Samāsa and Kāraka/Vibhakti Usage
What the exam tests
Samāsa questions ask you to split a compound, name its type, or decide which member carries the case relation; kāraka questions ask why a particular vibhakti is used.
Core rules
- Avyayībhāva: the first member is an indeclinable and the whole is an adverb: pratidinam (‘daily’), upagrāmam (‘near the village’).
- Tatpuruṣa: the last member is principal and the first stands in a case relation: rājaputraḥ (‘king’s son’), grāmagataḥ (‘gone to the village’). Subtypes include karmadhāraya (nīlotpalam, ‘blue lotus’) and dvigu (trilokaḥ, ‘three worlds’).
- Bahuvrīhi: the compound denotes something else that possesses it: dīrghabāhuḥ (‘long-armed one’), mahātmā (‘great-souled’).
- Dvandva: members are coordinated: rāmalakṣmaṇau (‘Rāma and Lakṣmaṇa’, dual).
- Kāraka: kartṛ → prathamā; karma → dvitīyā; karaṇa → tṛtīyā; sampradāna → caturthī; apādāna → pañcamī; adhikaraṇa → saptamī; sambandha → ṣaṣṭhī. Case is used when the relation is not already shown by the verb.
Worked example
Analyse rāmaḥ sītayā saha vanaṃ gacchati. rāmaḥ is kartṛ, so prathamā. sītayā is instrumental because saha requires it; it expresses accompaniment. vanam is karma of √gam, so dvitīyā. In the passive rāmeṇa vanaṃ gamyate, the agent becomes instrumental and the object becomes nominative.
Traps
Do not call every compound a tatpuruṣa. In dīrghabāhuḥ, the meaning is ‘one whose arms are long’, not ‘long arm’. Do not use saptamī for motion to a place: grāmaṃ gacchati, not *grāme gacchati. Do not forget that dvandva may take dual or plural number.