[INDOLOGY] Extension of Sanskrit Heritage tools with connection to Amba Kulkarni's parser

[Walter Slaje]

Dear Professor Scharf,



 I checked the Sanskrit Grammarian Query page under “Declension” (
https://sanskrit.inria.fr/DICO/grammar.fr.html), which under the header
“The Sanskrit Grammarian: Declension” yielded the nominatives singular,
dual and plural as *adasāḥ* - *adasau* - *adasaḥ* for *adas* (m.), to give
only one example.


Meanwhile it was explained to me off-line by Professor Huet that the
Sanskrit Grammarian Query page - despite its name - is not the proper site
to check declensional and conjugational forms of Sanskrit grammar.

So I searched the “Dictionnaire Héritage du Sanscrit“ page in the proper way
as recommended and as you will have done. There, and only there, the
correct declension of *adas* (as *asau – amū – amī*) is displayed.


Searching this presumably correct Heritage site for some additional stems
and roots on a random basis, I chanced upon a number of further, quite
obvious inaccuracies. Here are some of them, since I have been asked for
samples:


*ubhaya*: A set of obviously mechanically generated dual declension for
*ubhaya*, which word however has no dual in the classic language.

*dos* (n.): wrong forms *dot* (sg.) - *dosi* (pl.); *dodbhyām* (Du.);
*dodbhiḥ*, etc.

*asthan* (n.): wrong alternative dual form *asthī .*

Root *ās*2: wrong 2nd plural forms *āsdhve / āsddhve / āsdhvam / āsddhvam.*

Root *tṛh* is missing.

Root *dā*3: wrong Ātmane° s-Aorist forms 2nd and 3rd singular *adiṣṭhāḥ*,
*adiṣṭa*.

Root *dhā*3: wrong Ātmane° 3rd singular *adhāyi*.

Root *śās*: wrong 3rd plural imperfect ending *aśiṣan*.

Root *sū*3: Imperative Ā. 1st and 2nd  *sūyai* – *sūyasva*.



As I had earlier pointed out to Professor Huet in private, and I am
repeating it now publicly, my criticism was not intended to expose or run
down other scholars, nor to belittle the great and truly laudable efforts
he has indeed made. It was meant as a warning that the tool in its present
shape is not yet absolutely reliable. Sanskrit grammar is too serious a
matter for a discipline like ours. An unchecked grammar tool released on
this list cannot be left uncommented. In the hand of the uninitiated
beginner it will cause damage until it has seen a careful revision by its
editors, which was exactly my humble suggestion: to call for a revision
before it is activated for the public.



Regards,

WS




Am Sa., 19. Jan. 2019 um 08:03 Uhr schrieb Peter Scharf <scharfpm7 at gmail.com
>:

> I checked the declension of *adas* and sarva (f.) on the Sanskrit
> Heritage site by going to the dictionary and clicking on the gender
> identifier.  The paradigms are correct.  What do you find incorrect and
> where?
> Yours,
> Peter
>
> On Fri, Jan 18, 2019 at 11:47 PM Walter Slaje via INDOLOGY <
> indology at list.indology.info> wrote:
>
>> Certainly a welcome development, but
>>
>> > this wonderful grammatical analysis
>>
>> really calls for a thorough revision before activating it. The very few
>> searches I could make yielded inexplicable, in parts unbelievably wrong
>> results. Anyone may see for themselves if they just test the declension of
>> "adas", "idam", "ubhaya" (displaying dual forms, but no fem.), "sarvā"
>> (fem.), "dos / doṣan", "anaḍuh", "asthi", and many more. In the hands of
>> Sanskrit beginners who lack grammatical training this database will do
>> more harm than good. I can only warn against its use until it has seen a
>> very careful revision by experts.
>>
>> Kind regards,
>> WS
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>
>
> --
> *******************
> Peter M. Scharf
> scharfpm7 at g <peter.scharf at univ-paris-diderot.fr>mail.com
> *******************
>


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