ASSEB HSLC Elective Sanskrit cheat sheet

Prescribed prose in the HSLC elective course typically draws on classical narrative and didactic texts such as Pañcatantra, Hitopadeśa, and simple Sanskrit prose readers; identify the source text and author before answering content questions.

For 'explain the passage' items, structure the answer in three moves: literal meaning (anvaya), key word glosses, and the moral or contextual point the passage illustrates.

Comprehension questions on prose usually test cause-effect sequence: track who does what to whom, since Sanskrit narrative uses frequent pronouns (tad, etad, saḥ, sā) whose referents shift sentence to sentence.

Watch for narrative past tense: imperfect (abhavat, agacchat) narrates events, perfect (uvāca, cakāra) marks reported speech and completed action; translating both as simple past is acceptable but note the distinction.

Direct speech is marked by iti, often after the quoted clause and before the speech verb: 'rājā uvāca' patterns; the words before iti are the quotation, the verb after iti is the speech verb.

Common moral themes in prescribed prose: kṛta-jñatā (gratitude), mitra-bhāva (friendship), dhana-mada (intoxication of wealth), and the triumph of intelligence (buddhi) over brute strength; link each passage's moral explicitly.

For 'content' questions (what did X do next?), answer in one or two Sanskrit sentences reusing the passage's own verb forms and vocabulary rather than inventing new constructions.

Prescribed verses commonly come from the Bhagavadgītā, Rāmāyaṇa, Mahābhārata, and classical poets; name metre and source when asked for appreciation.

Anvaya (prose word order) is the first step for any verse: rearrange words into subject–object–verb order before translating, since Sanskrit verse scrambles word order for metre.

Common metres to recognize: anuṣṭubh (8 syllables per quarter, 4 quarters), indravajrā (11 syllables, ending ⏑–⏑–⏑––), upajāti (mixture of indravajrā and upendravajrā), and vasantatilakā (14 syllables).

Alaṅkāra (figures of speech) to identify: upamā (simile, marked by iva, yathā, sadṛśa), rūpaka (metaphor, direct identification), anuprāsa (alliteration), and utprekṣā (poetic fancy).

Appreciation answers should cover: meaning, rasa or sentiment (vīra, karuṇa, śānta, bhakti), alaṅkāra, and the ethical or devotional message.

Sandhi in verse is frequent and often optional (metri causa); split compounds and resolve sandhi before assigning case, since a final -a may hide an instrumental or a genitive.

For 'explain the line' items, quote the Sanskrit half-verse, give anvaya, then translate; marks are usually split between word-meaning and overall sense.

Eight cases (vibhakti): prathamā (nom.), dvitīyā (acc.), tṛtīyā (instr.), caturthī (dat.), pañcamī (abl.), ṣaṣṭhī (gen.), saptamī (loc.), sambodhana (voc.); dual and plural endings must be memorized per stem class.

Rāma (a-stem masc.) model: rāmaḥ, rāmau, rāmāḥ; rāmam, rāmau, rāmān; rāmeṇa, rāmābhyām, rāmaiḥ; rāmāya, rāmābhyām, rāmebhyaḥ; rāmāt, rāmābhyām, rāmebhyaḥ; rāmasya, rāmayoḥ, rāmāṇām; rāme, rāmayoḥ, rāmeṣu.

Present-tense (laṭ) endings, parasmaipada: -mi, -si, -ti, -vaḥ, -thaḥ, -tha, -maḥ, -tha, -nti; ātmanepada: -e, -se, -te, -vahe, -āthe, -dhve, -mahe, -dhve, -nte.

Sandhi types to apply: savarṇa-dīrgha (a + a → ā), guṇa (a + i → e), vṛddhi (a + e → ai), yaṇ (i + vowel → y), visarga sandhi (aḥ + voiced → o before voiced consonants, aḥ + a → o '), and consonant assimilation (t + ś → cch).

Samāsa types: tatpuruṣa (case-relation, e.g. rāja-putra), dvandva (coordination, e.g. rāma-lakṣmaṇau), bahuvrīhi (possessive, e.g. mahā-bāhuḥ 'one whose arms are great'), dvigu (numeral-first, e.g. tri-bhuja), and avyayībhāva (indeclinable-first, e.g. yathā-śakti).

Kāraka maps to vibhakti: kartā → prathamā, karma → dvitīyā, karaṇa → tṛtīyā, sampradāna → caturthī, apādāna → pañcamī, sambandha → ṣaṣṭhī, adhikaraṇa → saptamī.

Passive (karmani) uses the past participle with the object promoted to nominative and the agent in instrumental: rāmeṇa grāmaḥ gataḥ / tena pustakaṃ paṭhitam.

Sanskrit → Assamese/English: translate clause by clause, not word by word; Sanskrit puts the verb last, so the target sentence usually reverses the order.

Sanskrit → target: keep technical terms (dharma, karma, saṃsāra, ātman) untranslated or glossed in parentheses; literal rendering of these distorts meaning.

Target → Sanskrit: choose the verb from the root list, conjugate to agree with the subject, and put the object in dvitīyā unless the verb is intransitive.

Sentence-writing patterns: 'X is Y' uses X Y asti or a nominal sentence with no copula (rāmaḥ rājā); 'X has Y' uses genitive + asti (rāmasya putraḥ asti).

Paragraph composition should use simple connectives: atha (then), tataḥ (thereupon), api (also), eva (indeed), iti (thus), and keep all verbs in one tense unless the narrative requires change.

Translation marks are lost for wrong vibhakti and wrong verb agreement; check every noun's case against its kāraka role before writing the final answer.

For unseen Sanskrit-to-target passages, identify the finite verb first, then locate its subject in nominative, then assign remaining nouns to cases.

Skim for the finite verb and the nominative subject first; these two give the clause's core and let you guess unknown words from context.

High-frequency vocabulary: putra (son), putrī (daughter), rājā (king), grāmaḥ (village), nagaram (city), vanam (forest), jalam (water), phalam (fruit), pustakam (book), gṛham (house).

Prefixes change meaning predictably: pra- (forth), upa- (near), anu- (after), vi- (apart), sam- (together), nir- (out), ava- (down); e.g. pra-√gam 'go forth', upa-√gam 'approach'.

Common roots: √gam (go), √kṛ (do), √bhū (be), √dā (give), √paṭh (read), √likh (write), √dṛś (see), √vad (speak), √śru (hear), √khād (eat).

Pronoun reference in a fast passage: ta- (he/she/it), etad (this), idam (this), saḥ/sā/tat must be tracked back to the last matching noun; mistaking the referent is the most common comprehension error.

Negative and prohibitive markers: na (not), mā (do not, with imperative), and the prefix a-/an- (privative, e.g. a-jñāna 'ignorance'); scan for these before translating a clause.

For 'give the meaning' items, prefer the sense that fits the passage over the dictionary's first gloss; a word like kula may mean family, herd, or bank depending on context.

Vālmīki is credited with the Rāmāyaṇa (c. 24,000 verses, seven kāṇḍas), and the first verse (śloka) is said to have arisen from his grief at the krauñca bird's slaying.

Vyāsa is traditionally credited with the Mahābhārata (about 100,000 verses) and the eighteen Purāṇas; the Bhagavadgītā is a portion of the Bhīṣma-parvan.

Kālidāsa's works: the plays Abhijñānaśākuntalam, Mālavikāgnimitram, Vikramorvaśīyam, and the poems Raghuvaṃśa, Kumārasambhava, Meghadūta, Ṛtusaṃhāra.

Viśākhadatta wrote Mudrārākṣasa (a political drama on Candragupta Maurya), and Bhavabhūti wrote Uttararāmacarita and Mālatīmādhava.

Pañcatantra (Viṣṇuśarman) and Hitopadeśa (Nārāyaṇa) are the two most-taught Sanskrit fable collections; their frame is a teacher instructing princes in nīti (statecraft).

Kālidāsa's Meghadūta is a sandeśa-kāvya (messenger poem) in mandākrāntā metre; the yakṣa sends a cloud to his beloved.

Sanskrit drama's Nāṭyaśāstra (attributed to Bharata) defines rasa theory: the eight rasas plus śānta, and the nāyaka/nāyikā typology.