WBCHSE HS Sanskrit cheat sheet

WBCHSE HS Sanskrit prose selections are drawn from classical narrative and didactic prose; identify the exact prescribed piece, its author, and its source text before answering comprehension questions.

Standard prose answer structure: (1) direct answer in Sanskrit, (2) textual support with a short quoted phrase, (3) brief explanation of context - examiners award marks for each component.

Watch for narrative voice shifts in prose passages: first-person (author-narrator) versus third-person reported speech; answers must attribute statements to the correct speaker.

Common prescribed prose themes: dharma versus adharma, guru-śiṣya relationship, value of vidyā, consequences of lobha and moha - link character actions to these themes.

For 'explain the phrase' (vyākhyā) questions, paraphrase in simple Sanskrit first, then give the Bengali/English sense; do not merely translate word-by-word.

Character-sketch questions require at least three adjectives supported by incidents from the text, not general praise; cite the episode for each quality.

Order-of-events questions: memorise the sequence of each prescribed prose piece as a numbered chain; examiners test whether the student knows what precedes and follows a given incident.

Moral/central-idea (mūlya/viṣaya) questions should name the value in Sanskrit (e.g., satya, dāna, kṛtajñatā) and then justify it with one textual incident.

Every prescribed verse must be memorised with its metre name, the poet, and the work; a verse explanation answer that omits the metre loses marks in most WBCHSE patterns.

Verse explanation (bhāvārtha) formula: anvaya (prose order of words) → padārtha (word meanings) → bhāvārtha (overall sense) → alaṃkāra and chandas note.

Anvaya is written by rearranging the verse into subject–object–verb order; do not change words, only their order, and keep the same case endings.

Identify common figures in prescribed verses: upamā (comparison with iva/vat/yathā), rūpaka (metaphor), anuprāsa (alliteration), utprekṣā (as-if fancy), atiśayokti (hyperbole), śleṣa (pun).

Metre identification rules: count syllables per quarter (pāda); Anuṣṭubh = 8+8+8+8, Indravajrā = 11 syllables per pāda, Upendravajrā = 11 with different gaṇa pattern, Vasantatilakā = 14, Śārdūlavikrīḍita = 19, Mālinī = 15.

Theme questions on prescribed verses usually ask for the poet's message (e.g., bhakti, nīti, vairāgya, śṛṅgāra); name the rasa and support with a phrase from the verse.

For 'which alaṃkāra and why' answers, state the figure, quote the two compared elements, and identify the indicator word (iva, iva, yathā, sadṛśa) - the indicator is the proof.

Poet-identification questions: link each prescribed verse to its author (e.g., Kālidāsa, Bhāravi, Jayadeva, Bhavabhūti) and to the canto or section of the source work.

Nāṭya structure: pañca-sandhi (mukha, pratimukha, garbha, vimarśa, upasaṃhāra) and the five artha-prakṛti; know which sandhi each prescribed act belongs to.

Nāndī opens the play (benediction), then sūtradhāra and naṭī introduce the theme; prologue (prastāvanā) questions ask for the speaker and purpose.

Rasa in drama is conveyed through bhāva; the dominant rasa of a prescribed play should be named with the corresponding sthāyī-bhāva (e.g., śṛṅgāra–rati, vīra–utsāha, karuṇa–śoka).

Character analysis answers need: role in the plot, key dialogue or action, relationship to the hero, and the quality the dramatist highlights - three points minimum.

Nāyaka types (dhīrodātta, dhīroddhata, dhīralalita, dhīraśānta) may be asked; identify the prescribed hero's type and justify with an incident.

Vidūṣaka provides hāsya through distorted Sanskrit and Prakrit; questions on comic relief require one concrete example from the prescribed play.

Act-summary questions: give the act number, the setting (sthāna), the entering characters, the main conflict, and the closing incident - in that order.

Note the language convention: high-born male characters speak Sanskrit, women and low-born characters speak Prakrit (Śaurasenī, Māgadhī); questions on this test social coding in drama.

Noun declension: three numbers × eight cases; memorise rāma (a-stem masc.), latā (ā-stem fem.), phala (a-stem neut.), muni (i-stem), nadī (ī-stem), and the pronominal paradigms tad, etad, kim, aham, tvam.

Case usage (kāraka): prathamā = kartā/sambodhana; dvitīyā = karma and direction; tṛtīyā = karaṇa and 'with'; caturthī = sampradāna; pañcamī = apādāna (source) and cause; ṣaṣṭhī = relation; saptamī = adhikaraṇa (locus).

Verb conjugation: distinguish parasmaipada and ātmanepada; know present (laṭ), imperfect (laṅ), imperative (loṭ), potential (vidhiliṅ), and perfect (liṭ) forms of path, bhū, as, kṛ, gam, dā, vad, paṭh.

Sandhi rules to apply mechanically: savarṇa-dīrgha (a + a → ā), guṇa (a + i → e), vṛddhi (a + e → ai), yaṇ (i + vowel → y), visarga sandhi (aḥ + a → o '), and consonant assimilation (t + ś → cch).

Samāsa identification: tatpuruṣa (case relation hidden), karmadhāraya (adjective + noun, same referent), dvigu (numeral first), bahuvrīhi (compound denotes something else), dvandva (both members joined by 'and'), avyayībhāva (adverb + noun, indeclinable).

To split a compound, restore the case ending of the first member and state the relation; e.g., rājaputraḥ = rājñaḥ putraḥ (ṣaṣṭhī tatpuruṣa).

Voice and causation: karmani (passive) uses the past passive participle or ya-ending forms with the agent in tṛtīyā; causative adds -aya- (kārayati, pāṭhayati).

Sandhi splitting (vigraha) questions require writing both the separated forms and the name of the rule applied; naming the rule earns a separate mark.

Translation direction matters: Sanskrit→Bengali/English rewards natural target-language idiom, while Bengali/English→Sanskrit rewards correct vibhakti and vacana over literal word order.

Standard Sanskrit sentence order is subject–object–verb; place the finite verb last and keep participles and relative clauses before the noun they modify.

For Bengali/English→Sanskrit, decide the kāraka role of each noun before declining it; the verb's transitivity determines whether the object takes dvitīyā or the passive construction is needed.

Idioms must be rendered by Sanskrit equivalents, not literal glosses: 'serves his teacher' → guror upacāraṃ karoti / gurusevāṃ karoti, not literal 'service does'.

Letter writing (patra-lekhana) format: place and date, address with sambodhana (prathamā), praṇāma/āśīrvāda, body in 2–3 sentences, closing with bhavadīyaḥ/bhavān or śubham.

Paragraph writing (anuccheda-lekhana) on prescribed topics (e.g., vidyā, paropakāra, svadeśa) requires 5–6 connected sentences, one idea per sentence, using connectives like tataḥ, api ca, parantu, ataḥ.

Essay/paragraph openings should be a general statement (sāmānyavākya), followed by examples or reasons, and closed with a conclusion (upasaṃhāra) - this structure matches the marking rubric.

Check every composed Sanskrit sentence for three things: subject–verb agreement in number and person, correct case ending, and sandhi between adjacent words.

Periodisation: Vedic (c. 1500–500 BCE: Ṛgveda, Sāmaveda, Yajurveda, Atharvaveda, Brāhmaṇa, Āraṇyaka, Upaniṣad), then the classical age, then the medieval and modern periods.

Rāmāyaṇa: Vālmīki, seven kāṇḍas, c. 24,000 verses; Mahābhārata: attributed to Vyāsa, eighteen parvas, includes the Bhagavadgītā in Bhīṣmaparvan.

Kālidāsa's works: three plays (Abhijñānaśākuntalam, Mālavikāgnimitram, Vikramorvaśīyam), two epics (Raghuvaṃśa, Kumārasambhava), and the lyrics Meghadūta and Ṛtusaṃhāra.

Other dramatists: Bhāsa (Svapnavāsavadatta, Pratijñāyaugandharāyaṇa), Śūdraka (Mṛcchakaṭika), Bhavabhūti (Uttararāmacarita, Mālatīmādhava, Mahāvīracarita), Viśākhadatta (Mudrārākṣasa).

Prose and fable literature: Pañcatantra (Viṣṇuśarman), Hitopadeśa (Nārāyaṇa), Kathāsaritsāgara (Somadeva), Bāṇabhaṭṭa's Kādambarī and Harṣacarita, Daṇḍin's Daśakumāracarita.

Poets: Aśvaghoṣa (Buddhacarita), Bhāravi (Kirātārjunīya), Māgha (Śiśupālavadha), Jayadeva (Gītagovinda), Bhaṭṭikāvya (Bhaṭṭi) illustrating grammar through narrative.

Poetics and grammar authors: Bharata (Nāṭyaśāstra), Ānandavardhana (Dhvanyāloka), Abhinavagupta (Abhinavabhāratī), Pāṇini (Aṣṭādhyāyī), Patañjali (Mahābhāṣya).

Match author–work–genre in a table for revision; examiners frequently pair a poet with the wrong work (e.g., Māgha with Kirātārjunīya) as a distractor.

Read the passage twice: first for the general sense, then for the specific facts the questions ask about; answers must come from the passage, not outside knowledge.

Answer in the same language and person as the question; if the question is in Sanskrit (kim..., katham...), answer in a complete Sanskrit sentence, not a single word.

Word-meaning questions (śabdārtha) usually draw on sandhi-formed or compound words; split the word first, then give the meaning in Bengali/English.

'Why' questions (kimarthaṃ, kutaḥ) require extracting the causal clause; locate words like yataḥ, tasmāt, hetu, kāraṇāt in the passage.

For 'give a suitable title' (śīrṣaka) questions, choose a short noun phrase naming the passage's central subject, not a full sentence.

Direct-speech questions: identify the speaker and the addressee from the passage's reported speech before answering; misattribution is the most common error.

Grammar-in-context questions (identify the samāsa, name the sandhi, state the vibhakti of a word) are answered by applying rules to the exact form as it appears in the passage.

Summarising questions (sāra) need 2–3 sentences covering beginning, middle, and conclusion of the passage; do not introduce new facts.

Upamā requires four elements: upameya, upamāna, sādhāraṇa dharma, and the indicator (iva, yathā, vat, sadṛśa); absence of the indicator may make it a rūpaka or utprekṣā.

Rūpaka = identification (A is B) with no comparative word; if the word iva appears, it is normally upamā, not rūpaka.

Anuprāsa = repetition of the same consonant in a quarter; distinguish from yamaka, which repeats a whole syllable-group with a different sense.

Utprekṣā = imagining something as if it were true (often with iva, 'as though'); Atiśayokti = deliberate exaggeration beyond possibility; Śleṣa = one word yielding two meanings.

Arthāntaranyāsa = a general maxim (sāmānyavākya) inserted to support a particular statement; Virodhābhāsa = apparent contradiction that resolves on reflection.

Chandas counting rule: read the verse with each pāda separately and count akṣaras (syllables); the pattern of laghu (⏑) and guru (–) determines the metre, and the last syllable of a pāda is conventionally guru.

Fixed syllable counts: Anuṣṭubh 8, Indravajrā/Upendravajrā 11, Vasantatilakā 14, Mālinī 15, Śārdūlavikrīḍita 19, Sragdharā 21 per pāda.

For 'identify and explain the alaṃkāra' answers, name the figure, quote the relevant words, identify the upameya and upamāna, and state why no other figure fits - this is the standard full-mark structure.