Welcome to oursanskrit.com Lesson 11. This lesson is a review of what we have learned so far.

A short YouTube version is available here.

Lesson 1 was an introduction. We started by looking at the concept of inflection – declension and conjugation. We said that Sanskrit is a highly inflected language.We also said that all words in Sanskrit are derived from entities called roots. We said that there are 10 classes of roots and verb stems are derived from this by various different rules. We took an example of class 4 root and saw how the verb stem was derived from this. We looked at the full conjugation of the present indicative active of a class 4 verb. We found that conjugation is gender independent always in grammatical agreement with the subject.

In lesson 2,  we looked mainly at the concept of declension, which is the variation of the form of a noun, pronoun, or adjective, by which its grammatical case, number, and gender are identified. A case is any of the forms of a noun, adjective, pronoun etc. that express the semantic relation of the word to other words in the sentence. We introduced the term विभक्तिः (vibhaktiḥ) and looked at the use of the various cases.

In lesson 3,  first we looked at vowel gradation and introduced the terms guṇa and vr̥ddhi. We looked at the ten root classes, and said that each class forms the present stem of the verb differently. We distinguished between thematic and athematic classes and saw that thematic verb stems have an appended “a” at the end.  We looked at the the formation of the verb stems and present indicative active conjugation for the thematic classes (ie. classes 1, 4, 6 and 10).  We also looked at the middle voice and at the conjugational paradigm of the present indicative middle (laṭ  ātmane padam लट् अत्मने पदम्)  of the verb √labh  √लभ्.

In lesson 4, we looked at the process of analyzing a Sanskrit text and to illustrate this, we took a story from the Hitopadeśa and analysed it.

In lesson 5, we learned the imperfect active of thematic verbs and vowel Sandhis.  The imperfect tense is used to indicate a past action. We said that it is important to learn Sandhis as any full sentence written in Sanskrit is sure to contain Sandhis. Unless we know how to separate out the words and get their uncombined from it will be difficult to understand what is being said.

In lesson 6, we looked at the imperfect middle voice of verbs of the thematic root classes 1,4,6 and 10 and consonant Sandhis. We said that the whole area of consonant combination is a bit complicated, especially internal combinations. We said that the main principle is that all combinations [or Sandhis] are supposed to make it easy for people to pronounce words and sentences.

In lesson 7, we looked at the declension of stems ending in consonants. Nouns/adjectives ending in consonants are more regular and stick generally to the standard pattern of endings. However, there are many peculiarities associated with the declension of consonant ending stems that it is important for us to notice them. We said that there is a gradation between strong, and weak stems or in some cases among a strong, middle and weakest forms in the conjugational paradigm.

In lesson 8, we continued looking at the process of analyzing a Sanskrit texts and we took another story from the Hitopadeśa and analysed it. The main purpose of reading and analysing the text is to get an understanding how a set of words and sentences hang together in Sanskrit.

In lesson 9, we looked at pronouns, relatives and numerals. In Sanskrit, the pronouns have some marked peculiarities of inflection. We learned how to use ordinal and cardinal numbers.

And in lesson 10, we looked at the optative and imperative conjugations of thematic verbs. We said that the optative is used to indicate a wish while the imperative is used to indicate a command.

Between lessons we had a look at the “The magic of Pāṇini” – a brief introduction to how Pāṇini presents his Sanskrit language and grammar rules.

We also made a case for learning Sanskrit.

We have also been studying the first few verses of the नळोपाख्यानम् naḷopākhyānam   – The story of Nala – that I have analysed on a first level and uploaded here. This helps you you understand how to analyse Sanskrit verses.

Application of what we have learned so far

Let us now take a story from the Hitopadeśa and analyse the text to see how what we have learned so far has been applied in the story, “The Brahmin and his jar”.

When we analyse the text (and combine this with what we learned in lesson 8 and lesson 4), we can see the following things: in the text:

• Declension and the various cases
• Present and imperfect active conjugation and imperative conjugation (lesson 8) [We have also learned the optative conjugation. We will see examples of the optative in later texts. We will also see the middle voice conjugation in later texts]
• Use of many adverbs
• Derivation of words from roots
• Sentence construction (both passive and active constructions.)
• Compound words (We will look at these in detail in later lessons)
• Present participles (we will learn about this a later lesson)
• Past passive participle (we will learn about this in later lessons)
• Past active participle (we will learn about this in later lessons)
• Continuatives (lyabanta and  ktvānta ; we will look at these in later lessons)
• Use of adjectival relatives (use of yad)
• Adverbial relatives and co-relatives
• Pronouns
• Numerals
• Phrases and vocabulary
• Sandhi

Here’s the story:

अस्ति देवीकोट्टनगरे देवशर्मा नाम ब्राह्मणः | तेन विषुवत्संक्रान्तौ सक्तुपूर्णशरावः प्राप्तः | ततस्तमादायासौ भाण्डपूर्णकुम्भकारमण्डपिकैकदेशे शय्यानिक्षिप्तदेहः सन्रात्रावचिन्तयत् | यद्यहमिमं सक्तुशरावं विक्रीय दश कपर्दकान्प्राप्नोमि तदा तैरिह समये शरावांस्ततो घटादीनुपक्रीय विक्रीयानेकधा वृद्धैर्धनैः पुनः पुनः पूगवस्त्रादिकमुपक्रीय लक्षसंख्यानि धनान्युत्पाद्य विवाहचतुष्टयं करोमि | ततस्तासु पत्नीषु याधिकरूपवती तस्यामधिकानुरागं करोमि | अनन्तरं जातेर्ष्यास्तत्सपत्न्यो यदा द्वंद्वं कुर्वन्ति तदा कोपाकुलोऽहं ताः पत्नीर्लगुडेनेत्थं ताडयामि | इत्यभिधायोत्थाय तेन लगुडः क्षिप्तः | अतः सक्तुशरावश्चूर्णितो भण्डानि च बहूनि भग्नानि | ततो भाण्डभङ्गशब्देनागतकुम्भकारेण तद्दृष्ट्वा स ब्राह्मणस्तिरस्कृतो मण्डपीकागर्भात्बहिष्कृतः | अतोऽहं ब्रवीमि |

• अनागतवतीं चिन्तां कृत्वा यस्तु प्रहृष्यति |
• स तिरस्कारमाप्नोति भग्नभाण्डो द्विजो यथा |

asti devīkoṭṭanagare devaśarmā nāma brāhmaṇaḥ | tena viṣuvatsaṃkrāntau saktupūrṇaśarāvaḥ prāptaḥ | tatastamādāyāsau bhāṇḍapūrṇakumbhakāramaṇḍapikaikadeśe śayyānikṣiptadehaḥ sanrātrāvacintayat | yadyahamimaṃ saktuśarāvaṃ vikrīya daśa kapardakānprāpnomi  tadā tairiha samaye śarāvāṃstato ghaṭādīnupakrīya vikrīyānekadhā vr̥ddhairdhanaiḥ punaḥ punaḥ pūgavastrādikamupakrīya lakṣasaṃkhyāni dhanānyutpādya vivāhacatuṣṭayaṃ karomi | tatastāsu patnīṣu yādhikarūpavatī tasyāmadhikānurāgaṃ karomi | anantaraṃ jāterṣyāstatsapatnyo yadā dvaṃdvaṃ kurvanti tadā kopākulo’haṃ tāḥ patnīrlaguḍenetthaṃ tāḍayāmi | ityabhidhāyotthāya tena laguḍaḥ kṣiptaḥ | ataḥ saktuśarāvaścūrṇito bhaṇḍāni ca bahūni bhagnāni  | tato bhāṇḍabhaṅgaśabdenāgatakumbhakāreṇa taddr̥ṣṭvā sa brāhmaṇastiraskr̥to maṇḍapīkāgarbhātbahiṣkr̥taḥ | ato’haṃ bravīmi  |

• anāgatavatīṃ cintāṃ kr̥tvā yastu prahr̥ṣyati  |
• sa tiraskāramāpnoti bhagnabhāṇḍo dvijo yathā  |

Let us now analyse the text. Most of what we have learned in our lessons are touched upon in this story and the stories given in lesson 8 and lesson 4.

अस्ति देवीकोट्टनगरे देवशर्मा नाम ब्राह्मणः 

asti devīkoṭṭanagare devaśarmā nāma brāhmaṇaḥ 

• asti – pres. ind. active, (laṭ parasmai padam) 3rd person, singular of class 2 √as (to be) – “is”
  • As a class 2 root, this is not a thematic verb – for class 2 roots the ending is directly added to the root.
  • We will look at class 2 and other athematic verbs in later lessons
• devīkoṭṭanagare –  loc. sing. neu. of neuter devī (f) + koṭṭa (m) + nagara (n) (“city of Devīkoṭṭa (goddess fortress)” ) – “in the city of Devīkoṭṭa”
• devaśarmā – nominative singular masculine of devaśarman (“joy of god” – a name) – Devasharma
• nāma – indeclinabe (adverb) – “by name”
  • from the neuter noun nāman (“name”)
• brāhmaṇaḥ –  nominative singular masculine of brāhmaṇa (“man of priestly caste”) – Brahmin
  • brāhmaṇa is derived from brahman meaning “devotion, worship etc.”
  • brahman is derived fron class 1 root  √brh (“make, be great”)

Meaning : In the city of Devikotta, there was a Brahmin named Devasarma.

तेन विषुवत्संक्रान्तौ सक्तुपूर्णशरावः प्राप्तः

tena viṣuvatsaṃkrāntau saktupūrṇaśarāvaḥ prāptaḥ  

• tena – intrumental singular of masculine pronoun tad (“he”) – by him
• viṣuvatsaṃkrāntau – locative singular of feminine viṣuvatsaṃkrānti (“equinox passage”) – on the day of the (vernal) equinox”
  • viṣuvat is weak stem of adj viṣuvant – “having both sides” – middle day between the solstices – vernal or autumnal equinox
    • viṣuvant is from adverb viṣu “on both sides”
  • saṃkrānti (f)  is derived from sam + class 1 root √kram (“stride”) – “entering” “entering of the sun into a new zodiacal sign”
  • viṣuvatsaṃkrānti normally means entry of sun into the sign of Aries
• saktupūrṇaśarāvaḥ –  nominative singular masculine of saktu (m) + pūrṇa (adj) +śarāva (m) (“dish filled with grain”)
  • saktu means grain or grits (barley grits)
  • pūrṇa is past passive participle of class 3 root √pr̥ (“fill”)
  • śarāva means flat earthern dish
• prāptaḥ –  nominative singular masculine of prāpta (“obtained”) – “got”
  • prāpta is pra + āpta
  • āpta is past passive participle of class 5 root √āp (“obtain”)

Note the passive construction. “by him got” rather than “he got”

Meaning : He got a pot full of barley grits on the day of the spring equinox.

ततस्तमादायासौ भाण्डपूर्णकुम्भकारमण्डपिकैकदेशे शय्यानिक्षिप्तदेहः सन्रात्रावचिन्तयत्

tatastamādāyāsau bhāṇḍapūrṇakumbhakāramaṇḍapikaikadeśe śayyānikṣiptadehaḥ sanrātrāvacintayat  

• tataḥ – indeclinable (adverb) – “then”
• tam – accusative singular of masculine pronoun tad (“it”) – “it”
  • pronoun standing for saktupūrṇaśarāva
• ādāya – indeclinable (continuative – lyabanta) “having taken”
  • ā + dāya from class 3 verb √dā (“give”)
• asau – nominative singular of masculine pronoun adj. adas (“yonder”) – “he”
  • standing for devaśarmā
• bhāṇḍapūrṇakumbhakāramaṇḍapikaikadeśe – locative singular of masculine bhāṇḍapūrṇakumbhakāramaṇḍapikaikadeśa “in a corner of a potter’s pot-filled, small shed”
  • This is a long compound bhāṇḍa (n)  + pūrṇa (adj)+ kumbha-kāra (m) + maṇḍapikā (f) + eka-deśa (m)
  • bhāṇḍa (n) means pot, dish
  • pūrṇa is past passive participle of class 3 root √pr̥ (“fill”)
  • kumbha-kāra (m) from kumbha + kāra meaning “pot maker” , potter
  • maṇḍapikā (f) is diminutive of maṇḍapa (m, n) meaning small shed
  • eka-deśa (m) – from eka + deśa “one place” meaning a particular spot
    • deśa is from class 6 root √diś (“point”)
• śayyānikṣiptadehaḥ – nominative singular masculine/neuter adj of śayyā (f) + nikṣipta (adj) + deha (m, n) – “lying on a bed”
  • śayyā is from class 2 root √śī “lie” – bed
  • nikṣipta is ni + past passive participle of class 6 root √kṣip “throw” – thrown, put
  • deha is from class 2 root √dih “smear” – body
• san – nominative singular masculine of sant “being” (this is redundant)
  • sant is present active participle of √as “be”
• rātrau – locative singular of feminine rātri “night” – in the night
• acintayat – imperfect indicative active third person singular of class 10 root √cint “think” – thought

Meaning : He took the pot and spent the night lying on a bed in the corner a potter’s shed filled with pots, thinking:

यद्यहमिमं सक्तुशरावं विक्रीय दश कपर्दकान्प्राप्नोमि

yadyahamimaṃ saktuśarāvaṃ vikrīya daśa kapardakānprāpnomi  

• yadi – indeclinable adverb “if” (meaning when)
• aham – nominative singular of asmad “I”
• imam – accusative singular of masculine pronoun idam “this”
• saktuśarāvam – accusative singular of masculine saktuśarāva (“pot of grain”)
• vikrīya – indeclinable (continuative – lyabanta) – “having sold”
  • from vi + class 9 root √krī (“buy”)
• daśa – accusative plural of daśa – ten
  • note that numbers from 5 to 10, though used as adjectives, have no distinction of gender. They are inflected as plurals, but the nominative and accusative show the bare stem only. Hence the use of  daśa here. The other cases show the plural case endings.
• kapardakān – accusative plural of masculine kapardaka (“shell”) – coins
• prāpnomi – present indicative active first person singular of pra + class 5 root √āp “obtain” – “get” (will get)

Meaning: If (when) I sell this pot of grain, I will get ten coins.

तदा तैरिह समये शरावांस्ततो घटादीनुपक्रीय विक्रीयानेकधा वृद्धैर्धनैः पुनः पुनः पूगवस्त्रादिकमुपक्रीय लक्षसंख्यानि धनान्युत्पाद्य विवाहचतुष्टयं करोमि

tadā tairiha samaye śarāvāṃstato ghaṭādīnupakrīya vikrīyānekadhā vr̥ddhairdhanaiḥ punaḥ punaḥ pūgavastrādikamupakrīya lakṣasaṃkhyāni dhanānyutpādya vivāhacatuṣṭayaṃ karomi

• tadā – indeclinable adverb “then”
• taiḥ – instrumental plural of masculine pronoun tad – “with them” (with the coins – kapardakaiḥ)
• iha – indeclinable adverb “here”
• samaye – locative singular of masculine samaya (“agreement, point in time”)
  • from sam + class 2 root √ī (“go”)
  • iha samaye means “in this case, then”
• śarāvān – accusative plural of masculine śarāva – flat earthern dish
• tataḥ – indeclinable adverb “from that”
  • tataḥ is derived from the ablative singular of pronoun ta
• ghaṭādīn –  accusative plural of masculine ghaṭa (m) + ādi (m) – “jar etc.”
  • ghaṭa (m) means jar
  • ādi is from ā + class 3 root √dā “give”
  • ghaṭādi literally means “(list) having ghaṭa as beginning” meaning “ghaṭa etc.”
• upakrīya – indeclinable (continuative – lyabanta) – “having bought”
  • from upa + class 9 root √krī (“buy”)
• vikrīya – indeclinable (continuative – lyabanta) – “having sold”
• anekadhā – indeclinable adverb “many times”
• vr̥ddhaiḥ – instrumental plural neuter of adj vr̥ddha “grown” – “increasing”
  • vr̥ddha is the past passive participle of class 1 root √vr̥dh “grow”
• dhanaiḥ –  instrumental plural neuter of dhana “prize, wealth” – “wealth”
  • from class 3 root √dhā “put”
• punaḥ – indeclinable adverb “again”
  • Note: this is punar, ie. the visarga stands for “r” not “s”
• punaḥ
  • punaḥ punaḥ means again and again
• pūgavastrādikam – accusative singular of masculine pūga (n) + vastra (n) + ādika (m) – “betel-nuts, dress etc.”
  • puga means betel-nut
  • vastra means “cloth, dress”
    • from class 2 root √vas “clothe”
  • ādika is same as ādi
• upakrīya
• lakṣasaṃkhyāni – accusative plural of neuter adj lakṣa (n)+ saṃkhyā (f) “a hundred thousand (number)”
  • lakṣa is from classs 1 root √lag “attach” [This derivation is not without doubt]
  • saṃkhyā (“number”) is from sam + class 2 root √khyā “see”
• dhanāni – accusative plural of neuter dhana
• utpādya – indeclinable (continuative – lyabanta) – “having produced, made”
  • ud + class 4 root √pad “go”
• vivāhacatuṣṭayam – accusative singular of neuter vivāha (m) + catuṣṭaya (adj) – “marrying of four wives”
  • vivāha (“wedding”)is from vi + class 1 root √vah “carry”
  • catuṣṭaya (“collection of four”) is from catur “four”
• karomi – present indicative active first person singular of class 8 root √kr̥ “make, do”

Meaning: Using that I will buy and sell many pots and jars. This way, by buying and selling many times, I will make lots of money. Then I will buy and sell betel nuts and dresses and make hundreds of thousands of coins (lots of wealth). Then I will marry four women.

[Note: This long sentence above, with its “buying and selling”, brings to us a sense of how quickly his mind his working!]

ततस्तासु पत्नीषु याधिकरूपवती तस्यामधिकानुरागं करोमि

tatastāsu patnīṣu yādhikarūpavatī tasyāmadhikānurāgaṃ karomi

• tataḥ – indeclinable adverb “from that, thereupon”
• tāsu – locative plural of feminine pronounn tad – “among those”
• patnīṣu –  locative plural of feminine patnī (“wife”) – “among wives”
  • patnī (“lady, wife, mistress”) is feminine of pati (“master, husband”)
• yā – nominative singular of feminine relative pronoun yad “who”
• adhikarūpavatī – nominative singular of feminine of adhika (adj) + rūpavatī (f) “more beautiful”
  • rūpavatī is feminine of rūpavant “beautiful”
  • adhika (“more”) is from adverb adhi (“over”)
• tasyām – locative singyular of feminine pronoun tad “in her”
• adhikānurāgam – accusative singular of masculine adhika (adj) + anurāga (m) – “more affection”
  • anurāga (“affection”) is from anu + class 4 root √raj “colour”
• karomi – present indicative active first person singular of class 8 root √kr̥ “make, do”

Meaning : Then, I will show more affection to that wife who among the (four) wives is most beautiful.

अनन्तरं जातेर्ष्यास्तत्सपत्न्यो यदा द्वंद्वं कुर्वन्ति तदा कोपाकुलोऽहं ताः पत्नीर्लगुडेनेत्थं ताडयामि

anantaraṃ jāterṣyāstatsapatnyo yadā dvaṃdvaṃ kurvanti tadā kopākulo’haṃ tāḥ patnīrlaguḍenetthaṃ tāḍayāmi

• anantaram – indeclinable adverb “immediately afterwards, afterwards”
  • anantaram is from an-antara (“having no interval”)
• jāterṣyāḥ – nominative plural of feminine adjective jāta (adj) + īrṣyā (f) (“having jealousy born”) – jealous
  • jāta (“born”) is past passive participle of class 1 root √jan
  • īrṣyā (“ill will, jealousy”); (maybe) short form of irasyā (“ill will, wrath”) from iras (n) (“ill will, anger”) derived (?) from class 6 root √r̥ (“go”) (“go for”)
• tatsapatnyaḥ – nominative plural of feminine tat-sa-patnī – “her co-wives”
  • tat used in compounds for third person pronoun tad meaning “his, her, him etc.”
  • sapatnī (sa-patnī) (adj and f) (“co wife”) – femininized form of sa-pati (“having same husband”)
    • note : This is a bahuvrīhi compound. We will deal with this later
• yadā – indeclinable relative adverb – “when”
• dvaṃdvam – accusative singular of neuter dvaṃdva (“quarrel”)
  • derived from repeated use of dva “two” (in neuter form) dvaṃ-dvam (“two-two”)
• kurvanti – present indicative active third person plural of class 8 root √kr̥ “make, do”
• tadā –  indeclinable relative adverb – “then”
  • co-relative of yadā above
• kopākulaḥ – nominative singular of masculine adj. kopa (m) + ākula (adj) – “full of anger”
  • kopa (“anger”) is from class 4 root √kup (“be angry”)
  • ākula (“filled, covered”) is from  ā + class 6 root √kr̥ (“strew, scatter”)
• aham – nominative singular of asmad (“I’)
• tāḥ – accusative plural of feminine pronoun tad (“those”)
• patnīḥ – accusative plural of feminine patnī – “wives”
• laguḍena – instrmental singular of masculine laguḍa “cudgel” – “with a cudgel”
• ittham – indeclinable adverb “in this way”
• tāḍayāmi – present indicative active of causative of class 2 root √taḍ (“beat”) – “I beat” – “I will beat”
  • stem of causative of taḍ is tāḍaya
  • We will learn about causative and other secondary conjugations in later lessons.

Meaning : On this, when her (the most beautiful wife’s) co-wives will become jealous and when they start quarreling, I will become angry and beat them with this stick thus:

इत्यभिधायोत्थाय तेन लगुडः क्षिप्तः

ityabhidhāyotthāya tena laguḍaḥ kṣiptaḥ

• iti – indeclinable adverb “thus”
• abhidhāya – indeclinable (continuative – lyabanta) – “having said”
  • from abhi + class 3 root √dhā (“put”)
• utthāya –  indeclinable (continuative – lyabanta) – “having stood up”
  • from ud + class 1 root √sthā “stand”
  • by internal sandhi ud + sthāya becomes utthāya (the s is dropped between two mutes for all combinations of the roots √sthā and √sthamb with the prefix ud)
• tena – instrumental singular of masculine pronoun tad “by him”
• laguḍaḥ – nominative singular of masculine laguḍa “cudgel”
• kṣiptaḥ – nominative singular of masculine  adj. kṣipta “thrown”
  • kṣipta is the past passive participle of the class 6 root √kṣip (“throw”)

Meaning : Saying this, he stood up and threw the stick (at his imagined jealous wives!)

अतः सक्तुशरावश्चूर्णितो भण्डानि च बहूनि भग्नानि

ataḥ saktuśarāvaścūrṇito bhaṇḍāni ca bahūni bhagnāni  

• ataḥ – indeclinable adverb “from that, then”
• saktuśarāvaḥ – nominative singular of masculine saktuśarāva (“pot of grain”)
• cūrṇitaḥ –  nominative singular of masculine cūrṇita (“powdered”)
  • cūrṇita is past passive participle of  √cūrṇaya (“to break, to powder)
  • √cūrṇaya is a secondary denominative root from cūrṇa, which is past passive participle of class 1 (?) root √carv (“chew”)
• bhaṇḍāni – nominative plural of neuter bhāṇḍa (n) “dish, pot” – dishes, pots etc.
• ca – indeclinable “and”
• bahūni – nominative plural of neuter adj. bahu “many”
  • bahu is from class 1(?) root √banh (“make firm”)
• bhagnāni –  nominative plural of neuter adj. bhagna “broken”
  • bhagna is past passive participle of class 7 root √bhanj (“break”)

Menaing: At this (when the stick hit them), the pot of grain broke into powder, and many (other) pots (in the shed) also broke.

ततो भाण्डभङ्गशब्देनागतकुम्भकारेण तद्दृष्ट्वा स ब्राह्मणस्तिरस्कृतो मण्डपिकागर्भात्बहिष्कृतः

tato bhāṇḍabhaṅgaśabdenāgatakumbhakāreṇa taddr̥ṣṭvā sa brāhmaṇastiraskr̥to maṇḍapikāgarbhātbahiṣkr̥taḥ  

• tataḥ – indeclinable adverb “from that, thereupon”
• bhāṇḍabhaṅgaśabdena – instrumental singular of masculine bhāṇḍa (n) + bhaṅga (m) + śabda (m) “pot breaking noise” – by (hearing) the noise of the pots breaking
  • bhaṅga (“breaking”) is from class 7 root √bhanj (“break”)
  • śabda (m) means “noise, sound”
• āgatakumbhakāreṇa –  instrumental singular of masculine āgata (adj.) + kumbhakāra (m) (“arrived potter”) – by the potter who had come
  • āgata (“come, arrived”) is ā + past participle of class 1 root √gam
• tat – accusative singular neuter pronoun tad “it”
• dr̥ṣṭvā – indeclinable (continuative – ktvānta) “having seen”
  • derived from class 4 root √dr̥ś (“see”)
• saḥ – nominative singular masculine pronoun tad “that”
• brāhmaṇaḥ – nominative singular masculine brāhmaṇa – “Brahmin”
• tiraskr̥taḥ –  nominative singular masculine adj tiras (prep) + kr̥ta (adj) (“scolded”) – scolded
  • tiraḥ (=tiras) indeclinable preposition or adverb  meaning “across”
    • derived from class 1 root √tr̥ (“cross”)
  • kr̥ta is past passive participle of class 8 root √kr̥ (“make, do”)
• maṇḍapikāgarbhāt – ablative singular of masculine maṇḍapikā (f)+ garbha (m) – “from the shed”
  • garbha at end of compounds means “inside”; same as the word kroḍa in the story in lesson 8
    • derived from class 9 root √grabh (“seize”)
• bahiṣkr̥taḥ – nominative singular masculine adj bahis (prep) + kr̥ta (adj) – “threw out”
  • bahiḥ (=bahis) indeclinable preposition or adverb  meaning “outside”

Meaning: Hearing the noise of the pots breaking, the potter came and saw (the broken pots), and scolded the Brahmin and threw him out of the shed.

अतोऽहं ब्रवीमि

ato’haṃ bravīmi  

• ataḥ – indeclinable (adverb) – “therefore”
• aham – nom. sing. of pronoun asmad – “I”
• bravīmi – pres.ind. active (laṭ parasmai padam) 1^st  person sing of class 2 root √brū  – “speak”. “say”

Meaning : Therefore I say,

अनागतवतीं चिन्तां कृत्वा यस्तु प्रहृष्यति

anāgatavatīṃ cintāṃ kr̥tvā yastu prahr̥ṣyati  

• anāgatavatīm – accusative singular of feminine adj anāgatavatī (“of the future”)
  • anāgatavatī is feminine of an-āgatavant (“not arrived”, meaning “future”)
    • ā + gatavant – gatavant is past active participle of class 1 root  √gam “go”
      • a past passive participle is converted into past active participle by addition of vant (vatī for feminine)
• cintām – accusative singular of feminine cintā “thought” – “thought, plans”
• kr̥tvā – indeclinable (continuative – ktvānta) “having made”
  • derived from class 8 root √kr̥ (“make, do”)
• yaḥ – nominative singular of masculine relative pronoun yad “who”
• tu – indeclinable particle “truly” ; for emphasis
• prahr̥ṣyati  – present indicative active third person singular of pra + class 4 root √hr̥ṣ (“become excited”) – “exults”

Meaning : He who exults based on thoughts (plans) of an (unknown) future,

स तिरस्कारमाप्नोति भग्नभाण्डो द्विजो यथा

sa tiraskāramāpnoti bhagnabhāṇḍo dvijo yathā  

• saḥ – nominative singular of pronoun tad “he”
• tiraskāram – accusative singular of masculine tiraskāra (“scolding”) – scolding
  • see tiraskr̥ta above
• āpnoti – present indicative active third person singular of class 5 root √āp (“obtain”) – “gets”
• bhagnabhāṇḍaḥ – nominataive singular of masculine adj. bhagna (adj) + bhāṇḍa (n) – “he who has broken the pots”
  • this is a bahuvrīhi compound, which we will take up later
• dvijaḥ – nominataive singular of masculine dvija (“twice born”) – Brahmin
  • dvija is dvi (form of dva “two” in compounds) + ja (verbal noun of class 1 root √jan “be born”)
• yathā  – indeclinable adverb “like”

Meaning: He will get scolded like the Brahmin who broke the pots.

Overall meaning : In the city of Devikotta, there was a Brahmin named Devasarma. He got a pot full of barley grits on the day of the spring equinox. He took the pot and spent the night lying on a bed in the corner a potter’s shed filled with pots, thinking: “If (when) I sell this pot of grain, I will get ten coins. Using that I will buy and sell many pots and jars. This way, by buying and selling many times, I will make lots of money. Then I will buy and sell betel nuts and dresses and make hundreds of thousands of coins (lots of wealth). Then I will marry four women. And, I will show more affection to that wife who among the (four) wives is most beautiful. On this, when her (the most beautiful wife’s) co-wives will become jealous and when they start quarreling, I will become angry and beat them with this stick thus:” Saying this, he stood up and threw the stick (at his imagined jealous wives!). At this (when the stick hit them), the pot of grain broke into powder, and many (other) pots (in the shed) also broke. Hearing the noise of the pots breaking, the potter came and saw (the broken pots), and scolded the Brahmin and threw him out of the shed. Therefore I say,

• He who exults based on thoughts (plans) of an (unknown) future,
• He will get scolded like the Brahmin who broke the pots.

Moral : (English equivalent) Don’t count your chickens till they are hatched.