Trailer: Panini: What is सवर्णदीर्घसन्धिः (Savarna-deergha Sandhi)? Students: When अ/ आ are followed by अ/ आ then the दीर्घ (long) form of the vowel आ replaces both the letters.
The story of Savarna Deergha Sandhi
After the successful implementation of the यण् सन्धि: accord, Maharshi Panini went about doing his work. But a lot of things were brewing under the surface of an otherwise peaceful family of letters. Some friendships, some discord that couldn’t be brushed under the carpet. So, Maharshi had to come with some, no, actually several more सन्धि accords. We’ll look at each one of them one by one.
How Savarna Deergha Sandhi came into existence
Amongst the स्वरा: in our अक्षरकुटुम्बम्, some letters shared close friendships. For example, अ and आ were best friends. इ and ई were best buddies. Likewise, उ and ऊ were great pals and ऋ, ॠ and ऌ were a tight unit.
Before I go any further, let me tell you a thing or two about ऌकार. This fellow is so shy he makes a rather obscure presence in the language. But, just to give you some insider information, don’t take him lightly. He is a big guy in the back office. Heard that he has dedicated his life to Maharshi Panini (oh the surprise is yet to come, don’t rush).
Now, every friendship story also has some spice in it. Let’s look at a typical day in the life of अकार and आकार. Every day, the two of them go around running here and there playing catch- catch. Sometimes they catch क्, sometimes ठ् and so on. If Maharshi Panini wants to create the word लता, he sends अ and आ to find their new partners ल् and त् respectively.
Upon their return they form लता like this,
Hah! Did you think you were going to get an actual darshana of Maharshi Panini!!! No! No! This is all you get to see…his radiance!
You might also want to read about the Sanskrit Alphabets if you find it hard to understand the Devanagari script.
Anyways! But if they end up catching a wrong a letter, they end up having to face the wrath of Maharshi Panini. When master wants गदा and gets गाद instead (it’s a very popular joke among Sanskrit students in the gurukul)-
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But sometimes it was not these errors in ignorance that bothered Maharshi Panini, it was their ego of being superior.
Every so often अ and आ would come together and argue over who is greater than whom. अ felt that since he is the first born, he is more important and therefore should be the one to stay. But आ felt that since he is the longer one, he is certainly the bigger and greater one of the two and therefore it’s only natural that he stay put. But Maharshi Panini would have none of it. He came up with a reasonable solution. It was called the सवर्णदीर्घसन्धिः Accord.
Check this post to know fruits name in Sanskrit.
What is Savarna Deergha Sandhi?
Here’s what Panini did.
तथा and अस्तु are coming together in a sentence. That means त्+अ+थ्+आ and अ+स्+त्+उ. We can see that अ and आ are going to blend into one when these two words come together.
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*Remember आदेश is a technical term for one that occupies the place of another.
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In this way, the सवर्णदीर्घसन्धिः was successfully executed. With this, peace prevailed once again. You may read the ‘For further reading’ section to see how other स्वरा: were affected by this सन्धिः
Did you get the essence of the beauty that the Sanskrit language?
Savarna Deergha Sandhi (सवर्णदीर्घसन्धिः) examples
- When अ/ आ are followed by अ/ आ then the दीर्घ (long) form of the vowel आ replaces both the letters.
उदा – माला आगच्छति = मालागच्छति
- When इ/ ई are followed by इ/ ई then the दीर्घ (long) form of the vowel ई replaces both the letters.
उदा – वदति इति = वदतीति
- When उ/ ऊ are followed by उ /ऊ then the दीर्घ (long) form of the vowel ऊ replaces both the letters.
उदा – गुरु उपदेशः = गुरूपदेशः
- When ऋ/ ॠ/ ऌ are followed by ऋ/ ॠ/ ऌ then the दीर्घ (long) form of the vowel that is ॠ replaces both the letters. The letter ऌ is taken as सवर्ण to ऋ and ॠ. Also, ऌ does not have a दीर्घ form.
उदा – पितृ ऋणम् = पितॄणम्
Some More Examples of Savarna Deergha Sandhi
Here I have tried to provide some examples from the Bhagwat Geeta.
- दिव्याभरणम्= दिव्य + आभरणम् (अ + आ) – (Geeta 11/10)
- पश्यादित्यान् = पश्य+ आदित्यान् (अ + आ)
- त्वयैकेन= त्वया+ एकेन (आ+ ए) – (Geeta 11/20)
- महर्षि = महा+ ऋषि(आ + ऋ) – (Geeta 11/21)
- पितेव = पिता इव (आ + इ) – (Geeta 11/44)
- विद्यालयं = विद्या + आलयम् (आ+ आ)
- गजाननं = गज + आननम्(अ + आ)
- साधूक्तं = साधु+उक्तम् (उ + उ)
- परी + ईक्षा = परीक्ष (ई + ई = ई)
- दया + आनन्दः = दयानन्दः| (आ + आ = आ)
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