Sandhi question

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Harry Spier

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Jun 21, 2026, 5:52:41 PM (2 days ago) Jun 21
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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

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Jun 22, 2026, 8:09:50 AM (2 days ago) Jun 22
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Reminds me

कन्या + दानं ---> कन्यादानं
कन्या + आदनं ----> कन्यादानं

Sandhi output --- same

Krishnan

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Mohan Chettoor

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Jun 22, 2026, 11:42:05 AM (2 days ago) Jun 22
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Please explain how कन्या + आदनं  becomes कन्यादानं?
Mohan Chettoor 

NathRao

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Jun 22, 2026, 12:23:26 PM (2 days ago) Jun 22
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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  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

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Jun 23, 2026, 12:57:13 AM (yesterday) Jun 23
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Typo from my side, pl

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

कन्या + आदानं -----> कन्यादानं

Krishnan

Vardhan Taltaje

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Jun 23, 2026, 2:03:05 AM (24 hours ago) Jun 23
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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 =
    • 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

T.K Gopalan

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Jun 23, 2026, 8:32:55 AM (17 hours ago) Jun 23
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