Namaste 🙏
I am studying many Sanskrit courses under Dr. Sowmya Krishnapur of Vyoma Labs. I am constantly savouring the marvel of the most evolved language on earth. You can also join different courses and improve your Sanskrit at Vyoma Labs.
Here is a famous shloka from Valmiki Ramayana.
कौसल्या सुप्रजा राम पूर्वा संध्या प्रवर्तते ।
उत्तिष्ठ नरशार्दूल कर्तव्यं दैवमाह्निकम् ॥१-२३-२॥
This also happens to be the first shloka of the famous Sri Venkateshvara Suprabhatam.
Now, using this, let me share here some insights into the structure of the Sanskrit language!
In this shloka, Sage Vishwamitra is waking up Sri Rama and Lakshmana at dawn. They are on their way with the sage to protect his Yajna and defeat the demons who are giving the sage trouble. Indeed, Sage Vishwamitra is highly advanced in all aspects of knowledge including spiritual wisdom and use of divine weapons in warfare. He teaches and gives Sri Rama many divine weapons which Sri Rama uses later in his battles. But as is his wont, the sage does not resort to violence or anger during his Yajnas. So he requests Emperor Dasharatha to send Sri Rama (and Lakshmana) to go defend the Yajna against attacks, assuring him that the young Sri Rama is perfectly capable of doing the job. Sage Vasishtha, the Kulaguru of the Emperor, assures Dasharatha that this trip with Sage Vaishwamitra will prove most educative and beneficial to Sri Rama (and Lakshmana).
You can read my detailed blog on Valmiki Ramayana here. I have read and written a detailed narrative based on the original test in Sanskrit over an entire year.
1. What is the basic meaning of this shloka?
Sage Vishwamitra wakes up Sri Rama with these words, " Queen Kausalya is indeed blessed to have you as her son, Sri Rama! Please note that the eastern sky is red with the rising sun. It is time, so wake up, oh lion among men! You have to perform your morning Sandhyavandanam, i.e. worship of the gods now."
2 The shloka structure
कौसल्या सुप्रजा - "Queen Kausalya is a mother blessed with a son such as you!"
राम - "Oh Rama!"
पूर्वा संध्या प्रवर्तते । - "The eastern/morning twilight i.e. dawn is now."
उत्तिष्ठ नरशार्दूल - "Rise, oh lion among men!"
कर्तव्यं दैवम् आह्निकम् - " It's your duty to perform the morning worship."
3 The types of words used here
Verbs -
अस्ति = is, which is not stated but implied (Kausalya is blessed),
प्रवर्तते = is happening,
उत्तिष्ठ = Arise!
Verbal Noun -
कर्तव्यम् - what must be done, i.e. duty.
Nouns -
कौसल्या - Kausalya, a name. This is in feminine gender, singular, nominative.
सुप्रजा - a blessed mother, this is an adjectival noun called विशेषण in Sanskrit, and qualifies Kausalya.
सन्ध्या - Twilight.
पूर्वा - Eastern, an adjectival noun such that पूर्वा सन्ध्या = Dawn.
राम! नरशार्दूल! = Rama! Lion among men! These are vocatives addressed to Rama. So they are call-out words.
कर्तव्यम् = Must be done.
दैवम् = Addressed to the gods.
आह्निकम् = The daily prayer. (Done 3/4 times a day, at dawn, noon, dusk; and midnight sometimes.)
So stringing them together,
"Kausalya (is) a blessed mother, oh Rama! It is dawn. Arise, oh lion among men, for it is your duty now to perform the morning prayer."
The lyrical beauty of the shloka
By beginning his line with the name of Sri Rama's mother, Kausalya, the sage is instantly attracting the full attention of the young Sri Rama. By saying she is blessed to have him as her son, the sage is filling the prince with great positivity. This is a must when we wake up someone!
"Rama! It is dawn. Arise! You have to perform your morning prayer now." This is coming from the sage as an instruction, as he is now the Guru guiding Sri Rama.
We can be sure Sri Rama responds well to this word from his Guru!
The shloka is set in a metre of 4 parts of eight syllables each. This is called Anushtup Chandas (अनुष्टुप् छन्दः).
Valmiki was the world's first poet, his Ramayana was the first poem, and this metre is the earliest metre in Sanskrit literature, and also the most pervasive. Both Ramayana and Mahabharata are mostly in Anushtup Chandas.
