Hello, Welcome to Sanskrit Gurukul. Today, I will tell you about Sandhi in Sanskrit. In this tutorial, you will learn about what is sandhi, swar sandhi, vyanjan sandhi, visarga sandhi and their example in detail. Due to the vast topic, each section will be explained in the coming post, but you will get the overall idea about sandhi in Sanskrit. Let’s get started.
Table of Contents
What is Sandhi in Sanskrit? संधि की परिभाषा
In Sandhi the words being together form a new word, to ease the reading speed and to saving time. For example, if I have to say,
सूर्य + उदय,
very fast the combine word will becomes,
सूर्योदय,
(see how उ changed to ओ ). When you do this process of combining two words number of times, on a large document, you will be going to save time and increase your reading speed.
According to PANINI ASHTADHAYI
“परः सन्निकर्षः संहिता”
When two words (varna) come closer, the distortion is known as Sandhi.
दो वर्णों के निकट आने से जो विकार होता है उसे संधि कहते है।
For example,
हिम (him) + आलय (aalaya) = हिमालय (Himalaya)
[हिम means Ice] [आलय means house)] [The combined meaning is house of Ice]
Type of Sandhi in Sanskrit सन्धि कें भेद
When you do sandhi you take the last letter of the word and add it to the first letter of the next word to form a new word
वेद (veda) + अन्त (anta) = वेदान्त (vedanta)
In simple words, the first word can be vowel/Swar (स्वर) or a consonant/ vyanjan (व्यंजन).
If you combine two vowels, you have स्वर सन्धि (Swar sandhi),
If you combine two consonants, you have व्यंजन सन्धि (vyanjan sandhi),
and if Visarga is involved in the combination, you have विसर्ग सन्धि (visarga sandhi).
So you can conclude that you have three types of sandhi
स्वर सन्धि (swar sandhi)
व्यंजन सन्धि (vyanjan sandhi)
विसर्ग सन्धि (visarga sandhi)
स्वर सन्धि (swar sandhi)
As you have learned above, when two vowels are closer, the deformation (विकार) is known as स्वर सन्धि / vowel sandhi (swar sandhi).
For example,
विद्या (knowledge) + आलय (house) = विद्यालय (house of knowledge or school)
If you observe, the अ from विद्या (व् +इ +द् +य् +अ) combines with आ from आलय to form a new word विद्यालय,
Let’s see some more examples,
| अ + अ = आ | सुर + अरि = सुरारिः |
| अ + आ = आ | हिम + आलय = हिमालय |
| आ + अ = आ | दया + अर्णवः = दयार्णवः |
| आ + आ = आ | विद्या + आलय = विद्यालय |
| इ + इ = ई | गिरि + इन्द्रः = गिरीन्द्रः |
| इ + ई = ई | क्षिति + ईशः = क्षितीशः |
| ई + इ = ई | सुधी + इन्द्रः = सुधीन्द्रः |
| ई + ई = ई | श्री + ईशः = श्रीशः |
Related:
Type of swar sandhi
There are eight types of Swar sandhi in Sanskrit (Vowel sandhi).
स्वर सन्धि आठ प्रकार की होती हैं
- दीर्घ सन्धि
- गुण सन्धि
- वृद्धि सन्धि
- यण् सन्धि
- अयादि सन्धि
- पुर्वरुप सन्धि
- पररुप सन्धि
- प्रकृति भाव सन्धि
व्यंजन सन्धि Consonant Sandhi (Vyanjan Sandhi)
Let’s talk about Vyanjan Sandhi. As you have learned, the combination of two vowels is swar sandhi. Similarly, a combination of two vyanjan (consonants) or one consonant and a vowel is known as Vyanjan sandhi. Vayanjan sandhi is also known as हल् sandhi.
For example,
उत् + चारणम् = उच्चारणम्
उत् + ज्वलः = उज्जवलः
षट् + दर्शनम् = षड्दर्शनम्
Types of Vyanjan sandhi-व्यंजन सन्धि के प्रकार।
- श्चुत्व सन्धि
- ष्टुत्व सन्धि
- जश्त्व सन्धि
विसर्ग सन्धि Visarga sandhi
The combination of visarga with the alphabet (vowel or consonant) is known as विसर्ग सन्धि।
For example,
निः + चलः = निश्चलः
इत + ततः = इतस्ततः
दुः + शासन = दुश्शासन
Types of Visarga sandhi-विसर्ग सन्धि के प्रकार।
- सत्व सन्धि
- रूत्व सन्घि
- उत्व सन्धि
- लोप सन्धि
Thank you
Om Tat Sat