Introduction
In this second lesson we introduce the student to expressions
which take into account person and number i.e., expressions involving
one or more persons or things. In English we refer to this as expressions
in singular or plural relating to first, second or third person.
Sanskrit is unique in that, it includes a special disctinction
for referring to two persons or things. One might perhaps wonder why
such a distinction is made at all. It happens that certain things
always occur in pairs in nature. This specific form called the 'dual'
in respect of number, allows one to understand easily the objects
being referred to. While organs such as the eyes, ears etc, are seen
in pairs, there are many other situations in nature where one comes
across pairs like two oxen ploughing a field, two wheels of a cart etc.
As to whether such a distinctionis really necessary is a question
that may not admit of a simple answer. There must have been some
motivating reason for this!
