BSEB Inter Sanskrit cheat sheet

Bihar Board Inter Sanskrit prose includes narrative, descriptive and reflective pieces; identify the genre before answering any question about theme.

For a prose passage question, locate the central idea (mukhya bhav) in the opening or closing sentence of the paragraph.

Character questions require the character's action plus its motive, not merely a name; cite the incident that reveals the trait.

Distinguish author (lekhak) from narrator (katha-vachak) when the piece is autobiographical or first-person.

Vocabulary items test Sanskrit-to-Hindi meaning; give the sense used in the passage, not the root meaning.

A 'why' question on prose demands cause-effect reasoning drawn from the text, not general moralising.

Sandhi-split words inside prose passages are common; resolve them before translating the sentence.

Quote-based answers should be short, direct and in the language of the paper, with the key term retained in Sanskrit.

Identify the poet and the source text (e.g. Ramcharitmanas, Meghaduta, Nitishataka) before interpreting any verse.

Rasa is determined from the dominant emotion (sthayi bhava); shringara, karuna, vira and hasya are the most commonly tested.

Alamkara in a verse is decided by the figure's definition, not by the surface meaning; check upama, rupaka, anuprasa and yamaka first.

For 'bhavarth' questions, paraphrase line by line, preserving the order of ideas in the verse.

Meters in poetry questions should be scanned by gana division of each pada, then matched to the chhand.

Moral verses (niti) require the maxim stated in one sentence, supported by the image used in the verse.

Distinguish vakrokti from direct statement; indirect or implied meaning is often the tested point.

When asked for the central message, avoid retelling the story; state the teaching the poet intends.

Natyashastra defines natya as imitative representation; drama has rasa as its goal and abhinaya as its means.

Ten types of drama (dasharupaka) include nataka, prakarana, bhana, prahasana, dima, vyayoga, anka, vithi, samavakara and iharmriga.

Nataka has a well-known hero (dhirodatta) and a famous plot; prakarana has an invented plot and a brahmin or merchant hero.

Five stages of action (arthaprakriti): bija, bindu, pataka, prakarI and karyavastha.

Sandhi in dramaturgy means juncture of plot: mukha, pratimukha, garbha, vimarsha and nirvahana.

Abhinaya is fourfold: angika (gesture), vachika (speech), aharya (costume) and sattvika (emotional states).

Nandi is the benedictory opening verse; sutradhara introduces the play and the stage manager's role.

Vidushaka, the comic companion of the hero, speaks Prakrit and provides humour in classical Sanskrit drama.

Sandhi is of two broad kinds: svara (vowel) sandhi and vyanjana (consonant) sandhi; visarga sandhi is a third tested category.

Savarna-dirgha: a + a, i + i, u + u give the corresponding long vowel (e.g. deva + alaya = devalaya).

Guna sandhi: a/ā + i/ī = e; a/ā + u/ū = o; a/ā + r = ar; vriddhi gives ai, au and ar.

Vyanjana sandhi: a following vowel with a preceding consonant often becomes its corresponding nasal or is dropped per the rule.

Declension is tested through vibhakti endings: -ah (prathama), -am (dvitiya), -ena (tritiya), -aya (chaturthi), -at (panchami), -asya (shashthi), -e (saptami).

In atmanepada, the verb ending marks the agent as beneficiary; parasmaipada is the general active voice.

Kridanta forms such as -tavya, -aniya and -ya express obligation or fitness; identify the suffix before translating.

Samasa types: tatpurusha, dvandva, bahuvrihi, dvigu, avyayibhava and karmadharaya; the final member decides the compound's class.

Akshara are laghu (1 matra) or guru (2 matras); a syllable before a conjunct consonant is guru.

Anushtubh (shloka) has eight syllables per pada; odd padas end with a laghu, even padas with a guru pattern.

Indravajra and Upendravajra are 11-syllable varnavritta metres differing in the first gana.

Vasantatilaka has 14 syllables per pada; Mandakranta has 17; Shardulavikridita has 19.

Anuprasa is repetition of similar consonants; Yamaka is repetition of the same syllable group with different meaning.

Upama compares two unlike things using iva, yatha or iva; Rupaka identifies the two without a comparison word.

Utpreksha presents an imagined resemblance; Atishayokti exaggerates; Arthantaranyasa supports a general truth by a particular instance.

Shlesha yields two meanings from one word sequence; Virodhabhasa is apparent contradiction; Svabhavokti is natural description.

Anuchhed lekhan structure: opening sentence states the topic, middle gives 3-4 supporting points, closing sentence summarises.

Patra lekhan (formal letter) order: sender's address, date, receiver's address, subject, salutation, body, closing and signature.

A Sanskrit essay should use simple sentence patterns and a consistent tense; avoid long compounds that risk sandhi errors.

Sankshepan (summary) keeps the main argument and drops examples, repetition and direct speech.

Vistaran (expansion) of a sutra or maxim requires restating the idea, illustrating it, and stating its application.

Chitra-varnan (picture description) must cover all given elements in a fixed spatial order to avoid omission.

Translation from Hindi to Sanskrit demands correct vibhakti and matching gender; verify the verb agrees with the subject.

Prarthana patra (application) uses the same layout as a formal letter but addresses an authority and states the request in the subject line.

Read the questions before the passage; then scan for the keywords that the questions use.

Answers to unseen-passage questions must be drawn from the passage, not from outside knowledge.

Word-meaning questions require the contextual sense; if a word is unknown, infer from the surrounding clause.

Title selection (shirshak) must capture the whole passage, not one incident; prefer the option covering the central theme.

For 'what does the author mean' questions, find the sentence containing the stated cause or conclusion.

Sandhi-split words in the passage should be resolved before translating that sentence.

Direct-speech questions should be answered in the same person and tense as the question.

If two options seem correct, choose the one supported by explicit wording in the passage.