दशमः कः? | Sanskrit Grade 7 CBSE

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The words of the riddle

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The story, its moral and a grammar key

The journey. Ten friends set out together and wade across a swollen river. The current is strong, but all ten reach the other side, soaked and relieved.
The count goes wrong. To be sure no one was swept away, one of them counts the group — “एकः, द्वौ, त्रयः…” — and stops at नव (nine). He counts everyone but himself. Alarmed, the next man counts; again nine. Each forgets the one person standing closest: himself.
The grief. Certain the tenth has drowned, the travellers begin to wail by the riverbank, searching the water for a body that was never lost.
The wise stranger. A passer-by listens, counts them aloud, then taps the weeping counter on the chest: “दशमस्त्वमसि” — “you are the tenth!” The tears turn to laughter. No one was lost at all.

We overlook the obvious. The travellers searched the whole river for what was never missing. How often do we hunt for a “lost” pen that is in our hand, or a friend who is standing right beside us?
Include your own self. The simplest fix was to count oneself. The story gently reminds us to value and remember our own presence, effort and worth — not just everyone else’s.
A Vedāntic image. Teachers later used “दशमस्त्वमसि” (“you are the tenth”) as a famous picture: people search far and wide for happiness or truth, forgetting it lies within their own self all along.
Why a joke teaches well. A funny story sticks. Once you have laughed at the ten counters, you never forget to count yourself in — that is the cleverness of the tale.

Common misreading: the travellers were not bad at arithmetic — each count of “nine” was correct for the others. Their mistake was leaving out the one person they could not see: themselves.

Count to ten (संख्या / cardinals). एकः (1), द्वौ (2), त्रयः (3), चत्वारः (4), पञ्च (5), षट् (6), सप्त (7), अष्ट (8), नव (9), दश (10).
Order words (क्रमवाचक / ordinals). प्रथमः (1st), द्वितीयः (2nd), तृतीयः (3rd), चतुर्थः (4th), पञ्चमः (5th) … दशमः (10th). Cardinals count how many; ordinals tell which one in order.
The interrogative कः. कः = “who?” (masculine). So दशमः कः? = “who is the tenth?” The matching forms are का (who, feminine) and किम् (what / which, neuter).

Worked example. Match the cardinal to its ordinal: पञ्च → ? · सप्त → ? · दश → ?

पञ्च (5) → पञ्चमः (fifth).

सप्त (7) → सप्तमः (seventh).

दश (10) → दशमः (tenth) — exactly the word in the title.

Common mistake: do not swap cardinal and ordinal. दश means “ten” (a count); दशमः means “the tenth” (a position). The travellers feared the loss of the tenth (दशमः), not of “ten”.

Where you'll meet it

“Count yourself in”, in real life

Headcounts on a trip

On a school picnic, a teacher counting students from the front can miss the very child beside her. The tale’s tip — count yourself and your nearest neighbour first — is exactly how good headcounts avoid a false alarm.

Remembering your own worth

When you list everyone who made a project succeed, it is easy to leave out yourself. “दशमस्त्वमसि” is a reminder to count your own effort in — self-awareness is not boasting, it is honesty.

Looking for the obvious

Lost keys in your pocket, an answer already on the page — we often search outward for what is closest. The story trains the habit of checking the obvious before panicking.

Check yourself

Competency quiz

A mix of MCQ, assertion–reason and a case study — testing whether you understand the tale’s moral and the number words, not just the plot.

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