Grammar clarification

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karthik holla

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Jul 14, 2026, 11:50:03 AMJul 14
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I was reading chandamama sanskrit edition and found this sentence.

नदीतः जलम् आनीय पत्या स्नानं कारयति ।

Any rule for the word पत्या to be in तृतीया ?
Or better it should be पत्युः in षष्ठी ?

With regards 
Karthik 

sumant

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Jul 14, 2026, 3:16:08 PMJul 14
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Isn't the causative कारयति enough to get a तृतीया?

हृक्रोरन्यतरस्याम्

Sumant

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karthik holla

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Jul 15, 2026, 10:49:46 AMJul 15
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kenp

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Jul 17, 2026, 10:39:45 AMJul 17
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The word पत्या (Patyā) in the third case (तृतीया - Instrumental) is actually grammatically correct here due to the rules of causal verbs (णिजन्त - Causative) in Sanskrit.
Using पत्युः (Patyuḥ) in the sixth case (षष्ठी - Genitive) would be grammatically incorrect in this specific sentence structure.
Here is the exact grammatical breakdown of why this happens.
1. The Rule of the Causative Agent (प्रयोज्य कर्ता)
In a normal sentence, the person doing the action is the subject (कर्ता) and takes the 1st case (प्रथमा).
  • Normal: पतिः स्नानं करोति। (The husband does the bath / takes a bath.)
When you change the verb into a causative/prompted action (कारयति - causes to do / makes someone do), the original subject becomes the "prompted agent" (प्रयोज्य कर्ता).
According to Panini's grammar rule (कर्तृकरणयोस्तृतीया - 2.3.18), the prompted agent of a causative verb generally takes the तृतीया विभक्ति (Third Case), unless it falls under specific exceptions (like verbs of motion, eating, or knowing).
Since कृ (to do/make) does not fall under those exceptions:
  • The husband (the one being made to bathe) must be in the तृतीया विभक्ति.
  • Causative: (सा) पत्या स्नानं कारयति। ([She] makes the husband take a bath / causes bathing by the husband.)
2. Why Genitive (पत्युः) is Incorrect
If you change it to the Genitive case (पत्युः), the sentence would mean: "She causes the bath of the husband [by someone else]."
While Genitive can show possession, Panini's syntax requires the actual doer of the action (even in a causative sentence) to be expressed in either the 2nd (द्वितीया) or 3rd (तृतीया) case depending on the verb root. For the root कृ (कारयति), the 3rd case is the standard rule.
3. A Brief Word Form Check
Just to clarify the declension (शब्दरूप) of the cargo word पति (Husband):
  • पत्या = तृतीया विभक्ति, एकवचन (Instrumental Singular) — "by/through the husband"
  • पत्युः = पञ्चमी / षष्ठी विभक्ति, एकवचन (Ablative/Genitive Singular) — "from/of the husband"
Therefore, पत्या is the precise and correct grammatical choice for this sentence.

kenp

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Jul 17, 2026, 10:39:50 AMJul 17
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यह संस्कृत वाक्य "नदीतः जलम् आनीय पत्या स्नानं कारयति ।" का हिंदी अनुवाद है: "नदी से जल लाकर अपने पति को स्नान कराती है।"
यह वाक्य किसी कथा या कहानी (जैसे 'चन्दामामा' की प्राचीन कथाओं) का एक अंश प्रतीत होता है, जो पतिव्रता पत्नी की सेवाभावना को दर्शाता है।
व्याकरण की दृष्टि से इसमें निम्नलिखित पद हैं:
  • नदीतः: (नदी से) - अपादान कारक (पंचमी विभक्ति)।
  • जलम्: (जल को) - कर्म कारक (द्वितीया विभक्ति)।
  • आनीय: (लाकर) - 'आ' उपसर्ग, 'नी' धातु और 'ल्यप्' प्रत्यय से बना अव्यय।
  • पत्या: (पति के द्वारा/साथ) - करण कारक या सहार्थक (तृतीया विभक्ति)।
  • स्नानम्: (स्नान) - कर्म।
  • कारयति: (कराती है) - 'कृ' धातु (प्रेरणार्थक), प्रथम पुरुष, एकवचन।

karthik holla

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Jul 17, 2026, 11:37:01 AMJul 17
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Thank you for the detailed post and very clear information.

With regards 
Karthik 

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NathRao

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Jul 18, 2026, 8:31:41 PMJul 18
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[Due to my eyesight, I prefer to use larger type]
Actually, the relevant rules are 1.4.52 (which says that the doer (kartaa) of the simple verb is the karman of the causative for certain types of verbs), and 1.4.53, which says that both karman and karaNa are allowed for the the two roots hR and kR. Thus, (1) 'patiM snAnam kArayati', and (2) 'patyA snAnam kArayati' are grammatical. Neither Mahabhashya, nor Kashika seem to add anything to this.

[There have been quite a few articles in the scholarly literature exploring the case used for the "causee" in causative construction. in Sanskrit.  If you just want to know what one sees is known Sanskrit literature, Speijer's "Sanskrit Syntax", Section 49, is a good summary. Speijer's book is well-written, very readable, and freely available at archive.org. He also often notes what is said in the grammatical literature on a given topic.

One thing that is not discussed in the articles I have read is the possible influence of the speaker's primary language/variety of Prakrit. In some, the case of the causee is based on semantic grounds. This is what Speijer sees, but H. H. Hock says that this is valid only for "madhyadesa Sanskrit". In some, double accusatives are disfavored, so they would avoid things like (1) irrespective of the intended meaning. Yet others, the choice is affected by what is called the animacy hierarchy, so they will avoid not just (1), but also the more idiomatic Sanskrit "patiM snApayati".]

Regards
Nath Rao

Venkat SASTRY

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Jul 25, 2026, 1:31:56 PMJul 25
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Respected group members,

Inspired by the suggested (by @NathRao) reference to Speijer's book (1886) from archive.org  on Sanskrit Syntax, I was reading through the online version from archive.org. I am puzzled by the citations in the book. For example, (appears on p. 1 of the book)

Panc_26.png
I couldn't figure out what the number 26 is referring to. This edition of the book didn't have any list of abbreviations or bibliography. Upon further hunting, "Panc." is an abbreviation for Panchatantra. The following number could be either Stanza number or page number. Without further knowledge about the edition of Panchatantra that Speijer is using, I am unable to unravel it.

Upon further chasing, I was able to locate the above text at 

"on p. 20, Katha 2, Stanza 134, Tantra 1 (Gangavishnu Shrikrishnadas, 1988)". This is the version of the scanned book ( Ebharati-9226 ) from   https://www.ebharatisampat.in/readSearch.php?id=MjczNTg1MjMzMTY2NTg4 . (Unfortunately, this book has a few pages missing at the end.). 

Could any of the group members suggest the edition of Panchtantra used by Speijer?

Best Regards,
वेङ्कट शस्त्रि

NathRao

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Jul 26, 2026, 5:00:33 PMJul 26
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I forgot that Speijer fails to give a list of works he cites. But, generally one can guess. Just remember that plain 'c' is च and ç (c with cedilla) is  श.

As for editions, given the early date of Speijer, it would be hard to get hold of the editions he might have used. For example, for Panchatantra (for which there are at least two quite different versions), I have trouble getting hold of any edition older than Hertel's. 

One possibility of trying to find the location of citations is to use GRETIL (https://gretil.sub.uni-goettingen.de/gretil.html) texts (HTML or transliterated text) and search. Searching for your text gives just after verse 1.134. (In Kale's edition the verse number is 1.124). You will need a way of entering text in Roman transliteration to do this.

I have been using  Lexilogos online converter to type in Harvard-Kyoto and get either Devanagari or IAST. it would be nice to have a simple script to do this locally (in Linux), preferably in a lightweight language like Lus, though other languages are OK. Any pointers?

Regards
Nath Rao

NathRao

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Jul 26, 2026, 10:23:22 PMJul 26
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Addendum to my last post: There seem to be two editions of the Panchatantra that appeared before Speijer's  "Sanskrit Syntax". One by George Buhler seems to be on the Internet Archive (the descriptions do not match, may be a reprint). But that reads 'mahAtmA sa vayaM kRpanAH'. There is an even earlier edition by J. G. L. Kosegarten . It does not seem to be easily available.
Regards
Nath Rao

Lakshmanan Krishnamurti

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Jul 26, 2026, 10:36:01 PMJul 26
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 this sutra describes when prayojya karta is in dvitiya vebkhawti

गतिबुद्धिप्रत्यवसानार्थशब्दकर्माकर्मकाणामणि कर्ता स णौ


prayojya karta can be optionally in trittiya vibhakti for हृ (हरति) तथा कृ (करोति) 


 प्रयोज्यकर्तुः द्वितीया-विकल्पविधानार्थं पाणिनिसूत्रम्— 

“हृक्रोरन्यतरस्याम्” (अष्टाध्यायी 2.3.66) 1 

अस्य अर्थः— हृ (हरति) तथा कृ (करोति) धातुयोः णिजन्तप्रयोगे (कारक/प्रेरणार्थे) प्रयोज्यकर्तुः द्वितीया विभक्तिः विकल्पेन भवति; अन्यथा तृतीया अपि भवति। 

उदाहरणम्— 

  • राजा सेवकं हारयति।


  • राजा सेवकेन हारयति।


तथा— 

  • राजा कर्मकरं कारयति।


  • राजा कर्मकरेण कारयति।


अत्र सेवक, कर्मकर इत्यादयः प्रयोज्यकर्तारः; तेषां द्वितीया–तृतीया विभक्त्योः विकल्पः “हृक्रोरन्यतरस्याम्” इति सूत्रेण विधीयते।



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