• Learn to recognize the forms of the various aorist tenses and understand their use as a finite past tense.
• Learn to express prohibitions in Sanskrit.
• Learn the forms of nominal stems that end in diphthongs, such as gō- “cow,” dyau- “sky,” and nau- “boat.”

The following two verses are from the fifteenth chapter of Bhaṭṭi’s Poem (Bhaṭṭikāvyam or Rāvaṇavadhaḥ), which exemplifies the use of the aorist tense. For the aorist forms, I have identified the verbal roots, but see if you can identify the type of aorist, as well as the person, number, and padam.

These passages concern the episode of Kumbhakarṇa in the Rāma story. Kumbhakarṇa is Rāvaṇa’s younger brother who was renowned for his huge appetite (and size) and for his fondness for sleeping. When the monkey army is about to attack Laṅkā, the rākṣasas are dispatched to try to wake Kumbhakarṇa so that he can fight the monkeys:

• rākṣasēndras tatō ’bhaiṣīd aikṣiṣṭa paritaḥ puram
  prātiṣṭhipac ca bōdhārthaṁ kumbhakarṇasya rākṣasān
  tē ’bhyagur bhavanaṁ tasya suptaṁ caikṣiṣatātha tam
  vyāhārṣus tumulān śabdān daṇḍaiś cāvadhiṣur drutam
  kēśān aluñciṣus tasya gajān gātrēṣv acikraman
  śītair abhyaṣicaṁs tōyair alātaiś cāpy adambhiṣuḥ
  nakhair akartiṣus tīkṣṇair adāṅkṣur daśanais tathā
  śitair atautsuḥ śūlaiś ca bhērīś cāvīvadan śubhāḥ
  sa tān nājīgaṇat sarvān icchayābuddha ca svayam
  abūbudhata kasmān mām aprākṣīc ca niśācarān

  (Bhaṭṭikāvyam 15.1–4)

• rākṣasēndra- m. “Lord of the Rākṣasas,” Rāvaṇa
• abhaiṣīt from √bhī “fear”
• aikṣiṣṭa from √īkṣ “look”
• prātiṣṭhipat from pra-√sthā “set out”
• bōdhārtham adv. “for the purpose (artha-) of waking (bōdha-),” construed with kumbhakarṇasya (a name)
• rākṣasa- m. rākṣasa (a kind of demon)
• abhyaguḥ from abhi-√gā (a substitute in the aorist of abhi-√gam) “approach”
• bhavana- n. “house”
• supta- adj. “asleep” (p.p.p. of √svap)
• aikṣiṣata from √īkṣ “look”
• vyāhārṣuḥ from vi-ā-√hr̥ “address”
• tumula- adj. “noisy”
• daṇḍa- m. “staff, rod”
• avadhiṣuḥ from √vadh “beat”
• drutam adv. “quickly”
• kēśa- m. “hair” (used in the plural, like Hindi bāla)
• aluñciṣuḥ from √luñc “pluck, pull”
• gaja- m. “elephant”
• gātra- n. “limb”
• acikraman from √kram “proceed”
• nakha- n. “nail, claw”
• akartiṣuḥ from √kr̥t “pierce”
• tīkṣṇa- adj. “sharp”
• adāṅkṣuḥ from √daṁś “bite”
• daśana- n. “fang”
• śita- adj. “sharpened” (p.p.p. of √śā “sharpen”)
• atautsuḥ from √tud “strike”
• śūla- m. “pike”
• bhērī- f. “kettle-drum”
• avīvadan from √vad “speak”
• śubha- adj. “auspicious” (or: played on auspicious occasions, like proceeding to battle, worship of the gods, etc.)
• ajīgaṇat from √gaṇ “consider”
• icchā- f. “desire”
• abuddha from √budh “wake up”
• svayam adv. “on his own”
• abūbudhata from √budh “wake up”
• aprākṣīt from √prach “ask”
• niśācara- m. “night-stalker” (upapadatatpuruṣaḥ compound of niśā f. “night” and √car “walk, go”)

• prājñavākyāny avāmaṁsthā mūrkhavākyēṣv avasthithāḥ
  adhyagīṣṭhāś ca śāstrāṇi pratyapatthā hitaṁ na ca

  (Bhaṭṭikāvyam 15.14)

Kumbhakarṇa speaks to Rāvaṇa.

• prājña- adj. “wise” (i.e., possessed of prajñā), said of people
• vākya- n. “saying”
• ava-√man “despise, think poorly of, dismiss”
• mūrkha- adj. “fool”
• ava-√sthā “stand within, rely upon”
• adhi-√gā is a substitute in the aorist for adhi-√i “study.” The final ā of gā is replaced by ī in the ātmanēpadam of the s-aorist (sic) according to the same rule (6.4.66) that replaces the long vowel of roots like √dā with ī in dīyatē etc.
• prati-√pad “comprehend, understand”
• hita- n. “benefit,” what is good for somebody