AP Intermediate Sanskrit (BIEAP) flashcards

32 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.

Pañcatantra frame narrator

Viṣṇuśarman, a learned brahmin, teaches the three dull sons of King Amaraśakti statecraft through animal fables, framing the five tantras.

kathāntara

An embedded sub-story narrated inside a main narrative; Pañcatantra nests such tales in dialogue between framing characters.

iti in prose

A quotation marker closing direct speech or a definition; it precedes the reporting verb and is not translated as a separate word.

vigraha of compound

The analytical splitting of a compound into its constituent words with case endings restored, done before translating a long prose sentence.

anuṣṭubh metre

The commonest Sanskrit metre: four pādas of eight syllables each, with specific cadence rules in the odd pādas.

upamā alaṅkāra

Simile, marked by iva, vat, yathā or sadṛśa, comparing two unlike things on a shared quality.

utprekṣā

A fancy or as-if figure: the poet imagines one thing to be another, often using iva without asserting real identity.

arthāntaranyāsa

A figure where a general maxim or moral truth is appended to support a specific statement in the verse.

rāma a-stem cases

Singular rāmaḥ, rāmam, rāmeṇa, rāmāya, rāmāt, rāmasya, rāme, rāme; dual rāmau, rāmābhyām, rāmayoḥ; plural rāmāḥ, rāmān, rāmaiḥ, rāmebhyaḥ, rāmāṇām, rāmeṣu.

laṭ parasmaipada endings

Present-tense active endings: -mi, -si, -ti, -maḥ, -tha, -anti, added to the strengthened root with guṇa where required.

guṇa sandhi

Combination of a with i or ī giving e, a with u or ū giving o, and a with ṛ giving ar, as in upa + indra = upendra.

bahuvrīhi compound

A possessive compound whose head lies outside it: bahuvrīhi literally means 'having much rice', describing a wealthy person.

savarṇa dīrgha sandhi

When a like vowel follows a like vowel, both merge into the corresponding long vowel: a + a = ā, i + i = ī.

karmani prayoga

The passive construction: the object becomes nominative subject and the agent takes the instrumental case, as tena paṭhyate.

ktvā absolutive

An indeclinable participle in -tvā expressing an action completed before the main verb by the same subject: 'having done'.

kṛtya gerundive

A future passive participle in -ya, -tavya or -anīya expressing obligation or fitness: kartavyam means 'it must be done'.

causal verb

A verb formed with the -aya suffix meaning 'cause to do': kārayati means 'he causes to make'; its passive is kāryate.

Sanskrit letter opening

Formal letters begin with a salutation such as pūjya-gurave namaḥ or priya-mitrāya, then an inquiry into the recipient's well-being.

nibandha structure

An essay in three parts: prastāvanā introduction, viṣaya-vistāra body with supporting points, and upasaṃhāra conclusion.

sambodhana vocative

The address case: a-stem singular ends in -a (rāma), plural in -āḥ (rāmāḥ); i-stems give kave and u-stems guro.

Sanskrit numerals one to five

eka, dvi, tri, catur, pañca; these form dvigu compounds and agree in case with the counted noun in the plural.

Vālmīki

Traditional author of the Rāmāyaṇa, a seven-kāṇḍa epic of about 24,000 verses in anuṣṭubh metre.

Kālidāsa's works

Author of Abhijñānaśākuntalam, Meghadūta, Raghuvaṃśa and Kumārasambhava, dated around the fourth to fifth century CE.

Bāṇa

Seventh-century prose master, author of Harṣacarita, a biography of King Harṣa, and Kādambarī, a romantic prose narrative.

Aṣṭādhyāyī

Pāṇini's grammar of Sanskrit in eight chapters of aphoristic sūtras, composed around the fourth century BCE.

Nītiśataka

Bhartṛhari's hundred verses on ethics and statecraft, one of his three śatakas alongside Śṛṅgāra and Vairāgya.

Pañcatantra's five tantras

Mitrabheda, Mitrāpti, Kākolīya, Labdhapraṇāśa and Aparīkṣitakāraka, each teaching a lesson in practical wisdom.

vidyā dadāti vinayam

Cāṇakya's maxim: knowledge gives humility, humility gives worthiness, worthiness gives wealth, wealth gives dharma.

dharma in nīti

Moral duty and right conduct, the foundation of ethical teaching in the epics and nīti literature.

project bibliography

A list of sources consulted, with author, title and year, placed at the end of the internal-assessment project report.

anvaya in assignments

Rearranging verse words into prose order with case endings made explicit, the first step before translation in assignment work.

viva component

An oral examination on the project, often counted within internal assessment marks, testing understanding of the chosen topic.