deva

1. The rule

The masculine a-stem is the most frequent declensional class in Sanskrit — roughly half of all masculine nouns in the lexicon belong here. Its singular has eight distinct endings, one per case, which makes every form unambiguous on sight. Three of those endings are unique to this paradigm and appear nowhere else in the nominal system: the instrumental -ena, the dative -āya, and the genitive -asya (Whitney §327; MacDonell §73).

2. How to remember

Three tricks that crack this paradigm in one sitting:

1. i The singular has eight distinct endings, all different. You can identify the case from the ending alone, without context. Memorise the singular column once — recognition is foolproof.
2. ii The dual collapses to three forms: devau (nom/acc/voc), devābhyām (ins/dat/abl), devayoḥ (gen/loc). Six cases, three forms. Learn the three and the dual is done.
3. iii Three unique singular endings flag this paradigm immediately: -ena (ins.), -āya (dat.), -asya (gen.). If you see any of these at the end of a masculine word, you're in an a-stem with no further questions.
4. iv The vocative is the bare stem: deva! (“O god!”). The shortest form; the direct address.

3. Exercise — deva

Fill in the full paradigm. Each cell validates as you type — use macrons and dot-unders (ā, ṛ, ḥ).