Modes

Indicative (Ind)

Ind is the basic verbal meaning.

(1)

Example:

Gṛham gacchāmi.

‘I’m going home’

Imperative (Imp)

Imp incorporates the following meanings:

	order, injunction, permission, precept, exhortation, admonition	(2)
	wishes, benedictions	(3)
	possibility, doubt	(4)
	^ImpS + mā ∨ mā sma : prohibition	(5)
	[no agent] + ^2/Imp/PsS: courteous injuction, polite order (with same value: arhasi + Inf)	(6)

Examples:

Vatsau, bhaginyāḥ panthānam ādeśayatam! (2)

‘My children, show your sister the way!’

Kim karavāṇi te? (3)

‘What shall I do for you?’

Katham tu khalu asmān saṃkaṭān mocyāvahai. (4)

‘How may we be rescued from this danger?’

Yāta, mā sma iha tiṣṭhata. (5)

Go on, do not stay here.’

Śretum arhasi. = Śrūyatām. (6)

‘Deign to listen!’

Optative (Opt)

Opt incorporates the following meanings:

	possibility	(7)
	wish	(8)
	[polite] request	(9)
	doubt	(10)
	hypothesis	(11)
	prescriptive	(12)

Note:

^RPn ^OptF ‘if anyone ...’

(13)

Examples:

Kuryām.

‘I can do.’

‘I might do.’

‘I will do.’

‘I shall do.’

‘I must do.’

‘Let me do.’ etc.

Atha vā, mayi gate, nṛśaṃsaḥ hanyāt enām. (7)

‘On the other hand, in my absence, the cruel man will kill her.’

Mantrān adhīyīya. (8)

‘Let me study mantras’

Vijayetām kumārau. (8)

‘May the princes be victorious.’

Ekam hanyāt na vā hanyāt iṣuḥ muktaḥ dhanuḥ matā, buddhiḥ buddhim ataḥ utsṛṣṭā hanti rāṣṭram sanāyakam. (10)

‘The arrow shot by an archer may hit one individual or it may not hit him, but the wit of a witty man hits the [whole] kingdom with its ruler.’

Tvattaḥ apatyavatī loke careyam dharmam uttamam. (11)

‘If I had offspring from You, I would walk the highest path of duty.’

Na evam saḥ karhi-cit kuryāt. (12)

‘He should not act thus at any time.’

Ahaḥ-ahaḥ dadyāt. (12)

‘One should give every day.’

Svarūpam yadā draṣṭum icchethāḥ. (13)

‘When you shall desire to see your own form.’

Kṛpām kuryāt yathā mayi. (13)

‘So that he may take pity on me.’

Precative (Prec)

Prec expresses benedictions.

(14)

Example:

Kṛtāḥ yaḥ bhūyāsam. (14)

‘May I obtain my desire’

Conditional (Cnd)

Cnd expresses:

	something that was going to be done	(15)
	‘would have’	(16)
	that would have happened if something else should have occured, which really has not taken place	(17)

Examples:

Śata-āyum gām akariṣyam. (17)

‘I was going to make (should have made) the cow live a hundred years’

Evam cet na avakṣyaḥ, mūrdhā te vyapatiṣyat. (15)

‘If you should not speak thus, your head would fly off’