Lesson 76

Beginning Prayers:

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

Topic Summary:

• Analyzing the 1st verse of saMkShepa raamaayaNam

Home Work:

• Try and analyze any verse you can think of 

Topic Details:

The lessons so far have set a basis for further study.  The discussions further will be more focused on the verses from saMkShepa raamaayaNam

The very first verse of the book is as follows -

तपस्स्वाध्यायनिरतं तपस्वी वाग्विदां वरम् ।
नारदं परिपप्रच्छ वाल्मीकिर्मुनिपुङ्गवम् ।१।
tapasswaadhyaayanirataM tapasvI vaagvidaaM varam |
naaradaM paripaprachCha vaalmIkirmunipu~ngavam |1|

In order to understand the verse, one has to break the sandhi and samaasa of the words in the verse form.  Upon breaking the words (pada vichCheda / pada vigraha) the following form of the verse is attained

तपः-स्वाध्याय-निरतं तपस्वी वाग्विदां वरम् ।
नारदं परिपप्रच्छ वाल्मीकिः मुनि-पुङ्गवम् ॥
tapaH-swaadhyaaya-nirataM tapasvI vaagvidaaM varam |
naaradaM paripaprachCha vaalmIkiH muni-pu~ggavam ||

The verb here is
परिपप्रच्छ - it is in parokSha bhUta kaala - लिट् लकार

The adjective always follow the vibhakti (case) of the noun it is referring to!  (This the basic difference from any other colloquial language vs. samsKrutam.)  As per this rule, by putting the words in same case together, these below questions could be answered thus.

कः परिपप्रच्छ? - वाल्मीकिः परिपप्रच्छ
कीदृशः वाल्मीकिः? - तपस्वी वाल्मीकिः
कं परिपप्रच्छ? - नारदं परिपप्रच्छ
कीदृशं नारदं परिपप्रच्छ? - मुनिपुङ्गवं, वाग्विदां वरं, तपस्स्वाध्यायनिरतं नारदं परिपप्रच्छ

To further break down the individual adjectives to make more sense of the verse, one could say

गौ -> गवः -> पुङ्गवः  (bull; best among cows)
मुनिषु पुङ्गवः = मुनिपुङ्गवः (bull among muni-s)
(सप्तमी तत्पुरुष समास)

वाक् + विदाम्  = वाग्विदाम्  (knowledgeable ones)
(जश्त्व सन्धि)

वरम् = श्रेष्ठ (best)

तपः च स्वाध्यायः च - तपस्स्वाध्यायौ
(द्वन्द्व समास)

तपस्स्वाध्यायोः निरतः = तपस्स्वाध्यायनिरतः (indulged in penance and self study)
(सप्तमी तत्पुरुष समास)

वाल्मीकिः मुनिपुङ्गवम् = वाल्मीकिर्मुनिपुङ्गवम्
(विसर्ग सन्धि)

Now, the words can be rearranged as
तपस्वी वाल्मीकिः तपस्स्वाध्यायनिरतं वाग्विदां वरं मुनिपुङ्गवं नारदं परिपप्रच्छ।

A few observations here -
Even though vaalmIki wrote raamaayaNa, he has used parokSha bhUta kaala, in his own lifetime?!  There can be a couple explanations to this -
1) lava and kusha narrated the entire raamaayaNa to raama during his ashwamedha yaagam.  That could be the time when they were using this kind of a tense.
2) It is considered as 'आर्ष प्रयोग'.  The rules of grammar were formed by paaNini much later.  The lakaara and tenses were put in order only by him.  But even he, has said that if an आर्ष प्रयोग  was done, meaning, if the great seers have used it in a certain way, or if it seen in the veda-s, etc, that kind of usage is acceptable!

Will visit the next verse in the following lessons.  Until then, happy practicing!

Ending prayer:

•  ॐ पूर्णमदः पूर्णमिदम् - om pUrNamadaH pUrNamidam

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