11.3 Kannada Grammar III — Karaka, Kriyapada, Alankara & Chandas
Key Takeaways
- There are six karakas — karta, karma, karana, sampradana, apadana and adhikarana; sambandha or the genitive relation is a vibhakti relation and not a karaka.
- Kannada verbs are formed from a root plus a tense marker plus a person-number-gender suffix, so maad plus ida plus anu gives maadidanu, "he did".
- Kannada has eight parts of speech, grouped into inflected words (namapada, kriyapada) and uninflected words (avyaya).
- Upama alankara makes an explicit comparison using a word such as like, while rupaka alankara identifies the two things outright.
- Chandas is the study of metre, built from laghu (short) and guru (long) syllables into ganas; shatpadi and tripadi are the characteristic native Kannada metres.
Karaka (ಕಾರಕ) — Semantic Roles
A karaka is the semantic role a noun plays in relation to the verb. The vibhakti is the form; the karaka is the meaning that form carries. Sanskrit and Kannada grammar recognise six karakas.
| # | Karaka | Role | Usual vibhakti | Example |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Karta (ಕರ್ತೃ) | Agent — who does it | Prathama (nominative) | rāmanu baraha bareda — Rama wrote |
| 2 | Karma (ಕರ್ಮ) | Object — what is done to | Dwitiya (-annu) | pustakavannu ōdida — read the book |
| 3 | Karana (ಕರಣ) | Instrument — by what means | Tritiya (-inda) | lēkhaniyinda bareda — wrote with a pen |
| 4 | Sampradana (ಸಂಪ್ರದಾನ) | Recipient — to whom | Chaturthi (-ge) | sītege koṭṭa — gave to Sita |
| 5 | Apadana (ಅಪಾದಾನ) | Source — from where, point of separation | Panchami (deseyinda) | kāḍininda banda — came from the forest |
| 6 | Adhikarana (ಅಧಿಕರಣ) | Locus — where or when | Saptami (-alli) | manedalli iddanu — was in the house |
Correction worth noting: sambandha (the genitive, rāmana = "Rama's") is often listed as a seventh karaka, but it is not one. A karaka is a relation between a noun and the verb; sambandha is a relation between two nouns. Similarly, sambodhana (address) is not a karaka. If a question asks how many karakas there are, the answer is six.
The most tested trio is karta–karma–karana: ask who did it, to what, and with what.
Kriyapada (ಕ್ರಿಯಾಪದ) — Verbs
A Kannada finite verb is built in three layers: dhatu (root) + kala pratyaya (tense marker) + akhyata pratyaya (person-number-gender suffix). Using the root māḍ- (ಮಾಡ್-, "to do"):
| Kala (tense) | Marker | Third person masculine singular | Gloss |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bhuta kala (ಭೂತ, past) | -ida- | māḍidanu (ಮಾಡಿದನು) | "he did" |
| Vartamana kala (ವರ್ತಮಾನ, present) | -utta ide- | māḍuttiddāne (ಮಾಡುತ್ತಿದ್ದಾನೆ) | "he is doing" |
| Bhavishya kala (ಭವಿಷ್ಯ, future) | -uva- | māḍuvanu (ಮಾಡುವನು) | "he will do" |
Agreement. The final suffix agrees with the subject in person, number and — for rational nouns — gender: māḍidanu (he did), māḍidaḷu (she did), māḍitu (it did), māḍidaru (they did), māḍide (I did). The classic error in a fill-in-the-blank is choosing a suffix that does not agree with the subject, so read the subject first.
Related verb forms to recognise:
- Krudanta (ಕೃದಂತ) — a verbal noun or participle: māḍuvudu ("doing"), māḍida ("done").
- Nishedha (ನಿಷೇಧ) — negative: māḍilla ("did not do"), māḍuvudilla ("will not do").
- Vidhyartha — imperative: māḍu ("do"), māḍiri ("do", polite plural).
- Karma-vachya / kartari-vachya — passive and active voice.
Shabdagalu — Parts of Speech
| Class | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Namapada (noun) | Names a person, thing or idea | mane, rāma |
| Sarvanama (pronoun) | Stands for a noun | avanu, idu |
| Gunavachaka (adjective) | Describes a noun | doḍḍa, hosa |
| Kriyapada (verb) | Expresses action | māḍidanu |
| Kriya-visheshana (adverb) | Modifies a verb | bēga ("quickly") |
| Sambandhadyotaka (relational/postposition) | Links words | jote, ondige ("with") |
| Samuchchaya (conjunction) | Joins clauses | mattu ("and"), ādare ("but") |
| Bhavasuchaka (interjection) | Expresses emotion | ayyō!, ōho! |
Words that inflect (namapada, kriyapada) are contrasted with avyaya (ಅವ್ಯಯ) — indeclinables that never change form, such as mattu, ādare, prati, bēga.
Alankara (ಅಲಂಕಾರ) — Figures of Speech
Alankara means "ornament": the figures that make language expressive. Two broad families are shabdalankara (figures of sound) and arthalankara (figures of meaning). The high-frequency ones are:
| Alankara | Definition | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Upama (ಉಪಮಾ, simile) | An explicit comparison, using a comparison word (hāge, iddante, "like") | "Her face is like the moon" |
| Rupaka (ರೂಪಕ, metaphor) | The two are identified, with no comparison word | "Her face is the moon" |
| Utpreksha (ಉತ್ಪ್ರೇಕ್ಷೆ, hyperbole) | Deliberate exaggeration | "His fame filled the three worlds" |
| Drishtanta (ದೃಷ್ಟಾಂತ) | An illustrative parallel between two statements | Two matched sentences illustrating one truth |
| Shleshe (ಶ್ಲೇಷೆ, pun) | One word carrying two meanings at once | — |
| Anuprasa (ಅನುಪ್ರಾಸ, alliteration) | Repetition of the same consonant — a shabdalankara | Repeated initial sounds across a line |
| Arthantaranyasa | A general truth supported by a particular instance | — |
The distinction that decides most alankara questions: if a comparison word such as hāge or "like" is present, it is upama; if the comparison is stated as an identity, it is rupaka. That one test answers a large share of the items.
Chandas (ಛಂದಸ್ಸು) — Metre
Chandas is the study of metre. Its building blocks are syllable weights:
- Laghu (ಲಘು, short, marked U) — a short vowel with no following cluster.
- Guru (ಗುರು, long, marked –) — a long vowel, or a short vowel followed by a consonant cluster, anusvara or visarga.
Syllables group into ganas of three (in the Sanskrit system) or into matras (moras) counted as one for laghu and two for guru. Kannada's own characteristic metres are worth naming:
| Metre | Character |
|---|---|
| Tripadi (ತ್ರಿಪದಿ) | Three lines; the metre of Sarvajna's vachanas |
| Shatpadi (ಷಟ್ಪದಿ) | Six lines; the great narrative metre of medieval Kannada, used in Kumaravyasa's Bharata |
| Ragale (ರಗಳೆ) | Free-flowing couplet form, associated with Harihara |
| Sangatya (ಸಾಂಗತ್ಯ) | Composed to be sung to a musical instrument |
| Vachana (ವಚನ) | Free verse, without metre — the Lingayat reform form |
| Champu (ಚಂಪೂ) | Mixed prose and verse, the classical form used by Pampa |
Exam Angle for Section 11.3
- Match a karaka to its vibhakti and semantic function, and remember that there are six.
- Parse a finite verb into root, tense marker and person-number suffix.
- Choose the verb form that agrees with a given subject.
- Name the alankara in a line, applying the comparison-word test first.
- Identify a metre from its line count — three for tripadi, six for shatpadi — and know that vachanas are metre-free.
This section rewards a small number of clean discriminations rather than broad reading: six karakas, three tenses, upama versus rupaka, and tripadi versus shatpadi.
How many karakas does Kannada grammar recognise, and why is sambandha not one of them?
"Her face is like the moon" and "Her face is the moon" illustrate which two alankaras respectively?
The shatpadi metre, the great narrative form of medieval Kannada used in Kumaravyasa's Bharata, has how many lines per stanza?