Sanskrit Vyakaran: Rules, Forms and Application
What the grammar paper tests
The Vyakaran section is applied grammar, not recitation. You must recognise a form, name the rule, and produce the correct form. The recurring areas are sandhi, shabda rup, dhatu rup, karak, samas and taddhit.
Core rules
- Svara sandhi: a/ā + i/ī = e; a/ā + u/ū = o; a/ā + ṛ = ar; a/ā + e/ai = ai; a/ā + o/au = au. Example: nara + indra → narendra.
- Visarga sandhi: visarga becomes o before voiced consonants and vowels, and r before a vowel in some contexts; before t/th it becomes s. Learn the environment, not just the label.
- Shabda rup: identify stem ending (a, ā, i, ī, u, ū, ṛ, halanta) and gender. Rāma (a, masc.), latā (ā, fem.), phala (a, neut.), muni (i, masc.), nadī (ī, fem.), pitṛ (ṛ, masc.), rājan (halanta).
- Dhatu rup: know lakāra, puruṣa, vacana, pada. Bhū (lat, 3sg. parasmaipada) = bhavati; paṭh (laṅ, 3sg.) = apathat.
- Karak: kartā → prathamā; karma → dvitīyā; karaṇa → tṛtīyā; sampradāna → caturthī; apādāna → pañcamī; sambandha → ṣaṣṭhī; adhikaraṇa → saptamī; sambodhana → prathamā.
- Samas: tatpuruṣa (case relation), karmadhāraya (adjective), bahuvrīhi (possessive), dvandva (coordination), avyayībhāva (indeclinable first member).
- Taddhit: -tva/-tā form abstracts (rāja → rājatva); -mat/-vat mean possession (yaśas → yaśasvī).
Worked example
Join sura + indra. The first word ends in -a; the second begins with i. Apply the guṇa rule a + i = e, giving surendra. If the second word began with ā, the same environment would give a + ā = ā (dīrgha), not e. Always name the final and initial sounds before choosing the rule.
Traps
- Applying visarga sandhi before a vowel without checking voicing.
- Confusing samas with sandhi: samas creates one compound word, sandhi only joins sounds.
- Wrong stem in shabda rup, especially ṛ and halanta stems.
- Mixing karmadhāraya and bahuvrīhi; test whether the compound denotes the thing itself or something possessing it.