Learning Sanskrit by fresh approach – Lesson 36

Learning Sanskrit by fresh approach – Lesson 36

संस्कृतभाषायाः नूतनाध्ययनस्य षट्-त्रिन्शः (३६) पाठः ।

Dr. Avinash Sathaye of University of Kentucky, Lexington, USA (Web: www.msc.uky.edu/sohum) has been giving invaluable guidance by his critical comments. On seeing the द्वे सुभाषिते in lesson # 34, both speaking about चातकः and मेघः (वारिदः), Dr. Sathaye advanced a suggestion to take up a study of another सुभाषितम्  about चातकः and अम्भोदः । Here it is –

रे रे चातक सावधानमनसा मित्र क्षणं श्रूयताम् |

अम्भोदा बहवो वसन्ति गगने सर्वेऽपि नैतादृशाः |

केचिद्- वृष्टिभिरार्द्रयन्ति वसुधां गर्जन्ति केचिद्-वृथा |

यम् यम् पश्यसि तस्य तस्य पुरतो मा ब्रूहि दीनं वचः ||

१ सन्धि-विच्छेदान्  कृत्वा

रे रे चातक सावधानमनसा मित्र क्षणम् श्रूयताम् |

अम्भोदाः बहवः वसन्ति गगने सर्वे अपि न एतादृशाः |

केचित् वृष्टिभिः आर्द्रयन्ति वसुधाम् गर्जन्ति केचित् वृथा |

यम् यम् पश्यसि तस्य तस्य पुरतः मा ब्रूहि दीनम् वचः ||

२ समासानां विग्रहाः ।

2’1 सावधानमनसा – Deciphering of a compound word should be done by first taking the word in प्रथमा विभक्ति. Here सावधानमनसा is तृतीया एकवचनम्. Its प्रथमा एकवचनम् is सावधानमनस् (सावधानमनः) There are three components स, अवधान, मनः.

2’1’1 अवधानेन सह इति सावधानम् – Note the first component स stands for सह. Because स is not a complete word, it is called as उपपदम्. The type of compound is उपपद-बहुव्रीहिः

2’1’2 सावधानं मनः इति सावधानमनः (कर्मधारयः)

2’1’3 सावधानमनसा = with an attentive mind

2’2 अम्भोदाः This is प्रथमा बहुवचनम् of अम्भोद. There are two components अम्भस् (अम्भः) and द. Here again द is not a complete word. Hence it is उपपदम्. It stands for the action of धातुः दा.

2’2’1 अम्भः ददाति इति अम्भोदः (उपपद-तत्पुरुषः)

2’2’2 अम्भोदाः = those, that give water, clouds.

2’3 वसुधाम् – This is द्वितीया एकवचनम् of वसुधा. There are two components वसु and धा. Here also धा is not a complete word. It stands for action of धातुः धा.

2’3’1 वसून् धारयति इति वसुधा (उपपद-तत्पुरुषः)

2’3’2 वसुधा = one,who has वसू-s, i.e. Lords of directions. There are eight directions – east, west, south, north, southeast, southwest, northwest, northeast. So, there are eight वसू-s. It is earth, which has eight वसू-s. Hence वसुधा means earth.

३ शब्दशः विश्लेषणम् ।

3’1 रे – अव्ययम्

3’2 चातक – सम्बोधन-विभक्ति एकवचनम् of चातक (a bird, who is said to drink only water falling from the clouds.)

3’3 सावधानमनसा – explained above

3’4 मित्र – सम्बोधन-विभक्ति एकवचनम् of मित्र. Note, the word मित्र is of neuter gender when it means a friend. So, translation of “He is my friend” is सः मम मित्रम् अस्ति. Or, “She is my friend” = सा मम मित्रम् अस्ति. But मित्र is also name of Sun. Then it is masculine gender. “Sun is friend of all” सूर्यः सर्वेषां मित्रः

3’5 क्षणम् – The word क्षण is masculine. But a word converted to neuter gender and द्वितीया एकवचनम्, becomes adverbial. Hence क्षणम् = for a moment

3’6 श्रूयताम् – Here धातुः श्रु 5 P. (शृणोति) Here it is in passive voice, imperative, प्रथमपुरुषे एकवचनम् Accordingly श्रूयताम् = may it be heard, listened to.

3’7 अम्भोदाः – as explained above, clouds

3’8 बहवः – This is adjective of अम्भोदाः. Hence बहवः is masculine, प्रथमा बहुवचनम् of बहु. बहवः = many

3’9 वसन्ति – Here धातुः वस् 1 प. (वसति) To stay, to be at. The form is present tense प्रथमपुरुषे बहुवचनम्.

3’10 गगने – This is सप्तमी एकवचनम् of गगन (=sky) गगने = in the sky

3’11 सर्वे – This is pronoun referring to अम्भोदाः. Hence it is masculine, प्रथमा बहुवचनम् of सर्व (= all)

3’12 अपि – अव्ययम् अपि = also.

3’13 न – अव्ययम् of negation

3’14 एतादृशाः – This also refers to अम्भोदाः. Hence masculine, प्रथमा बहुवचनम् of एतादृश् (= like this).

3’15 केचित् – Here चित् is a suffix, which can be affixed to any form of the pronoun किम्. When affixed with चित् the words get the meaning “some, few”. Here चित् is affixed to के, which is masculine प्रथमा बहुवचनम् of किम्. केचित् = some (here, some clouds)

3’16 वृष्टिभिः – तृतीया बहुवचनम् of वृष्टि (= raining)

3’17 आर्द्रयन्ति – Here धातुः आर्द्र is derived from आर्द्र (=wet) So, धातुः आर्द्र (10 P. आर्द्रयति) = to wet. The form is present tense, प्रथमपुरुषे बहुवचनम्.

3’18 वसुधाम् – explained above

3’19 गर्जन्ति – धातुः गर्ज् (= to make noise, thunder) 1प. (गर्जति) The form is present tense, प्रथमपुरुषे बहुवचनम्.

3’20 वृथा – अव्ययम्, in vain

3’21 यम् – This is masculine द्वितीया एकवचनम् of pronoun यत्.

3’22 पश्यसि – धातुः दृश् 1प. (पश्यति), to see; The form is present tense, मध्यमपुरुषे एकवचनम्.

3’23 तस्य – This is masculine, षष्ठी एकवचनम् of pronoun तत्.

3’24 पुरतः – अव्ययम्, in front of

3’25 मा – अव्ययम् of negation

3’26 ब्रूहि – धातुः ब्रू 2 U. (ब्रवीति, ब्रूते) To say, to speak. The form is imperative मध्यमपुरुषे एकवचनम्

3’27 दीनम् – It is neuter द्वितीया एकवचनम् of the adjective दीन (= poor, impoverished)

3’28 वचः – द्वितीया एकवचनम् of neuter noun वचस् (= talk).

4. अन्वयार्थाः By syntax and meaning

4’1 रे रे मित्र चातक क्षणम् सावधानमनसा श्रूयताम् = Eh, friend चातक, listen attentively for a moment.

4’2 गगने बहवः अम्भोदाः वसन्ति = There are many clouds in the sky.

4’3 सर्वे अपि एतादृशाः न (सन्ति) = All of them are not like this (not like what will satisfy your thirst)

4’4 केचित् वृष्टिभिः वसुधां आर्द्रयन्ति = Some of them wet the earth with the rains

4’5 केचित् वृथा गर्जन्ति = Some thunder in vain

4’6 यम् यम् पश्यसि = unto whomsoever you see, unto whichever cloud you see

4’7 तस्य तस्य पुरतः दीनम् वचः मा ब्रूहि = do not speak impoverished talk in front of everyone.

5. छन्दविश्लेषणम् Prosodic analysis

5’1 All the four lines have 19 letters in each.

5’2 We can mark weightage of every letter 1 or 2 and mark groups of 3 letters. By that we can identify the गण-s

(रे रे चा)(तक सा)(वधान)(मनसा) (मित्र क्ष)(णं श्रूय)(ताम्)

(2-2-2) (1-1-2) (1-2-1) (1-1-2) (2-2-1) (2-2-1)(2)

The गण-s are म, स, ज, स, त, त, ग

The name of the meter is शार्दूलविक्रीडितम् वृत्तम्

6. टिप्पण्यः

6’1 In the second line the word अम्भोदाः may as well be substituted by अम्भोधाः (अम्भः दधाति इति अम्भोधः = one, who holds water.)

6’2 In Lesson # 34 and in this lesson, we have 3 सुभाषितानि where, in each one of them there is the cloud and the चातक bird .

1. गर्जसि मेघ न यच्छसि तोयं चातकपक्षी व्याकुलितोऽहम्
2. वितर वारिद वारि दवातुरे चिरपिपासितचातकपोतके
3. रे रे चातक सावधानमनसा मित्र क्षणं श्रूयताम्

In the two सुभाषित-s in Lesson #34, it was the cloud, that was spoken to. Here it is theचातक bird, who is spoken to.  

6’3 In the 3 सुभाषित-s together we get to know many synonyms. मेघ वारिद अम्भोद अम्भोध all for cloud; also तोय जल वारि पयः अम्भः for water; जलपातः वृष्टिः for the rains. A book containing synonyms is called as Thesaurus. But the concept of thesaurus is basically a Sanskrit concept. The first ever thesaurus was निरुक्त + निघण्टु compiled by यास्काचार्य, compiling synonyms in Vedic literature. Later अमरकोश by अमरसिंह is for classical Sanskrit. अमरकोश is easy to commit to memory because it is composed as श्लोक-s. It is so handy to know synonyms, especially to compose metrical poetry. If one word does not fit the meter, another may fit.  

6’4 As in these 3 सुभाषित-s, in many सुभाषित-s the message is addressed to birds, animals, even to inanimate objects like the cloud. But there is a moral for us humans. In the two सुभाषित-s in Lesson # 34, the moral was that one should be alert of the opportune moments. There is also the proverb “Chance comes, but once in life”. Here, the moral is that one should cultivate the faculty of assessing people, whom we meet. In all the three सुभाषित-s the message also is to be alert सावधान. Being alert is so very important that we have a famous quote in Marathi by Saint Ramdas अखंड सावधान असावें / दुश्चित्त कदापि नसावें / अंतरी असो द्यावें / समाधान “One must be alert all the time / never have ill will / we should be contended and at peace (all the time)”.

शुभमस्तु !

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