Sanskrit for Ayurvedic study · First Professional (Prathama Varsha) · AyUG-SN
1papers
6units
55practice questions
11study sections
Enough Sanskrit to read a shloka and not depend on a translation. Grammar, sandhi, samasa, and the vocabulary the classical texts actually use.
Papers
Paper I — Sanskrit
Units in this subject
Varna and sandhiShabda rupa and dhatu rupaSamasaKaraka and vibhaktiReading and translating shlokasAyurvedic terminology in Sanskrit
Study notes
Enough Sanskrit to read a shloka without depending on somebody else's translation. The paper is grammar and translation, but the real purpose is that a practitioner who can only read translations is at the mercy of whoever made them.
Sound and sandhi
Varnamala: 13 swara, 33 vyanjana. Sthana and prayatna — where in the mouth each sound is made.
Swara sandhi: dirgha, guna, vriddhi, yan, ayavayava.
Vyanjana sandhi and visarga sandhi.
Sandhi is examined by being asked to split a compound word, so practise viccheda as much as joining.
Words and their endings
Shabda rupa: the declension of nouns in three genders, three numbers, eight cases.
Dhatu rupa: verb conjugation; lat, lang, lrit, lot and vidhiling are the tenses most needed.
Karaka and vibhakti: karta, karma, karana, sampradana, apadana, adhikarana — six, and only six. Sambandha (shashthi) is NOT a karaka; it is a relation between two nouns, not a role in the action. Adding it is the commonest way to lose the mark — and which vibhakti each takes.
Ayurvedic terms are full of samasa and identifying the type is a standard question: Tridosha is dvigu, Dravyaguna is tatpurusha, Rasapanchaka is dvigu.
Reading the texts
Translating shlokas from Charaka, Sushruta and Ashtanga Hridaya with their commentaries.
Technical vocabulary: the difference between rasa as taste, as the first dhatu and as a mercurial preparation is decided by context, and reading that correctly is the whole point of the subject.
Varna and sandhi
Swara: a, ā, i, ī, u, ū, ṛ, ṝ, ḷ, e, ai, o, au — thirteen in the count used here.
Vyanjana: 25 sparsha in five vargas, 4 antahstha, 3 ushma, plus ha — thirty-three.
Sthana: kanthya, talavya, murdhanya, dantya, oshthya, and the compound positions.
Swara sandhi: dirgha (a+a=ā), guna (a+i=e), vriddhi (a+e=ai), yan (i+a=ya), ayavayava (e+a=aya).
Practise viccheda — splitting — as much as joining, because that is what the paper asks.
Shabda rupa and dhatu rupa
Three genders, three numbers, eight vibhakti. Learn rama (masculine a-ending), lata/rama (feminine), phala (neuter) as the templates.
Common Ayurvedic declensions: vaidya, rogi, dosha, dhatu, mala, agni, rasa.
Dhatu rupa: the ten lakara, of which lat (present), lang (past), lrit (future), lot (imperative) and vidhiling (potential) are the examinable core.
Parasmaipada and Atmanepada, and the difference in endings.
Karaka and vibhakti
Karta (prathama), Karma (dvitiya), Karana (tritiya), Sampradana (chaturthi), Apadana (panchami), Sambandha (shashthi), Adhikarana (saptami), Sambodhana (the vocative).
Karaka is a syntactic role; vibhakti is the ending that expresses it. They are not the same thing, and confusing them is a standard lost mark.
Some verbs take an unexpected case — learn the exceptions with the verb.
Reading and translating shlokas
Anvaya — rearranging a verse into prose order — before translating. Always do this step on paper.
Common metres: anushtubh (eight syllables per pada) is by far the most frequent in the Samhitas.
Practise with the definitional shlokas you will quote in other papers: the definition of Ayurveda, of swastha, of dravya, of rasayana.
A translation that preserves the technical terms untranslated (dosha, dhatu, agni) is better than one that renders them into approximate English.
Ayurvedic terminology in Sanskrit
Words with several technical meanings: rasa (taste / first dhatu / mercury preparation / juice), dhatu (tissue / metal / verb root), guna (quality / one of the three mahaguna / rope), kala (time / one of the seven membranes).
Reading which meaning is intended from context is the entire practical purpose of the subject.
Paryaya as a vocabulary tool: the synonyms of a dravya usually describe a real feature — Tanutwak for thin-barked cinnamon, Panchangula for the five-fingered castor leaf, Ugragandha for fierce-smelling vacha.
Where the texts disagree
The count of varna in the alphabet is given as fifty, fifty-two or forty-eight depending on how anusvara, visarga and the vowel l-ri are treated.
Sambodhana is counted as an eighth vibhakti by some grammarians and as a form of the prathama by others.
Commonly confused
Krit pratyaya (from a verbal root) and Taddhita pratyaya (from a noun stem).
Dhatu in grammar (a verbal root) and Dhatu in physiology (a tissue).
Tatpurusha, Bahuvrihi and Dvandva - which member is principal.
Trijata (three) and Chaturjata (four) - the fourth is Nagakeshara.
Sanskrit grammar is vast and this is only the examinable core. Nothing replaces reading shlokas daily with a commentary beside you.
Written to the NCISM subject outline. Where texts disagree on a count or an attribution, the explanation says so rather than picking one silently.
Practise it, and prove it
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