27/10/2023, 20:59 No punctuation in Sanskrit ?

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uttiSTha bhArata
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No punctuation in Sanskrit ?
Posted on August 27, 2011 by gshah

The Sanskrit Series

1. Features of Sanskrit that make it an extra-ordinary language

2. Mechanism of generating new words in Sanskrit

3. Similarities between Sanskrit and Programming Languages

4. Verbless sentences in Sanskrit

5. The building blocks of Sanskrit language

6. No punctuation in Sanskrit !!

7. The flexibility of Sanskrit

8. Efficiency of Sanskrit: Less words more meaning!

9. Temporal order of words in Sanskrit

Given below is a section from mahAbhArata, where Arjun explains to Krishna his
logic of not fighting the war. Apart from the literary, philosophical and poetic content,
one thing is starkly conspicuous in this. Where are the punctuation marks?? No
commas, no quotations, no semi-colons and no exclamation marks !! All we see are
the single and double vertical lines viz. । and ॥. If they are punctuation marks, then
why are they appearing at such regular intervals ?

अर्जुन उवाच
यद्यप्येते न पश्यन्ति लोभोपहतचेतसः । कु लक्षयकृ तं दोषं मित्रद्रोहे च पातकम् ॥
कथं न ज्ञेयमस्माभिः पापादस्मान्निवर्तितुम् । कु लक्षयकृ तं दोषं प्रपश्यद्भिर्जनार्दन ॥
कु लक्षये प्रणश्यन्ति कु लधर्माः सनातनाः । धर्मे नष्टे कु लं कृ त्स्नमधर्मोऽभिभवत्युत ॥
अधर्माभिभवात्कृ ष्ण प्रदुष्यन्ति कु लस्त्रियः । स्त्रीषु दुष्टासु वार्ष्णेय जायते वर्णसंकरः ॥
संकरो नरकायैव कु लघ्नानां कु लस्य च । पतन्ति पितरो ह्येषां लुप्तपिण्डोदकक्रियाः ॥
दोषैरेतैः कु लघ्नानां वर्णसङ्करकारकैः । उत्साद्यन्ते जातिधर्माः कु लधर्माः च शाश्वताः ॥
उत्सन्नकु लधर्माणां मनुष्याणां जनार्दन । नरके नियतं वासो भवति इति अनुशुश्रुम ॥
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यदि मामप्रतीकारमशस्त्रं शस्त्रपाणयः । धार्तराष्ट्रा रणे हन्युस्तन्मे क्षेमतरं भवेत् ॥

In this article we shall see those features of Sanskrit that compensate for this lack of
punctuation marks. Even the । and ॥ above, are not punctuation marks but are simply ways
of arranging the text in the form of verses. Then these verses were memorized by the
students in the gurukuls, so that they could apply them in life when the need arises.

Let’s invoke our dear old Q&A format and see what compensates for the lack of punctuation
marks in Sanskrit.

Q) So, if that is the case, how do you write flowers, leaves, cows and elephants in
Arjuna explains Krishna why he
wants to back off from the war.
Sanskrit ? What substitutes for the comma ?
A) In Sanskrit,

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पुष्प = flower
पत्र = leaf
गो = cow
गज = elephant
Hence to write flowers, leaves, cows and elephants, all the words will have to be converted to their plural-first-vibhakti forms
viz. पुष्पाणि, पत्राणि, गावः and गजाः which effectively translate to flowers, leaves, cows and elephants respectively. Then these
vibhaktified words should be arranged sequentially to form the sentence.

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पुष्पाणि पत्राणि गावः गजाः ।

Since there is no ambiguity of any kind, we don’t require commas here.

Q) Are you sure there is no ambiguity ? Let me show you, there is. In the article Similarities between Sanskrit and
Programming Languages, you explained that words having the same vibhakti represent the same object, hence the 4
words viz. पुष्पाणि, पत्राणि, गावः and गजाः should represent the same object and not different objects, since they have the
same vibhakti viz. first vibhakti. Am I not making a point ?
A) Actually, you are. Words having the same vibhakti indeed represent the same object. And they represent the same object
even here. So पुष्पाणि पत्राणि गावः गजाः । would mean that flowers, leaves, cows and elephants are one and the same thing. To
prevent this from happening, we add a च in the end.

So पुष्पाणि पत्राणि गावः गजाः । would mean that flowers, leaves, cows and elephants are one and the same thing, but
पुष्पाणि पत्राणि गावः गजाः च। would mean that flowers, leaves, cows and elephants are different things (though they have the
same vibhakti). So we see that च is a kind of indicator that tells us that the words preceding it represent different
things even if they have the same vibhaktis. There is no word in English that matches the role played by च, but it is often
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usually occurs at the end of the list of objects, the latter is not at all related to vibhakti (since there are no vibhaktis in
English!) and occurs before the last word in the list of objects. So the correct translation of
flowers, leaves, cows and elephants is
पुष्पाणि पत्राणि गावः गजाः च।
So the word च, along with the vibhaktis, compensates for the absence of commas in Sanskrit! (The word च, used in the above
passage from mahAbhArata in the manner explained here, has been marked in bold.)

Q) Ok, you explained about the comma. What about the quotation marks ? How do I write, for example, “I am
great”, he said. How will you do away with the quotation marks ?
A) First let us give some meanings,
महान् = great
अहम् = I

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सः = he
अब्रवीत् = said

So, the sentence “I am great”, he said. would translate to महान् अहम् इति सः अब्रवीत् | We have used the word इति, and not the
quotation marks, to quote महान् अहम् . But, the word इति is much more powerful than simple quotation marks. इति is like a
packager, which packs the words appearing before it into a single entity and then attributes that entity to the words that
follow it. So, in महान् अहम् इति सः अब्रवीत् , “महान् अहम्” is packaged into a single entity by इति and then this entity is attributed
to सः |

Q) I still don’t see, how is इति more powerful than quotation marks. Can you elaborate ?
A) Sure, let’s take a different example. सर्वम् ब्रह्म इति नरः सुदुर्लभः। The english translation of this sentence would be, A man
who thinks/believes/knows that “Everything is brahma” is very rare. Here, इति has packaged सर्वम् ब्रह्म into a single entity
and attributed that entity to नरः, hence we know that it is नरः who thinks/believes/knows सर्वम् ब्रह्म. However, in English, the
quotation marks package Everything is brahma into a single entity, but do not attribute it to A man. Hence, we need to use
the verbs like thinks/believes/knows to attribute Everything is brahma to A man. In Sanskrit, we do not need to use any
verbs for this. इति compensates even for the verbs. Similarly, महान् अहम् इति सः could be translated to “I am great”, he
says/believes/thinks.

Exercise: Translate इति गच्छति । to english.

Q) Can you give more examples? How would you do away with colons, for example ? Translate Three things cannot be
long hidden: the sun, the moon, and the truth.
A) This is very easy. What does the colon signify here ? The part of the sentence before the colon says that there are three
certain things which cannon be hidden. The colon here is used to convey that those three certain things are the sun, the
moon, and the truth. Hence, the colon is used to match the (unsaid) three things with their names viz. sun, moon and truth.
This can be done in Sanskrit using vibhaktis. In fact, one very basic purpose of vibhaktis is to match related words. Afterall,
words having the same vibhaktis denote the same objects. So the Sanskrit version of this sentence should definitely have the
same vibhakti for Three things and the sun, the moon, and the truth. The Sanskrit version of this sentence is त्रीणि चिरेण
अनावार्याणि सूर्यशशिसत्यानि ।

त्रि = (property of being) three

चिर = (property of being associated with) a long time span
अनावार्य = (property of) not being able to be hidden

त्रीणि = &three
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चिरेण = for a long time
अनावार्याणि = things which cannot be hidden
सूर्यशशिसत्यानि = the Sun, the Moon and truth

The translation contains no colon because त्रीणि which means Three things and सूर्यशशिसत्यानि which means the sun, the
moon, and the truth indeed have the same vibhakti viz. first vibhakti and hence त्रीणि and सूर्यशशिसत्यानि represent the same
object(s). Hence, we know that the three things are indeed the sun, the moon, and the truth. In fact, since अनावार्याणि also has
the same vibhakti as त्रीणि and सूर्यशशिसत्यानि, it also represents the same objects that त्रीणि and सूर्यशशिसत्यानि represent!
Hence, we know that the objects which are त्रीणि and सूर्यशशिसत्यानि are also अनावार्याणि (means they cannot be hidden).

Q) Ok. And what are । and ॥. You told that they are not punctuation marks.

A) । and ॥ play different roles in poem and prose. In a poem, like mahAbhArata above, । and ॥ are only used to arrange text
in the form of verses so that the verses can be easily memorized. In prose,। is used to mark the end of a sentence (like a full-

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stop) and ॥ is used to mark the end of a paragraph. So, । and ॥ can be called punctuation marks if you prefer to call them so.
But apart from these two, there are no other punctuation marks in Sanskrit.

Finally, the words like च, इति and many more are those that neither represent ideas, nor properties, nor objects. There
vibhaktis too do not exist. These words are finite in number and are not derivable from dhAtus. These words fall at level 3 in
the scheme we developed in the last article and are not derivable from the words of the second level. They usually fall under
the category of Conjunctions, Interjections and Prepositions. Given below is the solution to the exercise. In the next article,
we shall bust certain misconceptions about Sanskrit. Bye!

Solution to the exercise above

Thinking/believing/understanding/perceiving/knowing this, he goes.
This entry was posted in Sanskrit and tagged Grammar, Linguistics, punctuation, Sanskrit, vibhakti. Bookmark the permalink.

32 Responses to No punctuation in Sanskrit ?

Jayendra says:
November 9, 2020 at 18:06

The exercise contained the following example.

इति गच्छति -> Thinking/believing/understanding/perceiving/knowing this, he goes.
So where does the first term(Thinking/believing/understanding/perceiving/knowing) comes from, which is not there in the source text ?
Reply

gshah says:
June 25, 2021 at 20:25

Thinking/believing/understanding/perceiving/knowing. These are English words put by me. You can put anyword that makes
sense. इति गच्छति is a very general sentence. There is nothing like it in English, so we have to use some word. We can choose
any English word.
Reply

nayan says:
August 26, 2020 at 19:34

रोको मत, जाने दो।

रोको, मत जाने दो ।
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इनका अनुवाद क्या होगा, और दोंनो में जो अंतर है उसे बिना अल्पविराम के कै से
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बताएंगे?
Reply

gshah says:
June 25, 2021 at 20:34

रोको मत, जाने दो। => मा रुद्धि।यातु।

रोको, मत जाने दो। => रुद्धि।मा यातु।
Reply

Mosen says:
June 10, 2019 at 21:22

How do you structure compound and/or complex sentences? E.g. when searching the web for a Sanskrit version of the proverb “live and
let live” I came across: त्वं जीव, अन्येऽपि जीवन्तु. The prathama vibhakti changes from “you” to “others”, so there must be something

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dividing the two phrases.

Btw, I don’t think the translation I found is a good one, so I tried to come up with something better, myself (even though I don’t speak
Sanskrit). Does जीव जीवय च make sense? Or even just जीवजीवय? If an object is required, maybe जीव चायान् जीवय (I’m really not sure
about the sandhi and structure of that one).

Your articles are great, btw, they’ve really made me want to learn Sanskrit. I hope you’re still active and can answer.
Reply

gshah says:
June 25, 2021 at 20:39

त्वं जीव, अन्येऽपि जीवन्तु। is correct. you can shorten it to जीव जीवन्तु। च is not required. But it does not harm. When speaking
sanskrit, rules of grammar are not always followed if the meaning is clear.

जीव जीवय च is awkward. though it still conveys the meaning.

Reply

Nikhil Kalra says:

November 30, 2013 at 04:16

this man who started with small steps but ended with tiger leaps will explain you the science behind Sanskrit Language..!!

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start doing your bit right from today.. Here is the online library of all the revolutionary speeches by this patriotic scientist —
http://goo.gl/Acvpr
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elisa freschi says:

March 13, 2013 at 10:46

Thank you, well done. Perhaps you (or some less expert readers) may be interested in these rules of thumb for punctuation in
transliterated Sanskrit: http://elisafreschi.blogspot.co.at/2013/03/sanskrit-punctuation-and-related-matters.html
Reply

John says:
November 19, 2012 at 20:08

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Please excuse me, but if someone were to write out a mantra in Sanskrit, such as ॐनमःशिवाय, would a | be at the end, a ॥, or nothing at
all?
Reply

gshah says:
November 21, 2012 at 22:07

There is such specific rule. I think both will do.

Reply

John says:
November 21, 2012 at 22:48

Thank you very much for replying. I really appreciate your help. Please, if you have the time, answer this one last
question: Would ॥ ॐनमःशिवाय ॥ would be a correct way of writing that mantra? Thank you for your time.
Reply

gshah says:
November 23, 2012 at 21:01

Sorry. I meant, There is NO such specific rule. I think both will do.
There is nothing wrong in writing ॥ ॐ नमः शिवाय ॥ this way.
Reply

John says:
November 25, 2012 at 00:55

Thank you once again for your help. I really appreciate it. I’ve looked in two Sanskrit primers, one old
and one new, but they give very little detail on how to use the। and ॥.
Reply

Satyendra Pandey says:

November 2, 2012 at 11:25

Awesome! Too good article. Write more of these kind!

Reply

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Pratyush says:
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October 27, 2012 at 19:26

Will there be a च at the end of the following sentence considering that we are referring to separate objects.
त्रीणि चिरेण अनावार्याणि सूर्यशशिसत्यानि
Reply

gshah says:
October 30, 2012 at 22:11

NO. सूर्यशशिसत्यानि is considered a single word which means “the sun, the moon and truth”. Because it is treated as a single
word, च won’t come here.
Reply

Tushar Roy says:

January 29, 2013 at 13:07

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If one were to use सूर्य, शशि and सत्य in their proper vibhaktis and separately, instead of सूर्यशशिसत्यानि, and without च,
would that be correct?
Reply

gshah says:
January 31, 2013 at 11:11

Ideally, you should use ch in that case. But often, in spoken language, if it is clear from the context that they
are indeed different objects then ch is not mandatory, but using ch is a good practice and grammatically
advisable.
Reply

Arjun says:
October 19, 2012 at 18:02

Thank you very much for this nice tutorial.

I would like to know about the question mark “?”.

Does it also exist in Sanskrit or not ?

You have not mentioned about it !

Reply

gshah says:
October 30, 2012 at 22:14

? does not exist in Sanskrit. In fact, no punctuation exists in Sanskrit except | and ||
In sanskrit, किम् is used to denote a question and not ?.
Reply

Arjun says:
October 31, 2012 at 16:16

Thanks gshah for this information. I have read all your tutorials about Sanskrit. They are too good. I would like to see
some more tutorials from you about Sanskrit. Please post some more tutorials on Sanskrit.

Thanks
Reply

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June 7, 2014 at 11:18

You mean i add a ‘|’ with interrogative words and it becomes a question? But my school textbooks have many ‘?’s in
it…. Or it has been there for sake of understanding?
Reply

gshah says:
June 21, 2014 at 22:38

You mean i add a ‘|’ with interrogative words and it becomes a question? The answer is “Yes”.

Forget school textbooks. Do you find “?” in any Vedas, any upanishads, any puranas, in aryabhatta’s book,
in shruruta’s surgery book, in patanjali’s yoga darshan, in bhagawad gita ?

you will not find any punctuation mark in complete sanskrit literature except | and ||. Many things in school
textbooks are wrong, and this is one of them.

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Reply

M McCarson says:
December 12, 2011 at 03:58

if anyone could help, i would love to know how to translate “Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun, the moon, and the truth” into
sanskrit. I have tried to figure out the colon, and the commas but this will be a permanent usage that I cannot change later; so, I do not
want to be wrong. Thank you so much everyone.
Reply

gshah says:
December 12, 2011 at 15:49

Translation: त्रीणि वस्तूनि चिरेणानावार्याणि सूर्यशशिसत्यानि ।

The sentence without sandhis is त्रीणि वस्तूनि चिरेण अनावार्याणि सूर्यशशिसत्यानि । All the words except चिरेण are in the plural
nominative case.
त्रीणि = three objects
वस्तूनि = things (this is redundant, but still I have used it because the English sentence contains the word ‘things’)
चिरेण = for a long time
अनावार्याणि = objects which cannot be hidden
सूर्यशशिसत्यानि = The Sun, The Moon and truth
Since all the words except चिरेण have the same vibhakti (the nominative plural case ending) they point to the same set of
objects.

If we do not use the word वस्तूनि (which is redundant), the translation would become त्रीणि चिरेणानावार्याणि सूर्यशशिसत्यानि ।
Reply

M McCarson says:
December 12, 2011 at 20:53

Thank you so much. I really appreciate it.

Reply

Dr. A. Gajanana says:

October 23, 2011 at 19:54

Excellent series. I read them avidly. A very new way of seeing and learning Samskritham. A number of lingering doubts were cleared.
Where is the continuation of this series?
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Venkatramana Hegde-vt says:

September 4, 2011 at 02:21

plz keep on writing about sanskrit..d article is very nice..

Reply

Dhritisundar says:
August 30, 2011 at 21:52

| is comparable to semicolon, whereas || is comparable to full stop.

Reply

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gshah says:
August 30, 2011 at 22:05

in prose or poetry ?
Reply

Dhritisundar says:
August 30, 2011 at 21:51

पुष्पपत्रगोगजाः is an alternative, where the four nouns are conjugated and then pluralised.
Reply

vishaw says:
August 28, 2011 at 13:26

ati uttam… 🙂
Reply

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