Perfect Participles

Another term for distant past tense is perfect tense, as the nearness of the verb is quite common in both of them. The word perfect Participles  has its root in Latin word “perfectus” which means “finished” or “completed”

Let’s see the example of a perfect verb in English:

I do the work.
I have done the work.

However this concept does not exist in Sanskrit, but it appears occasionally.

व्यासप्रसादात् श्रुतवान् एतद्गुह्यमहं परम्
vyāsaprasādāt śrutavān etadguhyamahaṃ param
By the grace of Vyasa I have heard this supreme secret.

समवेता युयुत्सवः
samavetā yuyutsavaḥ
(They all) have assembled and want to fight

नरके ऽनियतं वासो भवतीत्य् अनुशुश्रुम
narake ‘niyataṃ vāso bhavatīty anuśuśruma
There is eternal dwelling in hell; thus we have heard.

Now we are going to learn perfect participles, which are formed from the verbs in the distant past tense.

तं तस्थिवांसं नगरोपकण्ठे
taṃ tasthivāṃsaṃ nagaropakaṇṭhe
Him who has stopped near the city

We can also rewrite the sentence using a gerund or the past parasmaipda/atmanepada

तं स्थित्वा नगरोपकण्ठे
taṃ sthitvā nagaropakaṇṭhe
Him who has stopped near the city

Usage

One thing to note is that Perfect participles are used rarely. The participles for verbs like kṛ, as, and bhū can be used with abstract nouns, just like regular perfect verbs.

दर्शयामास
darśayāmāsa
He displayed.

दर्शयाम् आसिवान्
darśayām āsivān
He has been displaying

Forming the participle stem

In order to form the stem, Parasmaipada uses vas and atmanepada use āna. vas sometimes uses i vowel

कृ → चकृ → चकृवस्
kṛ → cakṛ → cakṛvas
Do → having done

गम् → जग्म् → जग्मिवस्
   gam → jagm → jagmivas
Go → having done

 वच् → ऊच् → ऊचान
vac → ūc → ūcāna
     Speak → having spoken

 नी → निनी → निन्यान
nī → ninī → ninyāna
Lead → having led

श्रु → शुश्रु → शुश्रुवाण
śru → śuśru → śuśruvāṇa
Hear → having heard

(Note that internal sandhi produces the form above instead of *susruvana)

Feminine stems:

Here are some feminine suffixes:

suffix	Feminine version
vas	usi
ivas	usi

 

The stem follows the pattern of the sound nadi

Inflection 

The atmanepada participle uses –a sound generally and –ā for feminine. Parasmaipada however, is a little complex than the former one as it is a consonant and uses multiple stems. The stems difference depends on whether the i vowel is used or not.

Endings	Strong stem	Middle stem	Weak stem	Special stem
–vas	vāṃs	uṣ	vat	vān
-ivas	ivāṃs	uṣ	ivat	ivān

Now let us see the vas endings in different forms

–vas (masculine)

तस्थिवस्	Singular	Dual	Plural
Case 1 (subject)	तस्थिवान् tasthivān	तस्थिवांसौ tasthivāṃsau	तस्थिवांसः tasthivāṃsaḥ
Case 2 (object)	तस्थिवांसम् tasthivāṃsam	तस्थिवांसौ tasthivāṃsau	तस्थुषः tasthuṣaḥ
Case 3 ("with")	तस्थुषा tasthuṣā	तस्थिवद्भ्याम् tasthivadbhyām	तस्थिवद्भिः tasthivadbhiḥ
Case 4 ("for")	तस्थुषे tasthuṣe	तस्थिवद्भ्याम् tasthivadbhyām	तस्थिवद्भ्यः tasthivadbhyaḥ
Case 5 ("from")	तस्थुषः tasthuṣaḥ	तस्थिवद्भ्याम् tasthivadbhyām	तस्थिवद्भ्यः tasthivadbhyaḥ
Case 6 ("of")	तस्थुषः tasthuṣaḥ	तस्थुषोः tasthuṣoḥ	तस्थुषाम् tasthuṣām
Case 7 ("in")	तस्थुषि tasthuṣi	तस्थुषोः tasthuṣoḥ	तस्थिवत्सु tasthivatsu
Case 8 (address)	तस्थिवन् tasthivan	तस्थिवांसौ tasthivāṃsau	तस्थिवांसः tasthivāṃsaḥ

Now let us take a look at the neuter form

-vas (neuter)

तस्थिवस्	Singular	Dual	Plural
Case 1 (subject)	तस्थिवः tasthivaḥ	तस्थुषी tasthuṣī	तस्थिवांसि tasthivāṃsi
Case 2 (object)	तस्थिवः tasthivaḥ	तस्थुषी tasthuṣī	तस्थिवांसि tasthivāṃsi
Case 8 (address)	तस्थिवः tasthivaḥ	तस्थुषी tasthuṣī	तस्थिवांसि tasthivāṃsi

Irregularities

In Parasmaipada, there are some irregularities, when the root is ending r, then it only functions after the suffix is added.

तॄ → तीर्वस् → तितीर्वस्
tṝ → tīrvas → titīrvas
Cross → having crossed

तॄ → ततॄ → ततिराण
tṝ → tatṝ → tatirāṇa
Cross → having crossed