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In the previous two lessons, lesson 32 and lesson 33, we looked at the secondary conjugations, The Causative, the Intensive, the Desiderative and the Denominative.

We had already considered the passive in lesson 26.

In this lesson we will look at the aorist.

We will also look at the Precative (also called Benedictive).

In lesson 28, when we considered the perfect tense, we said that in Sanskrit there are three tenses to indicate past action. The imperfect, laṅ लङ्, (which we learned earlier in lesson 5 and lesson 6), the aorist, luṅ लुङ् (which we will learn in this lesson), and the perfect, liṭ लिट् (which learned lesson 28, lesson 29 and lesson 30). According to the Sanskrit grammarians, the imperfect is used to denote past action done previous to the current day, the perfect is used to denote past action done previous to the current day, but not witnessed by the speaker (parokṣe liṭ परोक्षे लिट्), while the aorist (luṅ लुङ्) is used to denote an indefinite past time.

In classical Sanskrit, in practice, these three tenses seem to be used interchangeably for any past action.

The aorist is comparatively rare in classical Sanskrit.

In the ancient (Vedic) Sanskrit, the aorists seemed to have had a “perfect” sense, loosely translatable as “have done” etc, and it was quite commonly used.

In classical Sanskrit, they are used only in the indicative and used as a past tense (with an augment “a अ” added – equivalent to the imperfect of the present system,). No modes or participles are used. (However, in ancient Sanskrit, the aorist system has a full complement of modes, the imperative, the optative, participles etc. We will deal with these in later lessons)

One other use in classical Sanskrit is in negative commands with mā मा. In this case the augment  “a अ” is dropped. So, we can get forms like mā bhūt मा भूत् (“let that not become”); mā bhūḥ मा भूः (“do not become”); mā bhūvam मा भूवम् (“may I not become”) etc.

We will discuss aorists only briefly. For a full understanding of the aorists go to Whitney Chapter XI – The Aorist Systems (articles 824 to 930)

The aorist (luṅ लुङ्)

There are seven varieties of aorists.

• 1. Simple Aorists
• i. Root Aorist
• ii. a-Aorist
• 2. Reduplicating Aorist
• 3. Sigmatic  or Sibilant Aorists
• i. s-Aorist
• ii. iṣ-Aorist
• iii. siṣ-Aorist
• iv. sa-Aorist

The Root Aorist

In classical Sanskrit, this is conjugated in the active only. The middle uses either the s-Aorist or the iṣ-Aorist.

This is like the imperfect of the class 2 roots (see lesson 17). It is formed by placing the augment “a अ” before the verb stem (normally the bare root) and adding the imperfect athematic endings.

The conjugation of the root √bhū √भू is:

abhūt अभूत्	abhūtām अभूताम्	abhūvan अभूवन्
abhūḥ अभूः	abhūtam अभूतम्	abhūta अभूत
abhūvam अभूवम्	abhūva अभूव	abhūma अभूम

Note that roots ending in “ā आ” take “us उस्” as the ending in the 3rd person plural (as usual, losing the “ā आ” before it). So, the 3rd person plural of the root √dā √दा would be aduḥ अदुः

The a-Aorist

It is like the imperfect of a class 6 root. It is formed by placing the augment “a अ” before the verb stem (formed by appending “a अ” to a weak form of the root)  and then adding the thematic endings.

In this case also, middle forms are rare. The middle uses either the s-Aorist or the iṣ-Aorist.

Let us take the root √sic √सिच्

asicat असिचत्	asicatām असिचताम्	asican असिचन्
asicaḥ असिचः	asicatam असिचतम्	asicata असिचत
asicam असिचम्	asicāva असिचाव	asicāma असिचाम

The Reduplicating Aorist

This type of aorist is normally attached to the type of verbs whose stems end in -aya -अय; that is class 10 roots, causatives and denominatives. The attachment is not formal, because the aorist is made directly from the root and not from the -aya -अय stem, but a matter of established association, based on kinship of meaning. If this type of aorist is not made from class 10 roots or is not a denominative, it has to be a causative.

The stem is made by reduplicating the root (in a peculiar way. See Whitney for details) appending an “a अ”  to the end (like a thematic verb) and then adding the augment “a अ” to the beginning. The imperfect thematic endings are then attached to get the conjugation.

Let us take the root √jan √जन्. The reduplicating aorist is the following.

Active			Middle
ajījanat अजीजनत्	ajījanatām अजीजनताम्	ajījanan अजीजनन्	ajījanata अजीजनत	ajījanetām अजीजनेताम्	ajījananta अजीजनन्त
ajījanaḥ अजीजनः	ajījanatam अजीजनतम्	ajījanata अजीजनत	ajījanathāḥ अजीजनथाः	ajījanethām अजीजनेथाम्	ajījanadhvam अजीजनध्वम्
ajījanam अजीजनम्	ajījanāva अजीजनाव	ajījanāma अजीजनाम	ajījane अजीजने	ajījanāvahi अजीजनावहि	ajījanāmahi अजीजनामहि

The sibilant aorists

These fall into two broad classes. Those that are conjugated like the thematic imperfect (the sa-Aorist) and those that are conjugated like the athematic imperfect (the other three).

Th most common sibilant aorists are the s- and the iṣ- aorists.

There are some peculiarities in the conjugation of the athematic sibilant aorists. They have the ending -īt -ईत् in their 3rd person singular active, īḥ ईः in their second person singular active, and uḥ उः in the third person plural active. Otherwise, they follow the athematic imperfect conjugation.

The s-Aorist

In this the stem is formed by adding “s” to the strengthened and augmented root. A final vowel of the root is made vr̥ddhi वृद्धि in the active and made guṇa गुण in the middle; while a medial vowel is made vr̥ddhi वृद्धि in the active and unchanged in the middle.

The conjugation of the root √nī √नी is given below.

Active			Middle
anaiṣīt अनैषीत्	anaiṣṭām अनैष्टाम्	anaiṣuḥ अनैषुः	aneṣṭa अनेष्ट	aneṣātām अनेषाताम्	aneṣata अनेषत
anaiṣīḥ अनैषीः	anaiṣṭam अनैष्टम्	anaiṣṭa अनैष्ट	aneṣṭhāḥ अनेष्ठाः	aneṣāthām अनेषाथाम्	aneḍhvam अनेढ्वम्
anaiṣam अनैषम्	anaiṣva अनैष्व	anaiṣma अनैष्म	aneṣi अनेषि	aneṣvahi अनेष्वहि	aneṣmahi अनेष्महि

The iṣ-Aorist

In this the stem is formed by adding “iṣ” to the strengthened and augmented root. A final vowel of the root is made vr̥ddhi वृद्धि in the active and made guṇa गुण in the middle; a medial vowel is made guṇa गुण in both voices. [But a medial -a- is generally unchanged in both voices, but sometimes lengthened in the active.]

The conjugation of the root √budh √बुध् is given below.

Active			Middle
abodhīt अबोधीत्	abodhiṣṭām अबोधिष्टाम्	abodhiṣuḥ अबोधिषुः	abodhiṣṭa अबोधिष्ट	abodhiṣātām अबोधिषाताम्	abodhiṣata अबोधिषत
abodhīḥ अबोधीः	abodhiṣṭam अबोधिष्टम्	abodhiṣṭa अबोधिष्ट	abodhiṣṭhāḥ अबोधिष्ठाः	abodhiṣāthām अबोधिषाथाम्	abodhidhvam अबोधिध्वम्
abodhiṣam अबोधिषम्	abodhiṣva अबोधिष्व	abodhiṣma अबोधिष्म	abodhiṣi अबोधिषि	abodhiṣvahi अबोधिष्वहि	abodhiṣmahi अबोधिष्महि

The siṣ-Aorist

This aorist is quite rare. This is normally made from roots in -ā, and the roots nam, yam and ram. It is conjugated like the iṣ-Aorist. It is used only in the active, the corresponding middle being the s-Aorist.

The active conjugation of the root √yā √या is given below.

ayāsīt अयासीत्	ayāsiṣṭām अयासिष्टाम्	ayāsiṣuḥ अयासिषुः
ayāsīḥ अयासीः	ayāsiṣṭam अयासिष्टम्	ayāsiṣṭa अयासिष्ट
ayāsiṣam अयासिषम्	ayāsiṣva अयासिष्व	ayāsiṣma अयासिष्म

The sa-Aorist

The roots allowed to form this aorist end in ś, ṣ or h (श्,  ष् or ह्). This in sandhi with the following “s” of the tense sign “sa-” form kṣ क्ष्. They all have vowel i, u or r̥ (इ, उ or ऋ) as their radical vowel.

The root is throughout unstrengthened.

The conjugation of the root √diś √दिश् is given below.

Active			Middle
adikṣat अदिक्षत्	adikṣatām अदिक्षताम्	adikṣan अदिक्षन्	adikṣata अदिक्षत	adikṣātām अदिक्षाताम्	adikṣanta अदिक्षन्त
adikṣaḥ अदिक्षः	adikṣatam अदिक्षतम्	adikṣata अदिक्षत	adikṣathāḥ अदिक्षथाः	adikṣāthām अदिक्षाथाम्	adikṣadhvam अदिक्षध्वम्
adikṣam अदिक्षम्	adikṣāva अदिक्षाव	adikṣāma अदिक्षाम	adikṣi अदिक्षि	adikṣāvahi अदिक्षावहि	adikṣāmahi अदिक्षामहि

The passive aorist 3rd person singular 

In theory, the middle form of the s- iṣ- and sa- aorists are used as the aorist passive, but these are very rare in classical Sanskrit. However, a middle third person singular of peculiar formation and prevailing passive meaning is quite common. This is not conjugated in any other person or number.

It is formed by adding “i” to an augmented strengthened root. In general final vowels take the vr̥ddhi वृद्धि and medial vowels take the guṇa गुण before the “i” is added.

Examples: From root √nī √नी “lead”, we get anāyi अनायि “it was led”; from √vac √वच् “say”, we get avāci अवाचि “it was said”; from √dā √दा  “give”, we get adāyi अदायि “it was given”.

The Precative

The Precative is called āśīrliṅ आशीर्लिङ् by the Sanskrit grammarians. It expresses a blessing or desire or a wish. It is almost similar in meaning to the the optative.

The precative has a peculiar set of endings that are different from the endings we have seen so far.

[The form of the precative conjugation points to the fact that it is an optative of the aorist with an interposed sibilant before the optative endings].

The precative endings are:

Active			Middle
yāt यात्	yāstām यास्ताम्	yāsuḥ यासुः	īṣṭa ईष्ट	īyāstām ईयास्ताम्	īran ईरन्
yāḥ याः	yāstam यास्तम्	yāsta यास्त	īṣṭhāḥ ईष्ठाः	īyāsthām ईयास्थाम्	īḍhvam ईढ्वम्
yāsam यासम्	yāsva यास्व	yāsma यास्म	īya ईय	īvahi ईवहि	īmahi ईमहि

The precative active is normally made by adding the precative endings directly to the root. [There may be some small changes like lengthening of i and u etc.] The root in general assumes its weakest form.

The precative middle is formed by adding the precative endings to the tense stem of an s-aorist or an iṣ-aorist. The root is strengthened by the same rules that apply to the respective aorists above.

The conjugation of the root √bhū √भू is given below.

Active			Middle
bhūyāt भूयात्	bhūyāstām भूयास्ताम्	bhūyāsuḥ भूयासुः	bhaviṣīṣṭa भविषीष्ट	bhaviṣīyāstām भविषीयास्ताम्	bhaviṣīran भविषीरन्
bhūyāḥ भूयाः	bhūyāstam भूयास्तम्	bhūyāsta भूयास्त	bhaviṣīṣṭhāḥ भविषीष्ठाः	bhaviṣīyāsthām भविषीयास्थाम्	bhaviṣīḍhvam भविषीढ्वम्
bhūyāsam भूयासम्	bhūyāsva भूयास्व	bhūyāsma भूयास्म	bhaviṣīya भविषीय	bhaviṣīvahi भविषीवहि	bhaviṣīmahi भविषीमहि

This is the end of lesson 34. In this lesson, we looked at the aorist and also at the precative.