1 Dvandva Samāsa or Copulative Compound in Sanskrit: A meta-linguistic survey. By Dabee Rajendrakumar “The Sanscrit language, whatever be its antiquity, is of a wonderful structureś more perfect than the Greek, more copious than the Latin, and more exquisitely refined than either, yet bearing to both of them a stronger affinity…” 1 Sir William Jones (1746-1794) Introduction Throughout Indian History Sanskrit has constantly and consistently been the language of predilection for the creation of works of arts (plays and dramas), poetry, science and philosophy in parallel with those on grammar. Even un-orthodox sects like Jainism and Buddhism, had to have recourse to Sanskrit in order to clothe their respective ideas. One of the reasons comes from the very meaning of the word “Sanskrit” which conveys the sense of “that which has been made perfect” (Sam+ √Kŗ). 2 Language is a tool par excellence and its exact use guarantees the accurate transfer of data from the transmitter to the receiver. Defects at either end would mean substantial loss of information and impairment to understanding. But those without a grammar, carry with them even greater defects of pronunciation at physical and those of construction at mental levels. Both of these are strikingly absent in Sanskrit. Sandhis and Samāsas, the building blocks of Sanskrit. Sanskrit is not only a language that is pleasing to the ears but also one which generates immense satisfaction in the mind when the intentions of the speaker are perfectly grasped. That is why the AṣṭƗdhyƗyi 3 has made a special place for phonetics and semantics. In the former, Pāṇini analyzing the organs of speech and their role and function in pronunciation devised specific rules where words symbolizing sounds could be joined together and pronounced in such a way that they seem natural and spontaneous. This ‘euphonic harmonization of sound’ is called Sandhi. 4 The grammarians recognize various types of such fusion of sounds, some of which like dīrgha, yañ, ecaí, visarga, guṅa, are commonly employed in Sanskrit. 1 Jones, Sir William (1824). Discourses delivered before the Asiatic Society: and miscellaneous papers, on the religion, poetry, literature, etc., of the nations of India. Printed for C. S. Arnold. p. 28. 2 Monier-Williams, Monier, A Practical Grammar Of The Sanskrit Language. 3 Standard Sanskrit Grammatical Treatise compiled by Pāṇini comprising nearly 4000 aphorisms spread across eight (aṣṭa) chapters (ƗdhyƗya) 4 Ibid..