सत् and सत्तम in sanskrit compounds

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Harry Spier

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Jul 13, 2025, 9:37:34 PM7/13/25
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Dear list members,
Is there some grammatical reason why in sanskrit the texts have

ऋषिसत्तमः गुरुसत्तमः I.e.  सत्तम is the second member of the compound.

but 

सद्गुरुः I.e. सत् is the first member of the compound.


Thanks,


Harry Spier

Mohan Chettoor

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Jul 13, 2025, 10:06:14 PM7/13/25
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  ऋषिसत्तमः means  ऋषौ सत्तम: अतिशोभनः । पूज्यतमः ।  = the best among all gurus.
 सद्गुरुः means सम्यक् गुरुः। a venerable, respectable, wise, learned guru.

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T.K Gopalan

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Jul 13, 2025, 11:07:18 PM7/13/25
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Should it be ऋषिसु?

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Nagaraj Paturi

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Jul 13, 2025, 11:08:13 PM7/13/25
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In सद्‌ गुरुः सत्‌ इस अद्जेक्तिवे तो  गुरुः
गुरुसत्‌ gives the meaning सत्‌ among gurus. 
In fact, both convey the same meaning. 
But  गुरुसत्‌ is felt to be more convenient to add the suffix तमः communicating superlative degree. 
उत्तमगुरुः , गुरूत्तमः both are frequent. 
But सत्तमगुरुः is not found used while गुरुसत्तमः is abundantly used. So गुरुसत्तमः is felt normal and as such accepted.  


 

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Mohan Chettoor

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Jul 14, 2025, 5:55:48 AM7/14/25
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Yes Gopala mahodaya...I had typed it wrong. When I noticed the error, I tried to edit the message but I didn't know how to do it with Gmail. Desperately I tried the last effort - 'delete'. I was sitting comfortably thinking that the message didn't get sent. Now I understand that it also didn't work.
Anyway, thanks for pointing out the mistake. It should be ऋषिसु - the plural.
Mohan Chettoor 


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T.K Gopalan

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Jul 14, 2025, 6:52:54 AM7/14/25
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Gmail works like lightning!

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Harry Spier

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Jul 14, 2025, 7:31:18 PM7/14/25
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Thank you Nagaraj-ji,
1) You wrote:

उत्तमगुरुः , गुरूत्तमः both are frequent. 
But सत्तमगुरुः is not found used while गुरुसत्तमः is abundantly used. So गुरुसत्तमः is felt normal and as such accepted.  

That is why I asked the question. In  नलोपाख्यानम् MBh 3,51,11 is:

 03051011a एतस्मिन्न् एव काले तु पुराणाव् ऋषिसत्तमौ

03051011c अटमानौ महात्मानाव् इन्द्रलोकम् इतो गतौ

but in searching the whole of GRETIL I could only find one case of a compound with सत्तम as the first member. That was सत्तमसत्त्वम् in Jayaratha's commentary on Alaṁkāra-sarvasva by Ruyyaka.


2) What kind of compound is ऋषिसत्तमौ in the verse from the Nalopākhyānam, I just gave.  Is it whats known as a mayūravyaṁsakādi tat-puruṣa  as per the following paragraph from Tubb's Scholastic Sanskrit,  or is it some other type?
Tubb wrote:
image.png

Thanks,
Harry Spier


bhavnesh parikh

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Jul 16, 2025, 1:05:03 AM7/16/25
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Dear Sir

Anybody have Bhavishya Purana Pdf plase share it


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Nagaraj Paturi

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Jul 16, 2025, 1:49:58 AM7/16/25
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