Introductory Sanskrit
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Lesson 24 Overview:
2 and 3 Stem Paradigms

2 Stem Paradigms
भवत्
Whether it is a contraction of भग-वत् (fortune-possessing = “fortunate”) or not, the honorific second person pronoun, भवत्, is declined exactly like possessive -मत् / -वत् stems. See Deshpande for details on usage. In short, it is a second person pronoun (“you,” “your honor”), but takes a third person conjugation to show respect:
  • किम् भवान् आगमिष्यति । “Will you [hon.] come?”
अत्र and तत्र are prefixed to भवत् to indicate that the person referred to is present (अत्र-) or not (तत्र-, functioning then as a third person pronoun):
  • किम् अत्रभवान् तत्रभवन्तम् अद्य द्रक्ष्यति ।
    “Will you [hon.] see him ([hon.] who is not now present) today?”
महत् and -ईयस्
महत् (“great”) and comparatives in -ईयस् (e.g., लघीयस् “lighter,” from लघु “light”) are also 2-stem paradigms which follow our general pattern:
  • strong = 1st 5 forms (nasal infix), and their vocatives
  • weak = the rest
But in their case, the strong stem not only has an infixed nasal, but also a lengthened final vowel: e.g.,
  • महान् महान्तौ महान्तः (vs. महता महते, etc.) and
  • लघीयान् लघीयांसौ लघीयांसः (vs. लघीयसा लघीयसे, etc.)
महत् is a paradigm of one (no other nouns follow it), whereas all of the comparatives derived with the -ईयस् suffix will follow लधीयस्. See Deshpande.
Possessives in -इन् (बलिन्)
In addition to the 2-stem paradigms covered so far—e.g., गतवन्त्, where the strong stem is the first 5 forms, the rest being weak—there is another kind of 2-stem paradigm. In it, the weak stem loses its final consonant before a consonant-initial ending. For example, the stem बलिन् → बलि before the consonant-initial endings भिः भ्यः भ्याम् and सु : बलिभिः, बलिभ्यः, etc. Before vowel-initial terminations, बलिन् doesn’t change: बलिन्-औ बलिन्-अः, etc. Compare:

2 Types of 2-Stem Paradigm

गतवत् (past act. ptc.)

--

बलिन् (possessive -इन्)

M

M

Singular

Dual

Plural

Singular

Dual

Plural

N

गतवान्

गतवन्तौ

गतवन्तः

बली

बलिनौ

बलिनः

A

गतवन्तम्

गतवतः

बलिनम्

बलिनः

I

गतवता

गतवद्भ्याम्

गतवद्भिः

बलिना

बलिभ्याम्

बलिभिः

D

गतवते

गतवद्भ्यः

बलिने

बलिभ्यः

A

गतवतः

बलिनः

G

गतवतोः

गतवताम्

बलिनोः

बलिनाम्

L

गतवति

गतवत्सु

बलिनि

बलिषु

  • m.s.nom. बली not only drops its final consonant (न्) before a consonant-initial ending (स्). It drops that ending as well and lengthens its vowel to maintain the heavy syllable weight that had been produced by the now lost cluster (न्स्): बलिन् + स् → बलि + स् → बलि → बली.
Three-stem Paradigms
Practically speaking, 3-stem paradigms simply combine these two types of 2-stem paradigm:
  • strong = first 5 forms
  • weak = the stem before consonant-initial endings
  • weaker = the stem before vowel-initial endings
For example, m. आत्मन् and n. कर्मन् have strong / weak / weaker stems:
  • आत्मान् (5) / आत्म (C) / आत्मन् (V) ; कर्मान् (pl.nom/acc) / कर्म (C) / कर्मन् (V)

M -अन् (आत्मन्)

--

N -अन् (कर्मन्)

Singular

Dual

Plural

Singular

Dual

Plural

N

आत्मा

आत्मानौ

आत्मानः

कर्म

कर्मणी

कर्माणि

A

आत्मानम्

आत्मनः

I

आत्मना

आत्मभ्याम्

आत्मभिः

कर्मणा

कर्मभ्याम्

कर्मभिः

D

आत्मने

आत्मभ्यः

कर्मणे

कर्मभ्यः

A

आत्मनः

कर्मणः

G

आत्मनोः

आत्मनाम्

कर्मणोः

कर्मणाम्

L

आत्मनि

आत्मसु

कर्मणि

कर्मसु

V

आत्मन्

आत्मानौ

आत्मानः

कर्मन्

कर्मणी

कर्माणि

When -अन् in such stems is not preceded by a म्- or व्-final conjunct consonant (such as the त्म् in आत्मन्), the weaker stem loses its अ (-अन् → -न्). For example,
  • m. राजन् : sg.ins-loc. राज्ञा राज्ञे राज्ञः राज्ञि, not *राजना, etc.
The stems for m. राजन् and n. नामन् are thus:
  • राजान् (5) / राज (C) / राज्ञ् (V) ; नामान् (pl.nom/acc) / नाम (C) / नाम्न् (V)
See Deshpande for their paradigms. Stems such as मूर्धन् and तक्षन् will similarly weaken because their pre-अन् conjuncts (र्ध् and क्ष्) don’t end in म् or व्. Thus,
  • s.ins.-loc. मूर्ध्ना मूर्ध्ने मूर्ध्नः मूर्ध्नि, and तक्ष्णा तक्ष्णे तक्ष्णः तक्ष्णि.
Adjectives of Direction (-अच्)
In adjectives of direction (-अच्, e.g., प्रत्यच्, विष्वच्, etc.):
  • the strong stem, as expected, has a nasal infix (e.g., प्रत्यञ्च्)
  • the weak stem is just the bare stem (e.g., प्रत्यच्)
  • the weaker stem takes a long संप्रसारण vowel
Hence, the weaker stems of प्रत्यच् and विष्वच् are:

  • प्रत्यच् → प्रतिच् (संप्रसारणम्) → प्रतीच् (long)
  • विष्वच् → विषुच् (संप्रसारणम्) → विषूच् (long)
Once you understand the weaker stem in terms of संप्रसारण, you can see that these paradigms are identical:

M -अच् (प्रत्यच्)

--

N -अच् (विष्वच्)

Singular

Dual

Plural

Singular

Dual

Plural

N

प्रत्यङ्

प्रत्यञ्चौ

प्रत्यञ्चः

विष्वङ्

विष्वञ्चौ

विष्वञ्चः

A

प्रत्यञ्चम्

प्रतीचः

विष्वञ्चम्

विषूचः

I

प्रतीचा

प्रत्यग्भ्याम्

प्रत्यग्भिः

विषूचा

विष्वग्भ्याम्

विष्वग्भिः

D

प्रतीचे

प्रत्यग्भ्यः

विषूचे

विष्वग्भ्यः

A

प्रतीचः

विषूचः

G

प्रतीचोः

प्रतीचाम्

विषूचोः

विषूचाम्

L

प्रतीचि

प्रत्यक्षु

विषूचि

विष्वक्षु

V

प्रत्यङ्

प्रत्यञ्चौ

प्रत्यञ्चः

विष्वङ्

विष्वञ्चौ

विष्वञ्चः

A couple of notes on the regularity of this paradigm.
  • The sg. nom. and voc. (प्रत्यङ् विष्वङ्) are regular because in internal sandhi:
    • च् → क् // non-nasal स्पर्श (क् - भ्) or ऊष्मन् (श् - ह्), and 
    • nasal → row of following stop (e.g., ञ् + क् → ङ्क्)
    so in the nom. sg. प्रत्यञ्च् + स् → प्रत्यङ्क् + स् , which must then drop all final consonants until only the first of the cluster remains: प्रत्यङ्.
  • Similarly the weak forms above (प्रत्यग्भिः, etc.) are all regular:
    • By the first rule of internal sandhi above प्रत्यच् → प्रत्यक् // सु (प्रत्यक्षु)
    • And because -V → +V // +V प्रत्यक् → प्रत्यग् // भिः भाम् भ्यः (प्रत्यग्भिः)
See the handout below for the two exceptions to the weaker stem:
  • -आच् stems have no weaker stem, just strong and weak (प्राञ्च् प्राच्)
  • तिर्यच् has तिरश्च् (rather than तिरीच्) for its weaker stem (e.g., तिरश्चा)
Perfect Participles (-वस्)
Perfect participles in -वस् are similar to:
  1. comparatives in -ईयस् in lengthening the vowel in their strong stem
  2. adjectives in -अच् in taking संप्रसारण (unlengthened) in their weaker stem:
  • strong stem: long vowel + nasal (चकृवस् चकृवान् चकृवांसौ चकृवांसः, etc.)
  • weak stem: the stem itself (चकृवस् चकृवद्भिः चकृवद्भ्याम् चकृवद्भ्यः, etc.)
  • weaker stem: संप्रसारणम् (चकृवस् चक्रुषा चक्रुषे चक्रुषः चक्रुषि, etc.)
By internal sandhi, the स् → त् // cons., hence चकृवद् + भिः, etc. above
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The header image for this site (a manuscript of Kālidāsa’s Raghuvaṃśa, 14.2-4) is provided by the University of Pennsylvania Libraries (Ms. Coll. 390, Item 1547) under a CC Attribution 4.0 license
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