Sandhi question

[Harry Spier]

Dear list members,

 In the Hitopadeśa there is this sentence

स च सर्वदा पशूनां वधं कुर्वन्नास्ते । 2 । meaning "and he always killed the animals".

which is from

स च सर्वदा पशूनां वधं कुर्वन् आस्ते by sandhi.

But what is the sandhied form of this sentence

स च सर्वदा पशूनां वधं कुर्वन् न आस्ते (and he doesn't always kill the animals).

Is it also

स च सर्वदा पशूनां वधं कुर्वन्नास्ते

or is it

स च सर्वदा पशूनां वधं कुर्वन्न् नास्ते

Thanks,

Harry Spier

[Krishnan S]

Reminds me

कन्या + दानं ---> कन्यादानं

कन्या + आदनं ----> कन्यादानं

Sandhi output --- same

Krishnan

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[Mohan Chettoor]

Please explain how कन्या + आदनं  becomes कन्यादानं?

Mohan Chettoor 

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[NathRao]

I think that कुर्वन् + न + आस्ते can only be  कुर्वन्नास्ते because the doubling of 'n' is limited to where it is  at the end of a pada, is preceded by a (short) vowel, and is followed by a vowel.

That said, it is idiomatic to place the negation 'na' at the beginning to negate the whole sentence (or clause), or just before the word being negated to negate a word: Thus the preferred form will be स  न सर्वदा पशूनां वधंकुर्वन्नास्ते if meaning 'he does not always go killing animals'.  [Starting in medieval times, it becomes more common to put 'na' at the end, but is usually attributed to growing Dravidian influence or areal convergence. Same goes for putting 'kim' at the end to turn statements into /yes/no questions. The older idiomatic way to put 'api', or less commonly 'uta', at the beginning. Putting 'kim' at the end always reminds me of a certain stereotypical character type (in British literature) saying things like "You are going, What?", instead of "Are you going?"]

Regards

Nath Rao

[Krishnan S]

Typo from my side, pl

The second word is to be आदानं ( and NOT आदनं as i typed)

कन्या + आदानं -----> कन्यादानं

Krishnan

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[Vardhan Taltaje]

I asked Google's AI (Gemini) the following question:  

संस्कृत व्याकरण की दृष्टि से कुर्वन्नास्ते (कुर्वन् + आस्ते) पद का विश्लेषण चाहिए

Here is the answer Gemini provided:

'कुर्वन्नास्ते' पद दो शब्दों के मेल से बना है: कुर्वन् + आस्ते।

संस्कृत व्याकरण की दृष्टि से इसका संधि, धातु, प्रत्यय और रूप विश्लेषण नीचे दिया गया है:

1. संधि विच्छेद (Sandhi)

• विच्छेद: कुर्वन् + आस्ते
• नियम: यहाँ 'ङमो ह्रस्वादचि ङमुण्नित्यम्' (पाणिनी सूत्र 8.3.32) नियम लागू होता है।
• सरल अर्थ: यदि किसी ह्रस्व स्वर (यहाँ 'व' में 'अ' है) के बाद 'न्' (या 'ङ्', 'ण्') आए और उसके तुरंत बाद कोई स्वर (यहाँ 'आ') हो, तो 'न्' का द्वित्व (double) हो जाता है।
• परिणाम: कुर्वन् + आस्ते = कुर्वन्नास्ते।

The Panini sutra provided above can be checked at: https://ashtadhyayi.com/sutraani/8/3/32. This page, in fact, gives the word कुर्वन्नास्ते as an example.

Then I asked a followup question:

 What would be the form if कुर्वन् + न + आस्ते appears?

This is the answer it gave:

If the three words कुर्वन् + न + आस्ते appear together, the resulting sandhi form will be कुर्वन्नास्ते.

Here is the step-by-step grammatical breakdown of how this happens:

Step 1: Combining 'कुर्वन्' + 'न'

When a word ends in 'न्' and the next word starts with 'न', they simply join together without any complex changes.

• कुर्वन् + न = कुर्वन्न

Step 2: Combining 'कुर्वन्न' + 'आस्ते'

Now, we apply Savarna Deergha Sandhi (अकः सवर्णे दीर्घः) between the short 'अ' at the end of 'कुर्वन्न' and the long 'आ' at the beginning of 'आस्ते'.

• कुर्वन्न (ends in अ) + आस्ते (starts with आ)
• अ + आ = आ
• कुर्वन्न + आस्ते = कुर्वन्नास्ते

💡 The Difference in Meaning

While the final written form (कुर्वन्नास्ते) looks exactly identical to the original phrase (कुर्वन् + आस्ते), adding the negative particle 'न' completely reverses the meaning:

• कुर्वन् + आस्ते = "He keeps on doing" (करता रहता है)
• कुर्वन् + न + आस्ते = "He does not keep on doing" या "He is not doing" (नहीं करता हुआ बैठता है / नहीं कर रहा है)

In Sanskrit, such overlapping forms are called Anekartha/Shlesha contexts, where the exact meaning must be determined based on the context of the story.

Hope this clarifies,

Vardhan

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[T.K Gopalan]

Excellent!

TKG

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[Narasimhan Subbaraman]

If अवग्रह (ऽ) is added after कन्याऽदानम् and after कुर्वन्नऽस्ते will it not obviate confusion?

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[Lakshmanan Krishnamurti]

कन्यादानं 

  

कन्यादानं¦, क्ली, (कन्याया दानं वराय सम्प्रदानम् ।) वराय कन्यासम्प्रदानम् ।

Here कन्या + दानं Here, there is closeness (संहिता), but no change in वर्ण (वर्ण व्यति) this is not considered as a सन्धि.

Sent from my iPhone

On Jun 22, 2026, at 11:42 AM, Mohan Chettoor <mohanc...@gmail.com> wrote:



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[Lakshmanan Krishnamurti]

The अवग्रह is not a part of the लर् ावसि encoded in माहेशवर सूत्राणि. As such it is not pronounced. In पूर्वरूपसंधि when ए or ओ at the end of the word is followed by अ  the two are replaced by ए or ओ.

Exampl गृहे +अहम्= गृहेSहम्

It is also ok to omit S and write गृहेहम्

AI is improving in answering Sanskrit questions but it frequently hallucinates , and with confidence.ma couple of good sources with a high level of accuracy are:

Ashtadhyayi.com

Sanskritkosha.com.

Best yet , is to regularly attend a भाषावर्ग according to your preferences

Sent from my iPhone

On Jun 24, 2026, at 1:18 PM, Narasimhan Subbaraman <nara...@gmail.com> wrote:



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[Lakshmanan Krishnamurti]

कुर्वन्नास्ते is nicely explained by Krishnan महोदय as ङमुडागम  संधि 

I do not think कुर्वन् + न+ आस्ते can be meaningful. “While not doing, he goes” would be

अकुर्वन् + आस्ते (नञ्तत्परुष समास)

Sent from my iPhone

On Jun 26, 2026, at 7:10 PM, Lakshmanan Krishnamurti <lkrish...@gmail.com> wrote:



[Lakshmanan Krishnamurti]

Sorry I made a typo. I meant वर्णावलि as encoded in the माहेश्वरसूत्राणि

Also apologies for multiple posts. There are many scholars on this site. I will defer to them

Sent from my iPhone

On Jun 26, 2026, at 7:10 PM, Lakshmanan Krishnamurti <lkrish...@gmail.com> wrote:



[Nagalakshmi S Languages]

Dear scholars 

According to my knowledge there is no sandhi here as kanya and danam  are two meaningful words so no sandhikarya happens 

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[S. L. Abhyankar]

In the message of Mr. S. Krishnan कन्या + आदनं is a typo. 

Pl. read it as कन्या + आदानं only. 

May I say this on behalf of Mr. S. Krishnan !

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[S. L. Abhyankar]

कुर्वन्नास्ते can be split either as कुर्वन् आस्ते  or कुर्वन् न आस्ते.

Rather कुर्वन्+आस्ते becomes कुर्वन्नास्ते by the सूत्रम् (8-3-32) ङमो ह्रस्वादचि ङमुण् नित्यम् 

In कुर्वन् +न +आस्ते becoming कुर्वन्नास्ते 

first कुर्वन् +न becomes कुर्वन्न merely as a conjunct consonant by the सूत्रम् (1-1-7) हलोऽनन्तराः संयोगः 

कुर्वन्न + आस्ते becomes कुर्वन्नास्ते by the सूत्रम् (6-1-101) अकः सवर्णे दीर्घः 

Whether to split कुर्वन्नास्ते as कुर्वन् आस्ते  or कुर्वन् न आस्ते is to be decided by keeping the context in mind.

Rather,  "keeping the context in mind" should be taken as a rule for interpeting any Sanskrit text. 

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