Simple Sanskrit Lesson 8

Having discussed numerals extensively in

the previous Lesson No. 7, some
discussion about interrogatives with
numerals is yet left out.
How much ? and How many ? are the
common interrogatives that yield
numerical answers. Sanskrit interrogative
is .

When we go to a shop, we would ask,

How much does this thing cost ?
? (** Note As detailed
below, is always plural. Hence using it
with , which is singular, becomes wrong.
Thanks to Mr. Dhananjay Nanivadekar for
pointing this error. The question can
rather be ? or
?)
The shopkeeper may say Ten
Rupees .
Since coinage-systems will be different
at different places, we will have to
 adapt in Sanskrit-speaking same
names, as they prevail. These are
proper nouns. Proper Nouns are never
to be translated.
The other day I could not go to a
meeting. But was curious to know how
many people turned out.
I asked my friend, How many
people were there ? ?
Note, is
inflection of verb (= to be) Hence =
were. We shall discuss past tense separately in
another chapter.
Surprisingly, he told, Only two of
us, Mr. Ramesh and Myself
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Some people think it good to do
inflections of proper-nouns also. In
there are
inflections of large number of proper nouns.
But proper nouns in many countries
around the world may not be easy to
make their inflections. Mr. John may
rather be called as - It would
 sound odd to say :, right ? Actually is
a consonant-ending word. So : would not
be grammatically correct. That becomes
the problem to do inflections of
proper nouns.
In fact Hindi-speaking people
who also follow Devanagari script
for Hindi may write and pronounce
the name as
In Marathi writing, which also
uses Devanagari script, writing the
pronunciation as with a crescent
above is accepted almost as a norm.
Likewise Ann may be called
- -.
Anyway, these are digressions from the
main subject of Numbers.
By the way, the interrogative is by
convention always plural. And it has identical
inflections for all genders. Its inflections in
different cases are (),
( ), ( ), ( ),
(), (), ().
Answers of questions asked using
could be vague or uncertain. In Lesson 5
towards its end, there was the mention of
the suffix and its usage with all inflections of
the pronoun . The suffix can as well be used
with all inflections of to obtain a meaning
some or few. For example

The proposal was accepted by some

people = (proposal) (by
some or few) (people) (was
accepted).
It is useful for some =
Note
(= + = for some)
(useful)
(= this)
This phrase could
as well be a question, Is it useful for (at least) a
few ? Right at the beginning of Lesson 3, there
was introduction to making interrogatives from
simple sentences by using pronoun .
However, since some interrogative sense is
implicit in , a question can be formed
 even without using any other obvious or clear
interrogative.
is a good example
of this. Just a change in intonation would
make it affirmative or interrogative.
In Aptes dictionary many more
interesting details about are given.

Meaning 1 of How many

Meaning 2 of some
When followed by the pronoun
loses its interrogative force and becomes
indefinite in sense, meaning some, several, a
few
This detail in Aptes dictionary puts
in doubt usage of in the
interrogative, as shown above in the phrase
as a question, Is it
useful for (at least) a few ? Sanskrit-experts
may please comment.
In the dictionary, some more words
derived from are detailed separately.
or : an indeclinable
meaning how many times
 Here I would like to thankfully
acknowledge an important comment
posted by Dr. H. N. Bhat. To ensure
that the comment may not be
missed out, I am editing this Lesson
8 itself.
The point is that or : is a
suffix which makes an adverb from a
numeral nominal. is a numeral
nominal, similar to other numeral nominals
such as
A good example of derivation of an
indeclinable by affixing a suffix
or : to a numeral nominal is in

(, -)
Meaning of
(, -) is
May my obeisances be a thousand times,
again and again
Note means again also
means again. Arjuna is so overwhelmed
that he wants to pay obeisances be a
 thousand times and again
and again !
an indeclinable meaning how
often, in how many places or parts
A good example of this is possibly
the quotation (=
ViShNu put his foot at three places).
This quotation can prompt a question
? (= At how many
places did ViShNu put his foot ?)
This quotation
has the context of when
Lord asks of -king land
enough for just four steps. Although
appears as , as a small boy, in
three steps pervades all three worlds
the heaven, the earth and also the
netherworld. True to his offer of land of four
steps, kneels before for to
put the fourth step on his own head.
an adjective , hence would have
inflections in all three genders, all seven cases
and in all three numbers. means some,
 several, a certain number of (Here a certain
has indefinite sense)
Comes to mind an example from
-s where, is
narrating of early days of his second birth as a
parrot with human tongue. He says

Here (= Thus)
being lovingly tended by (the son of
Rishi Jaabaala)
, in a few days I had
wings grown on me .
Note, as adjective of has
identical (masculine) gender, (third) case and
(plural) number.
, an adjective, hence
declinable in all three genders, all seven cases
and in all three numbers. Its meaning of how
many kinds. For example,
Living beings are of how many kinds ?
: (= bipeds) : (= quadrupeds)
(= birds) (= aquatic) (=
reptiles) (= insects and microbes)
 Here also I would like to thankfully
acknowledge an important comment
posted by Dr. H. N. Bhat. To ensure
that the comment may not be
missed out, I am editing this Lesson
8 itself here also.
The point is that is a suffix, which
makes an adjecttive from a numeral nominal.
is a numeral nominal, similar to other
numeral nominals such as

So adjectives derived from
by affixing the suffix
are
also .
A few examples of these in
different genders and numbers will
be
Volunteers have a common
uniform
= of volunteers
= of one type, common,
identical
= uniform
 A mind dwelling on this or that
is not good for decision-making

= of two types (of
thoughts)
= of mind
= no decision
= no
decision (happens) of mind of two types
of thoughts
Of people who become my
devotees, there are four types, i.e.
Four types of people become my
devotees
(, -). Note is
actually
or an indeclinable ,
meaning how many at a time Say, for example,
In how many pieces did the wood-cutter break
the log ? ?
= by the wood-worker (i.e. wood-
cutter)
= log
= in how many pieces
 = was cut
As mentioned above from Aptes
dictionary, may be followed by another
suffix . There it was also mentioned, When
followed by the pronoun loses its
interrogative force and becomes indefinite in
sense, meaning some, several, a
few By that would mean few,
some. For example,
meaning (= of the
leader) (= for welcome) (=
workers) (a few) (= garlands)
(= offer) i.e. Workers offer a few garlands
for welcome of the leader.
By the way, it is to be noted that ,
and can as well be affixed to interrogative
adverbs such as . With these suffixes
the adverbs also will lose their interrogative
force. They may get some negative shade
of meaning !
In fact some people contend that has
the derivation + = and not. By that token use of
lends some different shade of meaning than use
of . Use of also has an effect similar
to that of . For example
Is it possible any time ? ?
May be possible

It may be noted that here has the

meaning of may be and not just as some time
Never possible

Here suffix makes the negative so

much more forceful !
Instead of the question ?
one could as well say ? or
? But conventionally the force becomes
different.

? = Is it any time possible ?

Here the questioner could just be
inquisitive.
? = Is there a possibility that
this would be possible ? Here the questioner
implies some positive possibility.
? = Is it ever possible ? The
questioner is almost implying that it is never
possible.
The difference in force in use of ,
and is substantially conventional.
Just see how the interrogative can
also become affirmative or negative

? = Is it any time possible ?

| ? = Some time or other
possible, why not ? or
= Not possible any time, i.e. never
possible.
Here is another example of .
Two and two will be four always. Never
otherwise. |
|

= two added to two Note, is

+
= four always
= not otherwise ever.
Note in they are all in neuter
gender, again by convention. When speaking of
numbers as numbers they will be by neuter
gender.
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