Wordmarks for UT and College of Liberal Arts
Winfred P. Lehmann, Director :: PCL 5.112, 1 University Station S5490 :: Austin, TX 78712 :: 512-471-4566
LRC Links: Home | About | Books Online | EIEOL | IE Lexicon | IE Maps | IE Texts | Pub. Indices | SiteMap



Ancient Sanskrit Online

Lesson 4

Karen Thomson and Jonathan Slocum

Twenty poems in the Rigveda are addressed to Ushas, the goddess of the dawn, who is sometimes invoked jointly with her sister, the goddess of night. The lesson text is the last of a group of seven poems, VII, 75-81, all of which are addressed to dawn.

Reading and Textual Analysis

VII, 75-80 are in tristubh, but the metre of this poem, VII, 81 (597), is more complex, consisting of verses in the brhatî metre, lines of 8, 8, 12, and 8 syllables, alternating with satobrhatî, lines of 12, 8, 12, and 8 syllables. As in the Lesson 2 text the poet makes linguistic play on dawn's name, usás. The verb from which it derives is /vas, ucháti 'shine', and a feminine present participle of the verb, uchántî 'shining', describes her in verses 1 & 4. The sun's usríyâs 'shining beams' that accompany dawn's vi-ús 'brightening' are described in the second verse, and the poet concludes with a radiant metaphor, the wish that dawn should 'shine misfortunes away'. This last line, together with the last line of the first verse, is repeated from a poem to dawn in Book I: víçvam asyâ nânâma cáksase jágaj, jyótis krnoti sûnárî, ápa dvéso maghónî duhitâ´ divá, usâ´ uchad ápa srídhah 'all the moving world pays reverence to the sight of her; the fair lady makes the light. Let dawn, the gracious daughter of heaven, shine away hatred, shine misfortunes away' (I, 48, 8).

práty u adarçi âyatî´
uchántî duhitâ´ diváh
ápo máhi vyayati cáksase támo
jyótis krnoti sûnárî

úd usríyâh srjate sû´riyah sácâm
udyán náksatram arcivát
távéd uso viúsi sû´riyasya ca
sám bhakténa gamemahi

práti tvâ duhitar diva
úso jîrâ´ abhutsmahi
yâ´ váhasi purú spârhám vananvati
rátnam ná dâçúse máyah

uchántî yâ´ krnósi mamhánâ mahi
prakhyaí devi súvar drçé
tásyâs te ratnabhâ´ja îmahe vayám
syâ´ma mâtúr ná sûnávah

tác citrám râ´dha â´ bhara
úso yád dîrghaçrúttamam
yát te divo duhitar martabhójanam
tád râsva bhunájâmahai

çrávah sûríbhyo amr´tam vasutvanám
vâ´jâm asmábhyam gómatah
codayitrî´ maghónah sûnr´tâvatî
usâ´ uchad ápa srídhah

Lesson Text

práty u adarçi âyatî´
uchántî duhitâ´ diváh
ápo máhi vyayati cáksase támo
jyótis krnoti sûnárî

úd usríyâh srjate sû´riyah sácâm
udyán náksatram arcivát
távéd uso viúsi sû´riyasya ca
sám bhakténa gamemahi

práti tvâ duhitar diva
úso jîrâ´ abhutsmahi
yâ´ váhasi purú spârhám vananvati
rátnam ná dâçúse máyah

uchántî yâ´ krnósi mamhánâ mahi
prakhyaí devi súvar drçé
tásyâs te ratnabhâ´ja îmahe vayám
syâ´ma mâtúr ná sûnávah

tác citrám râ´dha â´ bhara
úso yád dîrghaçrúttamam
yát te divo duhitar martabhójanam
tád râsva bhunájâmahai

çrávah sûríbhyo amr´tam vasutvanám
vâ´jâm asmábhyam gómatah
codayitrî´ maghónah sûnr´tâvatî
usâ´ uchad ápa srídhah

Translation

Now she has come into view, approaching,
Shining, the daughter of heaven.
She draws away, for sight, the great darkness,
The fair lady makes the light.
The sun, at the same time, sends up beams,
Rising, a flaming star.
At your own brightening, O dawn, and the sun's,
May we partake of our share.
You, O daughter of heaven,
We have wakened eager to meet, O dawn.
Who brings much that is desirable, O lovely one,
Happiness, like treasure, to the worshipper.
You who, shining, assuredly, O great goddess,
Makes the sunlight to be gazed on, seen;
We approach you with longing, may we be
Like her sons, of the mother dispensing treasure.
Bring hither that radiant favour,
O dawn, which is most famed.
That mortal sustenance of yours, O daughter of heaven,
Grant; may we turn it to account.
Fame to princes, undying prosperity,
Strength in cattle to us,
Rouser of the gracious, may the joyous one,
Dawn, shine misfortunes away.

Grammar

16. Stems in -as, -is, and -us.
16.1. Stems in -as.

There are a number of stems in -as, accented on the first syllable and of neuter gender, most of which are abstract nouns. Many of these have been encountered in previous lessons: sáhas 'might', ámhas 'trouble', ávas 'help', páyas 'plenty', vácas 'speech', námas 'honour', mánas 'understanding, spirit', dvésas 'enmity'; and in this lesson text cáksas 'sight', çrávas 'fame', máyas 'happiness' and and râ´dhas 'favour'. In addition, támas 'darkness' and rájas 'airy space', words with a semi-concrete sense, also belong to this group. The forms that would occur if made from mánas 'understanding, spirit' are given to show the declension.

    Singular   Plural
Nom, Acc, Voc   mánas   mánâmsi
Ins   mánasâ   mánobhis
Dat   mánase   mánobhyas
Abl   mánasas   mánobhyas
Gen   mánasas   mánasâm
Loc   mánasi   mánassu

Plural forms other than the nominative, accusative and instrumental are of infrequent occurrence, as are dual forms; the dual nominative/accusative/vocative would be mánasî.

Some of these abstract nouns shade into a more concrete sense in some passages: â´ na índro yâtu ácha [...] ávase râ´dhase ca (IV, 20, 2) 'may Indra come towards us, for help and for favour' [83], tvám dâtâ´ prathamó râ´dhasâm asi (VIII, 90, 2) 'you are the first giver of gifts' [84]; dádhânâç [dádhânâs] cáksasi priyám (IX, 17, 6) '(the poets) placing the beloved in sight' [85], távedám [táva idám] víçvam [...] yát páçyasi cáksasâ sû´ryasya (VII, 98, 6) 'all this (is) yours, which you see with the eye of the sun' [86]; enâ´ vayám páyasâ pínvamânâh (Lesson 3 text) 'in this way we, swelling with plenty' [87], páyo gósu ádadhâ [ádadhâs] ósadhî´su (X, 73, 9) 'you placed fruitfulness in cattle, in plants (milk, sap)' [88].

The adjectives belonging to this declension are chiefly compounds, like mádhu-vacas 'sweetly speaking', devá-çravas 'having divine renown', and prá-cetas 'mindful' from the first verse of the Lesson 2 text, which when neuter inflect as above. The compounded su-mánas 'well-disposed' is given below to show the nominative, accusative and vocative masculine and feminine endings. The endings of the oblique cases are the same for all three genders.

Masculine/Feminine   Singular   Dual   Plural
Nom   sumánâs   sumánasâ   sumánasas
Acc   sumánasam   sumánasâ   sumánasas
Voc   súmanas   súmanasâ   súmanasas

A few of the neuter nouns have parallel adjectives, distinguished by a shift in accent: ápas 'work' apás 'active', yáças 'glory' yaçás 'glorious'.

The feminine usás 'dawn', if it belongs in this group, is very irregular, not only in gender and accent, but also in optionally lengthening the second syllable in some forms of the nominative, vocative and accusative.

16.2. Stems in -is and -us.

These stems, fewer in number, are also chiefly neuter, and their inflection is similar to that of the stems in -as, although the final s becomes s before vowel endings, and changes to r, not o, before the bh of the instrumental, dative and ablative plural endings: mánas, mánobhis, vápus 'marvel, marvellous', vápurbhis. Three nouns with stems in -is have been encountered so far: chardís 'protection, shield' in the Lesson 2 text, jyótis 'light' in this lesson, and çocís 'flame' in the example quoted at the end of the last lesson, ádâbhyena çocísâ (X, 118, 7) 'with flame that is not to be deceived'. Another noun in this group, neuter arcís 'ray (of light)', appears slightly more frequently than masculine arcí, with the same meaning. There is a similar parallel with mánu 'man' and mánus, like mánu in this instance necessarily of masculine gender.

17. Secondary nominal formation.
17.1. Secondary stems in -a, -ya, and -tvá.

Sanskrit has a remarkable facility for elaborating new words out of existing ones, like building blocks. Secondary formations, or derivatives, are made by adding suffixes to existing words to form new ones. Two common suffixes used in this way are -a and -ya (usually to be read -iya), often used to make adjectives from nouns; from the neuter vápus mentioned in the previous section both the adjectives vápusa and vapusyà (vapusíya) are formed. The first vowel may be strengthened in such derivative formations. The initial word of the first lesson text was an example: vaiçvânará 'for all men' is a secondary formation from the compound viçvâ´nara, as the strengthening of the i of the first element to ai indicates. The adjective pâ´rthiva 'earthly' in the third verse of the Lesson 2 text occurred alongside divyá 'heavenly', and these two words are secondary formations from prthivî´ 'earth' and dív 'heaven, sky', the first with strengthened vowel. The secondary formation daívya 'divine' from example 36 in Lesson 2, daívyâni vratâ´ni 'divine laws', is probably made from devá 'god, divine'; but devá itself has the form of a secondary formation of dív.

Another productive suffix is -tvá, added to nouns or adjectives to express the sense conveyed by English '-ness'. The neuter nouns mahi-tvá 'greatness, majesty', deva-tvá 'divinity', and amrta-tvá 'immortality' appear frequently, but the regular way in which the suffix is applied permits nonce formations: bhrâtr-tvá occurs three times, but the feminine equivalent only once: nâ´hám [ná ahám] veda bhrâtrtvám nó [ná u] svasrtvám (X, 108, 10) 'I know neither brotherhood nor sisterhood' [93].

17.2. Secondary stems in -vant and -mant.

The suffixes -vant and -mant both have the sense 'possessing, consisting of'. Of the two -vant is found more frequently, as in this lesson text: arcivánt in verse 2 (possessing arcí 'ray', rather than arcís), the feminine of vánanvant in verse 3, vánanvatî (of debated meaning as *vanan does not occur), and sûnr´tâvatî, feminine of sûnr´tâvant 'joyous' (possessing sûnr´tâ 'joy') in the last verse. The suffix -mant is also found in the last verse, in the word gómant 'consisting of cattle (gó)'. These forms decline like the present active participles in -ant described in section 7 of Lesson 2, with the exception of the vowel of the suffix in the nominative singular masculine, which is lengthened to â (the vocative ending is -vas). Like present active participles they form their feminine in -î; see below.

17.3. Secondary feminine stems in -î.

The suffix -î is used to form the feminine of a large number of masculine stems, including the present participles in -ant and agent nouns in -tr, as mentioned in Lesson 2, and the possessive stems in -vant and -mant described above. The n of the possessive suffix, as the examples from the lesson text and number 98 above show, is dropped before the additional feminine suffix. Feminine participles of second conjugation verbs also drop the n: âyatî´ [â-yatî´] 'approaching' (masculine â-yánt) in the first verse of the lesson text is from the second conjugation verb /i, but /vas, which forms the participle uchántî 'shining' (masculine uchánt) in verses 1 & 4, belongs to the first conjugation.

A feminine agent noun, codayitrî´ 'rouser' (the masculine would be *codayitr´), occurs in the last verse of the lesson text; others are jánitrî 'female parent' (masculine janitr´ or jánitr), avitrî´ 'female helper' (avitr´), and netrî´ 'female leader, guide' (netr´).

The suffix -î also forms the feminines of a number of stems in -a, like sûnárî in the first verse of the lesson text, masculine sûnára, devî´ 'divine, goddess', masculine devá, and vápusî, the feminine of the derivative adjective vápusa mentioned at the beginning of this section. It can similarly be used to form the feminine of stems in -u, like urú 'broad, wide', feminine urvî´, as in the Lesson 3 text: tásya vayám prasavé yâma urvî´h [urvî´s] 'at his impelling we broad ones go', and purú 'much, many', feminine pûrvî´. The feminine of prthú, also 'broad', prthvî´, was used to describe the earth, and developed into the feminine noun prthvî´ or, more usually, prthivî´ 'earth' (urvî´ is also occasionally used with this meaning). Stems in -i however do not form their feminine in this way. As described in section 3, the feminine endings of the -i stems are generally the same as the masculine endings.

Also belonging to this secondary declension are a few independent feminine nouns, like çácî 'might' (see example 82 above, çácyâ) and râ´trî 'night'. These are the forms that would occur if made from devî´ 'goddess'.

    Singular   Plural
Nom   devî´   devî´s
Acc   devî´m   devî´s
Ins   devyâ´   devî´bhis
Dat   devyaí   devî´bhyas
Abl   devyâ´s   devî´bhyas
Gen   devyâ´s   devînâ´m
Loc   devyâ´m   devî´su
Voc   dévi   dévîs

Dual forms, particularly the nominative, accusative and vocative, occur frequently, referring to pairs of female deified bodies, like ródasî 'the two worlds'.

    Dual
Nom, Acc   devî´
Dat, Abl   devî´bhyâm
Gen, Loc   devyós
Voc   dévî
18. The imperfect.

The imperfect is the past tense of story-telling, and belongs to the Present System. It is characterised by a prefixed augment a-, like the Greek augment e-, which always carries the accent if the verb is accented. The following table gives the endings of the imperfect tense.

The alternative second and third person plural active endings -tana and -ur are found in some verbs of the athematic conjugation. The ending -i of the first person singular middle combines with the -a- of the thematic conjugation to give -e.

        Active           Middle    
    Singular   Dual   Plural   Singular   Dual   Plural
1   -am   -va   -ma   -i   -vahi   -mahi
2   -s   -tam   -ta, -tana   -thâs   -ethâm (I), -âthâm (II)   -dhvam
3   -t   -tâm   -an, -ur   -ta   -etâm (I), -âtâm (II)   -anta (I), -ata (II)

The imperfect tense is described as belonging to the Present System because the stem of the verb, the part that follows the augment and precedes the endings as given in the table, corresponds to the stem of the present tense. So, from the thematic conjugation, /jus, jusá-te 'he enjoys', á-jusa-ta 'he enjoyed'; /ruh, róha-ti 'it springs up' á-roha-t 'it sprang up'; /man, mánya-te 'he thinks', á-manya-nta 'they thought'; from the athematic conjugation /as, ás-ti 'he is', â´[á+a]s-am 'I was'; /kr, krnó-ti 'he makes', á-krno-ta 'you made'; /dâ, dádâ-ti 'he gives', á-dadâ-s 'you (singular) gave'.

The phonology of Sanskrit does not permit more than one consonant at the end of a word, and when this might result the second consonant is dropped. As the endings of the 2nd and 3rd person singular imperfect are simply the consonants s and t, without a union vowel, the ending may therefore disappear. In the Lesson 3 text, for example, ápâhan [ápa ahan] 'he struck away' occurs for the phonologically impossible ápa *ahant.

In the third lesson text the streams told the story of their release from the demon using a series of 3rd person singular imperfects: áradat 'he dug' (present rádati), áhan 'he struck' (present hánti), ánayat 'he led' (present náyati). In the next verse, where the imperfect occurs with the preverb ví, the augment is omitted, as the narrative tense has become clear: vi-vrçcát 'he cut in pieces' (present vrçcáti).

19. The subjunctive mood.

The meaning of the subjunctive lies somewhere between that of the optative, the mood of wishing, and the imperative, the mood of command. It shows greater confidence in the future outcome than the optative, and is frequently used simply to express future time in the Rigveda. The endings of the subjunctive are attached to the stem with an added a or â. Where this union vowel may be either long or short a is given in square brackets in the table.

        Active           Middle    
    Singular   Dual   Plural   Singular   Dual   Plural
1   -âni, â   -âva   -âma   -ai   -âvahai   -âmahai, -âmahe
2   -[a]si, -[a]s   -[a]thas   -[a]tha   -[a]se   -aithe   -[a]dhve, -[a]dhvai
3   -[a]ti, -[a]t   -[a]tas   -[a]n   -[a]te   -aite   -anta, -ante

The subjunctive is formed in more than one system, but the examples below belong to the Present System.

20. Word order in the sentence.

As we saw in section 2 of the first lesson, in Sanskrit the object usually precedes the verb in the sentence, unlike in English. All the examples given in that grammar section followed this order. Sanskrit is described therefore as an Object Verb (OV) language; modern English is a Verb Object (VO) language. An example of a textbook sentence in an OV language appeared in section 8 of the second lesson: tvástâ duhitré vahatúm krnoti (X, 17, 1), literally, 'Tvashtar for the daughter a bridal arranges' (44). The subject begins the sentence, the verb is at the end, the object, 'a bridal', immediately precedes the verb and the indirect object 'for the daughter' precedes the object.

The order of words in a Rigvedic sentence is however far from invariable. It is quite usual for a verb in the imperative mood to begin the sentence, giving it emphasis, as in the Lesson 3 text: rámadhvam me vácase somyâ´ya 'rest for my inspired speech'. In two examples given to illustrate the use of participles, the first person plural form of the optative, the mood of wishing, began the sentence: páçyema nú sû´ryam uccárantam (VI, 52, 5 & X, 59, 4) 'now we would see the sun rising' (33); abhí syâma maható mányamânân (I, 178, 5) 'may we surpass those thinking themselves great' (81). And we have seen a number of other sentences where a straightforward tense form precedes the object: sácethe açvinosásam [açvinâ usásam] (VII, 5, 2) 'you accompany, O Ashvins, the dawn' (26); áprathatam prthivî´m mâtáram ví (VI, 72, 2) 'you two spread out mother earth' (42 & 111).

The Rigveda is poetry, and there are frequently poetic reasons for the variety in word order. The following three lines from the grammar sections of the third lesson demonstrate a form of chiasmus, both OV and VO word order being used by the poet; in each case OV comes first. tâ´ sûríbhyo grnaté râsi sumnám (VI, 4, 8) 'those things to princes, to the singer grant favour' (78); urú jyótih krnuhi mátsi devâ´n (IX, 94, 5) 'a broad light make, delight the gods' (79); agním vrnânâ´ vrnate kavíkratum (V, 11, 4) 'Agni choosing, they choose the sage-wise' (80).

A distinguishing characteristic of an OV language is that the genitive regularly precedes the subject to which is belongs, as in the description of Savitar in the second lesson text: divó dhartâ´ bhúvanasya prajâ´patih 'of heaven supporter, of existence creature-lord'. The grammar sections have shown a number of examples of this: devâ´nâm sumataú syâma (VII, 41, 4) 'of gods in the favour may we be' (8); apâ´m ûrmím sacate (IX, 86, 8) 'of waters the wave he accompanies' (19); bhúvanasya râ´jâ (IX, 97, 40) 'of existence the king' (32); devâ´nâm ávasâ (I, 185, 6) 'of the gods with help' (106). But this word order can also be varied when the sense requires it, as in the first verse of II, 32 when the poet appeals to the gods to inspire him: bhûtám avitrî´ vácasah 'be helpers of the speech' (105).

The adjective, in OV languages, like the dependent genitive, stands naturally before the noun it describes. In VO languages the adjective usually follows, as in French 'carte blanche', 'Le Bateau Ivre'. English, despite now being a VO language, still maintains an earlier word order: 'white feather', 'The Cruel Sea'. In French too examples of this survive: 'mauvaise honte', 'Grande-Bretagne'. In the Rigveda the adjective usually precedes the noun: citrám râ´dhah 'radiant gift' (this lesson text, verse 5), úttarâ yugâ´ni 'future generations' (the last verse of the Lesson 3 text), and from section 16.2 in this lesson, ádâbhyena çocísâ 'with not to be deceived flame'. But we have also seen instances where the adjective follows: vájram svaryàm 'a weapon of sunlight (svàr 'sunlight' with secondary suffix -ya)' (71); rayím viçvávâram sam inva 'treasure all-precious bestow' (75). In these passages this inverted word order is perhaps more poetic, as it is in English.