Now, I’m excited to completely relaunch TypeDevanagari as SanskritTypist - completely rebuilt and redesigned from the ground up for iPhone and iPad. And the best part? There’s ZERO learning curve. Just use the familiar English keyboard, and long press to access alternate characters for each letter. It’s that simple. Just take a look!

As you can see, simply type the English characters by sound and see them appear in Devanagari. Long press for additional characters that match the English letter:

To make things even easier, SanskritTypist includes smart vowel handling. Just type “aa” and you’ll get आ / ा / ā. Type “ii” and you’ll get ई / ी / ī, etc. Even better, the app automatically switches between full vowels and matras depending on where you are in the word - no extra effort needed.

• Raama → राम / Rāma

• Siitaa → सीता / Sītā

• Hanuman → हनुमान् / Hanumān

This makes typing in IAST extremely easy!

The only tricky part is installing the SanskritTypist Devanagari & IAST keyboard. Here are the steps:

1. Open Settings: Go to Settings → General → Keyboard → Keyboards

2. Add New Keyboard: Tap 'Add New Keyboard' and search for 'SanskritTypist'. Add 'Devanagari' and 'IAST' keyboards

3. Start Typing: Switch to your new keyboard in any app by tapping the globe icon 🌐 on any keyboard

Here is exactly how:

If you download and like the app, please do leave a positive review. It really helps! And do leave a comment on here if you have questions!

Download SanskritTypist

Happy Sanskrit Typing!

But there is one key feature that I’ve been working on that didn’t make it into the initial version of the app. I’m super excited to share that you can view full declensions for every word that has declensions in the latest version of the app!

Simply click View Declension Tables in the word definition view:

And a new declensions table screen will come up:

Note that you can view the declensions in Roman IAST or traditional Devanagari style!

I hope this will help Sanskrit students dive deeper into the grammar behind each word :)

Happy Learning 🫶

As I’ve been studying Sanskrit over the past few years, I’ve had fellow students just beginning to read original texts reach out to me asking for a link to a Sanskrit dictionary where they could just look up a word. I’d usually respond with something like, “Happy to show you how to look up a word in a Sanskrit dictionary, but we’ll need to schedule a 30-minute to 1-hour Zoom session to go over it.”

They’d, in turn, reply, “I just want to look up one word…” And again, I’d have to explain that this seemingly simple task is actually impossible without a proper walkthrough, which takes time. Reluctantly, they’d agree to schedule the session - reluctantly because they were in the middle of reading and just wanted a quick lookup. Now they would have to full stop their studies until the call.

Why did I need to schedule a Zoom session? Because looking up even a single word in the current Sanskrit dictionaries involves several steps, each with its own steep learning curve for beginners:

Step 1: Download and learn to use a Sanskrit Devanagari or IAST keyboard.

To use the existing Sanskrit dictionary websites, you need to input words using very specific Sanskrit notations: Devangari, IAST, SLP1, Velthuis, Harvard-Kyoto, etc! . Among these, Devanagari and IAST are the ones that students are most familiar with and are likely to appear in text. So, to look up a word exactly as it appears in the text, they need to install and learn to use a specialized Devanagari or IAST keyboard on their computer or mobile device. The alternative is to use notations like SLP1, which can be typed with a standard keyboard - but this requires learning how to transliterate the word from Devanagari or IAST into that notation. Either path presents a significant learning curve, especially for beginners.

With the Sanskrit Lexicon app, this entire step becomes optional. You can simply type in plain, diacritic-free IAST. For example, instead of typing kṛṣṇa, you can just type krsna and it’ll work! The app also recognizes common alternate spellings like krishna or rishi for ṛṣi. No special keyboard. No transliteration tools. Just type and go.

And if you do want to type in another transliteration scheme including SLP1, Velthuis, Harvard-Kyoto, etc - it just works! No need to specify which scheme you’re using. The app figures it out automatically.

Step 2: Get the Word Root

Now comes the tricky part… If you’re reading a Sanskrit text, chances are you’ll encounter declined or conjugated forms of most words. For example, रामः (rāmaḥ) is a declension of राम (rāma). So if you try to look up रामः (rāmaḥ) in any of the available dictionaries, even with proper Devanagari spelling, you won’t find it!

Why? Because the current available Sanskrit dictionaries only recognize root headwords - NOT their declined or conjugated forms. This means that, as a student, you first have to go to a completely different website, input the form you found in your text, and retrieve the root word. Only then can you return to the dictionary and look it up.

This extra step, which includes understanding grammatical roots, adds yet another steep learning curve for beginners who just want to look up a word and keep reading.

I’m excited to share that the Sanskrit Lexicon app solves this problem! You can put in any declined word form and most conjugated forms and the app will automatically identify the root headword. Even better, it also provides grammatical details about the form you entered, so you not only find the word, but also understand its role in the sentence. Here are the three headword options you’ll see when you type in “रामः” in the Sanskrit Lexicon app:

Step 3: Parsing through countless dictionaries and definitions

Even if a Sanskrit student manages to get through the first two steps of downloading and figuring out how to use a Sanskrit keyboard, and then figuring out how to get a headword out of the declined or conjugated form of the word, they’ll soon run into an even bigger challenge: choosing the right dictionary and the right definition.

There are over ten widely used Sanskrit-English dictionaries, plus several specialized indexes, and each one can contain multiple definitions for the same word. Most students default to using Monier-Williams or Apte, since they’re the most popular. But doing so often means missing out on nuanced or specialized meanings that could be more relevant to the text you’re reading.

There are also aggregate dictionary services that try to solve this by showing definitions from all sources… but these can easily overwhelm you with 100+ definitions, many of them duplicates or barely distinguishable, leaving you stuck sorting through a flood of information just to find what you need.

This is where Sanskrit Lexicon app does something different… instead of sorting definitions by dictionaries and letting the user select which dictionaries they prefer, the definitions are sorted by context across dictionaries and indexes!

For example, here are the definition contexts you’ll find for Krishna:

When you expand each category, you’ll be able to see the exact definitions across dictionaries:

Now you can easily search for the definitions that fit within the context of what you’re reading! And easily spot the duplicates!

The Sanskrit Lexicon app includes the following dictionaries:

• Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary (1899 & 1872)

• Apte Practical Sanskrit-English Dictionary

• Wilson Sanskrit-English Dictionary

• Yates Sanskrit-English Dictionary

• Macdonell Sanskrit-English Dictionary

• Cappeller Sanskrit-English Dictionary

• Śabda-Sāgara Sanskrit-English Dictionary

• Goldstücker Sanskrit-English Dictionary

• Benfey Sanskrit-English Dictionary

• Lanman’s Sanskrit Reader Vocabulary

• Vaidya Sanskrit-English Dictionary

And the following Indexes:

• Index to the Names in the Mahābhārata

• Mahābhārata Cultural Index

• The Vedic Index of Names and Subjects

• The Purāṇa Index

• Puranic Encyclopedia

• Meulenbeld's Sanskrit Names of Plants

• Indian Epigraphical Glossary

But wait, there’s more!

The Sanskrit Lexicon app comes with a few more thoughtful features that can make a big difference in your studies and help you spend more time reading and less time troubleshooting. 😊

Combined Devanagari & IAST Output

While many of us aspire to read everything in Devanagari, it can take time to get fully comfortable with the script. That’s why the Sanskrit Lexicon app displays both Devanagari and IAST side-by-side - everywhere: in search results, word entries, and definitions.

There’s no need to choose between them or toggle back and forth. You see both at once, which makes it easier to learn Devanagari naturally, with IAST as your guide.

Store Favorites

Some words just keep showing up, and it helps to revisit them until they really stick. With the Sanskrit Lexicon app, you can easily “favorite” any word by tapping the ⭐️ icon.

This way, you can quickly return to words you’re learning or reviewing, without having to search all over again.

Add Notes

When learning Sanskrit, a student quickly discovers that dictionary definitions are just the starting point. You might want to jot down the context in which a word appeared, a teacher’s explanation, subtle nuances, or even your own memory aids. That’s why the Sanskrit Lexicon app lets you add personal notes to any word. Whether it’s a grammar tip, a usage example, or a reminder of how a word connects to a verse you’re studying, your insights stay saved right alongside the word itself!

Share Definitions

Want to save a definition elsewhere or send it to a friend? With the Sanskrit Lexicon app, you can easily share any definition - via WhatsApp, iMessage, email, or save it to apps like Notes, Dropbox, or your study system of choice. Perfect for building your own flashcards, study sheets, or just keeping track of key words.

More to come

This is just the beginning - even more features are on the way! Stay tuned as Sanskrit Lexicon continues to grow and evolve to support your learning journey.

Download Sanskrit Lexicon

Sandhiḥ might be one of the most confusing and intimidating concepts for a beginner who is trying to read a Sanskrit text. Take, for example, this shloka from the Bhagavad Gita: 

तद्बुद्धयस्तदात्मानस्तन्निष्ठास्तत्परायणा: |

गच्छन्त्यपुनरावृत्तिं ज्ञाननिर्धूतकल्मषा: ||5.17||

tadbuddhayastadātmānastanniṣṭhāstatparāyaṇā: |

gacchantyapunarāvṛttiṃ jñānanirdhūtakalmaṣā: ||5.17||

To even approach this shloka, the knowledge of how to split the letters into the following individual words is needed: 

तद्-बुद्धयः तद्-आत्मानः तद्-निष्ठाः तद्-परायणाः।

गच्छन्ति अ-पुनः-आ-वृत्तिम् ज्ञान-निर्-धूत-कल्मषाः ||5.17||

tad-buddhayaḥ tad-ātmānaḥ tad-niṣṭhāḥ tad-parāyaṇāḥ।

gacchanti a-punaḥ-ā-vṛttim jñāna-nir-dhūta-kalmaṣāḥ ||5.17||

But, in reality, Sandhiḥ is a scientific way of expressing a very natural phenomenon that occurs in every language, including English. 

The word सन्धिः (Sandhiḥ) means “union, junction, connection, combination”. In the context of Sanskrit grammar, Sandhiḥ is the science of how sounds are joined together in the vocal tract. After all, although there is an alphabet which presents each letter as an individual standalone sound, in practice, on a daily conversational speech level, we humans do not ever communicate in individual sounds, but with a group of sounds joined together. 

The goal of this book is to explain the Sandhiḥ rules in a simple way, yet staying true to the original Sanskrit grammar of Pāṇini. So once you know some of the basic rules and practice speaking these combinations of sounds out loud, you will see how natural Sandhiḥ really is.

Buy Now

The app is Shloka Reader and it can be used for several purposes:

Sanskrit to IAST & SLP1 Transliteration

Simply take a picture of a Shloka, and get the original Devanagari and its IAST, and SLP1 transliterations. This is great for those who are studying Devanagari script, but need that extra verification of seeing the transliteration to make sure they are reading it correctly! And for those who already know Devanagari, it’s great to get the actual text without having to type it (with potential mistakes as I often do…)

Sharing Shlokas

In my case, many times I need to post the Devanagari text in my blog with the transliteration included. To do this, simply, click the share icon next to each transliteration and share to your computer, add to your Notes, Dropbox, WhatsApp, and much more!

Save Your Favorite Shlokas

Some shlokas are very special, and you may have to keep referring to them over and over again. In this case, you can keep a small Shloka journal of your favorite Shlokas! Simply click the “Save Shloka” Button. Add a title and note about where this shloka is from and why this shloka is special to you:

You will see all your saved Shlokas on the home page. Simply click on it to edit the title and notes!

I hope you enjoy using ShlokaReader. This is just the first version, so if you have any thoughts, feedback, additional feature requests, let me know in the comments!

The key to Sanskrit grammar comes in the form of 14 sutras, which are a reorganization of the Sanskrit alphabet. This genius system of grammar was realized by the grammarian Pāṇini.

The story of Pāṇini is very interesting, and although not verified, it is told briefly in the Kathāsaritsāgara, a collection of ancient Indian stories and legends: 

Pāṇini was a student of the teacher Varsha. He deeply longed to learn, but sadly was really stupid. Varsha’s wife sent him to the Himalayas, where he prayed to Lord Śiva. Pleased with his prayers, Lord Śiva revealed a new Sanskrit Grammar to him, superior to all past systems of grammar that the other students knew. 

Tawney, C.H. 1880. Katha Sarit Sagara or Ocean of the Streams of Story. Vol. 1. Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal. (p 17)

Since Pāṇini grammar is based on the revelation of Lord Śiva, the 14 sutras are called माहेश्वरसूत्राणि (Māheśvara Sūtras) as Māheśvara is another name for Lord Śiva. The माहेश्वरसूत्राणि (Māheśvara Sūtras) are as follows: 

१. अ इ उ ण्

२. ऋ ऌ क्

३. ए ओ ङ्

४. ऐ औ च्

५. ह य व र ट्

६. ल ण्

७. ञ म ङ ण न म्

८. झ भ ञ्

९. घ ढ ध ष्

१०. ज ब ग ड द श्

११. ख फ छ ठ थ च ट त व्

१२. क प य्

१३. श ष स र्

१४. ह ल्

These sūtras are the foundation of Sanskrit grammar in the form of Pratyāhāras…

प्रत्याहाराः (Pratyāhārāḥ)

Note that each Sūtra ends with a consonant + virāma. For example, the first sūtra १. अ इ उ ण् (1. a i u ṇ) ends with ण् (ṇ), the second sūtra २. ऋ ऌ क् (2. ṛ ḷ k) ends with क् (k), the third sūtra ३. ए ओ ङ् (3. e o ṅ) ends with ङ् (ṅ), and so on. 

These ending consonants are meant as sort of bookmarks or flags, and should not be counted as part of the अक्षराणि (Akṣaras) listed in the sūtra. So for example, the first sūtra १. अ इ उ ण् (1. a i u ṇ) includes the अक्षराणि (Akṣaras) अ इ उ (a i u) and NOT ण् (ṇ), the second sūtra २. ऋ ऌ क् (2. ṛ ḷ k) includes the अक्षराणि (Akṣaras) ऋ ऌ (ṛ ḷ) and NOT क् (k). The third sūtra ३. ए ओ ङ् (3. e o ṅ) includes the अक्षराणि (Akṣaras) ए ओ and NOT ङ् (ṅ), etc. 

These ending flags are then used to form प्रत्याहाराः (Pratyāhāras) or encoded phrases that denote the letters included in them, which are later used as decryption keys for Sanskrit Grammar. For example, let’s take the प्रत्याहार (Pratyāhāra) अक्. The अ in अक् denotes the starting letter and the क् denotes the ending as follows: 

१. अ इ उ ण्

२. ऋ ऌ क्

३. ए ओ ङ्

४. ऐ औ च्

…

This means that अक् is a shorthand for अक्षराणि (Akṣaras) अ इ उ ऋ ऌ. Note that ण् and क् are NOT included as stated above! Yet, the क् is used to mark the end point of the प्रत्याहार (Pratyāhāra). 

Another commonly used प्रत्याहार (Pratyāhāra) is यण्. Looking for the Akṣara य in the sūtras as the starting point and ending of ण्, we come to the 5th sūtra)

…

४. ऐ औ च्

५. ह य व र ट्

६. ल ण्

७. ञ म ङ ण न म्

…

As a result, the प्रत्याहार (Pratyāhāra) यण् includes the अक्षराणि (Akṣaras) य व र ल. 

The Shiva Sutras App

To visualize the various प्रत्याहार (Pratyāhāra), simply click on the green start letter, then the red end letter in the app and see which letters on the Sanskrit Alphabet Table will become colorful! For example, here the प्रत्याहार (Pratyāhāra) अच् is displayed:

You can also use the letter picker at the bottom to select the correct प्रत्याहार (Pratyāhāra).

Hope you enjoy the app as much as I do!

In this post, I’d like to go over the different official rules that make up this entire Vowel Sandi chart to understand how it is derived. A big thank you to Dr. Bhaswati Bhattacharya for patiently guiding me through understanding such deep sacred knowledge 🙏

The Sandhi Chart

A Sandhi is when two words are combined into one word. In ancient texts, where each shloka is written in a certain meter called chandas (think Shakespeare iambic pentameter as an example of this), words are combined to compress the number of syllables in a sentence (think “do not” => “don’t”) and also to group certain concepts together.

The Sandhi chart is below:

To read it, take two words and try to combine them. Let’s take आत्मनि (in himself) + एव​ (only) from Bhagavad Gita Ch 3.17. The final letter of आत्मनि is इ. The initial letter of एव​ is ए. Looking at the chart above you will see that the intersecting Sandhi of इ & ए is ये. So the combination of these words becomes आत्मन्येव​.

आत्मनि + एव​ = आत्मन्येव.

How is this chart derived from the Pāṇini shlokas? Let’s start with a shloka I mentioned in the previous blog post as a review and go from there to more rules!

इको यणचि

Pāṇini calls this rule इको यणचि - you can see it in Book 6, Chapter 1, Sutra 77 (6.1.77):

If we undo the Sandhi (letter combinations) of this rule into Padas इको यणचि, the three words that emerge will be इकः यण् अचि.

इकः

इकः refers to all the letters in the Maheshawara Sutras from इ to क्:

१. अ इ उ ण्।
२. ऋ ऌ क्।

So this includes इ ई उ ऊ ऋ ॠ ऌ ॡ.

यण्

The second word यण् refers to all the letters in the Maheshawara Sutras from य to ण् :

५. ह य व र ट्।
६. ल ण्।

So this includes य व र ल.

अचि

अच् refers to all the vowels:

१. अ इ उ ण्।
२. ऋ ऌ क्।
३. ए ओ ङ्।
४. ऐ औ च्।

अ आ इ ई उ ऊ ऋ ॠ ऌ ॡ ए ओ ऐ औ

Putting it Together

This means that when a word with the final letter as इ ई उ ऊ ऋ ॠ ऌ ॡ (इकः) combines with a word that starts with a vowel (अचि), the substitute sandhi letters य व र ल (यण्) should respectively be used as follows:

• इ + vowel = य, ई + vowel = य

• उ + vowel = व, ऊ + vowel = व

• ऋ + vowel = र, ॠ + vowel = र

• ऌ + vowel = ल, ॡ + vowel = ल

Here it is in the light squares on the Sandhi chart I created where a word that ends with a vowel (final) is combined with a word that begins with a vowel (initial):

Note that ॠ and ऌ are not included in this chart, as they are very very rarely used!

Examples:

• कर्मसु (in fruitful activities) + अनुषज्जते (one necessarily engages) = कर्मस्वनुषज्जते (उ + अ = व), Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 6.4

• इति​ (thus) + उच्यते (is said) = इत्युच्यते (इ + उ = यु), Bhagavad Gita, Ch 6.8

• अनुगृह्णाति (maintains) + अविकृतः (normal state) = अनुगृह्णात्यविकृतः (इ + अ = य​), Ashtangra Hrdaya, Sutrasthana, Ch 11.2

अकः सवर्णे दीर्घः

You might have noticed in the above rule that there were exceptions in the इकः rows that did not follow इको यणचि. That is because when the letters combine together with their twin, the अकः सवर्णे दीर्घः rule is used, reference 6.1.101:

अकः

अकः applies to the Maheshwara Sutras:

१. अ इ उ ण्।
२. ऋ ऌ क्।

This includes the letters अ आ इ ई उ ऊ ऋ ॠ ऌ ॡ.

सवर्णे

सवर्ण means “of the same color”. This refers to when the final and initial vowels of the words that are to be combined are the same. The example given is श्री + ईश​, where श्री ends with an ई and ईश begins with an ई.

However, given that this rule applies to letters “of the same color” as so elegantly stated, combining short and long vowels counts as well. For example, let’s take न (never) + आदत्ते (accepts) from Bhagavad Gita 5.15. न ends in a short अ while आदत्ते starts with a long आ. अ and आ here are of “similar color” 😍

दीर्घः

दीर्घ refers to long vowels -आ ई ऊ ॠ ॡ.

Putting it Together

This rule says that for अकः letters (अ आ इ ई उ ऊ ऋ ॠ ऌ ॡ) - when you combine a word that ends in one of these letters with another one that starts with a letter “of a similar color” - it’s a short or long form, the resulting Sandhi is the long form (दीर्घ) of the letter:

Examples:

• श्री + ईश​ = श्रीश

• न + आदत्ते = नादत्ते

• विष्णु + उदय​ = विष्णूदय​

एचोऽयवायावः

The next rule is एचोऽयवायावः - according to Pāṇini 6.1.78:

The padas split individual words or padas of एचोऽयवायावः are एचः अय् अव् आय् आव्.

एचः

From the Maheshwara sutras:

३. ए ओ ङ्।
४. ऐ औ च्।

This rule applies to the letters ए ओ ऐ औ.

अय् अव् आय् आव्

The letters ए ओ ऐ औ are substituted with अय् अव् आय् आव् respectively:

ए => अय्

ओ => अव्

ऐ => आय्

औ => आव्

It looks as follows in the Sandhi chart:

Examples:

• चै + अक् = चायकः

• लो + अन् = लवनं

• लौ + अक् = लावकः

एङः पदान्तादति

You might have noticied that the previous rule did not apply in the case of ए + अ and ओ + अ. This is where the एङः पदान्तादति rule comes in from Pāṇini 6.1.109:

The padas for एङः पदान्तादति are एङ् पदान्तात् अति.

एङ्

From the Maheshwara Sutras, this rule applies to:

३. ए ओ ङ्।

Only ए and ओ.

पदान्तात्

पदान्तात् means final sound.

अति

This refers to the short अ.

Putting it Together

When the final sound of a word is ए or ओ and the initial letter of the next word is अ, then the अ becomes ऽ, an avagraha (or apostrophe) in Sanskrit as follows:

Examples:

• मोक्ष्यसे (you will be released) + अशुभत् (from the miserable material existance) = मोक्ष्यसेऽशुभत्, Bhagavad Gita 9.1

• ते (they) + अन्तमध्यादिगाः (beginning, middle, end) = तेऽन्तमध्यादिगाः, Ashtanga Hrdaya, Sutrasthana Ch 1.7

आद्गुणः

This rule is a bit confusing and needs some background. It comes from Pāṇini 6.1.87:

The padas for आद्गुणः are आत् गुणः.

आत्

In this case आत् refers to a word that has the final letters as अ or आ.

गुणः

This is the tricky part. To understand what a गुणः is, we have to refer to rule अदेङ् गुणः from Pāṇini 1.1.2:

This says that गुणः includes the letters अ ए ओ. Further, in Pāṇini 1.1.3 इको गुणवृद्धी rule commentary (sorry, I looked at the mentioned sutra but couldn’t find the same mapping like it has it here), it states that the mapping for गुणः is as follows:

The guna of:

• इ or ई = ए

• उ or ऊ = ओ

• ऋ or ॠ = अर्

• ऌ or ॡ = अल्

Keep these mappings in mind!

Putting it Together

So the आद्गुणः rule is saying that when a word ends with an अ or आ, the sandhi substitution should be a guna using the following mapping:

इ or ई = ए
उ or ऊ = ओ
ऋ or ॠ = अर्
ऌ or ॡ = अल्

You can see this in the Sandhi chart:

Examples:

• माला + इन्द्रः = मालेन्द्रः

• तव + ईहते = तवेहते

• खद्वा + उदकम् = खद्वोदकम्

• तव + ऋश्यः = तवर्श्यः

• तव + ऌकारः = तवल्कारः

वृद्धिरेचि

You might have noticed that the above rule did not apply to all the vowels following अ or आ. That is because the letters initial letters of the next word ए ऐ ओ औ follow an exception rule called वृद्धिरेचि from Pāṇini 6.1.88:

The padas for वृद्धिरेचि are वृद्धिः एचि.

वृद्धिः

However, instead of being replaced by the गुणः letters stated in the previous sutra, these are replaced by वृद्धिः letters mentioned in Pāṇini 1.1.1:

This says that the वृद्धिः letters are आ ऐ औ.

एचि

The एचि rule applies to the following Maheshwara sutras:

३. ए ओ ङ्।
४. ऐ औ च्।

And therefore applies to letters ए ओ ऐ औ.

Putting it Together

So this sutra says that when the final letter of a preceding word is अ आ and the initial letter of the following word is ए ओ ऐ or औ (एचि), then the replacement sandhi should be ऐ or औ (वृद्धिः), which is what we see in the Sandhi table:

Examples:

• ब्रह्म + एडका = ब्रह्मैडका

• ब्रह्म + ओदनः = ब्रह्मौदनः

• ब्रह्म + औपगवः = ब्रह्मौपगवः

Conclusion

This is probably one of the most fascinating systems of grammar I have ever experienced. It’s like a big complicated puzzle with special keys to figure out at different levels. I LOVE Sanskrit for this!

Note that this is me learning it all and trying to explain it, so I’m sure I’m missing some rules (after all, there are 3,959 of them!) and might not have explained some concepts well. Hope this helps regardless!

The order that these sounds came out in are heard in the 14 Māheśvara Sūtras that Dr. Bhaswati Bhattacharya taught me about:

१. अ इ उ ण्।
२. ऋ ऌ क्।
३. ए ओ ङ्।
४. ऐ औ च्।
५. ह य व र ट्।
६. ल ण्।
७. ञ म ङ ण न म्।
८. झ भ ञ्।
९. घ ढ ध ष्।
१०. ज ब ग ड द श्।
११. ख फ छ ठ थ च ट त व्।
१२. क प य्।
१३. श ष स र्।
१४. ह ल्।

These sutras require a bit of decoding, which Dr. Bhaswati shared with me.

Where are the Long Vowels?

First, if you try to match these letters to the Sanskrit alphabet, you will notice that some of the long vowels are missing, including आ ई ऊ ॠ ॡ. Since these are of the same “color” as their short counterparts अ इ उ ऋ ऌ, they are assumed by default and are therefore included.

ए vs ऐ and ओ vs औ are considered to be unique enough sounds, where they do have separate sutras to include both!

The Bookmarks

You will notice that each sutra ends with a letter + virama. For example, the first sutra ends with ण्, the second sutra ends with क्, the third sutra ends with ङ्, etc. These are to be considered not as letters themselves, but as bookmarks.

The Shortcut

So now we can have grammar shortcuts to include certain letters. For example, when I say अच् - we find अ in the first sutra and include all letters except the bookmarks until we reach च् as the bookmark in sutra 4.

१. अ इ उ ण्।
२. ऋ ऌ क्।
३. ए ओ ङ्।
४. ऐ औ च्।

Remember that the long vowels are assumed, and the bookmarks are just bookmarks and are therefore not included. So this will include letters अ आ इ ई उ ऊ ऋ ॠ ऌ ॡ ए ओ ऐ औ - all the vowels!

इको यणचि (iko yaṇaci)

So now let’s use this to decrypt an actual Sanskrit grammar rule from Pāṇini, an ancient Sanskrit philologist and grammarian.

Pāṇini calls this rule इको यणचि - you can see it in Book 6, Chapter 1, Sutra 77 (6.1.77):

If we undo the Sandhi (letter combinations) of this rule इको यणचि, the three words that emerge will be इकः यण् अचि.

इकः

इकः refers to all the letters in the Maheshawara Sutras from इ to क्:

१. अ इ उ ण्।
२. ऋ ऌ क्।

So this includes इ ई उ ऊ ऋ ॠ ऌ ॡ. Note that अ is NOT included as we’re starting from इ!

यण्

The second word यण् refers to all the letters in the Maheshawara Sutras from य to ण् :

५. ह य व र ट्।
६. ल ण्।

So this includes य व र ल.

अचि

I have already mentioned अच् refers to all the vowels:

१. अ इ उ ण्।
२. ऋ ऌ क्।
३. ए ओ ङ्।
४. ऐ औ च्।

अ आ इ ई उ ऊ ऋ ॠ ऌ ॡ ए ओ ऐ औ

Putting it Together

This means that when a word with the last letter as इ ई उ ऊ ऋ ॠ ऌ ॡ (इकः) combines with a word that starts with a vowel (अचि), the substitute sandhi letters य व र ल (यण्) should respectively be used as follows:

• इ + vowel = य, ई + vowel = य

• उ + vowel = व, ऊ + vowel = व

• ऋ + vowel = र, ॠ + vowel = र

• ऌ + vowel = ल, ॡ + vowel = ल

Here it is in the light squares on the Sandhi chart I created where a word that ends with a vowel (final) is combined with a word that begins with a vowel (initial):

Note that ॠ and ऌ are not included in this chart, as they are very very rarely used!

Examples:

• कर्मसु (in fruitful activities) + अनुषज्जते (one necessarily engages) = कर्मस्वनुषज्जते (उ + अ = व), Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 6.4

• इति​ (thus) + उच्यते (is said) = इत्युच्यते (इ + उ = यु), Bhagavad Gita, Ch 6.8

• अनुगृह्णाति (maintains) + अविकृतः (normal state) = अनुगृह्णात्यविकृतः (इ + अ = य​), Ashtangra Hrdaya, Sutrasthana, Ch 11.2

Conclusion

Just like reading the ancient Ayurvedic texts, the Sanskrit grammar rules themselves are highly encrypted and need a guide to help you learn them. The Māheśvara Sūtras are one such decryption key, so if you’re serious about learning Sanskrit, learn these sutras!

Thank you Dr. Bhaswati for being my guide 🙏

So this is why I’m soooooo excited to have finally made exactly the keyboard I wanted for iPhone / iPad. Meet Type Devanagari! It’s a keyboard that uses the standard English keyboard with a few extra keys to let you type in IAST-inspired notation.

For example “आ”, which is “ā” in IAST, is typed as “-a”. The dash from the top of the of the a is just typed first. Similarly, “ण”, which is “ṇ” in IAST, is typed as “n.” - the . at the bottom is typed second. The app includes both Sanskrit and IAST keyboard options! Now it’s very easy to use an online dictionary like Kosha.Sanskrit.today from mobile.

Here is what the keyboard looks like:

Here is the full keyboard mapping from the app:

Happy Typing!

Gaṇeśa was originally born as a normal baby with a normal human head. His parents were overjoyed and threw a big festivity, with all celestial beings coming to give their blessings. 

Saturn also came to bless the child. The whole time, he was looking downward and wouldn’t look at the child. But Pārvatī wanted him to look at the child! So Saturn told her why he wouldn’t look at the child. 

When he was young, he was a great devotee of Lord Kṛṣṇa and always doing tapas. But his father married him off, and one day, as he was doing tapas, his wife wanted to be pleasured. She bathed and dressed beautifully, went to Saturn and asked him to look at her. But he was so focused on his tapas, he ignored her. She got super upset and cursed him that whatever he looks at will be destroyed! He explained to Pārvatī that because of this curse, he will not look at her baby. 

But Pārvatī laughed it off, thinking that she had divine will with her in her festivities, and insisted that Saturn look at Gaṇeśa. Saturn looked and immediately Gaṇeśa’s head fell off! All the gods stood in shock. However, Lord Viṣṇu mounted his vehicle, Garuḍa, and flew around until he found an elephant enjoying himself. He cut off the elephant’s head and brought it back to Pārvatī, where he joined the head onto Gaṇeśa’s body and brought him back to life, now a baby with an elephant head! 

After rejoicing, Pārvatī cursed Saturn to be lame. Saturn’s father, the Sun, and brother, Yama got upset since Saturn clearly warned Pārvatī of what would happen and only looked at her child at her own insistence. Pārvatī couldn’t reverse her curse, made in the heat of the moment, but she added several blessings to Saturn: 

“O Saturn, with my blessing you will function as the lord of the planets, beloved of the lord, have a long life and become Indra among the yogis. The devotees of lord Hari do not have to face any miseries from today onwards from you. You will have uninterrupted and deep devotion in the lord”. (Nagar, Brahmavaivarta Purana n.d., 566)

This story provides a lot of deep aspects of Saturn: 

Saturn as an Ascetic

This story tells a lot about the personification of Saturn. First, it shows how much of an ascetic / renunciate Saturn is. Even though he had an eager wife willing to make love to him, he didn’t even notice her as he was so focused on doing his tapas! 

Saturn as a Karma Karaka

Saturn made sure to cast his glance downward and only looked at the baby at Pārvatī’s insistence after she was fully aware of his curse. This shows Saturn’s awareness of his powers and that he doesn’t specifically want to go hurting anyone.

While explaining why he couldn’t look at the baby, Saturn made sure to discuss Dharma with Pārvatī: 

“All the people have to face the result of their deeds. Whatever good or bad deeds are done, they cannot be washed away even after completion of crores of kalpas. The Jīva is born as Brahmā, Indra and Sūrya because of his deeds and also is reborn as an animal because of his deeds.” (Nagar, Brahmavaivarta Purana n.d., 560) 

This shows Saturn’s role as a Karma Karaka. He doesn’t just go around terrorizing anyone in sight and randomly causing difficulties. He causes difficulties based on each person’s karma! That is why, it is considered that for some, the Saturn period might be extremely difficult while others might even get positive results. 

Saturn as the Remover of Ego

The cutting off of Gaṇeśa’s head seems very violent and unjust. But it can be seen as the removal of ego. That is what Saturn does – he removes the ego! This is a very violent process and requires a death and a rebirth, as we can see from this story of Gaṇeśa dying and being reborn with a new head. 

The Power of Saturn

After Saturn cut off Gaṇeśa’s head “all the gods were surprised and were flabbergasted. They stood there like puppets. All the gods, the goddesses, the mountains, Gandharvas and all dwellers of Kailasa behaved similarly” (Nagar, Brahmavaivarta Purana n.d., 562). This shows the true power of Saturn. None of the gods and divine beings accept Viṣṇu were able to do anything after Saturn’s gaze! 

Pārvatī herself laughed off Saturn’s story thinking there was no way that someone as powerful as her or her divine son could be touched by Saturn, but even her ego was removed as she learned the hard way that even gods were impacted by Saturn’s gaze!  

This story is taken from:

*Nagar, Shanti Lal. n.d. Brahmavaivarta Purana. Vol. 1. Delhi: Parimal Publications. p 559-566

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The story of Narasimha is told in Bhagavata Purana, Seventh Skanda (I highly recommend reading it in the unabridged translation by Bibek Debroy!). The short version is as follows:

There was once an asura name Hiranyakashipu who did incredible penance that earned him a boon from Brahma. Hiranyakashipu, wishing immortality, asked that he would not be killed inside the house or outside, during day or night, not through a weapon, not on the ground or in the sky, not through a man or animal. Brahma granted the boon.

This gave Hiranyakashipu incredible power, which he used for his personal gain to conquer the three worlds! He lived in abundance covered in riches with everyone serving him.

However, he had a son named Prahlada who was deeply devotional to Vishnu. While Prahlada was in his mothers womb, his mother was protected by a great rishi who taught the Vedas to her, with Prahlada listening in the womb. Prahlada had such faith in Vishnu, that he was not at all influenced by any of the asura teachers despite being a young child. In fact, he soon started telling the other asura children about the greatness of Vishnu, who also started believing in him.

This made Hiranyakashipu extremely angry. He hated Vishnu for killing his brother Hiranyaksha and here he had a son who wouldn’t stop talking about the greatness of Vishnu. Hiranyakashipu tried everything to hurt his son - teach him, say abusive words, injure him, but no matter what punishment he gave, Prahlada kept being extremely devotional.

Finally Hiranyakashipu decided he has to kill his son! But Prahlada was not disturbed. He had great faith in Vishnu. So in that moment as Hiranyakashipu was about to strike, Narasimha (not man, not animal) emerged from the pillar in the doorway (not inside, not outside) during sunset (not day, not night), put Hiranyakashipu on his lap (not on the ground, not in the sky) and killed him with his nails (not any weapon)!

It was Bhairavi who pointed out to me that Narasimha is an incarnation of a god that comes out of deep faith. Narasimha was not born like other Vishnu avatars - he just appeared literally out of a column extremely briefly in the moment of need and then disappeared. It shows that if you have unshakeable faith, you don’t need to worry. God will come help you in your deepest moment of need.

We keep hearing about “The Vedas” in a vague sense, but when you ask about what “The Vedas” really are, you will learn that it is a set of knowledge that manifested to great sages to teach us how to connect to the Paramatman - the highest universal energy, god, creator, etc. In the process, the Vedas will teach the methodology on how to live on daily basis, what to eat, what to think, which mantras to say when, what rules to follow, etc to reach that ultimate goal. But the first step to the ultimate goal is to have deep faith in the Vedas. After all, this knowledge cannot be scientifically proven. You have to trust the sages that shared what they perceived that we don’t have access to.

Dr. Satyajith pointed out that at the end of many prayers, we ask for:

श्रद्धां मेधां यशः प्रज्ञां विद्यां बुद्धिं श्रियं बलम् ।

आयुष्यं तेज आरोग्यं देहि मे हव्यवाहन ॥

You can find the full translation for this shloka here, but the first word श्रद्धां means faith. Followed by मेधां, intelligence, and यशः, success. Faith comes first, even before intelligence! It is the foundation on which all else is built.

In the course of the Vedic system of education, many unexplainable things will come up. This requires a deep faith and trust that even though it is unexplainable (to us at that level of education), it is correct.

It also requires faith that the right knowledge will come at the right time. I’m currently taking a Karma Yoga Bhagavad Gita class at the Karnataka Samskrit University where Professor Shrinivasa Varakhedi told a beautiful story about the Bhagavad Gita:

Krishna shared the Bhagavata Gita to Arjuna on the battle field, a very intense time! Later, after the war, the Pandavas asked Krishna to come and teach the Bhagavada Gita to them again as they didn’t remember it all and wanted deeper explanations. But Krishna didn’t feel like teaching, so he didn’t come.

Here, the point of the story is that Arjuna needed the Bhagavad Gita in that moment as he was on the battle field deciding whether he should go forward with killing his relatives. And in that moment of need, Krishna told it. But later, during the peace time, it was not needed, so Krishna didn’t come to teach it. When there is need, the god comes with the right knowledge to those who have faith.

If you read the Mahabharata, Ramayana, and the Puranas, you will find many such stories about the importance of faith coming up again and again! Those who have faith are saved no matter how much trouble they end up in.

Unfortunately, faith is not a quality that we cultivate in the West. We are taught that others may cheat us, to prove everything scientifically, and to question everything. Following a teacher blindly no matter how weird their request is or how much the request doesn’t make sense to us is hard to do, but that deep blind faith is required to go deep into the world of the Vedas.

The other day, we reviewed the shloka in my MA Sanskrit Studies program with my teacher Srinivasa Acharya, so I wanted to share it here. The shloka comes from the text The Bhasha Vritti 1.4.59, a commentary on Panini grammar by Purushottamadlva:

प्रपरापसमन्ववनिर्दुरभिव्यधिसूदतिनिप्रतिपर्यपयः ।

उप आङिति विंशतिरेष सखे उपसर्गविधिः कथितः कविना ।।

This is broken down into

प्र-परा-अप-सम्-अनु-अव-निर्/निस्-दुर्/दुस्-अभि-वि-अधि-सु-उत्-अति-नि-प्रति-परि-अपि

उप-आङ्-इति विंशतिः एष सखे उपसर्ग-विधिः कथितः कविना

Note that:

• आङ् refers to आ

• निर् can also be निस् (निर् / निस्) and दुर् can also be दुस् (दुर् / दुस्), so it makes a total of 22.

The order as per the shloka is therefore as follows:

• प्र, परा, अप, सम्‌, अनु, अव,

• निर्‌, निस्‌, दुर्‌, दुस्‌, अभि, वि, अधि

• सु, उत्, अति, नि

• प्रति, परि, अपि, उप, आङ्

However, the साम्प्रदायिक क्रम or the Traditional order is slightly different:

• प्र, परा, अप, सम्‌, अनु, अव,

• निस्‌, निर्‌, दुस्‌, दुर्‌, वि, आ (आङ्‌),

• नि, अधि, अपि, अति, सु, उत्,

• अभि, प्रति, परि, उप

The Upasargas can also be arranged alphabetically:

अजादि / स्वर अक्षराणि / Vowels:

• अति, अधि, अनु, अप, अपि, अभि, अव

• आ (आङ्‌)

• उत्, उप

हलादि / व्यञ्जनानि / Consonants:

• दुर्‌, दुस्‌

• नि, निर्‌, निस्‌

• परा, परि प्र, प्रति

• वि

• सम्‌, सु

Whichever order you prefer, happy memorizing!

For example, the word शुष्म etymologically comes from the root शुष्, which means to dry. Therefore, शुष्म can mean both Fire, Sun, and Wind as all of these three have a drying effect. Another word for Fire is अग्नि, which comes from the root अग्, meaning to move upward, describing the flame’s property of always moving up straight always.  Even when you turn the match horizontally, the flame will continue to move up only!

In the same way, Saturn has many Sanskrit names, which also describes his qualities in a personified way.

The common name for Saturn in Jyotish texts is शनि:

शनि can come from two different words. Either शण्, meaning to give or शो, meaning to destroy. Here we have to go above the duality of these two phrases and look for a deeper meaning. For example, by destroying your ego, Saturn can give you Moksha. One local classmate I talked to, mentioned that at the end of the miserable 7.5 year Sade Sate period, Saturn gives you a big gift at the end. Similarly, when Dr. Satyajith was giving a tour of the local Shani temple in Udupi with a massive 23-foot Shani statue, he mentioned that when Shani troubles you, he becomes as big as that statue. But once you have understood his lesson of humbleness, removing ego / arrogance / pride, he gives you blessings / help / mentorship of the same size! In this way, Saturn is personified as both the giver and the destroyer. 

According to the Amarakosha, Saturn has two names सौरि-शनैश्चरौ:

सौरि means one who is a descendant of the Sun. This refers to the mythological story of the birth of Saturn, with Sun being his father.

शनैश्चर is a combination of two words शनैस्, meaning “slowly”, and चर, meaning “one who goes”. In other words, this is describing Saturn’s quality of being the slow planet that takes the longest time to make one revolution around the sun. Looking from the perspective of Saturn representing misery, we can also connect this to misery being a long-term slow painful process. It can even be argued, that unless one attains Moksha, the whole human life is misery. Take in account cycles of rebirth, then multiple lifetimes can be full of misery. From Ayurvedic perspective, we can think of Pranayama, slowing down the breath and taking things slow to extend the life. In this way, Saturn forces us to slow down (for our own good!) even when we want to move full speed ahead. It is the planet that signifies longevity according to Jyotish texts, including Phala Dīpikā (2.7), Sārāvalī (4.27), and Uttara Kālāmṛta.

According to Sārāvalī (4.11), Saturn has several additional names:

मन्द means slow, dull, or lazy. This again may refer to the meaning similar to शनैश्चर - one who goes slowly, is lame. In Ayurveda, when one has मन्द-अग्नि, they have slow digestion and cannot digest much.

कोण means a corner or angle. In the Jyotish chart, when Saturn passes within the 90 degree angle of your moon, this is when the difficult 7.5 year Sade Sate period happens. It also means the sharp edge of a sword, a stick, a staff, or a club - perhaps describing the feeling of being in the influence of Saturn!

यम comes from the root word यम्, which means to stop or check. It is difficult to be under the influence of Saturn, but it also forces you to stop (slow down!) and check in which your life. Are you the person you should be? Are you serving society? Are you letting your ego / pride take over? It can also refer to restraint, control, penance, and purification. Those type of spiritual acts, or acts of Yoga, that require restraint. In this way, Saturn is a very spiritual teacher.

कृष्ण means black or dark. This may refer to Saturn being the son of the Sun and his shadow wife, which resulted in Saturn being of a very dark color. In a bigger sense, this can refer to the Tamasic nature of Saturn - one who puts you into darkness. It also means Iron, which is the metal of Saturn. And etymologically, it comes from the root कृष्, which means to attract the minds of men, which Saturn does!

The text Horā Sāra has additional synonyms:

The names कोण, मन्द, शनि, कृष्ण, यम, सौरि, and शनैश्चर have already been explained above as per my limited understanding. So here, I will attempt to explain the additional names:

पङ्गु means lame. This is again similar to शनैश्चर or मन्द, explaining that the reason Saturn moves slowly is due to his lameness or damage to his legs. In Sade Sate, it is common to get disease affecting the knees or legs or even breaking one’s legs or getting paralyzed from the waste down. The legs are the home of Vāta and Saturn is the planet that can create Vāta Vyadhi during its influential period. There is a famous shloka in Śārṅgadhara Saṃhitā (Section 1, 5 / 25) that uses the word पङ्गु:

This word again connects Saturn to Vāta. When Vāta is not functioning properly, then everything else (Doshas, Dhatus, Malas) in the body stops functioning properly!

सूर्यपुत्र means the son of the Sun, and is similar to Saturn’s name सौरि as described above.

छायासुत means the son of Chāya, the shadow of the Sun’s wife.

काल means time (as destroying all things), death, time of death. Saturn is a planet that kills your ego, which can cause a rebirth. In the Hindu tradition, the Saturn return (around age 30, when Saturn is back in the original position in your horoscope) and the age of 60, when both Saturn and Jupiter return to their positions as per your birth chart, are considered a time of rebirth. Since Saturn is the slowest planet, one cycle of it through your horoscope completes one cycle of your life when all planets have gone through at least one revolution.

There are likely many more Names of Saturn, but these are the ones that I personally found so far reading through the Jyotish texts. Note that all descriptions are based on my low understandings and are incomplete. As Dr. Satyajith explained the other day, Sanskrit is a living language that teaches you personally. This means that every person will get a different meaning from the same word. So I encourage to contemplate on these names of Saturn and come up with your own meanings about why the sages described Saturn by these Sanskrit words!

Note: the etymology and meanings of different words were taken from Kosha.Sanskrit.Today.

As expected, Saturn is the servant. Depending of course on Saturn’s placement in one’s horoscope, when Saturn is prominent in one’s life, such as during Sade Sate (7.5 years when Saturn is going over one’s Moon / Mind) or a Saturn Mahadasha, such things are likely to start happening that force one into servitude. One might lose their house, money, family, fame, career, etc. They might literally be forced to take service-like jobs that are below their level of knowledge and experience.

None of us want this - we of course want to be the King. But this reading of Saturn as a servant requires a deeper look.

For example, you may still be rich and successful, but are you using that money and success to buy stuff for yourself or are you using these resources to serve society? Is the knowledge you have helping others? Is your life used to serve what is good?

That is the “servantness” that Saturn is asking for of those who he afflicts. Saturn’s job is to remove one’s ego so that one can move closer to moksha or enlightenment. In this way, a “servant” is not actually considered “bad” when compared to a king. It may actually even be an advantage when it comes to the final goal of reaching moksha. Being a king is comfortable and doesn’t force such a deep look at one’s life as the misery brought on by Saturn.

In Vedic mythology, the greatness of servantness is personified by Hanuman, the monkey god who is the most devoted servant of Rama, an incarnation of Lord Vishnu. The monkey head represents our monkey mind, which, when uncontrolled, runs around everywhere, grabbing one thing after the next.

But in the case of Hanuman, he was able to conquer the monkeyness that is inherent in all of us. It is only because he was able to conquer his mind that Hanuman even QUALIFIED to be a servant of a god, after which he was entrusted with the most difficult tasks that couldn’t be entrusted to anyone else, such as finding Sita and delivering Rama’s ring to her. That is the high mark (the highest) with which an attitude of servitude should be taken.

According to some stories, Hanuman is considered to be one being that cannot be afflicted by Saturn. That is because Hanuman, as a servant, has already lost his ego and does all for selfless action. So there is nothing for Saturn to take away. Perhaps this is why the worship of Hanuman is said to help mitigate the bad effects of Saturn. The more we think about Hanuman and act like him (as the highest-level servant to what is good), the less power Saturn has.

As the commentary says - it makes no sense to study during natural disasters, when survival is the most important task.

A more detailed list of non-study days is given in Suśruta Saṃhitā, Sūtrasthāna 2.9-10:

There is some ambiguity in this shlokas for those of us not as familiar with the Hindu practices. Specifically what exactly are “other days on which the Brāhmanās do not study” and what are the times when “the person is not clean”.

As I’m studying under Ayurveda Vaidya Dr. Satyajith Kadkol, I follow the list of days that he tells all his students to follow. Which include:

• Pratipad - 1st 

• Aṣṭamī - 8th

• Caturdaśī - 14th

• Purṇimā - Full Moon

• Amāvāsyā - New Moon

• Days of Saṅkramaṇa - when the sun enters the next sign of the zodiac

• For women - days of menstruation

These days are calculated based on the Panchanga, the Vedic Lunar Calendar system. I will write out how to look up these days in the Panchanga.

Choosing a Panchanga

First, there are many versions of Panchangas, all with their own schools of thought and variations. To keep it simple, I recommend one of the following choices:

• The Udupi Krishna Matha Panchanga - this is the Panchanga that Dr. Satyajith follows. It is specific to the Udupi, India region (especially their new app). However, they have added versions for Washington DC, Chicago, LA, London, Dubai, and Sydney, which can be applied to other locations within these timezones.

• Deva.guru - this is very nice online astrological software that comes highly recommended. It has some of its own “slang” codes that it uses, but is probably the easiest to use in general.

• Divya Chakshu Android App - this app was recommended by our Medical Astrology teacher Mr. PR Selva Ganesh. Unfortunately, it is only on Android.

• Drik Panchang - this is a very popular website / iPhone / Android app. I personally love their iPhone app for daily use.

All of the above will be used to calculate the Lunar days. For Saṅkramaṇa days (when the Sun enters the next Zodiac sign) I use the Drik Panchanga website here.

You can take a look at these resources and see which one resonates most with you.

The Process

My process, to keep things simple, is to spend a day once a year, when the New Year of Panchanga starts at the end of March / April and calculate the non-study days for the whole year, which I put into my Google Calendar. Then I don’t need to worry about it for a year.

But I also use the apps on a daily basis to look up specific astrological information and to get to know the Panchanga closer for my own practice.

In this blog post, I will only focus on the specific information to look for in calculating the non-study days specifically. I will use the Deva.guru Panchanga as that’ll be the simplest to open and follow along.

The Tithi

The Panchanga is a highly scientific calendar that follows the movement of the Moon as it relates to the sun. When the Moon and Sun are exactly opposite each other by 180 degrees, then we see it as the Full Moon or Purṇimā (this is a non-study day). As the Moon moves closer to the Sun each day, it is considered as Waning (becoming more black) until it cannot be seen, called Amāvāsyā or New Moon day (this is also a non-study day).

The moon is moving at approximately 12 degrees away or towards the sun each day, which is what is called a Tithi (a lunar day of approximately 24 hours).

As the moon is going from Amāvāsyā (New Moon) to Purṇimā (Full Moon), that is a 15-day period called Śukla Pakṣa - Śukla means White and Pakṣa means Part. In other words, it is the Waxing part of the month when the moon is becoming increasingly white.

Similarly, from Purṇimā to Amāvāsyā is a 15-day period called Kṛṣṇa Pakṣa - Kṛṣṇa means Black and Pakṣa means Part. It is the Waning part of the month when the Moon becomes more dark.

You can visualize it as follows as shown by Freedom Cole, a great Vedic Astrology teacher:

As you can see, the Days of the Śukla Pakṣa and Kṛṣṇa Pakṣa are counted from Pratipad (1st) to 14th, with the 15th day being either Purṇimā or Amāvāsyā.

The Non-study Days are

• Pratipad - 1st (the first day after Purṇimā or Amāvāsyā)

• Aṣṭamī - 8th (half-way point of Śukla Pakṣa or Kṛṣṇa Pakṣa)

• Caturdaśī - 14th (the day before Purṇimā or Amāvāsyā)

• Purṇimā - Full Moon

• Amāvāsyā - New Moon

Calculating Non-Study Days

Going to Deva.guru Panchang, you would first select your location:

I will use Udupi, India as that is where I’m located.

Looking at today’s date, you will see the following information:

The Lunar month is Margasiras (following the Mrigashīrsha Nakshatra). The Tithi is S10. In other words, Śukla Pakṣa Day 10. This is a good day to study. To calculate the non-study days, I would be looking for S1, S8, S14, S15 (Purṇimā) and the same days for Kṛṣṇa Pakṣa - K1, K8, K14, K15 (Amāvāsyā).

The resulting non-study days for December would be as follows:

• December 1st: Aṣṭamī -8th (S8). Note that S8 actually starts from 8:58am the day before, so you can count November 30th as a non-study day as well if you’re studying after the morning time.

• December 7th: Caturdaśī - 14th (S14)

• December 8th: Purṇimā (S15)

• December 9th: Pratipad - 1st (K1)

• Decmeber 16th: Aṣṭamī - 8th (K8). Note that if you look under the Lunar Calendar information “Mrgasiras K7” or “Mrgasiras K8”, you will see the Solar Calendar information. In this case, you can see that the Sun is switching from Scorpio to Sagittarius on this day as well. So this will also be a non-study day based on Saṅkramaṇa. While in December, the Lunar and Solar non-study days fall on the same day, this might not always be the case.

• December 22nd: Caturdaśī - 14th (K14)

• December 23rd: Amāvāsyā (K15)

• December 24th: Pratipad - 1st (S1)

• December 30th: Aṣṭamī -8th (S8)

And just to show a variety of examples across the Panchangas, the same information in the Drik Panchanga app would be under “Tithi” of the day.

And in the Krishna Matha Washington DC Panchanga, it looks as follows:

Days of Saṅkramaṇa

If it is too confusing how to find the Days of Saṅkramaṇa in the Deva.guru Panchanga, simply go to this page on the Drik Panchanga. Select your location and the year you’d like to look it up and mark the dates on your calendar!

Conclusion

I know it might be complicated at first, but the Panchanga is an incredible way to get connected to the lunar cycles of the month. I recommend starting with using it to calculate non-study days, but be open to exploring it a bit more to see what it offers. Next, look up Nakshatras each day (the cluster of stars that the Moon meets with) and read about them to get connected to the energies of the day!

Happy Learning!

Let’s take the example sentence from the अनुसारकम् tool, which has every Vibhakti (or Noun Declension) included in it:

दशरथस्य पुत्रः रामः नगरे कोशात् हस्तेन ब्राह्मणाय धनं ददाति

daśarathasya putraḥ rāmaḥ nagare kośāt hastena brāhmaṇāya dhanaṃ dadāti

Translation: Daśaratha’s son Rama gives money to Brahmans with his hands from the treasury in the city

Now - instead of looking at each noun, what if we reverse it and look at the sentence from the perspective of the verb?!! Then the declension table takes on a much more meaningful role.

In this case, the verb is ददाति (dadāti), which means gives. Giving is the action or कर्म of this sentence. So now we start asking questions:

1. Who gives?

   1. The कर्तृ (doer) gives.

   2. In this case, the कर्तृ is राम

   3. राम takes on the प्रथमा विभक्तिः (Nominative Case) - रामः

2. What is the object of the action of giving?

   1. The कर्म्मन् or object of the कर्म (action of giving) is धन (money)

   2. धन takes on the द्वितीया विभक्तिः (Accusative Case) - धनम्

3. What is the instrument used for the giving?

   1. The करण, the instrument or means of action, are the हस्त (hands)

   2. हस्त takes on the तृतीया विभक्तिः (Instrumental Case) - हस्तेन

4. Who is the receiver of the giving?

   1. The ब्राह्मण are the receivers of the सम्प्रदान or gift of the action

   2. ब्राह्मण takes on the चतुर्थी विभक्तिः (Dative Case) - ब्राह्मणाय

5. From what / whom is the act of giving taking away?

   1. The कर्म of giving means that something is first taken from something or someone (अपादान) before it is given to someone else (सम्प्रदान).

   2. In this case, the act of giving money to the Brahmans means the money is being taken away from the treasury or कोश.

   3. कोश takes on the पञ्चमी विभक्तिः (Ablative Case) - कोशात्

6. Where is the location of the कर्म taking place?

   1. The location or the अधिकरण is the city or नगर

   2. नगर takes on the सप्तमी विभक्तिः (Locative Case) - नगरे

Now, there are still two words left in the sentence that are not included in the questions above - दशरथस्य पुत्रः. That is because these are in relation to the noun, in this case, रामः, and not to the कर्म or action of giving (ददाति).

They can therefore be categorized as follows:

• पुत्र is a विशेषण or adjective of the word राम. The विशेषण gets the same विभक्ति as the object it is describing, in this case, it’ll follow प्रथमा विभक्तिः to match the case of राम - पुत्रः रामः

• दशरथ is mentioned to show the relationship or सम्बन्धः between राम and दशरथ. Rāma is Daśaratha’s son. Therefore, it gets the षष्ठी विभक्तिः (Genetive Case) - दशरथस्य.

This can be visualized beautifully in the अनुसारकम् tool:

First, the declensions are as follows for Masculine, Neuter, and Feminine Nouns ending in अ / आ:

For the full list of endings with इ / ई, उ / ऊ, ऋ, -अन or -अस् and more, you can take a look at the virginia.edu website here.

So what are these noun declensions even? Dr. Bhaswati explained to me that they are a way to put any noun into different parts of a sentence. When we look at a noun as it relates to other words, we use prepositions. For example: “with the” “by the” “in the” “toward” “from the” “for the”. In Sanskrit, these relational terms are put after the word, as post-positions.

So let’s go through each case:

Nominative

The nominative form refers to the main name or subject of the sentence. For example, in the sentence “The girls are reading”, the subject of the sentence is “the girls”. So the word बालिका or girl in Sanskrit will have the post-fix आः added as follows:

बालिकाः पठन्ति (बालिका => बालिकाः) - The girls are reading

Accusative

The accusative refers to the object of the sentence. In the sentence “the teacher eats an apple”, the apple is the object, so the word apple आताफल will have the neuter singular post-fix अम् added:

शिक्षकः आताफलं खादति (आताफल => आताफलम्) - The teacher eats an apple

Instrumental

The instrumental form refers to with / by / through the instrument that the subject uses to accomplish an action. “The artist draws with a pencil” - the pencil is the instrument that the artist uses to accomplish the act of drawing. In Sanskrit, a drawing pencil is वर्णलेखनी, a female word ending with ई, so the ending that needs to be added is इया as follows:

चित्रकार​: वर्णलेखनिया चित्रणम् करोति (वर्णलेखनी => वर्णलेखनिया) - The artist draws with a pencil”

Dative

Dative refers to for / toward / to the noun. For example, “the singer sings for the boys”. Here, the boys is the noun “for” whom the singer sings. So we add the masculine plural ending एभ्यः to the word boy बाल as follows:

गायकः बालेभ्यः गायति (बाल​ => बालेभ्यः) - The singer sings for the boys

Ablative

Ablative is the opposite direction of Dative - away from / from instead of toward / to. “The girl takes the book from the library”. Here, “from the library” is the ablative form. The word library in Sanskrit is male पुस्तकालय. So we add the male ablative post-fix आत् as follows:

बालिका पुस्तकम् पुस्तकालयात् स्वीकरोति (पुस्तकालय => पुस्तकालयात्) - The girl takes the book from the library

Genitive

The genitive case refers to possession - belonging to / of. It is attached to the object that is owned. “This is the politician’s car” - we add the male genitive ending अस्य​ to the word politician नीतिज्ञः in Sanskrit:

इयं​ नीतिज्ञस्य वाहनम्​ (नीतिज्ञः => नीतिज्ञस्य) - This is the politician’s car

Locative

The locative form refers to location - on / in / under / inside in relation to the noun. “The student studied in the library” - here, “in the library” is the locative form. The Sanskrit term for library ग्रन्थालय changes to a masculine locative ending ए as follows:

छात्रः ग्रन्थालये पठति (ग्रन्थालय => ग्रन्थालये) - The student studied in the library

Vocative

The vocative case is used to address someone. Let’s say you’re summoning a taxi - “Hey Driver, come here!” - you’re addressing the driver. So the word driver वाहकः will have the masculine vocative ending अ as follows:

अये वाहक! अत्र आगच्छतु! (वाहकः => वाहक) - Hey Driver, come here!"

Conclusion

While noun declensions are at first confusing, if you think about it, it’s pretty cool. It means that the sentences can be arranged in a different order, but you’ll be able to easily tell the subject, object, and any other noun relationship just from its post-fix! After you memorize all the ending first of course… which is the hard part!

The whole video is very much worth watching, but I really loved it from minute 32 - 44, where Sampadananda Mishra explains about Sanskrit word meanings being so deliberate vs being random words you should just memorize. I loved it so much, I will essentially transcribe what he says below for reference:

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So Many Words for Each Thing!

One thing a Sanskrit student will notice right away when reading any basic Sanskrit text is how the same object or concept will be described using different words throughout the text, creating a lot of confusion. For example, in Ayurveda, वात Doṣa is referred to as अनिल, वायु, मारुत, चल, etc.

As Sampadananda Mishra points out, objects or concepts can have as many as 100 or even 200 words used for them. Or as in the case of the famous Viṣṇu Sahasranāma Stotram, the god Viṣṇu has 1000 other synonyms to describe him!

This is crazy! And makes Sanskrit super confusing and hard to learn. So why is this the case? It is because Sanskrit is not an object-specific language. Instead of making up a random word for each object and just going with that, it has grown organically to become an all-encompassing scientific explanation of that word.

Ex 1: The Body as देह

Sampadananda Mishra uses the example of the word देह, one of the words used for body. It is not a random word. The root of this word is दिह्, which means to gather, to collect, to pile up.

So the first meaning describes the body as something that collects. For example, we are what we eat - the body is a collection of input that we gather from our environment. It is also a collection of many things, different elements, different body parts, different tissues, different bacteria, cells, etc. that come together to make up the body as a whole.

Going deeper, we can imagine that when something is collected, the pile of it grows. So now the second meaning of देह or body is that it grows from 0 to something. The Karma of the body is to grow from nothing, to enhance, to prosper! This can be applied physically, psychologically, and spiritually.

Going even deeper, we can imagine that when a collection of something piles up, and the pile grows high, it blocks / hides / conceals whatever is behind it. The body is used as a cover that conceals the soul within. So the soul, the spirit, uses this body as its covering.

Ex 2: Fire 🔥

In the text Amarakoṣa, the famous Sanskrit Thesaurus, the word fire has 34 different synonyms! When you look deeper into the meaning of each word, you see that it is the work of a scientist describing the properties or qualities of fire. For example, some of the 34 words include:

• अग्नि - अग् means to move upward. This is describing the property of a flame in that it will only move up straight. Even when you turn the match horizontally, the flame will continue to move up only!

• ज्वलन - ज्वल् means that it keeps burning. Continuous burning is the Dharma of fire.

• शुष्म - शुष् means dry. Fire dries up everything.

• अनल - न अल्म् mean not enough. Fire is always dissatisfied. You can place the entire creation into it’s mouth, but it’ll want more! Its Dharma is to devour everything!

Conclusion

Every Sanskrit word has very beautiful clear logic like that with a rich history of how the word is used in different contexts to share certain concepts and ideas. It is simply mind-blowing!

Sanskrit words deal with the properties of the object, the Dharma of the object. The object itself is temporal. Today the object is there in one shape, tomorrow it might change its form or tomorrow it might not be there. But the properties, the Dharma is eternal. A language which always deals with the eternal components is an eternal language.

If an object has several qualities or dharmas, it will have several words. If someone has a new experience with the object, one can create a new word and add it to the list! One if free to do that!

This is why each word in a Sanskrit shloka can give so many meanings when combined together with different, deeper, more hidden definitions.

For every person, the starting period is different. But what determines that? This is what I learned from Mr. PR Selva Ganesh a few days ago, and wanted to share it here as I found it so simple and fascinating at the same time.

To start, here is an important chart of Nakshatras, their planetary Lords, and the number of years the planet will rule each Daśā period.

Here is the Sanskrit version I made for those who prefer it:

I’m going to use Deva.guru to show the calculation. So if someone is born today, October 19th, 2022 at 11:42:58am in Udupi, Karnataka, their Panchanga will look as follows:

If you look at the Nakṣatra field, the moon is in Aśleṣā Nakṣatra, with 86% of it left to transit through.

Now, looking back at our Nakṣatra chart, we can see that Aśleṣā is owned by Budha, or Mercury. That means the native will be born into Mercury Daśā! Mercury Daśā lasts for 17 years. There is 86% left of it for the Moon to transit through, so we just take 86% * 17 years to get 14.62 years.

This native will be born into the Mercury Daśā period with 14.62 years left of it. After 14.62 years, they will transition to the full 7 years of Ketu followed by 20 years of Venus, etc etc. This can be confirmed by Deva.guru calculation of Viṁśottarī Daśās below (note that 17 - 2.4 years = 14.6, and 14.6 years is when they start their Ketu Daśā, 7 years later at 21.6 years they start Venus, etc):

Since Vedic Astrology is so vast, as a beginner, I take a lot of these things for granted and just “go with it” without questioning much just to keep on learning. But it was another student in my class that did question it and we all learned such an elegant answer for how the start of the Daśā periods gets calculated. A good reminder to keep questioning - and maybe once in a while, the teacher will not put the question aside as too complicated and give the answer!

Or as fun, it can be used by the composer to show a lot of cleverness. As an example of this concept, my MA Sanskrit Studies teacher Dr. Arjuna shared the commonly chanted Ganesha shloka with us:

अगजानन पद्मार्कं गजाननम् अहर्निशम्

अनेकदन्तं भक्तानाम् एकदन्तम् उपास्महे

agajānana padmārkaṃ gajānanam aharniśam

anekadantaṃ bhaktānām ekadantam upāsmahe

गजाननम् (gajānanam) can be split into गज-आननम् (gaja-ānanam). गज (gaja) means elephant, and आननम् (ānanam) means face. This makes it clear that this shloka is talking about Ganesha, the elephant-faced deity.

But at the same time, there is the word अगजानन (agajānana) is used. Here, the अ (a) in अ-गजानन (a-gajānana) means NOT the elephant-faced one.

We know that Ganesha has one tusk - one is broken. As one of the stories goes, Ganesha broke his other tusk and used it as a pen to write down the Ramayana while Valmiki dictated it to him.

Hence, the word एक-दन्तम् (eka-dantam) or “the one-toothed one” makes sense in the second line of this shloka. But there is also the word अनेक-दन्तं (aneka-dantaṃ) there, which means “the many-toothed one”.

So this creates a lot of confusion. Is this talking about the elephant-faced one, Ganesha, or NOT the elephant-faced one? Who is NOT the elephant-faced one then? Does he have one tooth and many teeth at the same time?!!

This is where the cleverness comes up. If we break down these words in a different way, we see a different meaning that makes sense in this context.

The Lotus and the Sun

अगजानन (agajānana) can be broken down into the words अगज (agaja) and आनन (ānana). Here, आनन (ānana) still means face. But अगज (agaja) can be broken into 3 components:

• अ - not

• ग - moving

• ज - born from

What is not moving or not moveable? A Mountain. Who is born from the Mountain? Ganesha’s mother, Pārvatī, is the daughter of Himalayan ruler Pārvata. Pārvata is another word for Mountain in Sanskrit. So अगज (agaja) is another name for Pārvatī. Since Pārvatī is the mother of Ganesha, this meaning makes the most sense in the context.

Looking at the other words in the shloka, this as the correct meaning is further confirmed:

अगजानन (agajānana) - Parvati’s face

पद्मार्कं (padmārkaṃ) - this can be split into 2 words:

• पद्म (padma) - Lotus

• अर्कम् (ārkaṃ) - the sun

• Here, we can connect that the Lotus opens up when the sun comes out

गजाननम् (gajānanam) - the elephant-faced one, referring to Ganesha

अहर्निशम् (aharniśam) - day and night, meaning always

So this first line अगजानन पद्मार्कं गजाननम् अहर्निशम् can be translated roughly as:

“Parvati’s face is like a Lotus which blossoms in the presence of Ganesha, who is like the sun (to the lotus), always.”

The Giver of Many Things

In a similar way, the word अनेकदन्तं (anekadantaṃ) can be broken down in a different way:

अनेकदम् (anekadam) - the giver of many

• अनेक (aneka) - many

• द (da) - giver

• म् (m) - note that due to a grammatical rule, when the म् is combined with the next word, तम्, the म् (m) changes to a न् (n), hence the combined word cleverly becomes अनेकदन्तं (anekadantaṃ)

तम् (tam) - that

• comes from the pronoun तद् (tad), meaning that

भक्तानाम् (bhaktānām)

• भक्त (bhakta) is a devotee or the worshipper. भक्तानाम् (bhaktānām) is the plural possessive form of the word. So we can connect it to the word तम् (tam). In other words भक्तानाम् तम् (bhaktānām) can mean that (which is the desire) of the devotees.

एकदन्तम् (ekadantam) - the one-toothed one, meaning Ganesha

उपास्महे - we are worshipping

So the translation of the second line अनेकदन्तं भक्तानाम् एकदन्तम् उपास्महे can be translated roughly as:

“We are worshipping Ganesha, the giver of those many things that his devotees desire.”

Conclusion

As seen from this example, when we are looking at Sanskrit shlokas, we should never take certain words for granted, even if we’re experienced at it. But instead, we should continue to have the beginner’s mind of not knowing every single word and meaning and try to split the shloka in different ways. Who knows when a completely new meaning can emerge!