Sanskrit recognises three voices or prayoga (प्रयोग) — kartari (active), karmani (passive), and bhāve (impersonal). Each presents the same event from a different angle, shifting which kāraka is in the limelight and how the verb is constructed. Mastering the three voices is essential because Sanskrit literature uses them with great fluidity.
(Active Voice)
In the active voice, the agent (karta) is the grammatical subject and stands in the nominative case. The verb agrees with the agent in person and number, and the object (karma) takes the accusative case.
Rāmaḥ Rāvaṇaṃ hanti (रामः रावणं हन्ति) — "Rāma kills Rāvaṇa."
Here Rāmaḥ is in the nominative (subject), Rāvaṇam in the accusative (object), and hanti is the third-person singular present of √han.
(Passive Voice)
In the passive voice, the focus shifts to the object. The grammatical subject is the entity acted upon, expressed in the nominative. The original agent is demoted to the instrumental case, and the verb agrees with the object.
Rāvaṇaḥ Rāmeṇa hanyate (रावणः रामेण हन्यते) — "Rāvaṇa is killed by Rāma."
Now Rāvaṇaḥ is in the nominative, Rāmeṇa in the instrumental, and hanyate is the third-person singular passive present.
The passive is enormously common in Sanskrit, particularly in formal and philosophical prose. The Bhagavad Gītā and the Upaniṣads make extensive use of passive constructions, which feel less assertive and emphasise the deed itself or the recipient of the action.
(Impersonal Voice)
The bhāve prayoga is used with intransitive verbs that have no direct object. There is no subject to speak of; the action itself is the focus. The verb is in the third-person singular neuter form, and the agent, if mentioned, is in the instrumental.
Tena suptam (तेन सुप्तम्) — literally "by him it was slept," that is, "he slept."
Tatra gantavyam (तत्र गन्तव्यम्) — "there must be a going there," that is, "one should go there."
The impersonal voice often appears with gerundive forms (tavya, anīya, ya) expressing obligation, possibility, or fitness.
Voice and the Karta
Because each voice shifts which kāraka receives the nominative case, mastering is the practical key to reading Sanskrit. A student who learns to recognise the instrumental of agent in passive sentences will read most Sanskrit prose easily. A common pattern:
- Subject in nominative + verb agreeing with it = active
- Subject in instrumental + verb agreeing with the object in nominative = passive
- No clear subject + impersonal verb in singular neuter = bhāve
Parasmaipada and Atmanepada
Voice in this karmaṇi/kartari/bhāve sense is independent of the older parasmaipada/ātmanepada distinction. The latter refers to two sets of personal endings inherited from Proto-Indo-European, and most roots are grammatically restricted to one or the other regardless of the .
Why It Matters
The flexibility of voice in Sanskrit allows authors to highlight whatever element of an event matters most — the doer, the deed, or the recipient. In poetry, passive constructions create a sense of inevitability or fate; in philosophical prose, the impersonal voice can express truths without attributing them to any single agent. Tena uktam (तेन उक्तम्, "it was said by him") and evaṃ jñāyate (एवं ज्ञायते, "thus it is known") are characteristic phrases that signal the depersonalised voice of authoritative discourse.
Voice in Sanskrit, then, is less a grammatical accident and more a rhetorical instrument.