Learning Sanskrit for Year 7

Sanskrit
For Year 7
Chapter 1
1.1) What is Sanskrit?
Sanskrit is a language. It was spoken in India a long time ago. Some
Sanskrit texts that survive until today are almost 3,500 years old.
India is a country in Asia. It is

more than ten times larger than
the UK. More than one billion
people live in India (at least 15
times more than people in the UK).
Sanskrit was spoken in northern
India, and later used in writing
throughout all of India.
Sanskrit was so highly respected that people continued writing texts
in Sanskrit for more than a thousand years after they stopped
speaking it. Imagine speaking English the way you do now, but writing
the way people did 500 or 1000 years ago:
2
Modern English (now!) And there were shepherds living out in the
fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night.
Early Modern English (400 years ago): And there were in the same
countrey shepheards abiding in the field, keeping watch ouer their
flocke by night.
Middle English (600 years ago): & shepherdis weren in þe same
kuntre wakende & kepende þe wacchis of þe niȝt on her floc
Old English (1000 years ago): and hyrdas wæron on þam ylcan rice
waciende: and nihtwæccan healdende of er heora heorda
Many important texts were written in Sanskrit. They talk
about:
Can you think of books or stories you have read

that talk about any of these topics?
3
1.2) Sanskrit is not regularly spoken any more today. So mostly, we
learn to read it because we want to understand all those important
texts. But when we learn to read it, why should we not also speak it?
Here are a few things you can say:
mama nāma … asti. My name is…
kim tava nāma asti? What is your name?
api kuśalī? Are you well? (How are you?)
ām, aham kuśalī. Yes, I am well.
Some of the Sanskrit words have signs or little bits that English does
not use. Can you find them?
ā: the line over the ‘a’ means this is a long sound, as in star.
ī: the line over the ‘i’ means this is a long sound, as in feel.
ś: the little dash means this ‘ś’ is pronounced like a sh in shoe.
1.3) Writing Sanskrit
At first, the people who spoke Sanskrit in ancient India did not write
down anything. If they felt a text was important, they memorised it!
Can you imagine

knowing all of this
by heart?
4
Some people wanted to write down the most important texts.
Pronunciation was important to them: they wanted to be sure that if
you see a word on a page, you know how to pronounce it correctly.
So they came up with a new writing system.
In the Sanskrit writing system, you know exactly how each word is
pronounced. Compare this to English:
thief hear here receive
ie, ea, e and ei are all pronounced the same in these words.
through thorough tough
ough is pronounced differently in each of these words.
shoes goes does
Do these words rhyme?
In Sanskrit, each letter is always pronounced the same way.
1.4) How is Sanskrit written?
The Sanskrit writing system is called devanāgarī. Today, it is still
used for example by Hindi. You can recognise it by the line that
connects the top of almost all letters:
आसीद्राजा नलो नाम वीरसेनसुतो बली
उपपन्नो गुणैिरष्टै रूपवानश्वकोिवदः
5
If we made English writing more like Sanskrit writing, it would look
like the following:
Have you ever seen an Indian restaurant

writing their name like this?
1.5) Devanāgarī letters are written in the following way:
1 2 3
USE LINED PAPER. Write between the lines.
1) Start at the top line and draw the downward stroke.
2) Draw the bit in the bottom left.
3) Last, draw the line at the top, following the line on the paper.
You just wrote ‘ta’ in Sanskrit. Can you find it in the words below?
आभात िसहं ः गत तद् रामायण अभूतत्व एतस्य
Did you find all five? Circle them!
6
1.6) Here are some new devanāgarī characters for you to learn.
न त
Devanāgarī Transliteration Devanāgarī Transliteration
na ta
प pa ित ti
ग ga तु tu
ज ja : ḥ
Write all of these like the ‘ta’ on the previous page:
1) Draw the downward stroke.
2) Add the bits on the side.
3) Draw the line at the top last.
Did you notice how ta, ti and tu have त in common? Sanskrit

characters express whole syllables: not just n, p, g, j, but na, pa, ga,
ja. When you want to have a different vowel than ‘a’ in your syllable,
त ta, but ित ti and तु

you write a little extra sign next to, over or under your main sign:
tu
(In future chapters, you will also see न na िन ni नु nu, प pa िप pi पु pu

and many similar signs.)
The symbol that looks like a colon : is called the
तः taḥ गः gaḥ जः jaḥ

visarga and is pronounced like the -ch in Loch Ness.
VISARGA
Examples:
7
1.7) Learn how to write these characters: first trace the characters
that are already there. On the next line, try writing each at least
ten times without help.
8
1.8) Which of the devanāgarī characters below do you already know?
Circle them and write their transliteration next to them. (There are
28 – find at least 15.)
न घ त उ श ग ज
ित प क घ त भ ित
न ण तु औ ऊ त फ
ल न अ तु त स ज
ित ध प ब ग ज ऋ
के ग थ त र कै न
ित आ प ई ष तु द
1.9) Treasure Hunt

How many familiar Sanskrit signs can you spot in
these words? Circle or underline them and write
their transliteration below or above them.
For example: जिघ्न ja धौत ta

गजः नरः नमित पतित तुदित तरित जनः गच्छित
मितः अजपः िवतित उपज चरित
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1.10) Here are new Sanskrit words for you to memorise.
Nouns
Sanskrit English Sanskrit English
gajaḥ ‘elephant’ naraḥ ‘man’
janaḥ ‘person’ khagaḥ ‘bird’
janakaḥ ‘father’
Verbs
vadati ‘says, speaks’ tudati ‘hits’
patati ‘falls, flies’ likhati ‘writes’
1.11) Can you spot the new Sanskrit words in this grid? Circle them,
and write them down below.
nārī gajaḥ janakaḥ gāyati bāḥuḥ
bālakaḥ vadati śaśakaḥ khagaḥ muniḥ
khādati likhati janaḥ dhāvati naraḥ
patati dadāti tudati kākaḥ carati
_________________, _________________, _________________,
_________________, _________________, _________________,
_________________, _________________, _________________
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1.12) Draw lines to match up these words with their translations.
naraḥ ‘says, speaks’
likhati ‘person’
janaḥ ‘bird’
vadati ‘hits’
gajaḥ ‘man’
patati ‘father’
khagaḥ ‘writes’
tudati ‘falls, flies’
janakaḥ ‘elephant’
1.13) Word search: Can you find the new words in this grid?
K U L A T U D A T I Words:
H Ā P I M A N U I T khagaḥ,
gajaḥ,
A R C E K O U A B A
janaḥ,
G A J A Ḥ H A H K T
janakaḥ,
A S I T A I A P Ā A naraḥ
tudati,
Ḥ R U J N Ā M T R P
patati,
J A N A K A Ḥ V I Ś
likhati,
M S O N B I U Ā N L vadati
A I N A R A Ḥ U I A
N A U Ḥ V A D A T I
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Sanskrit in the UK
Sanskrit was
spoken and
written in India,
but it started
being studied by
Europeans almost
400 years ago. If
you want to learn
about Sanskrit in
the UK, you can do so at several great universities, for example
Edinburgh, SOAS in London, Cambridge and Oxford. And you can learn
it at St James.
1.14) Word scrambles: Can you identify these Sanskrit words? Write
the letters in the right order. Then translate each word.
Scrambled Unscrambled Translation
KAAHGḤ KHAGAḤ ‘bird’
ḤANAJ
JAKNAAḤ
IVDATA
NRAAḤ
LTHKIAI
PAIATT
JGAAḤ
TTADUI
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1.15) Identify and transliterate the devanāgarī syllables in the words
below. Translate the words. Fill in at least eight fields.
Transliteration Translation
vadaित vadati ‘says, speaks’
khaगः
गजः
जनः
जनka:
नra:
तुdaित
पतित
likhaित
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1.16) Crossword Puzzle: Fill in the Sanskrit words in transliteration.
1 5
3 4
Down: Across:
1) ‘falls, flies’ 5) ‘bird’
2) ‘man’ 6) ‘elephant’
3) ‘father’ 7) ‘writes’
4) ‘hits’ 8) ‘says, speaks’
9) ‘person’
14
Sanskrit and Latin
Sanskrit is related to the languages
we call ‘Indo-European’ because
they are spoken in large parts of
India and Europe and some of the
areas in between. Learning Sanskrit
helps you learn, for example, Latin.
This book will show you how. Watch
out for the ‘Sanskrit and Latin’
sections in the next chapters.
1.17) Translate at least four of the following sentences into English.
janakaḥ vadati. naraḥ likhati.
______________________ ________________________
gajaḥ vadati. khagaḥ patati.
______________________ ________________________
naraḥ vadati. janakaḥ likhati.
______________________ ________________________
khagaḥ tam (‘him’) tudati.
______________________
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1.18) Some Review
Sanskrit is a ________________. It was spoken and written in
______________. People continued to _______________ in Sanskrit
even when they didn’t _________________ it any more. Sanskrit
texts talks about many different things, among them
_________________________, ___________________ and
____________________. (Pick any three topics that you remember.)
We learned a number of things to say in Sanskrit. Do you remember
any of them?
Mama nāma … asti. In English, this means:
Kim tava nāma asti? In English, this means:
How do you say “How are you” in Sanskrit?
ām, aham kuśalī. In English, this means:
16
Chapter 2
What you will learn in this chapter:
New devanāgarī characters New Sanskrit words
New noun forms (‘cases’) A new story
2.1) Here are new devanāgarī characters for you to learn.
क ka श śa
ख kha ता tā
द da ती tī
म ma तू tū
2.2) Trace the characters that are already there. On the next line,
try writing each at least ten times without help.
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A stamp from India
featuring Pāṇini. He lived
about 2,400 years ago. His
grammar sums up all of
Sanskrit in around 4,000
rules. Some people who
study Sanskrit with the
help of Pāṇini’s grammar
aim to memorise all of
those rules.
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न व तु त र प ष
ग ध ल ई ज क य
ित थ ख भ श इ द
म ऋ दु मु गु िज मा
ग आ प ित अ ज तु
त न घा म फ द ध
श ह क ष ख िप य
ऊ ण द दा
2.4) Treasure Hunt

खगः शशकः कामः मदः नदी तारका महाभारत खादित
जनकी मुख मुिनः शुरः काकः नारी ददाित जानाित बालकः
19
2.5) Here are some new Sanskrit words for you to learn.
Nouns
kākaḥ ‘crow’ muniḥ ‘sage, seer’
bālakaḥ ‘boy’ nārī ‘woman’
śaśakaḥ ‘rabbit’
Verbs
carati ‘walks’ jānāti ‘knows’
khādati ‘eats’ dadāti ‘gives’
gāyati ‘sings’ dhāvati ‘runs’
B Ā L A K A Ḥ D C Ś Words:
O K H Ā D A T I U A śaśakaḥ,
muniḥ,
B Ā A I A M J L Ḥ Ś
kākaḥ,
Ḥ K Ī Ḥ Ā C U A E A
nārī,
C A R A T I G N C K bālakaḥ,
khādati,
I Ḥ N U T Ḥ Ā O I A
gāyati,
J Ā N Ā T I Y U A Ḥ
jānāti,
M A D E R O A N Ḥ P dadāti,
C A Ḥ U A Ī T Ā U C dhāvati,
carati
D H Ā V A T I A E Ḥ
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ŚAŚKAAḤ ŚAŚAKAḤ ‘rabbit’
JĀNĀTI
NĀRĪ
RTACAI
GĀYTIA
KĀAKḤ
ADDĀIT
HDĀAVTI
HKĀDIAT
BĀLAAKḤ
An example of Sanskrit
calligraphy. Calligraphy
means ‘beautiful writing’.
The aim of calligraphy is to
write something good or
important in a way that is
beautiful to look at.
(This is the word śānti,
which means ‘peace’.)
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śaśakaḥ ‘woman’
jānāti ‘knows’
muniḥ ‘walks’
carati ‘sage, seer’
khādati ‘sings’
kākaḥ ‘boy’
nārī ‘eats’
dadāti ‘crow’
bālakaḥ ‘rabbit’
gāyati ‘gives’
This is a drawing of Vālmīki, a sage

(wise man) who is said to have
composed the Rāmāyaṇa. The
Rāmāyaṇa is an epic: a very long poem
about a hero. The hero of the
Rāmāyaṇa is Rāma. The Rāmāyaṇa tells
us about Rāma’s childhood as a prince,
his life in the forest as a young man,
and his adventures in trying to retrieve
Sītā, his wife, who had been abducted
by a demon.
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2.9) Reading Exercise: Identify and transliterate the devanāgarī
syllables in the words below. Translate the words. Fill in at least 10
fields.
vadaित vadati ‘says, speaks’
शशकः
मुिनः
काकः
नाrī
bālaकः
खादित
गाyaित
jāनाित
ददाित
dhāvaित
caraित
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2.10) CASES
Sanskrit nouns have several different forms, used for the different
roles they play in a sentence.
The DOER or SUBJECT in a sentence appears in the NOMINATIVE:
The man walks. The bird flies. The boy runs.
The DONE-TO or OBJECT in a sentence appears in the ACCUSATIVE:
The elephant hits the rabbit. The man sees the boy.
Sanskrit uses different endings for nominative and accusative:
Nominative Form Meaning Accusative Meaning
Form
khagaḥ bird (subject) khagam bird (object)
gajaḥ elephant (subject) gajam elephant (object)
janaḥ person (subject) janam person (object)
(The -m in khagam, gajam and so on is like the -m in English ‘him’,

which also is an accusative case that cannot be used as a subject: ‘I
see him.’ ‘He hits him.’ But never ‘Him hits him’!)
2.11) Now add the missing forms to the table below:
Nominative form Meaning Accusative form Meaning
kākaḥ crow (subject) kākam crow (object)
bālakaḥ boy (subject) boy (object)
rabbit (subject) śaśakam
gajaḥ elephant (object)
janakaḥ
naraḥ naram
bird (subject) bird (object)
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2.12) Sanskrit, like English, has different forms for the singular and
the plural of nouns. Below are the singular and plural forms of the
nominative case.
Nominative Nominative
Singular Meaning Plural Meaning
naraḥ man (subject) narāḥ men (subject)
khagaḥ bird (subject) khagāḥ birds (subject
janaḥ person janāḥ persons, people (subject)
(subject)
2.13) Now complete the table below.
Nominative Nominative
Meaning Meaning
Singular Plural
janakaḥ fathers (subject)
janaḥ person (subject) people (subject)
kākaḥ crow (subject)
bālakaḥ bālakāḥ
śaśakāḥ rabbits (subject)
Overview: New Case Forms
Form -aḥ -am -āḥ

Nominative Accusative Nominative
Use
Singular Singular Plural
Subject/Doer Object/Done-To Subject/Doer
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2.14) VERB FORMS
Sanskrit verbs, like English verbs, have different forms in the singular and
plural. Plural subjects go together with plural verbs. Compare the following
examples:
Singular: The prince runs. Plural: The princes run.
Singular: The woman thinks. Plural: The women think.
So far, we have only seen singular forms of Sanskrit verbs. These singular
forms all end in -ati or -āti. Look at the plural forms below: they all end
in -anti.
Singular Form Meaning Plural Form Meaning
dhāvati ‘he/she/it runs’ dhāvanti ‘they run’
jānāti ‘he/she/it knows’ jānanti ‘they know’
carati ‘he/she/it walks’ caranti ‘they walk’
2.15) Complete the table below.
Singular Form Meaning Plural Form Meaning
vadati vadanti
patati they fall/fly
he/she/it hits tudanti
likhati
gāyati he/she/it sings
dadāti they give
khādati
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1 2 Down:
1) ‘boy’
4
2) ‘sage, seer’
3) ‘knows’
Across:
5 4) ‘crow’
5) ‘walks’
3 ’6) ‘gives’
7) ‘woman’
6 8) ‘eats’
9) ‘sings’
7 Bonus question:
Can you identify
8
the word from our
new vocabulary
9 that is missing
here?
Sanskrit and Latin: Adjectives
Sanskrit and Latin have the same genders:

masculine, feminine and neuter. You only need to
understand how they work once, and then you can
use them in both languages. Adjectives work the
same in Latin and Sanskrit, too:
in Latin, the three genders are

malus ‘evil’ (masculine), mala ‘evil’ (feminine), malum ‘evil’ (neuter)
in Sanskrit, the three genders are
papaḥ ‘evil’ (masculine), pāpā ‘evil’ (feminine), pāpam ‘evil’ (neuter)
Do you see how similar the endings of those words are? They go
back to the same source.
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2.17) Translate at least seven of these sentences into English.
gajaḥ khādati. gajāḥ khādanti.
_________________________ _______________________
nārī naram jānāti. nārī gāyati.
_________________________ _______________________
janakaḥ bālakāya (‘to the boy’) śaśakam dadāti.
______________________________________
muniḥ likhati. gajaḥ kākam carati.
_________________________ _______________________
naraḥ dhāvati. narāḥ dhāvanti.
_________________________ _______________________
gajaḥ śaśakāya (‘to the rabbit’) kākam dadāti.
_____________________________________
śaśakaḥ dhāvati. kākaḥ gāyati.
_________________________ _______________________
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2.18) The Foolish Lion and the Clever Rabbit
This is a story from the Pancatantra, a collection of fables in Sanskrit that is

more than 2,000 years old. It was so popular that it was translated into many
other languages in the Near East and Europe, such as Persian, Arabic, Hebrew and
Latin.
Once upon a time, there lived a cruel lion in a dense forest. He was very
powerful, ferocious and arrogant. He used to kill the animals of the forest
to satisfy his hunger. Thus, many forest animals were afraid of the lion:
They were worried that, after some time, none of them would be left alive.
They discussed this problem among themselves and decided to hold a

meeting with the lion. They wanted to arrive at a friendly settlement with
the lion and put an end to the problem.
One day, as they had planned, all the animals of the forest gathered under
a big tree. They invited the King Lion to attend the meeting. At the
meeting, the representative of the animals said, ”Your Majesty, it is our

privilege that we have you as our king. We are all the more happy that you
are attending this meeting”. The King Lion thanked them and replied, “What
is the matter? Why have we gathered here?”
All the animals started looking at each other. They were gathering courage.
One of the animals stood up and said, ”Sir, it is natural that you have to kill
us for your food. But, killing more than what is required is not a good
approach. If you go on killing the animals without any purpose, very soon a
day will come when there will be no animal left in the forest.” The King
Lion roared, “So what do you want?”
One of the animals replied, “Your Majesty, we have already discussed the
problem among ourselves and have found a solution. We have decided to

send one animal daily to your den. You can kill and eat it, the way you like.
29
This will also save you from the trouble of hunting.” The lion replied, “Fine.
I agree to this proposal, but make sure that the animal must reach me in
time. Otherwise, I will kill all the animals of the jungle." The animals agreed
to this proposal.
From that day onwards, each day an animal was sent to the lion to become
his food. The lion was very happy to have his food right before him without
taking the trouble of hunting. So every day it was the turn of one of the
animals. Once, it was the turn of a rabbit to go to the lion’s den. The rabbit
was old and wise. He was unwilling to go, but the other animals forced him
to go. The rabbit thought of a plan which would save his life and the lives
of other animals of the forest. He took his time to go to the lion and
reached the lion’s den a little later than the usual time.
The lion was getting impatient when he did not see an animal by the usual
time. The lion got extremely furious when he saw a small rabbit for his
meal. He swore to kill all the animals. The rabbit hesitatingly explained,
“Your Majesty. I am not to be blamed for that. Actually, six rabbits were
sent to make your meal, but five of them were killed and devoured by
another lion. He also claimed to be the king of the forest. Somehow, I
escaped to reach here safely."
The king lion howled in great anger and said, “Impossible, there cannot be
another king of this forest. Tell me. Who is he? I’ll kill him. Take me to the
place where you saw him.” The intelligent rabbit agreed and took the lion
towards a deep well, filled with water. When they reached the well, the
rabbit said,” This is the place where he lives. He might be hiding inside.”
The lion looked into the well and saw his own reflection. He thought it was
the other lion. The lion was furious and started growling. Naturally the
image in the water, the other lion, was also equally angry. In order to kill
30
the other lion, he jumped into the well. The lion darted his head against the
rocks and drowned in the deep well.
With a sigh of relief, the wise rabbit went back to the other animals and
told them the whole story. All the animals got happy and praised the rabbit
for his wit. Thus, the jubilant rabbit saved all the animals from the proud
lion and they all lived happily ever after.
The Moral of this Story: Intelligence is superior to physical strength.
Questions:
Why were the rabbits afraid?
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
What did they decide to do?
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
What did the wise old rabbit do?
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
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What did the lion do in reaction?
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
Did the wise rabbit do a good thing?
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
Draw a picture of the lion at the meeting of the rabbits:
32
Chapter 3
What you will learn in this chapter:
New devanāgarī characters New Sanskrit words
The dative case Harry Potter: Spells in Sanskrit
अ ऋ
a ṛ
आ ā य ya
इ i र ra
ई ī ल la
उ u व va
ऊ ū ष ṣa
3.2) Here are the new devanāgarī characters for you to learn. First,
trace the characters that are already there. On the next line, try
writing them without help.
33
34
Buddhism
The Buddha was a prince
who grew up surrounded
only by wealth, health
and happiness. One day,
he was confronted with
old age, sickness and
death. This made him
very unhappy. He began
to reflect on what he
An image of the Buddha meditating.
had seen, and realised:
life is suffering, because we desire the wrong things. Yet we can end
this suffering if we understand what truly matters (for example: the
well-being of our selves, not depending on material wealth) and live
accordingly. Those who follow the Buddha’s teachings are called
Buddhists. There are around 500 million Buddhists around the world.
The early Buddhist texts are written in Sanskrit.
35
ष ञ क ऊ को ऋ न
ण आ व र ध ड अ
ख ढ ई ठ य थ ब
स ल उ इ टे त तु
औ ए ट षु कौ ङ भ
ठै यी फ घ ओ श गा
ला िज के ऐ ती ढौ ज
3.4) Treasure Hunt

उपिवशित अचलः वदित ऋषभः रामः आहारः ईशः
उदर ऋिषः ऊदर् रसः यमः
36
3.5) Here are new words for you to memorise.
Nouns
acalaḥ ‘mountain’ ṛṣabhaḥ ‘bull’
rathaḥ ‘chariot’ ṛṣiḥ ‘sage, seer’
kapiḥ ‘monkey’ āhāraḥ ‘food’
gaṇaḥ ‘group’ īśaḥ ‘lord’
nṛpaḥ ‘king’
Verbs
namati ‘bows’ upaviśati ‘sits down’

1 3 Down:
1) ‘monkey’
7 2
2) ‘mountain’
3) ‘food’
4) ‘lord’
8 5) ‘king’
6) ‘bows’
5 6
Across:
4 9 7) ‘chariot’
8) ‘sage,
seer’
9) ‘bull’
10
10) ‘group’
11) ‘sits
down’
11
37
3.7) Reading Exercise: Transliterate the devanāgarī syllables in the
words below. Translate the words. Fill in at least 12 fields.
vadaित vadati ‘he says, speaks’
अcaलः
ṛषbha:
गṇa:
रtha:
ऋिषः
किपः
nṛपः
उपिवशित
नमित
आhāरः
ईशः
A symbol from the Jain religion: an open palm with the

Sanskrit word ahiṃsā ‘non-violence’ written on it.
Jains, whose texts are written in Sanskrit and other
languages, believe in kindness to all –
people, animals, plants.
38
3.8) Do you remember any of these words from Chapter 2?
Translate as much as you can into English.
naraḥ naram narāḥ
———–————- ———–————- ———–————-
nārī nārīm
———–————- ———–————-
bālakaḥ bālakāḥ
———–————- ———–————-
gajaḥ dhāvati gajāḥ dhāvanti
———–————————– ———–————————–
gajaḥ śaśakam jānāti janakaḥ bālakāya śaśakam dadāti
———–————————– ———–————————————–
An image of the Hindu goddess

Sarasvatī.
She is the goddess of wisdom,
knowledge and music. She is
usually depicted with a peacock,
her instrument (called a vīṇā) and
a book in her hands.
39
A N A Ṛ M S C R J D Words:
Ḥ V Ṛ Ṣ A B H A Ḥ S acalaḥ,
ṛṣabhaḥ,
A D Ṣ P C Ḥ Ṛ T I D
gaṇaḥ,
R S I C A V A H P N
rathaḥ,
Ā J Ḥ Ś L Ḥ V A A A ṛṣiḥ,
kapiḥ,
H S Ī D A D V Ḥ K M
nṛpaḥ,
Ā J V C Ḥ V A J C A
upaviśati,
U P A V I Ś A T I T āhāraḥ,
Ḥ A Ś D M Ṛ S Ṇ A I īśaḥ,
namati
O M J L Ḥ A Ṇ A G E
ḤAACLA ACALAḤ ‘mountain’
ḤAŚĪ
NMAATI
GAṆAḤ
RTAHAḤ
PRṆAḤ
40
ĀHĀRAḤ
KIPAḤ
UVPAIŚATI
ṚṢIḤ
atīva namati ṛṣabhaḥ śocati sarvadā
kapiḥ viśāla saram rodati acalaḥ
rathaḥ varṇaḥ ṛṣiḥ bhāryā āhāraḥ
paśyati gaṇaḥ pariṇayati upaviśati rathaḥ
nṛpaḥ jananī vasati īśaḥ bhāgaḥ
_________________, _________________, _________________,
_________________, _________________, _________________,
_________________, _________________, _________________,
_________________, _________________
41
acalaḥ ‘food’
namati ‘group’
kapiḥ ‘sits down’
ṛṣabhaḥ ‘lord’
gaṇaḥ ‘bows’
īśaḥ ‘chariot’
āhāraḥ ‘bull’
ṛṣiḥ ‘monkey’
upaviśati ‘mountain’
nṛpaḥ ‘sage, seer’
rathaḥ ‘king’
The ‘OM’ symbol. In several
Indian religions, the sound

‘om’ is sacred and
considered a mantra. A
mantra is a sound, a word
or a saying which some
people believe has special

spiritual powers.
42
3.13) The Dative Case
In the previous chapter, we learned the nominative case that is used for
the subject, and the accusative case that is used for the object. Sanskrit
also has several other cases.
The dative case expresses ‘to’ or ‘for’: She gives the book to the boy.
The man bows to the king.
The hay is for the horses.

He goes back for seconds.
The dative case uses the ending -āya:
Nominative form Meaning Dative Form Meaning
nṛpaḥ king (subject) nṛpāya to/for the king
naraḥ man (subject) narāya to/for the man
khagaḥ bird (subject) khagāya to/for the bird
For example:
naraḥ nṛpāya namati.

The man (subject) to the king bows.
“The man bows to the king.”
naraḥ bālakāya khagam dadāti.

The man (subject) to the boy food (object) gives.
“The man gives food to the boy.”
43
3.14) Complete this table.
Nominative form Meaning Dative Form Meaning
gajaḥ elephant (subject) gajāya
father (subject) janakāya
naraḥ for the man
khagāya
kākaḥ crow (subject)
bālakaḥ for the boy
śaśakaḥ śaśakāya
3.15) Translate at least eight of the following sentences into English.
ṛṣabhaḥ āhāram khādati. nārī upaviśati.
___________________________ ________________________
nṛpaḥ bālakāya kapim dadāti. kapiḥ ṛṣabhāya namati.
___________________________ ________________________
gaṇaḥ acalam carati. śaśakaḥ kapim tudati.
___________________________ ________________________
44
kākaḥ gāyati. kākāḥ gāyanti.
___________________________ ________________________
nṛpaḥ āhāram khādati. nṛpāḥ āhāram khādanti.
___________________________ ________________________
bālakaḥ ratham dhāvati. nārī nṛpāya namati.
___________________________ ________________________
narāḥ īśāya namanti. śaśakaḥ likhati.
___________________________ ________________________
Sanskrit and Latin

Have you read Harry Potter? Have you noticed
that the spells are in Latin? This is because of
the role that Latin has played in European
history. Sanskrit has played a similar role in
Indian history, and so if you read Harry Potter
in Hindi, you will see that the spells are in
Sanskrit.
Expelliarmus! Nirastra bhava!
Lumos! Prakāśita bhava!
Accio! Āgaccha!
45
Chapter 4
ब भ
ba bha
ण ṇa थ tha
स sa ध dha
4.2) Trace the characters that are already there. On the next line,
try writing each at least ten times without help.
46
An image of the Battle of Kurukṣetra, a central scene in the
Mahābhārata epic: the warrior Arjuna asks Krishna, his charioteer,
how it could possibly be right for him to kill others fighting in this
war. Krishna’s answers to Arjuna’s questions are known as the
Bhagavad Gītā.
47
नृ ङ ण कै ञ ब ट कौ
ऊ फ अ ध ड थ यु ओ
ल ढौ भा के ख भ य म
ई औ घ ध घ स ऐ ढ
प ज ित ऋ ठ ष क उ
श तु ए इ र ग थी व
This is an image of a manuscript (a text copied by hand) of the Rigveda.

The Rigveda is the oldest Sanskrit text and in part is older than 3,000
years. Can you imagine writing this neatly for pages and pages?
48
4.4) Reading Exercise: Identify and transliterate the devanāgarī
syllables in the words below. Translate the words. Fill in at least 12
fields.
vadaित vadati ‘he says, speaks’
शरः
यमः
िपबित
भवित
जननी
तारका
नदी
नािसका
पृिथवी
जीवित
49
4.5) Treasure Hunt
लभते रणः भवित धावित बभसः ऋिषः ऋषभः पृिथवी
िपबित दधाित ऋघा पथः नािसका वसित सपर्ः गणः रणः
Sanskrit
and
Latin
Sanskrit has the same cases as Latin: Nominative, Accusative,

Genitive, Dative and Ablative, and two more: the Instrumental and
the Locative. Whenever the Latin Ablative confuses you (and it
confuses everyone, because it is used for so many different things!),
remember that it once was three cases, and thus still has three
functions: Ablative – source (place from); Locative – location (place
where); Instrumental – instrument (thing with which).
50
4.6) Here are new Sanskrit words for you to memorise.
Nouns
śaraḥ ‘arrow’ nadī ‘river’
yamaḥ ‘death’ pṛthivī ‘earth’
nāsikā ‘nose’ jananī ‘mother’
tārakā ‘star’
Verbs
pibati ‘drinks’ bhavati ‘is, becomes’
jīvati ‘lives’
I S R J I T A B I P Words:
T T G U R J N I L M śaraḥ,
bhavati,
A Ā A G H Ā R A Ṅ U
jananī,
V R O V S Y O U D L
tarakā,
Ī A T I A S D A Ṣ Ī nadī,
nāsikā,
J K K E C H B U K N
pṛthivī,
G Ā G M E D B C G A
jīvati,
S D Ḥ A R A Ś L H N pibati
A U A F I M N J Ñ A
X P Ṛ T H I V Ī I J
51
arjunaḥ pibati nadī śṛṇoti tārakā
rāmāyaṇam śaraḥ bharati biḍālaḥ krīḍati
jīvati mokṣaḥ kṣauti nāsikā phalam
nṛtyati yamaḥ kanyā senā pṛthivī
mūṣikā gacchati jananī tattvam bhavati
_________________, _________________, _________________,
_________________, _________________, _________________,
_________________, _________________, _________________,
_________________
52
ḤARAŚ ŚARAḤ ‘arrow’
BATHAVI
YMAḤA
PTIABI
NANAJĪ
IĪVTJA
PṚIĪVTH
TRĀAĀK
ĀKISĀN
ĪDAN
jīvati ‘nose’
tārakā ‘mother’
pṛthivī ‘star’
nadī ‘earth’
pibati ‘drinks’
jananī ‘lives’
śaraḥ ‘river’
nāsikā ‘arrow’
53
1 2 3 4
10
Down: Across:
1) ‘nose’ 7) ‘star’
2) ‘mother’ 8) ‘death’
3) ‘is, becomes’ 9) ‘drinks’
4) ‘arrow’ 10) ‘lives’
5) ‘earth’
6) ‘river’
54
4.12) The Genitive Case
The genitive case expresses the meaning ‘of’:
the house of the king

a little bit of sugar
When it is used with the verb ‘is’, it expresses possession:
Sanskrit says: English says:
Of the father is a son. The father has a son.
Of the dog is water. The dog has water.
The ending of the genitive case is -asya:
Nominative form Meaning Genitive Form Meaning
nṛpaḥ king (subject) nṛpasya of the king
naraḥ man (subject) narasya of the man
khagaḥ bird (subject) khagasya of the bird
4.13) Now fill in at least eight fields in this table.
Nominative Meaning Genitive Meaning
acalaḥ mountain
rathaḥ chariot
ṛṣabhaḥ of a bull
gaṇaḥ gaṇasya
nṛpaḥ
āhāraḥ of food
lord īśasya
55
4.14) Translate at least eight of the following sentences into English.
khagaḥ jīvati. nṛpaḥ vadati.
_________________________ _______________________
śaraḥ ratham tudati. naraḥ nṛpaḥ bhavati.
_________________________ _______________________
śaraḥ pṛthivīm tudati. muniḥ upaviśati.
_________________________ _______________________
bālakaḥ gāyati. bālakāḥ gāyanti.
_________________________ _______________________
janakaḥ namati. kapiḥ gajasya nāsikām tudati.
_________________________ _______________________
nārī narasya nāsikām paśyati (‘she sees’).
_______________________________
īśaḥ narāya pṛthivīm dadāti. śaśakaḥ carati.
_________________________ _______________________
tārakā svargāt (‘from the sky’) patati.
_______________________________
56
All the material introduced in this book: Overview
Devanagari Signs
1 2
न na त ta क ka श śa
प pa ित ti ख kha ता tā
ग ga तु tu द da ती tī
ज ja : ḥ म ma तू tū
3 4
अ a ऋ ṛ ब ba भ bha
आ ā य ya ण ṇa थ tha
इ i र ra स sa ध dha
ई ī ल la
उ u व va
ऊ ū ष ṣa
57
Vocabulary
Chapter 1 Chapter 2
Nouns Nouns
gajaḥ ‘elephant’ naraḥ ‘man’ kākaḥ ‘crow’ muniḥ ‘sage’
janaḥ ‘person’ khagaḥ ‘bird’ bālakaḥ ‘boy’ nārī ‘woman’
janakaḥ ‘father’ śaśakaḥ ‘rabbit’
Verbs Verbs
vadati ‘says’ tudati ‘hits’ carati ‘walks’ jānāti ‘knows’
patati ‘falls, flies’ likhati ‘writes’ khādati ‘eats’ dadāti ‘gives’
gāyati ‘sings’ dhāvati ‘runs’
Chapter 3
Nouns
acalaḥ ‘mountain’ ṛṣabhaḥ ‘bull’
rathaḥ ‘chariot’ ṛṣiḥ ‘sage, seer’
kapiḥ ‘monkey’ āhāraḥ ‘food’
gaṇaḥ ‘group’ īśaḥ ‘lord’
nṛpaḥ ‘king’
Verbs
namati ‘bows’ upaviśati ‘sits down’
Chapter 4
Nouns
śaraḥ ‘arrow’ nadī ‘river’
yamaḥ ‘death’ pṛthivī ‘earth’
nāsikā ‘nose’ jananī ‘mother’
tārakā ‘star’
Verbs
pibati ‘drinks’ bhavati ‘is, becomes’
jīvati ‘lives’
58
Forms
Chapter 2: The Nominative and Accusative Singular Cases, and the
Nominative Plural Case
Nominative Accusative Nominative

Singular Singular Plural
Form naraḥ naram narāḥ
Meaning man (subject) man (object) men (subject)
Chapter 2: Singular and Plural Verbs
Singular Plural
Form carati caranti
Meaning he/she/it walks they walk
Chapter 3: The Dative Singular Case
Nominative Singular Dative Singular

Form naraḥ narāya
Meaning man (subject) for the man
Chapter 4: The Genitive Singular Case
Nominative Singular Genitive Singular

Form naraḥ narasya
Meaning man (subject) of the man
59
If you have any questions or suggestions, or would like to
know anything else about Sanskrit, please email the
author of this book, Antonia Ruppel, at
cambridge.sanskrit@gmail.com.
And if you are an adult wanting to learn Sanskrit,

take a look at Antonia’s textbook
The Cambridge Introduction to Sanskrit.

Learning Sanskrit for Year 7

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Learning Sanskrit for Year 7

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Sanskrit

Sanskrit is a language. It was spoken in India a long time ago. Some

India is a country in Asia. It is

Sanskrit was so highly respected that people continued writing texts

in Sanskrit for more than a thousand years after they stopped

the way people did 500 or 1000 years ago:

fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night.

countrey shepheards abiding in the field, keeping watch ouer their

Middle English (600 years ago): & shepherdis weren in þe same

kuntre wakende & kepende þe wacchis of þe niȝt on her floc

waciende: and nihtwæccan healdende of er heora heorda

Many important texts were written in Sanskrit. They talk

Can you think of books or stories you have read

learn to read it because we want to understand all those important

Here are a few things you can say:

mama nāma … asti. My name is…

kim tava nāma asti? What is your name?

api kuśalī? Are you well? (How are you?)

ām, aham kuśalī. Yes, I am well.

not use. Can you find them?

ś: the little dash means this ‘ś’ is pronounced like a sh in shoe.

1.3) Writing Sanskrit

Can you imagine

Pronunciation was important to them: they wanted to be sure that if

you see a word on a page, you know how to pronounce it correctly.

So they came up with a new writing system.

pronounced. Compare this to English:

thief hear here receive

through thorough tough

ough is pronounced differently in each of these words.

shoes goes does

Do these words rhyme?

In Sanskrit, each letter is always pronounced the same way.

1.4) How is Sanskrit written?

The Sanskrit writing system is called devanāgarī. Today, it is still

connects the top of almost all letters:

आसीद्राजा नलो नाम वीरसेनसुतो बली

उपपन्नो गुणैिरष्टै रूपवानश्वकोिवदः

like the following:

Have you ever seen an Indian restaurant

1.5) Devanāgarī letters are written in the following way:

USE LINED PAPER. Write between the lines.

1) Start at the top line and draw the downward stroke.

2) Draw the bit in the bottom left.

आभात िसहं ः गत तद् रामायण अभूतत्व एतस्य

Did you find all five? Circle them!

Write all of these like the ‘ta’ on the previous page:

1) Draw the downward stroke.

2) Add the bits on the side.

3) Draw the line at the top last.

Did you notice how ta, ti and tu have त in common? Sanskrit

त ta, but ित ti and तु

(In future chapters, you will also see न na िन ni नु nu, प pa िप pi पु pu

The symbol that looks like a colon : is called the

तः taḥ गः gaḥ जः jaḥ

1.9) Treasure Hunt

For example: जिघ्न ja धौत ta

मितः अजपः िवतित उपज चरित

nārī gajaḥ janakaḥ gāyati bāḥuḥ

bālakaḥ vadati śaśakaḥ khagaḥ muniḥ

khādati likhati janaḥ dhāvati naraḥ

patati dadāti tudati kākaḥ carati

_________________, _________________, _________________,

_________, _, _________,

_________, _, _________,

_________, _, _________

. People continued to _ in Sanskrit

_______, _ and