The Cambridge Introduction to Sanskrit

PERFECT ACTIVE AND MIDDLE PARTICIPLES

Sanskrit forms both active and middle participles from the perfect stem.

1) The perfect middle participle adds the suffix -āna- (plus a-/ā-stem case endings) to the weak perfect stem:

‘to fight’ –› weak PERF stem–› PERF MID PTC - ‘having fought’

(in the middle voice) ‘to link oneself, marry’ –› weak Perf stem

–› PERF MID PTC युयुजान- ‘having got married’

(Note: Perfect forms are always athematic, given that no suffix is added to the verbal root; hence only -āna- is used, never -māna-.)

2) The perfect active participle is more complicated. Compare the following paradigm: As usual, this participle consists of three elements: stem, suffix and endings. Two of these are straightforward: the weak perfect stem is used throughout the paradigm, and we find regular consonant stem endings. Only the suffix employed in this participle is more complicated. Its regular guṇa would be -vas-, yet it never appears in this form:

• – It assumes vṛddhi and receives a nasal in the strong cases (-vāṃs-); in the NOMVOC SG, the final consonant cluster (nasal plus s) is simplified by dropping the -s, thus giving -vān and -van, respectively.

• – In those weak cases whose endings begin with a vowel, -vas- appears in zero grade -uṣ- (when the guṇa -a- is dropped, v turns into u, which in turn changes the s into ṣ according to the ruki rule: *vas –› *vs –› *us –› uṣ).

• – In weak cases whose endings begin with a consonant, we find the suffix -vat-/-vad- rather than a form of -vas-.

• – -vat- also appears in the NOMVOCACC SG NTR.

This may sound rather complicated, but the participle is easy to recognise due to the perfect stem and the regular consonant-stem endings. It is used infrequently, and perhaps most often in विद्वस्- from √विद् ‘to see; know’.