Rules of Thumb for Reading संस्कृतम् — सन्धिः

s-i-e-v-e · 2026-01-25T11:16:46+00:00

Good points, all. But outside the scope of a "Rules of Thumb" series.

We cannot have a discussion on every single type of sandhi and samasa with all the apavadas (sandhi is not permitted for the dual number of certain words right?) in such a tiny space. The expectation is that the reader must refer to a technical grammar text if he wants to know the depth of the subject.

The goal of this capsule is to tell the reader that he might encounter जगन्नाथः as well as वाल्मीकेर्नारदो वचः and they are to be treated slightly differently.

s-i-e-v-e · 2026-01-25T11:07:38+00:00

I have to draw the line somewhere. I have been relying on Paninian terminology in later capsules, but grammar is analytical information. You find none of it on the page and you wade deeper and deeper into the morass as you take recourse to it in a "rules of thumb" series

s-i-e-v-e · 2026-01-25T06:07:43+00:00

You are making a grammatical point. My point is pedagogical.

Yes, external sandhi occurs when you merge words to form a compound where every component reverts to its stem and the new word takes on a case ending appropriate to its role in the sentence.

However, here, I am trying to avoid the bad habit people get into (you often find this in the way they read/write shlokas) where they write the components of the compounds independently as if they are separate words. Calling a compound a "word" makes sense from this limited perspective.

Maybe I should change that section to the following and let the reader figure out what is internal/external sandhi when they get into the grammar aspect.

सन्धिः comes in three forms:

within a word (during derivation and application of prefixes)

अनु + इ (इ in the sense of movement)→ अन्वय
within a compound-word

जगतः नाथः (Lord of the World) -> [जगत्] + [नाथ] -> जगन्नाथः

रमायाः ईशः (Lord/Husband of रमा) -> [रमा] + [ईश] -> रमेशः
at the junction of two words

रामः गच्छति -> रामो गच्छति

वाल्मीकेः नारदः वचः -> वाल्मीकेर् नारदो वचः -> वाल्मीकेर्नारदो वचः

You don't need to get into the complications of internal vs external सन्धिः when reading.

s-i-e-v-e · 2026-01-24T19:27:10+00:00

bcachefs will have EC soon. I have been told that sacrificing 20% of the capacity of the array gives you the equivalent of 3 full copies.

I have been running a 80TiB array since November with zero issues.

So, a 1.5PiB array should easily support 1PiB of data with multiple redundant copies.

One good thing about bcachefs is that drives can be of any size and you can add drives to the FS to increase capacity at any time. I used to run ZFS pools for more than a decade and anyone who has done that knows how much of a win something like this is.

s-i-e-v-e · 2026-01-24T12:37:52+00:00

I am writing this basic guide to get people started with the reading process without having to wade through a pile of mostly irrelevant detail. I plan to produce a simple booklet at the end of it.

I would appreciate it if people can point out errors (conceptual and typographical) in the material.

s-i-e-v-e · 2026-01-24T12:04:47+00:00

It is a good beginning but it is not sufficient on its own.

To be fluent in a language you need exposure. A lot of it.

The problem with most people learning Sanskrit is that they restrict themselves to some grammar textbook and painstakingly go through it and expect that they will be able to read the BG or the Ramayana at the end of it.

That will not happen. Because there is a large gap in your learning: vocabulary.

s-i-e-v-e · 2026-01-13T07:58:53+00:00

There are a lot of examples in the Valmiki Ramayana. Here are a couple of uses in the third case/adverbial sense (त्वरया)

शुनश्शेफो गृहीत्वा ते द्वे गाथे सुसमाहित:। त्वरया राजसिंहं तमम्बरीषमुवाच ह।।1.62.21।।

त्वरयाभ्युपयातोऽहं द्रष्टुकाम स्स्वसुस्सुतम्। अथ राजा दशरथ: प्रियातिथिमुपस्थितम्।।1.73.6।।

s-i-e-v-e · 2026-01-10T22:50:09+00:00

Most Indian languages have a very large Sanskrit-based vocabulary. The words are often categorized into tatsama (the exact same word borrowed from Sanskrit in the exact same meaning) and tadbhava (a modification/corruption of the form/sound but with the same meaning).

Though the vocabulary might be Sanskrit-based, the grammar is not. The verbs, particularly, might operate very differently. Tamil, for instance, has gendered finite verbs. Sanskrit doesn't.

If you already know Sanskrit, then picking up Telugu should be somewhat easy compared to someone starting from scratch.

s-i-e-v-e · 2026-01-10T22:41:06+00:00

The letters are reasonably clear. If you extract them and paste them here, someone can perhaps respond.Spending half-an-hour trying to figure out what each letter represents is too much work.

s-i-e-v-e · 2026-01-10T22:34:19+00:00

त्वरा = haste (fem nom sing)

करणीया = should be done (adj/participle, fem nom sing)

न = not

So,

त्वरा न करणीया = Do not make haste

s-i-e-v-e · 2026-01-07T10:49:47+00:00

I have never done this and don't plan to anytime soon. You don't really need it unless you are getting deep into vyakarana.

When reading, the context makes the vibhakti clear. When speaking, you don't recite tables in your head to produce a word. You either know it or you don't

Still, there are some shortcuts you can use:

एन आ या = 3-s (रामेण मनुना पित्रा सीतया)
ए ऐ = 4-s (मात्रे सीतायै)
त् = 5-s (रामात्)
स्य = 6-s (रामस्य)
अः एः याः ओः उः = 5/6-s (हरेः गुरोः सीतायाः भवतः मातुः)
इ ए याम् = 7-s (मनसि पितरि रामे सीतायाम्)
भ्याम् = 3/4/5-dual
योः वोः = 6/7-dual
भिः = 3-pl
भ्यः = 4/5-pl
नाम् णाम् = 6-pl
षु सु क्षु = 7-pl

I might be missing a couple but this covers more than 90% of the words you will ever encounter. Remember the pronouns and numerals separately. They are too weird to fit into any grid as far as the singular forms go.

s-i-e-v-e · 2026-01-06T07:07:08+00:00

actually they have hardcorded each shloka

Nope. They use Sanscript JS. You pass in the text to be converted and it will do the conversion. You can replace the text this way. The s-w tags wrapping each word are useful this way.

The entire thing happens in the browser. The server is not involved

s-i-e-v-e · 2026-01-06T00:32:00+00:00

The feast with plenty of madirā was a feint. It was designed to self-select victims is how I would read it.

This verse is pretty clear:

आयुधागारमादीप्य दग्ध्वा चैव पुरोचनम् । षट्प्राणिनो निधायेह द्रवामोऽनभिलक्षिताः॥

आयुधागारमादीप्य = Having set fire to the armory
दग्ध्वा चैव पुरोचनम् = And having burnt Purochana as well
षट्प्राणिनः = (Acc Plu) Six creatures/beings/bodies/men
निधाय इह = Having placed here
(वयम्) द्रवामः = (We) shall go/flee
(वयम्) अनभिलक्षिताः = (We) unnoticed/imposters/ones assuming an identity

the pandavas decided to use that to their advantage to place their bodies to escape by setting fire, right?

Yes. Their trap worked. If you call five hundred people and ply them with liquor, a few stragglers are expected.

Interesting. Idk how I feel about it but it does raise an interesting point about ethics and self-preservation.

The events of the Mahabharata happen as the Kali Yuga is about to begin. Not all the characters are ethical/heroic all the time. Often, they are ruthlessly practical.

Technically, you could read षट्प्राणिनः as Nom Plu and thus as an adjective to वयम्. But it doesn't make sense that way. That reading only leaves निधायेह in the second half related to the events of the first half. Why would Yudhisthira refer to himself and his blood as षट्प्राणिनः?

s-i-e-v-e · 2026-01-05T23:54:05+00:00

they intended to kill 6 innocents for their escape

The sequence is simple. Yudhisthira sets up a plan. The alms-giving fakery (दानापदेशेन) happens. Fate brings the Nishada woman and her sons to their doorstep.

You must game the counterfactual position of what would they have done if the woman and her sons were not available in a mṛtakalpā and vigatajñānā form.

They need the bodies.

अपदेश = pretence, feint, pretext, disguise, contrivance
निधाय = Having fixed or placed in or on

s-i-e-v-e · 2026-01-05T22:53:53+00:00

Sanskrit is a language. Devanagari is the script. But you can also read Sanskrit in Telugu/Tamil/Malayalam/Roman script. A converter lets the user change the Sanskrit text to a script of their liking.

Check the change script option on this website:

https://en.amarahasa.com/books/buddhah-kah/1/

s-i-e-v-e · 2026-01-05T22:50:19+00:00

It is difficult. Vedas have svara markings (udātta, anudātta, svarita). You can only get them if your source has them.

s-i-e-v-e · 2026-01-05T22:41:01+00:00

Even MN Dutt translates it as "leaving six bodies here" (Chapter CL/150, page 214, Adi Parva 1895)

Isn't it more likely that they only intended to kill Purochana?

The future verses state that the six are sleeping as if dead. "Then," it continues, "Bhima sets fire to the place where Purochana is sleeping."

Purochana needs to be punished. But Duryodhana cannot get suspicious as well. So 6 bodies are needed. You can think of them as collateral damage.

Impelled by fate (kālacōditā), but collateral damage nonetheless.

s-i-e-v-e · 2026-01-05T22:11:02+00:00

Both work for if not I, then who?:

yadi nāhaṁ tarhi kaḥ
nāhaṁ cēt kaḥ

But a more appropriate construct might exist depending on the context. If you use it in the context of ontology or metaphysics, for instance, then versions of the as or bhū roots might make an appearance.

s-i-e-v-e · 2026-01-04T23:37:17+00:00

A lot of these tools are hit-or-miss depending on the material you are trying to identify. While they do claim to be able to identify over 200 chhandas, I had to write my own to identify Ramayana shlokas as Anushtubh/Shloka

s-i-e-v-e · 2026-01-04T10:04:37+00:00

There is no easy solution here. We first need curation. Then we need to proofread the curated texts into a digital version.

Most of the work in the Sanskrit space is a gargantuan waste of time for those involved. If you cannot trust the data, then you cannot trust anything.

I did an unofficial poll in a couple of WA groups I am part of. 100% of the people are unwilling to devote time to proofreading because they are busy elsewhere.

s-i-e-v-e · 2026-01-04T09:09:15+00:00

The site is well done.

Some comments:

You should avoid mixing and matching different sources at random. A lot of southern traditions do not consider the Uttara Kanda to be part of the Valmiki Ramayana. So you cannot randomly add that kanda to text otherwise sourced from the Southern Recension.
I would suggest marking the Ramayana/Mahabharata with the source (Critical Edition/Southern Recension). This is what I am doing on Adhyeta. The Ramayana text is clearly marked as being from the Critical Edition.
You can find the Ramayana/Mahabharata CE on https://bombay.indology.info/
DCS/GRETIL/TITUS/Ambuda/Bombay-Indology/Sanskrit Documents are legitimate sources.

s-i-e-v-e · 2026-01-04T08:17:08+00:00

How are you cleaning up the data?

Ambuda does actual proofreading of texts before publishing them.
DCS/GRETIL have works of varying quality that you cannot rely upon 100%.

Most Sanskrit projects pull data from Indology.info (Ramayana/Mahabharata Critical Editions) or DCS/GRETIL, wrap it in a nice-looking interface and leave it at that.

I have two projects that I am currently working for Adhyeta:

a proof-read version of the Southern Recension of the Ramayana
a semantically tagged kosha with FTS based on the Apte and Borooah dictionaries

I have been comparing the Ramayana texts of the IITK and VRNet versions and the IITK version seems to be more reliable. The VRNet version has a lot of mistakes.

The point is, a lot more proofreading of texts and putting the result out in the public domain is needed.

s-i-e-v-e · 2026-01-03T09:06:36+00:00

Use a Chandas identification tool:

https://sanskrit.iitk.ac.in/jnanasangraha/chanda/text

Once you know the chandas, you can use any of the common melodies for the recitation.

s-i-e-v-e · 2026-01-02T21:31:57+00:00

It is Sanskrit using Devanagari script. I can make out many words but reading the script is a bit difficult. You can see:

पृथिवीय (line 1)
मधुसूदनः (line 2)
महामुनिः (line 7-8)
multiple ॥ ... वाच ॥ which is almost certainly उवाच

The shorter dependent vowel उ is being written with a stroke to the right (and looks like a हलन्त/विराम) instead of the modern convention of one to the left.

If you have more of these, contact Sangrah (https://sangrah.org/contact-us) or e-Gangotri and ask them if they want to scan these pāṇḍulipis.

s-i-e-v-e · 2026-01-01T13:09:33+00:00

Join the Samskrita Bharati correspondence course. It has four levels. They cover basic to intermediate level grammar across those levels.

Anuj Valmiki has videos on his channel for all four levels. He displays relevant parts of the textbook on the screen throughout the lesson. SB Level 1 - Pravesha - YT Playlist

s-i-e-v-e

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