Learning Sanskrit by Fresh Approach – Lesson No. 117
संस्कृतभाषायाः नूतनाध्ययनस्य सप्तदशाधिकशततमः (११७) पाठः ।
When I went to our study circle, a couple of days back, Mr. Takale had put up following सुभाषितम् on the black board.
यस्य षष्ठी चतुर्थी च विहस्य च विहाय च ।
अहं कथं द्वितीया स्यात् द्वितीया स्यामहं कथम् ।।
There is only one संधि – स्यामहम् = स्याम् अहम्
So on splitting the conjugation the verse would read –
यस्य षष्ठी चतुर्थी च विहस्य च विहाय च ।
अहं कथं द्वितीया स्यात् द्वितीया स्याम् अहम् कथम् ।।
There are no compound words. There are no very complex or difficult words either. To go by word-by-word meaning –
यस्य = of whom
षष्ठी = the sixth one (feminine)
चतुर्थी = the fourth one (feminine)
च = and
विहस्य = after laughing
विहाय = after forsaking
च = and
अहं = I, myself
कथं = how, how come
द्वितीया = the second one (feminine)
स्यात् = (she) may become
द्वितीया = the second one (feminine)
स्याम् = (I) may become
अहम् = I, myself
कथम् = how, how come
There is very obvious grammatical difficulty to identify subject words for the two verbs स्यात् and स्याम्.
- The pronoun अहम् in प्रथमा विभक्ति, एकवचनम् comes twice but has a good match only with स्याम्, not at all with स्यात्.
- The word द्वितीया is also twice, is in प्रथमा विभक्ति, एकवचनम् but has a good match only with स्यात्, not at all with स्याम्.
- If one अहम् (out of two) is matched with स्याम्, and one द्वितीया out of two is matched with स्यात्, the intrigue remains about what to do with the extra अहम् and extra द्वितीया.
So the सुभाषितम् started sounding challenging and intriguing to set it in proper syntax अन्वय. Understanding the meaning can be attempted only after getting the syntax proper. I hence requested Mr. Takale to please explain.
He said, one needs to know the background, sort of a story or incident. It is something like this –
There were two friends.
- द्वे मित्रे आस्ताम् |
One was wise but poor.
- एकः विद्वान् परन्तु दरिद्रः |
He had a daughter, who was also smart, intelligent and was also beautiful
- विदुषः पुत्री अपि विदुषी आसीत् सौन्दर्यवती च ।
The other person, was rich but had no intellectual acclaim.
- अन्यः धनिकः | तथापि न कापि तस्य विद्वत्ता |
He had a son, who also had no wisdom of letters.
- आसीद्धनिकस्य पुत्रः | सः तु अक्षरशत्रुः ।
The rich person caught the fancy to have his wise but poor friend’s daughter as his daughter-in-law.
- धनिकस्य मनस्यागच्छत् यत् दरिद्रस्य विदुषः मित्रस्य विदुषी सौन्दर्यवती पुत्री तस्य स्नुषा भवेदिति ।
He did make the proposal to the poor wise man.
- धनिकेन विद्वांसं प्रति तद्विधः प्रस्तावोऽपि प्रस्तुतः ।
Poor wise man knew that his daughter will not be happy by marrying the dim-witted son of his rich but uneducated friend.
- विदुषा तु ज्ञातं यत् तस्य विदुषी पुत्री सुखिनी न भवेत् तेन धनिकस्य विद्याविहीनेन पुत्रेण सह विवाहेन |
But he was also worried of saying no to his rich friend’s proposal.
- तथापि सः चिन्तितोऽपि कथं तस्य धनिकमित्रस्य प्रस्तावः नकारणीयः इति |
On knowing her father’s anxiety, she said there was a simple way out.
- पितुः चिन्तां ज्ञात्वा पुत्र्या पिता समाहितः यदस्ति एकः सरलः उपायः |
Can you tell uncle, that I have a simple condition for accepting the proposal ?
- किं न श्रेष्ठी ज्ञाप्यते यत् अस्ति मम किञ्चित् सरलं गतिकम् प्रस्तावं स्वीकर्तुमिति ?
I am stuck up at deciphering the meaning of a simple verse.
- अहं एकस्य श्लोकस्य अर्थस्य विवरणे अवगुण्ठितास्मि |
If the son can help me, I can consider the proposal.
- यदि सः धनिकपुत्रः श्लोकस्य अर्थस्य विवरणे मम सहाय्यं करोति तर्हि विचारणीयः खलु प्रस्तावः मया |
Actually she composed a verse herself. This was the verse.
- सत्येन तु तया स्वयमेव रचितः श्लोकः | अयमेव सः श्लोकः |
To decipher the meaning, one needs to understand and make explicit some implicit words.
यस्य विहस्य(शब्दे) षष्ठी च विहाय(शब्दे) चतुर्थी च (भवति) ।
- One for whom word विहस्य is of sixth case and word विहाय is of fourth case
कथं अहं(शब्दे) द्वितीया च स्यात् ?
- How can the word अहं (ever) be of second case ?
कथम् अहम् (तस्य) द्वितीया स्याम्
- How can I be a wife of such person ?
- Note, alternate meaning of द्वितीया is wife.
Is it not interesting that a dim-witted may think word विहस्य is of sixth case and word विहाय is of fourth case, simply because they have suffix-like endings of स्य and अय as in देवस्य and देवाय ?
A dim-witted may as well think the word अहम् to be of second case, simply because the word has suffix-like ending of म् as in देवम् ! He may even think the word कथम् to be of second case !!
It is also interesting to think how and why alternate meaning of द्वितीया is wife. Meaning of द्वितीया is not just “second” as in द्वितीयोऽध्यायः. The word also means “next (to)”. A lady “next to” a person would be his wife. That is how the word द्वितीया has this alternate meaning of द्वितीया = wife.
There seems to be some smartness even in selecting for the verse the words विहस्य and विहाय maybe, to suggest that a smart lady will give a wry smile when succeeding in forsaking a dim-witted.
- विदुषी विद्याविहीनं विहस्य विहाय च तिष्ठेत् !
- Wow ! Some onomatopoeia of letter वि 5 times !
- पञ्चवारस्य वि-वर्णस्य कश्चिदनुप्रासः खलु !
Learning Sanskrit and Sanskrit-verses can sharpen wit and help overcome piquant situations !!
शुभं भवतु !
-o-O-o-
संस्कृताध्ययनम् । 