Two Avagrahas and a Feminine Compound: Reading a Grammar Script Fairly
A 5-mark grammar question has four parts: (a) split te'pi and name the sandhi (1); (b) split so'bravīt and name the sandhi (1); (c) give the vigraha of candramukhī and name the samāsa (1.5); (d) in tvayā granthaḥ paṭhitavyaḥ, identify the kāraka of tvayā and the nature of paṭhitavyaḥ (1.5). Script G writes: (a) taḥ + api, visarga-sandhi; (b) saḥ + abravīt, visarga-sandhi; (c) candrasya mukham iva mukhaṃ yasyāḥ sā, karmadhāraya; (d) tvayā is karaṇa, paṭhitavyaḥ is a past participle. Script H writes: (a) te + api, no visarga is involved; (b) saḥ + abravīt, visarga becomes o; (c) candram iva mukhaṃ yasyāḥ sā, bahuvrīhi; (d) tvayā is kartā, paṭhitavyaḥ is a kṛtya. Both candidates claim full marks, and G's teacher argues that G's (c) vigraha is "nearly right".
1. Give the correct answer to all four parts, naming the test that settles each one.
Read the worked answer
(a) te + api. The test is: is there a visarga in the first word? Te is the masculine plural nominative of tad and ends in -e. So this is the e/o + a junction, written with avagraha: te'pi. No visarga, hence no visarga-sandhi.
(b) saḥ + abravīt. Here there is a visarga, which becomes o before a, again with avagraha: so'bravīt. The pedagogic point is that the same sign ' comes from two different sources in (a) and (b).
(c) candram iva mukhaṃ yasyāḥ sā - bahuvrīhi. Test: gender. A karmadhāraya candramukha ("moon-face") would be neuter, candramukham. The form candramukhī is feminine because the compound qualifies a woman - the compound's own gender follows the person described, which is the bahuvrīhi signature.
(d) The verb paṭhitavyaḥ is a kṛtya/gerundive with passive force, so the sentence is passive; the agent therefore stands in the third case as kartā, not as karaṇa. Granthaḥ is the karman, agreeing in the nominative with the gerundive.
2. Award marks to G and H and state your rule when a vigraha is consistent with the right answer but the label is wrong.
Read the worked answer
H - 5/5. (a) 1, (b) 1, (c) 1.5, (d) 1.5. Every label is right and every test is the right test.
G - 2.5/5. (a) 0 - taḥ is not a word-form; the visarga was invented. (b) 1 - the split is right, though the sandhi is better described as visarga becoming o. (c) 0.5 - the vigraha answers the bahuvrīhi question correctly but is labelled karmadhāraya, so the analysis is only half demonstrated; a wrong label with a workable vigraha earns half the sub-item, not the full 1.5. (d) 0 - karaṇa is the wrong kāraka and "past participle" is the wrong category for paṭhitavyaḥ.
Rule: the label is what the sub-item tests. A correct vigraha earns at most half, because it shows the candidate can unpack the compound but cannot classify it; the reverse case - right label, no vigraha - also earns half. Full marks require both.