[INDOLOGY] Sanskrit mnemonics?

[Madhav Deshpande]

It depends upon how narrowly or widely one defines the word "mnemonic".
There are a good deal of aids for memorization in Sanskrit, especially in
various Śāstras and for the Vedic reciters. One such device is used in
helping memorize Pāṇini's Aṣṭādhyāyī. For each Pāda, there is a string that
includes the first words of rules 1, 20, 40, 60 etc. and the number of
rules in the final odd lot. For example, the string for the first Pāda is:
वृद्धिराद्यन्तवदव्ययीभाव:प्रत्ययस्यलुक्पञ्चदश. There are 32 such strings
for the entire Aṣṭādhyāyī. One is expected to memorize the entire
Aṣṭādhyāyī. But to find the numerical place of any given rule, if one
begins reciting with that rule, very quickly one hits one of the location
markers in one of these strings, and then it is an easy calculation.  My
senior classmate in Pune, Mr. S.L. Athlekar used to do this in a split
second, and then he taught his 8 year old daughter to do this. So this was
a very efficient system.

Madhav M. Deshpande
Professor Emeritus, Sanskrit and Linguistics
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
Senior Fellow, Oxford Center for Hindu Studies
Adjunct Professor, National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bangalore, India

[Residence: Campbell, California, USA]


On Mon, Aug 23, 2021 at 12:34 PM Christian Ferstl via INDOLOGY <
indology at list.indology.info> wrote:

> Dear all,
>
> are there really no other mnemonics or are they perhaps too childish to
> post them on this list?  I also like to use the verse rāmo rājamaniḥ
> etc., but rather in order to recall the order and numbering of
> vibhaktis.
> Is there a common word for "mnemonic" in Sanskrit?
>
> Christian
>
>
> Am 20.08.2021 19:56, schrieb sellmers--- via INDOLOGY:
> > Dear Antonia,
> > I use the verse rāmo rājamaniH ... for the masc.sg. forms of the -a
> > declension.
> > Best wishes,
> > Sven
> >
> > Am 20.08.21 um 19:26 schrieb Antonia Ruppel via INDOLOGY
> >
> >  Von: "Antonia Ruppel via INDOLOGY" <indology at list.indology.info>
> > Datum: 20. August 2021
> > An: "Indology" <indology at list.indology.info>
> > Cc:
> > Betreff: [INDOLOGY] Sanskrit mnemonics?
> >
> > Dear all,
> >
> > Whenever I've learnt a language in a classroom setting, we'd get
> > mnemonics to help us remember word forms or uses. (I am thinking of
> > things like 'after si, nisi, num, ne, all the ali's fly away', or 'If
> > one shwa by another is hounded, the first is silent, the second
> > sounded.')
> >
> > Do any of you have any such mnemonics (no matter how silly - or dare I
> > say: the sillier, the better?) for Sanskrit? So far I only have
> > minuscule things like reminding students of Har*e* Kṛṣṇa (for
> > the vocative of i-stems), and also verses like
> >
> > gurureva gatirgurumeva bhaje guruṇaiva sahāsmi namo gurave |
> > na guroḥ paramaṃ śiśurasmi gurormatirastu gurau mama pāhi guro
> > ||
> >
> > If you have anything you use that works well with your students, I'd
> > be grateful if you were willing to share it. I'll happily sum up
> > everything I get in an email to the List.
> >
> > Many thanks, as always,
> >     Antonia _______________________________________________ INDOLOGY
> > mailing list INDOLOGY at list.indology.info
> > https://list.indology.info/mailman/listinfo/indology
> >
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