Sanskrit for Absolute Beginners - Test 1 Solutions

 Sairam! You made it through the first test. Good job!

I would pat you on the back if COVID wasn't around...anyways haha.

Here are the solutions, just ignore the last question if your name isn't Arjun, Dinesh or Luveeniya please!

Now you may proceed to Lesson 3 which has already been posted in this website :)

Don't forget your daily homework!

Very good - ati uttamam अति उत्तमम्‌  (2nd sanskrit word you learnt!). 

Sanskrit for Absolute Beginners - Lesson 3: Shabd roop - jumping the gun!

Okay, yes we have not yet finished learning the consonants, but it is important to add some more memorisation to the list (hehe) so when the time comes, you don't need to look at a book to know how to form a sentence.

Shabd roop - "forms of a word"

In english, we have certain words like 'in' 'of' 'to' etc. 

If I say, 'This is Rama's pen' then it basically means, 'This pen is of Rama'. Correct?

So, you notice that Rama's = of Rama. Yes? So, here we see a transformation i.e. a change in the form of the word - Rama -> Rama's (of Rama).  This is a Shabd Roop, my friend.

In sanskrit, instead of having separate words for 'of' 'to' 'in' 'by' etc, the word being spoken about is transformed.

So, there are 8 cases (transformations) we use for each word. And each Sanskrit word can be singular, dual or plural (not just singular and plural!).

Vibhakti - Cases

So, here are the 8 vibhaktis (cases) and what their meanings are. (You will need to start memorising this now over the course of 1 to 2 weeks, when we will start using these).

Case - Meaning

1. Subject

2. Object

3. By/with/through i.e. 'by means of'

4. for/to

5. from/than

6. of/among

7. In/on/at

8. Oh/ye - (used for addressing someone)

Now, if the above does not make sense, just don't worry. Just memorise for now. It will make sense in time when we cover this properly.

Now, while the above is 'almost' complete...there are some times when we will be using the above cases outside of what is mentioned here. But we will go through them later. 

If you know hindi, please search online for the vibhakti meanings in Hindi, it will be much easier to learn that way, than via english.

Shabd Roop of 'rāma'

Now another thing to memorise. We will memorise the transformations of the word 'rāma' (masculine word, ending with -a). This below table is from the 30 day SKT book.

Now here is an audio for these words, so you can memorise them with correct pronunciation (hopefully!).

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UsszfNfJ5tcnm7yFFn0D4fZY8Pfgcz3M/view?usp=sharing

Homework

Your homework is to...relax. Lol. Really, just relax a bit. We jumped the gun a bit to introduce this to you, but that's just to give you enough time to memorise this. Don't worry you have plenty of time to memorise this (1 or 2 weeks). 

By the time we properly start using these shabd roops, you should have the above in your finger tips (relatively...we hope lol). 

Till then, you can just keep doing the previous homework as usual...we will move on to more consonants in the next lesson. 

C ya later my friend! Please don't run away...lol...I hope you are not scared by these memorisations (there's a lot more coming! HAHAHA!)

Sanskrit for absolute beginners - Test 1 (Covers Lessons 1,2)

 Okay sairam! Welcome again!

So, here is your test paper covering what we did so far for Lessons 1 and 2.

Sanskrit for Absolute Beginners - Lesson 2: Consonants 1/3

 Sairam, welcome once again!

Hope you are doing your homeworks...please do them regularly...

Today's lesson is on consonants. What we need to know is that consonants in sanskrit are split very logically based on which part of the mouth is used to vocalise the sounds.

Now you don't need to memorise which sound comes from where, it will become second nature soon. What we do need to memorise firstly (there is a lot of memorisation ahead!) is:

क च  ट  त  प
ka ca ṭa ta pa

[Note: a letter with a dot underneath it in IAST, means tongue will be rolled back to say it. Not to worry we will go through this later.]

Basically the above is a mnemonic for almost all the consonants in sanskrit. Each of the above 5 letters (क ka, च  ca, ट ṭa, त ta प pa) is said in a different place in the mouth and has a group of letters that are similar to it. eg: ka is somewhere in the throat area; and pa is in the lips. 

Now, at each place in the vocal apparatus, we can vocalise 5 similar letters. We will go through the ka-group (ka-varga) and the ca-group (ca-varga) today. 

[Note: 'ca' in IAST is said like you say the word, 'change']

क/ka-varga or ka-group of letters

क ka; ख kha; ग ga; घ gha; ङ ṅa

Now all of these 5 are said in the EXACT same place in your mouth. 

Now how to say them? Please watch the following video from 3.16 to 4.20 and see how each of these letters are written and pronounced. 

To write these ka-group here is a nice guide from the 30-days sanskrit book:

च/ca-varga or ca-group of letters

च ca; छ cha; ज ja; झ jha; ञ ña

All of these 5 are said in the EXACT same place in your mouth. 

Now watch the above video from 4.20 to 5.12 to see how to pronounce these 5 letters.

You would have noticed that the 5th letter is a nasal in each varga. 

Yes thats right, but the key is: pronounce them in the same place as the other letters in that varga. 

So, ङ ṅa is said in the throat (like you say: sing). But ञ ña is said in the palate (like: inch). To say ञ ña on its own, we often say it with a 'y' sound: 'nya'. But the 'y' should be very subtle (its only to help us say it - its not necessary to say it with the 'y' sound though).

Again from the 30-day SKT book:

Writing practice

Now please watch this video until 4.46 to see how these are written:

This much is enough for today. Just get a hang of recognising these syllables when you see them and being able to pronounce them correctly as well. Wrong pronunciation can do a lot of damage in Sanskrit/Indic languages. 

Eg: bhai means brother but bai means mother in some indian languages!

Homework

So, just need you to do the following from hereon:
1. Write each vowel 10 times and say it as you write it

2. Write the ka-varga and ca-varga consonants 10 times each and say them as you write.

Here is my writing for comparison, Its not beautiful i know i know lol. But it does the job lol:

Next lesson will be to do a few more vargas of consonants. 

Once we have pronunciation down pat, we will start working on a few things so we can get basic sanskrit under our belt. 

Not to worry though, take your time, digest each information and the more homework you do, the easier it will become. We are trying to learn in 6-months what people usually take 3-4 years to learn in school! So, relax and enjoy!

Sanskrit for Absolute beginners - Lesson 1: Vowels

So, these set of instructions are to facilitate learning sanskrit for those just starting out, who can't even read devanagari and need somewhere to start. 

While I'm no expert, what little has been learnt through my gurus', we shall attempt to help you learn too. We will use resources from around the internet and see how best to present it for a beginner. 

Devanagari Letters

First lesson is to see, recognise, and learn to pronounce and write devanagari letters. Lets just start with some vowels first. 

Here are the vowels in devanagari and in IAST:

अ a 

आ ā 

इ i  

ई ī 

उ u 

ऊ  ū 

ए e 

ऐ ai 

ओ  o 

औ au 

ऋ ṛ 

ॠ ṝ (You won't be seeing this often)
लृ lṛ (You won't be seeing this often)
लॄ  lṝ (You won't be seeing this often)

अं aṃ 

अः aḥ

Note: In IAST, if there is a line above a letter, that is a prolonged vowel - what is called deergha. (When you watch the video below it will make sense.)

Now, to see how they are pronounced, please watch this video from 1.04 - 3.15
(You can watch the entire thing if you want to, but we will go through everything at the right time so you are not overwhelmed):

Now hopefully you have an idea about how to pronounce each letter. 

Now, we also need to give you some practice on writing these letters. 

Now here is a good video that teaches how to write these vowels. Some of the videos on youtube were teaching some wrong techniques, so i thought of choosing one that is accurate to avoid confusion. If any doubts, usually you can trust the indian video (if there is a choice!)! 

Of course many westerners do an amazing job (some - but not all - are better than Indians!), but there is a small chance of making some mistakes if you have not been writing this language since you were a kid.

So, here is a page from the book 'learn sanskrit in 30-days' and it seems to give a nice diagram on how to write each of these vowels. Some of it may look different to the video, in any cases of differences in opinion, just follow as taught in the video please :) :

Homework

Okay so, next lesson will be up in a few days time. 

Till then your homework: Every day write these vowels on a piece of paper and practice saying them as you write. 

Those of you who are in contact with me already (Sorry no more students, already have 3 people who will be sending me homework), please send me a photo everyday of your piece of paper, so we can make corrections as we go along.

If you have any doubts, feel free to ask here or personally message me, if you have my contact. 

Next lesson will be on some consonants.

Till then - take care and ...

धन्यवादः dhanyavādaḥ (Thank you). [psst, you learnt your first sanskrit word!]