Moderating a sandhi key: guṇa, vṛddhi and the avagraha
At the Class 12 Sanskrit mock (PSEB pattern, 100 marks), Section A carries 20 marks for sandhi-viccheda. Forty-eight scripts are being moderated by two teachers, and three items from the same five-part question are in dispute. Item (a): 31 students split अतीन्द्रियः as अति + इन्द्रिय, 12 wrote अती + इन्द्रिय, 5 left it blank. Item (b): 27 scripts split राजेन्द्रः as राज + इन्द्र and name the sandhi vṛddhi; 14 name it guṇa; 7 wrote राजन् + इन्द्र with no note. Item (c): the required junction is ते + अपि; 19 students wrote तेऽपि, 11 wrote ते अपि, 10 wrote तेपि, and the rest wrote तै अपि. The second teacher wants every answer that differs from the printed key marked zero. You must settle the key before marks are entered. The scheme awards one mark for the split and one for the name of the sandhi.
1. Settle items (a) and (b): what split and what sandhi-name must the key carry, and how are the recorded alternatives to be marked?
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(a) अतीन्द्रियः = अति + इन्द्रिय. The final i of the prefix and the initial i of इन्द्रिय are savarṇa (same place and effort, both ak), so they merge into one long ī: अकः सवर्णे दीर्घः. Both marks go to every script that wrote अति + इन्द्रिय with a name equivalent to savarṇa-dīrgha. अती + इन्द्रिय cannot stand: अती is not a pada here (the upasarga is अति), so the split mark is lost even though the rule they would cite is the right one; the name mark may stand if savarṇa-dīrgha is named.
(b) राजेन्द्रः = राज + इन्द्र. a + i → e, and e is guṇa (आद् गुणः), not vṛddhi. Vṛddhi of a + i is ai, which would give *राजैन्द्रः; because the printed form is राजेन्द्रः, the label vṛddhi is a category error. The 27 scripts keep the split mark and lose the name mark; the 14 guṇa scripts keep both. राजन् + इन्द्र is acceptable only if the script notes the loss of the final n in the compound; without that note the split mark is withheld, though the name mark may be given. Record the corrected key on the moderation sheet with the sūtra cited, so the same error is not repeated next term.
2. Settle item (c). Does तेऽपि earn full marks, and how should ते अपि, तेपि and तै अपि be treated?
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The junction is ते + अपि. The final e of a pada standing before a vowel causes the loss (lopa) of that vowel - एङः पदान्तादति - so the a of अपि disappears and the e remains. Nothing is substituted for it, which is why the underlying result is ते अपि; the sign ऽ (avagraha) is only a scribal marker for the elided a. So the 19 scripts who wrote तेऽपि are correct and get both marks.
The 11 who wrote ते अपि have made no grammatical error at all, only omitted a convention of printing: award both marks and note the missing sign without deduction, provided the rubric never demanded it explicitly. तेपि fuses the two words and hides the elision; it is not the standard spelling, so give one mark (name only). तै अपि applies vṛddhi (e + a → ai), but the lopa rule is not optional and blocks it; no marks. The key must read ते + अपि with the sandhi named एङः पदान्तादति (accept lopa), and the marking note should say in one line that avagraha is orthography, not sandhi.
3. Your colleague's rule is that anything not matching the printed key is zero. State the principle you will apply to the whole sandhi section, with one case where an alternative must be accepted and one where it must be refused.
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Sandhi is a derivation, so an answer stands or falls on two tests: every member of the split must be a real pada, and the rule named must actually produce the printed form from that split. The printed key is only one derivation, so a different but rule-generated answer must be accepted. Where a sūtra is optional (vā), two written forms may both be correct, and the key must list both.
Accept: in a word such as संस्कृतम्, a script that splits सम् + कृतम् and names anusvāra is right even if the setter expected a different item in that slot, because the derivation can be shown on the board from the printed form.
Refuse: *राजैन्द्रः as a split product of राज + इन्द्र, because no rule turns a + i into ai when the form printed is e; likewise तै अपि, since the compulsory lopa rule blocks vṛddhi. Refusal here is not deference to the key but a demonstrable failure of derivation, which is the only ground on which marks may be withheld. Apply this uniformly across all 48 scripts and record it in the moderation file.