Kerala SSLC Sanskrit Academic flashcards

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

Gadya

Sanskrit prose, any text not bound by metre; the SSLC prose lessons are read line by line for word division, compounds, word order and meaning.

Padaccheda

Splitting a sandhi-bound stretch of a prose passage into separate words and naming the sandhi that joined each pair, e.g. rāmo 'gacchat → rāmaḥ agacchat.

Anvaya

Rearranging the words of a passage into natural sentence order - agent, object, instrument, then the finite verb - so that the meaning becomes clear and each compound's vigraha is visible.

Kathā and ākhyāyikā

The two classical prose narrative genres: kathā is a freely invented story, while ākhyāyikā is a narrative whose hero and events are taken from real persons or history.

Iti as quotation marker

The particle iti placed after quoted words closes direct speech in Sanskrit prose; the speaking verb such as uvāca, abravīt or papraccha may stand before or after the quotation.

Kta past passive clause

A past passive construction with the kta participle: the object stands in prathamā and the agent in tṛtīyā, the participle agreeing with the object, as in tena kathā kathitā.

Liṭ remote past

The perfect tense, marked by a doubled root, is used for distant past in prose narration: babhūva 'there was', cakāra 'he did', uvāca 'he said'.

Pāda

One quarter of a Sanskrit verse. A samavṛtta metre repeats the same pattern in all four pādas; an ardhasamavṛtta matches pādas 1 and 3 and separately 2 and 4.

Gaṇa (prosodic foot)

A group of three syllables named ya, ra, ta, bha, ja, sa, ma, na. Ya is laghu-guru, ra guru-laghu, ta guru-guru-laghu, ma three gurus, na three laghus.

Laghu and guru

Laghu is a short vowel not followed by a conjunct, worth one mātrā; guru is a long vowel, or a short vowel closed by anusvāra, visarga or conjunct, worth two mātrās.

Anuṣṭubh (śloka)

The commonest Sanskrit metre: four pādas of eight syllables, used throughout the epics; the fifth syllable of every pāda is laghu, and pathyā and vipulā are its varieties.

Indravajrā

An eleven-syllable samavṛtta whose pāda pattern is ta-ta-ja-ga-ga: guru-guru-laghu, guru-guru-laghu, laghu-guru-laghu, guru, guru, repeated in all four pādas.

Upendravajrā

An eleven-syllable samavṛtta identical to indravajrā except that the first gaṇa is ja instead of ta, giving the pattern ja-ta-ja-ga-ga.

Vasantatilakā

A fourteen-syllable samavṛtta with the pāda pattern ta-bha-ja-ja-ga-ga: guru-guru-laghu, guru-laghu-laghu, laghu-guru-laghu, laghu-guru-laghu, guru, guru.

Śārdūlavikrīḍita

A nineteen-syllable samavṛtta with the pāda pattern ma-sa-ja-sa-ta-ta-ga, recited with a caesura (yati) falling after the twelfth syllable.

Savarṇadīrgha sandhi

When a simple vowel meets the same vowel both merge into the long vowel: a/ā + a/ā becomes ā, i/ī + i/ī becomes ī, u/ū + u/ū becomes ū, as in vidyā + ālayaḥ = vidyālayaḥ.

Guṇa sandhi

After a or ā, a following i/ī becomes e, u/ū becomes o, ṛ becomes ar and ḷ becomes al: nara + indraḥ = narendraḥ, sūrya + udayaḥ = sūryodayaḥ.

Vṛddhi sandhi

After a or ā, a following e or ai becomes ai, and a following o or au becomes au: eka + eka = ekaika, gaṅgā + oghaḥ = gaṅgaughaḥ.

Yaṇ sandhi

Before a dissimilar vowel, i/ī becomes y, u/ū becomes v, ṛ becomes r and ḷ becomes l: iti + api = ity api, madhu + atra = madhv atra, mātṛ + ājñā = mātrājñā.

Visarga sandhi

Word-final aḥ before a becomes o with avagraha (rāmaḥ agacchat = rāmo 'gacchat); before c or ch it becomes ś (rāmaś ca); before t or th it becomes s (rāmas tatra).

Tatpuruṣa

A compound whose first member stands in an oblique case and is explained by that case, as rājaputraḥ = rājñaḥ putraḥ; the nañ and dvigu compounds are its sub-types.

Bahuvrīhi

A compound that names something other than its members and denotes a possessor of them: dīrghabāhuḥ 'the long-armed one', caturbhujaḥ 'the four-armed one', i.e. Viṣṇu.

Dvandva

A compound joining its members with 'and' (ca): rāmalakṣmaṇau, mātāpitarau. The itaretara type keeps plural number, while the samāhāra type becomes a neuter singular.

Avyayībhāva

A compound whose first member is an indeclinable and which itself behaves as a neuter singular indeclinable: upagiri 'near the mountain', yathāśakti 'according to ability'.

Ktvā (absolutive)

A kṛt suffix forming an indeclinable participle for an action completed before the main verb and sharing its subject: gatvā 'having gone', kṛtvā 'having done', bhuktvā 'having eaten'.

Kāraka and vibhakti

Kāraka is the role a noun plays in the sentence, and each role takes a fixed case: kartā prathamā, karma dvitīyā, karaṇa tṛtīyā, sampradāna caturthī, apādāna pañcamī, adhikaraṇa saptamī.

Sanskrit letter layout

Order of parts: place and date, sambodhana such as priya mitra or mānaniya ācārya, greeting namaḥ or sasnehaṃ namaḥ, body, closing wish, then signature bhava(d)īyaḥ with the writer's name.

Sambodhana forms

Vocative endings for -a stems are he rāma (singular), he rāmau (dual), he rāmāḥ (plural); polite letter addresses are priya mitra for a friend and mānaniya ācārya for a teacher.

Vibhakti to preposition

Case meanings used when translating: prathamā subject, dvitīyā direct object, tṛtīyā by or with, caturthī to or for, pañcamī from, ṣaṣṭhī of, saptamī in, on or at.

Kta in translation

Sanskrit often reports past events passively with the kta participle; tena granthaḥ likhitaḥ may be rendered 'he wrote the book' or 'the book was written by him', the agent staying in tṛtīyā.

Comprehension answer form

Answers are written as one complete Sanskrit sentence whose verb agrees with its subject in person and number, reusing the question's nouns in the case required by their role in the answer.

Composition connectors

Paragraph writing uses tataḥ or anu for sequence, kintu for contrast, tasmāt for result, iva for comparison, api for 'also', eva for emphasis and iti to close a quotation.