Thread by @AdiShloka

संस्कृत अनुबन्धनम्~ sanskŕt series - iv

Đ Efficiency of Sanskrit : Less words more meaning - Final Part

Unnecessary words for depicting samples of uncountable things
Ponds of water are drying. => जलानि शुष्यन्ति।

#Thread

jalAni – ponds of water
Consider the above sentence. Why don’t we have a word for ponds in the Sanskrit version ? Specifically, why is the Sanskrit translation not जलस्य सरांसि शुष्यन्ति। Is the translation containing the word सरांसि (which means ponds) wrong ? Actually not.Well,

both the translations are correct. But the word सरांसि is redundant and does not add any new meaning to the sentence. Let’s see why ?

जलस्य सरांसि means ponds of water.
जलानि, which is the plural first vibhakti form of जल, means samples/collections/ponds of water.

How can water, which is uncountable, be plural ?
Again vibhaktis come to the rescue. जल means (the property of) being water.
जलम् , which is the singular first vibhakti of जल, means an object having the property of being water i.e. a collection/pond of water.
जलानि , which is the

plural first vibhakti of जल, means objects (plural) having the property of being water i.e. collections/ponds of water.
Hence, जलानि शुष्यन्ति। means Ponds of water are drying.
This can be extended to other situations where masses of uncountable things are being spoken about.

In such cases, the word for the mass of the uncountable thing becomes redundant!

Unnecessary nouns after adjectives

A beautiful woman carries away one’s heart. => सुन्दरी मनः मोहयति।
Consider the above sentence. Why don’t we have a word for woman in the Sanskrit version ?

Specifically, why is the Sanskrit translation not सुन्दरी नारी मनः मोहयति।
Is the translation containing the word नारी (which means woman) wrong ? Actually not.
Well, both the translations are correct. But the word नारी is redundant and does not add any new meaning to d sentence.

Let’s see why ?
The answer is similar to the previous answers. सुन्दर means (the property of) being beautiful.
सुन्दरः , which is the masculine first vibhakti of सुन्दर, represents a male object (a man) having the property of being beautiful. So सुन्दरः would mean a handsome man.

सुन्दरी , which is the feminine first vibhakti of सुन्दर, represents a female object (a woman) having the property of being beautiful. So सुन्दरी means a beautiful woman.
Hence, सुन्दरी मनः मोहयति। translates to A beautiful woman carries away one’s heart.
This kind of application

can be extended to all the cases where a man / woman / male animal / female animal having certain quality is being described. In such cases, D gender-representing words like man, boy, lady etc become redundant.
These were just four examples. In your study of Sanskrit literature,

you will find many such patterns which eliminate important looking redundant words. This is also one of the reasons that newbies in Sanskrit have difficulties in translating it because they find the sentences to be incomplete due to missing words, though the sentences are

actually complete. The reason that they appear incomplete is that the reader has not fully grasped the concept of ‘vibhaktis’.

Conclusion Remarks :
Where there's a Will, there is always a Way..
There are multiple options available today to Learn Sanskrit ;

Select a way, Start small & add as you progress..
Whichever options you go with, Ensure you start with a Curious & Devotion mind, things will automatically fall in place for you, that's the beauty of Sanskrit & Sanātana dharma 🙏

source:the sanskrit series(gauravshah)

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