Dhātukārikā - A brief introduction

By -
For any serious student of samskṛtam there comes a time when it becomes absolutely necessary to know dhātus. A major part of the words used in samskṛtam can be traced to dhātus and knowing dhātus can lead to quicker understanding about the meanings / possibilities of a word.

Pāṇini muni not only gave us the aṣṭādhyāyī, he also gave us the dhātupāṭha i.e. the compilation of dhātus. It used to be taught through the guruśiṣya-paramparā. But learning dhātus in that way is difficult unless one starts quite young.

For the convenience of learners who find the dhātupāṭha "dry", there have been efforts to make them into kārikās (metrical expositions). Rendering the dhātupāṭha into a kārikā makes it easy for everyone to memorize.

There are kārikās written by Śrī Pullela Ramachandrudu and Śrī Brahmānanda Tripāṭhi in the last century. Pullela's kārikā is mellifluous and seems to have the same style as that of Śrīkaṇṭha (described later). Brahmānanda Tripāṭhi has made his kārikā more utilitarian by grouping dhātus according to meaning. 

A kārikā work a bit older to the above two is by Śrīkaṇṭha Śāstri of Chāmarājanagara. Śrīkaṇṭha seems to go the extra mile to help the student. He also makes the kārikā follow the prototype of Amara (tvantāthādi na pūrvabhāk). In the coming days and weeks this blog will carry the Dhātukārikā of Śrīkaṇṭha uploaded here after fixing typographical errors in the two versions available with me -
1. Version keyed in by the Sansknet team available online.
2. Version available in the volume 1 of the book, "Dhāturūpaprakāshikā" published by Vyoma Linguistic Labs for Datta Ashrama.

I pray to bhagavān that this be useful to all students of Veda, Vedānta, kāvya and so on.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Does sanAtana dharma (hinduism) "approve" of LGBTQ

By -
There is a concerted propaganda being driven to the effect that LGBTQ is somehow "approved" in sanaatana dharma. Given that the "evidence" given is extremely laughable and trivial, it is better that we deal with them in some sort of a Q&A. A humble attempt - Q1. Is LGBTQ approved in hinduism? A - It is as approved as much any other human weakness / infarction / disease. The idea being any weakness should be overcome or prevented from spreading and making society weak. Q2. Why do you think that way? LGBTQs are as normal as any other. A - Any normal person wouldn't go up to another in the face and say "I am normal". If he does so, it immediately raises suspicion of he being abnormal. The problem with LGBTQ activism is exactly that. They first try to prove that they are "normal", then they try to make it the "norm". E.g. some organizations in Canada trying to brook 72 different categories LGBTQ and imposing on everyone that
Read more

Hindu view of food and drink: a critique - Part 2

By -
   This response is Authored by Ganesh Krishnamoorthy with editorial inputs of Mr. Shrivathsa B(from hereon, SB) in continuation of the Part 1 of the response of SB to Shatavadhani R Ganesh’s (from hereon, SG or RG) article .      It is now our revised and considered view that RG's article could have been titled aptly to suit the main theme of their article . N amely : “Why it is ok for Hindus to eat beef and drink intoxicants? Weren’t their ancestors doing the same?”    The following is a detailed para by para analysis and rebuttal (where necessary) of RG's article.    The first paragraph of SG’s article refers to a survey of meat eating in India. W e are not sure how the authors are safely deducing that the decline in meat eating in India is “not due to Hinduism” when the same   survey they referred to clearly indicates that roughly only 20% of the population in India amounts to Non-Hindus. This being the statistical data w h ere the majority of popula
Read more

वन्दे वन्दारुमन्दारमिन्दुभूषणनन्दनम् ।

By -
वन्दे वन्दारुमन्दारमिन्दुभूषणनन्दनम्। अमन्दानन्दसन्दोहबन्धुरं सिन्धुराननम ॥ संस्कृतानुवादः अन्वयः विग्रहवाक्यानि च वन्दे इति क्रियापदम् । गणेशमिति योजना । कथंभूतस्सः । वन्दारुमन्दारः - वन्दारूणां मन्दारः वन्दनशीलजनानां स्वर्वृक्ष इवेति यावत् । तेषां कामनाप्रदातृत्वात् । इन्दुभूषणः शिवः तस्य नन्दनः इन्दुभूषणनन्दनः । शिवपुत्र इति यावत् । अमन्दानन्दसन्दोहबन्धुरः - अमन्दः तीव्रः आनन्दस्य सन्दोहः आनन्दसन्दोहः अमन्दश्चासावानन्दसन्दोहश्चेति अमन्दानन्दसन्दोहः अमन्दानन्दसन्दोहेन बन्धुरः अमन्दानन्दसन्दोहबन्धुरः । तीव्रानन्दसमूहादुन्नतानत इति यावत् । बन्धुरन्तून्नतानतमित्यभिधानात् । यद्यपि भगवतः स्वात्मारामत्वात्संसारविषयानासक्तत्वोन्नतत्वं तथापि भक्तानां कृते सुलभत्वानतत्वमिति भावः । सिन्धुराननः - सिन्धुरस्याननमेवाननं यस्य । भावार्थः वन्दनशीलजनानां कामप्रदं शिवपुत्रं तीव्रानन्दसमूहादुन्नतानतं सिन्धुरस्याननमेवाननं वन्दे । हिन्दी अनुवाद गणेश की वन्दना करता हूं । कैसै गणेश? वन्दारुमन्दारः - वन्दन करनेवाले जनों के कामनाओं को स्वर्गवृक्ष मन्दार कि तरह पूर्ति करने
Read more