UPHESC Assistant Professor Sanskrit 2025 PYQs

Concept: Vishvanatha’s Sahityadarpana has 10 paricchedas (from kavya-definition to alankaras; 6th on drama).

1. Kavyaprakasha has 10 ullasas; Dhvanyaloka 4 udyotas.

Short trick: Darpana – 10 paricchedas, Prakasha – 10 ullasas.

Concept: Shudraka’s Mrichchhakatika is a prakarana: invented plot (kalpita), hero a Brahmin/merchant (Charudatta), heroine a courtesan (Vasantasena).

1. A nataka has a famous (prakhyata) plot and royal hero.
2. Malatimadhava is another prakarana.

Short trick: Prakarana = invented story, middle-class hero.

Concept: This is Dhvanyaloka 1.10 of Anandavardhana: as sentence meaning is grasped through word meanings, so the suggested sense is grasped through the expressed sense.

1. It explains why vachya precedes vyangya (like a lamp before seeing a pot, 1.9).

Short trick: Pada→vakya :: vachya→vyangya (Dhvanyaloka 1).

Concept: Kautilya (Arthashastra 1.11–12) classifies spies (gudhapurusha) into two broad classes:

1. saṃsthā (stationary – kapatika, udasthita, grihapatika, vaidehaka, tapasa: five)
2. sañcāra (roving – satri, tikshna, rasada, bhikshuki: four).

Short trick: Two classes: sanstha (5) + sanchara (4) = 9 roles.

Concept: Ujjvalanilamani (on madhura/shringara bhakti rasa) and Bhaktirasamritasindhu are by Rupa Gosvami.

1. Bhatti – Bhattikavya; Vamana – Kavyalankarasutra; Mammata – Kavyaprakasha.

Short trick: Rupa Gosvami – Ujjvala + Bhaktirasamrita.

Concept: In 1909–1912 Mahamahopadhyaya T. Ganapati Shastri discovered 13 plays of Bhasa in Kerala and published them in the Trivandrum Sanskrit Series.

1. They include Svapnavasavadatta, Pratijnayaugandharayana, Charudatta, Urubhanga etc.

Short trick: 1909, Trivandrum – Ganapati Shastri.

Concept: Rudradaman’s Junagadh (Girnar) inscription: varṣe dvisaptatitame (year 72, Shaka era ≈ 150 CE) heavy rain and storm breached the Sudarshana lake.

1. It was repaired by his minister Suvishakha; the lake was built by Chandragupta Maurya’s governor Pushyagupta.

Short trick: 72 – Sudarshana breach.

Concept: Mallinatha: nārikelaphalasammitaṃ vaco bhāraveḥ – Bharavi’s style is hard outside, sweet inside like a coconut.

1. Famous praise: “bhāraver arthagauravam”.

Short trick: Bharavi – coconut (hard shell, sweet kernel).

Concept: Shishupalavadha 1.72 (Magha): Narada tells Krishna that Shishupala’s cruel nature has followed him from births as Hiranyakashipu and Ravana –

1. “nature, firm like a chaste wife, follows a man even into other births”.

Short trick: Canto 1 of Magha – Narada on Shishupala.

Concept: Yajnavalkya 2.9: abhiyogam anistīrya nainaṃ pratyabhiyojayet, abhiyuktaṃ ca nānyena noktaṃ viprakṛtiṃ nayet.

1. It is a rule for the plaintiff (arthī): he must not alter (viprakṛti) what he has stated in the plaint.
2. Mitakshara: the arthi should not change his own statement.

Short trick: Arthi (plaintiff) may not change his plaint.

Concept: Manu 2.166: vedābhyāso hi viprasya tapaḥ param ihocyate.

1. Manu stresses lifelong Veda study as the supreme austerity of a Brahmin.

Short trick: Brahmin’s tapas = Vedabhyasa.

Concept: Bhamaha – Kavyalankara (6 paricchedas).

1. Kuvalayananda – Appayya Dikshita; Vakroktijivita – Kuntaka; Kavyadarsha – Dandin.

Short trick: Bhamaha – Kavyalankara; Rudrata also wrote a Kavyalankara.

Concept: Prabhakara’s triputi-pratyaksha: every cognition reveals at once the knower, the known and the knowledge itself (self-luminous).

1. Kumarila holds knowledge is inferred (jñātatā), not self-perceived.

Short trick: Triputi – Prabhakara (Guru).

Concept: Manu 2.34: caturthe māsi kartavyaṃ śiśor niṣkramaṇaṃ gṛhāt, ṣaṣṭhe ’nnaprāśanaṃ māsi.

1. Nishkramana (first outing) – 4th month; Annaprashana – 6th month.

Short trick: 4th month out, 6th month food.

Concept: Abhijnanashakuntalam Act 2 (verse 14): the ascetics say of king Dushyanta – he too lives in the hermitage open to all, and by protecting it gathers tapas daily.

1. “Amunā” and “ayam” both point to Dushyanta, called a rajarshi.

Short trick: Royal sage protecting the ashrama = Dushyanta.

Concept: Arthashastra 2.1 (Janapada-nivesha): the king must protect agriculture from fines, forced labour and taxes, and herds from thieves, beasts, poison, crocodiles and disease.

1. Typical Kautilyan administrative verse closing a chapter.

Short trick: Danda–vishti–kara: Kautilya’s fiscal vocabulary.

Concept: Manu 2.168: yo ’nadhītya dvijo vedam anyatra kurute śramam, sa jīvann eva śūdratvam āśu gacchati sānvayaḥ.

1. Follows 2.166 (vedābhyāso hi viprasya tapaḥ).

Short trick: Manu ch. 2 – Veda study verses 166–168.

Concept: “sāyaṃcira-prāhṇe-pragey-avyayebhyaṣ ṭyu-ṭyulau tuṭ ca” (4.3.23): purā + ṭyu (+ tuṭ) → purātana.

1. By nipātana in “purāṇaproktesu brāhmaṇakalpeṣu” (4.3.105), ṭyu is added without tuṭ → purā + ana → purāṇa.

Short trick: Purātana and purāṇa – both from ṭyu.

Concept: Kautilya’s Arthashastra: 15 adhikaranas, 150 adhyayas, 180 prakaranas, about 6000 shlokas (granthas).

1. It opens with Vinayadhikarika and ends with Tantrayukti.

Short trick: 15 – 150 – 180 – 6000.

Concept: Kautilya’s rajamandala has 12 kings (rāja-prakṛtis): vijigishu, ari, mitra, arimitra, mitramitra, arimitramitra, parshnigraha, akranda, parshnigrahasara, akrandasara, madhyama, udasina.

1. Each has 5 dravya-prakritis (amatya etc.) → 12 + 60 = 72 prakritis in all.
2. “Seven” is the saptanga of a single state, not of the mandala.

Short trick: Mandala = 12 kings (72 with their elements).