśyati, √vac→vadati, √śru→śṛṇoti, √labh→labhate, √sthā→tiṣṭhati, √jñā→jānāti, √dā→dadāti.

Su- and dus- are prefixes meaning 'good/well' and 'bad/ill': sukṛta, duṣkṛta, sukhin, duḥkha; they also form bahuvrīhi compounds.

Iti closes a quotation or marks 'thus'; it follows the quoted words and often precedes a verb of saying such as uvāca or abravīt.

Visarga sandhi: -aḥ + voiced sound → -o; -aḥ + a → -o '; -aḥ + voiceless consonant → -aḥ or -aḥ→s; final -m before a consonant becomes anusvāra.

Vocabulary sets: jala/vāri/udaka/salila = water; gaja/kuñjara = elephant; aśva/turaga = horse; nara/mānava/puruṣa = man; vana/araṇya = forest.

Feminine and neuter endings: -ā/-ī/-ū (latā, nadī, vadhū) and -am (phala, jala); adjectives agree with nouns in gender, number and case.

Numbers: eka, dvi, tri, catur, pañca, ṣaṣ, sapta, aṣṭa, nava, daśa; dvau and trayaḥ decline in the dual and plural respectively.

Laghu = 1 mātrā (short vowel, or consonant plus short vowel not followed by a conjunct); guru = 2 mātrās (long vowel, or short vowel before conjunct, anusvāra or visarga).

Eight mātrā-gaṇas: ya (⏑–), ra (–⏑), ta (– –), ja (⏑⏑), bha (–⏑⏑), na (⏑⏑⏑), ma (– – –), sa (⏑– –).

Anuṣṭubh/śloka: 4 pādas of 8 syllables; in even pādas the 5th syllable is laghu and the cadence follows set patterns; it is the common epic metre.

Syllable counts: indravajrā and upendravajrā 11; vasantatilakā 14; mālinī 15; mandākrāntā 17; śārdūlavikrīḍita 19; sragdharā 21.

Āryā is a mātrā-vṛtta measured in mātrās, not syllables; its four pādas have 12, 18, 12 and 15 mātrās and it is common in Prakrit and Sanskrit.

Upamā uses iva/vat/yathā/sadṛśa; rūpaka identifies subject and image without a comparative marker; utprekṣā presents a fancy as if real ('as if').

Anuprāsa = alliteration; yamaka = repetition of the same syllable-group with different meaning; śleṣa = pun on one word with two meanings.

Arthāntaranyāsa = a general maxim used to support a particular statement; atiśayokti = hyperbole; svabhāvokti = naturalistic description; dīpaka = a common attribute governing several members.

Rasa: śṛṅgāra, hāsya, karuṇa, raudra, vīra, bhayānaka, bībhatsa, adbhuta, with śānta as the ninth in later theory.

Sanskrit nibandha structure: prastāvanā (introduction), viṣaya/vivaraṇa (body with arguments and examples), upasaṃhāra (conclusion).

Mood choice: laṭ for general truths and present narration; lṛṭ for future; liṅ for advice, wish or hypothesis; loṭ for commands; luṅ for past events.

Sanskrit sentence order is SOV; modifiers precede the noun; the finite verb closes the clause; sandhi is applied across word boundaries within a sentence.

Use iti to close quotations and reported speech; use yathā ... tathā for correlations and ca ... ca for 'both ... and'.

Compounds in prose: short tatpuruṣa and bahuvrīhi are preferred; very long samāsa belongs to ornate gadyakāvya, not to plain expository writing.

Passive construction: -ta/-ya participles with the agent in the instrumental and the object in the nominative; use it for impersonal or formal statements.

Essay types: varṇanātmaka (descriptive), vicāratmaka (reflective/argumentative), kathātmaka (narrative); each has a distinct tense and sentence pattern.

Letter format: place and date, address (priya ...), salutation (namaste), body, closing (bhavadīyaḥ ...), signature; Sanskrit letters use the same case and sandhi rules.

Avoid literal calques of English idioms; use Sanskrit idiomatic expressions such as 'śobhate' (looks well), 'yujyate' (is fit), 'iti manye' (I think).

The four Vedas: Ṛgveda (10 maṇḍalas, 1028 sūktas), Sāmaveda (melodies), Yajurveda (prose formulas), Atharvaveda (spells and hymns).

Six Vedāṅgas: śikṣā (phonetics), kalpa (ritual), vyākaraṇa (grammar), nirukta (etymology), chandas (metre), jyotiṣa (astronomy).

Principal Upaniṣads include Īśa, Kena, Kaṭha, Praśna, Muṇḍaka, Māṇḍūkya, Taittirīya, Aitareya, Chāndogya, Bṛhadāraṇyaka and Śvetāśvatara.

Epics: Vālmīki's Rāmāyaṇa (7 kāṇḍas, c. 24,000 verses) and the Mahābhārata (Vyāsa, 18 parvas, c. 100,000 verses), the latter including the Bhagavadgītā.

Eighteen Purāṇas exist, including Bhāgavata, Viṣṇu, Śiva and Mārkaṇḍeya; they are didactic narratives largely in anuṣṭubh verse.

Chronology: Aśvaghoṣa 1st-2nd c. CE; Kālidāsa 4th-5th c. CE; Bāṇa 7th c.; Bhavabhūti 8th c.; Māgha 7th-8th c.; Śrīharṣa 12th c.; Jayadeva 12th c.

Poetics: Bharata's Nāṭyaśāstra; Bhāmaha's Kāvyālaṅkāra; Daṇḍin's Kāvyādarśa; Ānandavardhana's Dhvanyāloka (9th c.); Mammaṭa's Kāvyaprakāśa (11th c.); Viśvanātha's Sāhityadarpaṇa (14th c.).

The 19th-20th centuries saw a Sanskrit revival with printed editions, journals, new prose and drama; traditional śāstra commentary also continued alongside modern genres.