Lesson 29

Beginning Prayers:

• शुक्लाम्बरधरं विष्णुम् - shuklaambaradharaM viShNum
• सरस्वति नमस्तुभ्यम् - saraswati namastubhyam 
• गुरुर्ब्रह्मा गुरुर्विष्णुः - gururbrahmaa gururviShNuH 

Topic Summary:

• Introduction to 4th case masculine and neuter gender words
• Revision of previously visited cases through a subhaaShita

Home Work:

• Practice writing syllables using consonants (5) with vowels for along with saying the sounds  (refer   http://sanskritstudy.blogspot.com/2009/10/making-syllables-consonants-with-vowels.html) 
• Find 5 shlokas with the usage of 4th case words

Topic Details:

We will learn the usage of 4th case in this lesson.  This case is used in making 'dative' clauses/sentences.  That means, it addresses sentences with 'for' (the subject).  The way the masculine and neuter gender words would form is

raamaH        -   raamaaya        (for raama)
gajaH           -   gajaaya           (for the elephant)
vRukShaH   -   vRukShaaya   (for the tree)
kRuShNaH  -   kRuShNaaya  (for kRuShNa)

Now that we have most of the cases addressed, let us try and decode a subhaaShita.

अष्टादशपुराणानं सारं व्यासेन कीर्तितम् |
परोपकारः पुण्याय पापाय परपीडनम् ||

aShTaadashapuraaNaanaM saaraM vyaasena keertitam |
paropakaaraH puNyaaya paapaaya parapeeDanam ||

This verse uses words in 6th case plural (puraaNaanaam), 2nd case (saaram), 3rd case (vyaasena), 1st case (paropakaaraH, parapIDanam), 4th case (puNyaaya, paapaaya).

That puts together the meaning as thus - The essence of all the 18 puraanaas (scriptures) is sung thus by maharshi Vyaasa - benevolence is for (leads to) virtue, torturing others is for (leads to) vice.

For more elaboration on the verse, visit http://sanskritpearls.blogspot.com/2009/12/december-5th.html

Until next lesson, happy practicing!

Ending prayer:

•  ॐ पूर्णमदः पूर्णमिदम् - aum pUrNamadaH pUrNamidam

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