Department of Vyakarana

येनाक्षरसमाम्नायमधिगम्य महेश्वरात् ।
कृत्स्नं व्याकरणं प्रोक्तं तस्मै पाणिनये नमः ॥

Language is an essential communication tool that helps in conveying one’s thoughts to others. Grammar is the heart and soul of any language. Samskrita Vyakarana is no exception.

Department of Vyakarana at Karnataka Samskrit University was started in the year 2017. The department primarily focuses on the study of Samskrit grammar, its philosophy and applications. This is done through the study of classical and shastraic texts and their applications in modern times. Consequently, there are been consistent focus on research in the areas such as Natural Language Processing (NLP), Machine Translation, Machine learning.

Department of Vyakarana at KARNATAKA SAMSKRIT UNIVERSITY has faculty with diverse background – an enviable combination of traditional grammarians and modern engineering graduates, who have been trained in Samskrita Vyakaranam. The syllabus is tailored to provide a comprehensive knowledge to the students as per the guidelines of National Educational Policy (NEP). It encompasses both the traditional and modern features of Sanskrit grammar along with related training in areas such as Samskrit communication, computer programming, Shabdabodha, Natural Language Processing and so on. Additionally, optional and elective courses from other departments are offered, promoting interdisciplinary studies.

The department has been encouraging students to participate in Vakyarthasadas, Spardhas and other scholarly competitions. The department has also been emphasing on interdisciplinary studies to bridge the gap between traditional and modern disciplines. 

Another unique feature of the department is that it handles multi-disciplinary projects where students also have the opportunity to earn as a member of the project team.

The department has introduced two unique programmes – Gurukula Svadhyaya and Shastrabhyasa Series to promote Shastra studies. The department also offers PG Diploma in Samskrit Computational Linguistics for traditional as well as technical students, where they learn the application of Indian Knowledge Systems (IKS) through computer technology. 

Objectives

Objectives of the Department:

The objective of the department is to enable students to:

 Understand the fundamental process of Ashtadhyayi and related texts and also delve deep into the Aarshika and Darshanika concepts


  • Learn Shabdabodha principles of Samskrit Vyakarana and other disciplines.

  • Read and comprehend shastric texts (granthas) independently by the end of the course.

  • Recognize and learn the linkages between Vyakarana and other fields of Sanskrit such as Nyaya, and appreciate its position as one of the six Vedangas.

  • Analyze any language based on Paninian grammar.

  • Explore ancient Indian Knowledge Systems and its relevance in modern context.

  • Train students to pursue research in multi-disciplinary studies.

  • Obtain placement for students in premier institutes such as IITs where multi-disciplinary and trans-disciplinary research is undertaken along with regular placements.

Under Graduate Programs

BA in Shastra
This programme was commenced by Faculty of Shastra, KARNATAKA SAMSKRIT UNIVERSITY in the academic year 2021-22 for promoting Samskrit Shastradhyayana. After completing first year of BA Shastra, students can chose vyakarana specific subjects to get BA degree in Vyakarana. This is a unique programme introduced by KARNATAKA SAMSKRIT UNIVERSITY where the students can explore multiple shastras and continue advanced learning in the shastra of their interest.

Click here to view BA Shastra Syllabus

Post Graduate Programs

MA in Vyakarana
Introduced in 2019-20 by Department of Vyakarana, this NEP based course has 3 core vyakarana papers, one elective, and an innovative interdisciplinary project in the final year. The course prepares students in the process of “प्रक्रिया”, “प्रमेय” and state of the linguistics.
Click here to view the Syllabus for MA in Vyakarana

Post Graduate Diploma in Sanskrit Computational Linguistics (PGDSCL)

SAMSKRIT COMPUTATIONAL LINGUISTICS is an emerging cross-disciplinary area of knowledge which involves three major disciplines namely state of the art Information Technology, Samskrit Vyakarana and Modern Linguistics. The core of this new multidisciplinary field of study is Panini’s Ashtadhyayi model of grammar with equal importance to theory and application aiming at problem solving with the help of technology. Students are expected to complete a project at the end of the course. The PG Diploma course introduces the practical systems to students with philosophical and theoretical background along with design and algorithms of these systems. This will enable students not only to use Samskrit computational tools but also to undertake the development of such tools.

The Course introduces:
Shabdabodha (Verbal Cognition) Systems
The structure and function of Ashtadhyayi and the computational concepts in Ashtadhyayi
The Language for Verbal analysis developed by Navya-Nyaya School for precise and unambiguous understanding
The fundamentals of Natural Language Processing
Python Programming Language

DURATION : 1 Year
AGE : MINIMUM 17 YEARS
ELIGIBILITY :BA or MA or Any other equivalent exams passed.
ANNUAL FEES:
TOTAL: RS 3000/-
(EXAM FEES WILL BE INTIMATED AT THE TIME OF EXAMS)
RELAXATION FOR THE SC/ST/CAT-1 CANDIDATES WILL BE AS PER STATE GOVT. NORMS.

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Syllabus

Short-term Courses

Vakya Samrachana Varga

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Science of Natya

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Functional Samskrit

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Bridge Course

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This is the first step towards study in Vyakarana. This aims at familiarizing students of vyakarana with technical (Shastric) terms.

The topics covered are:
१. वाक्यसंरचना
२. पदम्, कारकम्, विभक्तिः
३. वर्णसमाम्नायः, माहेश्वरसूत्राणि, प्रत्याहारः
४. सन्धिः
५. धातुपरिचयः
६. पञ्चवृत्तयः
७. प्रयोगवैचित्र्यम्
८. सूत्रपठनक्रमः

At the end of this course students will be able to understand instructions in Sanskrit which is essential for further studies and will be familiar with basic terms such as “इत्संज्ञा, उपधा ” etc.

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Shatashlokena Panditah

This is an upcoming course with the objective of enabling students to gain proficiency in Samskrit with the help of 100 Samskrit slokas. Relevant grammar points and language nuances will be touched upon during the course. The course is suitable for students who have working knowledge of Samskrit or those who would like to refresh their knowledge of Samskrit.

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Pythonskrit

This is an upcoming innovative course to enable Samskrit enthusiasts to enter the field of computer programming through Python Programming Language. Unique features of this programme include Sanskrit specific examples and implementing the derivational processes using Python.

Extension Activities

Gurukula Svadhyaya
• Textual study of Mahabhasya – 1 & 2 Ahnikas
Gurukula-svādhyāya is a unique programme offered by the university for bringing the traditional way of Shastra learning through modern virtual classrooms. As a part of this programme, the textual study of Mahābhāṣyam is offered as a first in this series. The programme is aimed at serious seekers of shastric.

Shastrabhyasa
This programme is intended to bring Sanskrit Shastra enthusiasts to a platform where they can learn each concept of Vyakarana in detail with Paninian aphorisms and modern derivation of rules.

• Sandhi – The first programme in this series is Sandhi. This programme is conducted in two levels.
o Swara Sandhi
Swara sandhi is the sandhi between two vowels.
o Hal sandhi and Visargasandhi
Halsandhi is the sandhi changes between two consonants.
Visarga sandhi is the sandhi changes where the first sound is the visarga.

Workshops and Seminars and Conferences
• A three-day International Seminar on Applications of Panini’s Seminar is based on Paninian Grammar and its Applications jointly organized by Karnataka Samskrit University, Bengaluru, Department of Vyakarana And Central Samskrit University, Ganganath Jha Campus, Prayagraj

Lecture Series

This is a programme where experts from various field are invited to deliver lectures to the students of Vyakarana.

  • Amarakosha Structure – Dr Sivaja S Nair

This is the first lecture in this series. Dr Sivaja from SSUS, Kalady delivered lecture on structure of Amarakosha and Ontology

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Prof Shivani V

Professor, Head of the Department and Dean of Shastra Faculty

Dr Shivani is a Dean, Shastra Faculty, and Director, IQAC, Karnataka Samskrit University. She has completed her doctorate on ‘A Computational Model for Linguistic Study of Sanskrit – Balakanda of Ramayana as a Case Study’ and did her Post Graduation in Natural Language Processing (NLP) and Sanskrit Vyakarana.

Complete Profile – Shivani V

Erstwhile Deputy Director at Chinmaya International Foundation Shodha Sansthan, Veliyanad, Ernakulam, Kerala and guest faculty at Department of Sanskrit Studies, University of Hyderabad, as well as at Shabdabodha and language Technology, Rashtriya Sanskrit Vidyapeetha, Tirupati.
Shivani also held the position of Sr. Linguist, Department of Sanskrit Studies at University of Hyderabad. She has many publications and research papers under her credit. She has also participated and presented papers at many international and national seminars on NLP, Machine Learning and topics pertaining to Computational Linguistics and Sanskrit Grammar.

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Dr Anupama B

Assistant Professor

Dr. Anupama is the Assistant Professor at Department of Vyakarana. She completed her PhD from University of Mysore in 2016 on the topic “Kaumudee katha kalloniyalli vyakarana mattu sahitya prakarada smeekshatmaka Adhyayana”. She has also authored a book titled “Lekhanagala Kallola”.

Complete Profile – Dr. Anupama B

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Dr Archana Karanth

Guest Faculty

Dr. Archana Karanth P. R. completed six years of Arsha vidyabhyasa at Maitreyi Gurukula at Murkaje in Bantwala Taluk of Dakshina Kannada District.

After that, she studied grammar in Rajiv Gandhi’s environment at the Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan in Sringeri and got the highest marks in Shastri and Acharya classes and got three gold medals.

In the most unique Shalaka Spardha held every year at the state and national level, she is awarded the Svarnapadaka with the first place in the state and the national Level. She has also participated in speech and essay competitions held in various parts of the country and received many awards.
She is blessed with the honor of being the first girl in the state to get a total of ten gold medals in her student life while studying Sanskrit.

Complete Profile – Dr Archana Karanth

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Dr. Swati Basapur

Guest Faculty

Holds an engineering degree in Electronics and Communications and 8+ yrs experience in IT industry and immense interest in Samskrita Grammar. BA in Samskrita Vyakarana and MA in General Samskrita, Completed PhD in Researching on “Pali to Samskrita machine translation”. Has a thorough understanding of Pali and Samskrit Grammar

Complete Profile – >Dr. Swati Basapur

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Vid. Chaitanya S Lakkundi

JRF, Supporting Faculty

Vid. Chaitanya Lakkundi having completed his MA in Samskrit Vyakarana is currently pursuing PhD in the Karnataka Samskrit University. He has also qualified the UGC NET exam with JRF (Junior Research Fellowship). He has completed his engineering in Computer Science from NIE, Mysore and has had research experience in Software Engineering from IIT Tirupati.

His research interests include Computational Linguistics, Ayurveda, and Yoga. He has published multiple papers and presented in various conferences of International repute

Complete Profile – Vid. Chaitanya S Lakkundi

Visiting faculty in the Department

  1. Prof Shrinivasa Varakhedi, VC, Central Samskrit University, New Delhi
  2. Prof P Madhavan, University of Indian and Foreign Languages, Hyderabad
  3. Prof Kavi Narayana Murthy, University of Hyderabad
  4. Dr Sai Susarla, MIT Vedic Studies
  5. Dr Shridhar, Bangalore
  6. Dr. Shivarama Bhat
  7. Dr. Umamaheshwar
  8. Dr. Sivaja S Nair
  9. Dr. Srinivasa N Acharya
  10. Dr Arjun Bharadvaj

Government Funded Projects

  • National Language Translation Mission (NLTM) – An Interpretable Unified Framework for Text-to-Text Translation among Indian Languages using Sanskrit-based Interlingua Representation
  • Ashtadashi
    • Balashatadashi
    • Sarvapratyayamala
    • Mahakosha
    • Samshiksha
    • Sanskrit Academic GPS

Non – Government Projects

  • Pali Morphological Analyser/Generator
  • Shastra Mapping – Mahabhashya
  • Shastra Mapping – Yogasutra

Non-funded and Student Projects

A list of academic projects done as a part of the coursework by the students of the department are listed below.

  1. Aayussamskritam Courseware for Ayurvedic Medical Students.
  2. तर्कसङ्ग्रहः – Tarkasaṅgrahaḥ Ontological knowledge representation
  3. Vāṅmayī-e Create text – explore the meaning.
  4. प्राचीनन्यायः Prācīnanyāyaḥ Ontological knowledge representation
  5. Sandhi Splitting tool in cooperation with UoH
  6. साङ्गणकपाळि Sāṅgaṇikapāli Pali language tools
  7. Bhaṭṭikāvya-nandinī Explore Bhattikavya with Karaka dependency
  8. diagram
  9. Vaijayantīkośa Knowledge net
  10. Nāmadhāturūpikā Denominative verbs
  11. Śabdakautukam Practice noun forms
  12. Anvayacitraṇam tool Draw relations
  13. E-SA E-Shloka Architect
  14. Prakrita Stree Pratyaya Generator
  15. Prakrita Verbform Generator

Sambhasha

Sambhasha – A centre for Shastric Studies

A Centre for Shastric Studies is being run Under the aegis of Karnataka Samskrit University (KARNATAKA SAMSKRIT UNIVERSITY ). This centre undertakes multidisciplinary research projects under its fold. These projects which are consummated according to NEP, directly contribute towards the enhancement of Indian Knowledge System.
As a part of this initiative,
सङ्गणकभाषा is a web portal that hosts tools developed free of cost for
public. This is a non-profit service that is provided to individuals from
diverse groups – Ayurvedic doctors/students, samskrita students and the
general public interested in Indian Knowledge Systems. The following are
the tools developed by the team Computing Panini Group headed by Prof
Shivani.

Sambhasha

BA-Vyakarana-Broch