Churning Infinite Words.. From the mills of Panini!

Word Generation in Sanskrit.. A simple view

8 min readApr 5, 2024

It is hard to imagine a world without words. Words paint our thoughts and even imagination. They are an instrument of expression and information. With Gen AI, even machines have latched on to the idea of languages.

Panini’s Ashtadyayi.. An act of audacity.. Codifing the very rules of the Language. Classifications, Lists, Labels, Meta language, and all kind of unthinkable paradigms, with tenets of brevity and structure at the very core..

The Grand FlowChart

I was listening to Neelesh ji’s lessons a few years back. He is the curator of the wonderful ashtadhyayi.com. Able to much much appreciate this diagram now, after having gone through many grammar lessons, and having examined many many words. Here is the grand flowchart as taught by him. Panini’s recipe for generating an infinite amount of words..

Hopefully we shall uncover these topics..

The nuts and bolts of word generation?
Different kinds of words?
Starting Point?
Roadmap of Grammar Lessons?

1. Journey from धातुः to क्रियापदम्

Let us examine at the right half of the above flowchart..

At the very beginning.. There are the tiny tiny root sounds called धातुः They are about 2000 in number, and cannot be classified or broken further. Each धातुः has a feel and a meaning. {पठ् read} {गम् move}

The धातुः are like seeds and cannot land and express by themselves. As they are small and sharp, they are given a balanced shape with the विकरण प्रत्यय

And by adding तिइ प्रत्यय , they land into the familiar and usable verb classes of various lakaaras and plurality of purusha and vachana..

धातुः >> विकरण + तिइ >> क्रियापदम्
गम् >> गच्छ (विकरण fluffing) >> {गच्छति and other forms}
पठ् >> पठ >> {पठति..}

Note: These प्रत्ययs are marked lists.. Hence, starting from a simple धातुः, Panini defines a recipe to generate a matrix like output of क्रियापदम्s in various lakaaras.. While this recipe/prakriyaa is complicated for those who are not initiated into the study of Astadhyayi, as beginners we can speculate the end product as in the case of पठ् धातुः

But if you are not able to hold your horses and want to have a feel of तिइ list ..

Here is the list for the present tense.. A set of 9 plus 9 markers for the परस्मैपदम् and आत्मनेपदम् forms.. 
तिप्तस्झिसिप्थस्थमिप्वस्मस्-तातांझथासाथांध्वमिड्वहिमहिङ्। ३.४.७८Subsequent unpacking of the list.. 
तिप्-तस्-झि-सिप्-थस्-थ-मिप्-वस्-मस्-त-आताम्-झ-थास्-आथाम्-ध्वम्-इड्-वहि-महिङ्Notice some similarities with the endings that you are familiar with!

In addition, there is a list of prefixes/upasarga.. the meaning of the धातुः gets altered like in an Instagram filter.. negation.. enhancement.. and so on. For instance attaching prefixes to गम् धातुः, one could get..

अनु + गम् >> अनुसरण करना, पीछे पीछे जाना
दुर् + गम् >> दुःख से जाना
सु + गम् >> आनन्द से या खुशी से जाना
सम् + गम् >> साथ जाना, मिलना, एकत्र होना
More at ashtadyayi.com

धातुः >> विकरण + तिइ >> Array of {क्रियापदम् Verbs}

Pratyayas.. प्रत्यय

Let us take a step back.. Pratyayas are like a list or a matrix of sounds. Like the sounds that you hear at the trailing end of verbs and nouns..

The stem form of words is called prakruti. When प्रत्यय is tagged to Prakruthi, and a custom recipe is followed, the end product words of nouns and verbs are formed.. नामपदम् & क्रियापदम्..

Loosely we have the following प्रत्ययs

In the Verb Space
विकरण, तिइ, सनादि
In the Gerund Space:
कृत्
In the Noun Space:
सुप
तद्धित, स्त्री

In this diagram which we shall visit again and again, प्रत्ययs correspond to the red-colored boxes..

2. Journey from प्रातिपदिकम् to नामपदम्

Let’s examine the left side of the above picture..

The प्रातिपदिकम् are the prakruti /beginner noun stems. They cannot express as words by themselves. A family of 7*3 meta sounds सुप प्रत्यय are operated upon it, and we get the vibhakti forms that are ready to use.

प्रातिपदिकम् >> {सुप} = {Vibhakti form नामपदम्}

In these familiar shabdas.. अकारान्तः पुंलिङ्गः राम, इकारान्तः पुंलिङ्गः हरि.. The base forms राम, हरि are the प्रातिपदिकम्.. Their vibhakti form is the नामपदम्.

This explains the Journey of simple प्रातिपदिकम्s. However, we have some more interesting cases of looping and nesting.

3. Generating Samasta Padams, तद्धितs and Feminine Forms.

Samasta Padams

In the case of compound words, 2 or more prAtipadikams or noun-stems with a definite relation fuse together to form a newer prAtipadikam..

rama + krishna = rama-krishna

तद्धित Pratyaya

तद्धितs are an interesting set of newer प्रातिपदिकम्s derived from simple प्रातिपदिकम्. These are Nouns derived from nouns with an altered meaning.. Indian languages are full of तद्धितs words. Look into the diagram..

Some Examples would be

bhArat >> bhaarateeya
sundar >> sundartA
shakti >> shaktimaan
vasudeva >> vAsudevA

स्त्री Pratyaya

Feminine forms are derived from the masculine प्रातिपदिकम्.

rudra >> rudrANi
shiva >> shivANi
putra >> putri

Look into the Diagram for तद्धित / स्त्री प्रत्यय operation.

प्रातिपदिकम् >> तद्धित / स्त्री प्रत्यय >> प्रातिपदिकम्

In Summary.. Samasta padams, तद्धित and स्त्री forms of words are extensions over basic प्रातिपदिकम्.. In order to manifest in vibhakti forms, they need to be tagged with सुप प्रत्यय.

प्रातिपदिकम् >> {सुप} >> {Vibhakti form नामपदम्}

4. Journey from धातुः to KrudantAs

All right.. we looked into the basic verbs and the noun families. We now change gears and examine the interesting कृत् प्रत्यय

कृत् प्रत्यय convert the धातुः into krudantAs Gerunds..

धातुः >> कृत् प्रत्यय = krudantA

There are about 140 kinds of different कृत् प्रत्ययs. These are very versatile and generate a spectrum of words all originating from धातुः.

One family of कृत् प्रत्यय describes action/kriya such as shravaNa, manana, paTana, gamana

Another family of कृत् प्रत्यय provide linkage to past actions such as shrutva, paTitva / having heard, having read

Another family of कृत् प्रत्यय describes karta / common nouns such as pAchaka/cook, lekhak/writer

Another family of कृत् प्रत्यय creates Assertive nouns which follow karma such as shravaneeyam/paTaneeyam / ought to hear, ought to read..

All right.. What is a प्रातिपदिकम्?

Till now, we have seen that Samasta padams, Tadditaas and feminine form of words are extensions over basic प्रातिपदिकम्.. But where do प्रातिपदिकम् come from at the first place?

I had some mixed thoughts on this topic which got settled.

Well, about a big portion.. say 95% of the प्रातिपदिकम्s come from the धातुःs.. Yes, the krudantAs make up 95% of प्रातिपदिकम्s.. Remaining small fraction do not directly come from the धातुःs. Their derivation cannot be easily explained. Some are foreign loan words. But they have a valid meaning.

Hence the arrow running from धातुः to प्रातिपदिकम्s explains the generation of krudantAs.

5. सनादि प्रत्यय and Generating newer धातुः from धातुः..

Are we not done yet with the flow chart of words? Just hold on.. Almost there.
We go a bit philosophical here.

Let us take our focus again to the extreme right side of the figure. Earlier, we visited the journey from धातुः to क्रियापदम्.
We now examine सनादि प्रत्यय.. These help in generating newer धातुःs from basic धातुःs .. Interesting right? Let us look at familiar examples.

The familiar पठति vs पाठयति.. read vs to cause some one to read.. This effect is achieved by nich प्रत्यय, which is a type of सनादि प्रत्यय.
Examine these words from Gita and else where.. Notice the ‘desire’ tagged to the meaning of the verb.

मुमुक्षु >> desire to be liberated
युयुत्स >> desire to fight
पिपासा >> desire to drink
बुभुक्षा >> desire to eat
जिज्ञासु >> desire to learn
चिकीर्षु >> desire to see

In the word युयुत्स, we start from the original धातुः युध्, with help of सनादि प्रत्यय we get युध् युध्+ स which becomes युयुत्स.. and a new derived धातुः is generated.

6. सनादि प्रत्यय and Generating newer धातुः from प्रातिपदिकम्

This is the last leg I intend to show. Notice the arrow from प्रातिपदिकम् to धातुः.. Yes, a few rare धातुःs generated from प्रातिपदिकम् via some सनादि प्रत्यय..

Like putreeyati / ‘to beget’ from ‘putra’. Like in English, we have these rare verb forms ‘gild’ from ‘gold’, ‘sire/to give birth’ from ‘sir’..

Sai Susarla ji, Director of MIT vedic study shares in his Facebook Feed, this wonderful flowchart prepared by his daughter in her Gurukulum with Pushpa Dixit ji. Incidentally, many years back, I attended a Spoken Sanskrit workshop conducted by him, and his little daughter was distributing the Orange Colored SanskritAbhyaasa pustika to us students back then..

And here she is.. as a teacher, presenting this wonderful diagram. In addition, it is annotated with chapter numbers in Ashtadhyayi and the count..

धातुः [~2142]

In the Verb Space
विकरण, तिइ [18], सनादि [6]
In the Gerund Space:
कृत् [130]
In the Noun Space:
सुप
तद्धित [280], स्त्री [7]

Hope this post gives a head-start in decoding and placing the blocks as you uncover grammar lessons and vocabulary! A friend had asked me to write about it. It was much easier to speak on this topic I shall admit!

Encoding the Language Rules.. Ode to Pāṇini
Cushioning the Seed — Dhatu Vikarana
Double Sounds in verbs
Panini’s Kaaraka Prakarana.. A taste..
Sailing the Pronouns of Sanskrit
Avyayas.. The Indeclinables!
Tadditas — Expanding the Noun Space

References

KridantA Introduction by Sowmya Krishnapur
https://ashtadhyayi.com/