Sanskrit Idioms, Phrases and Suffixational Subtleties

Pages: 207

Foreword
It is a matter of great pleasure for me to place before the scholars and Sanskrit lovers,

the work Samskrta Vacovicchittih Pratyayartha Vaicitri ca or The Idioms, Phrases and

Suffixational Subtleties compiled by Mahamahopadhyaya Prof. Pullela Sri Ramachandrudu, an

eminent scholar in Vedanta, Vyakarana and Sahitya known for his contributions to various

fields of Sanskrit learning. He has been associated with the Vidyapeetha for a long time and

member of its various committees, including the Academic Council and the Karya Parishad. He

is also the chairman of the Samskrita Bhasha Prachara Samithi (of Pulla Reddy

Charities, Hyderabad), which is solely dedicated to the propagation of Sanskrit. Thus, he is

actively engaged in both the preservation and propagation of this ancient language. I thank

Prof. Sri Ramachandrudu for having accepted to publish his work with the Vidyapeetha.

This is a unique work, in the sense that it is, perhaps the first dictionary of

Sanskrit idiomatic usages and phrases to have been compiled. It is well known that idioms

add colour to language and variety to expression. Modern languages like English have

produced massive reference works including dictionaries, thesaurus, idiomatic usages and

phrases that have greatly enriched the language. Such works are of great value, since they

allow the speakers to make apt descriptions of ideas and situations. Sanskrit, one of the

richest languages, abounds in many such expressions employed in the literary works, dramas

and to a lesser extent in the shastra works. However, there have not been any reference

works of these special usages in Sanskrit language so far, and hence a desidera