What is Chaturthī vibhakti

चतुर्थी विभक्ति or Dative Case of the noun-form represents 'to whom' or 'for whom' of the sentence.
In other words dative case represents the dative in the sentence.

Let us look at the following sentences to understand this.

Chaturthī Vibhakti sentences in Sanskrit

1. वैद्यः रुग्णाय औषधं यच्छति (Doctor gives medicine to the patient)
In this sentence, वैद्यः is the subject, औषधं is object and रुग्णाय represents the dative in the sentence.

2. देवाय नमः (Salutations to God)
In the above sentence, subject is not mentioned explicitly. However, देवाय represents dative of the sentence.

In sentence 1 above, if we ask the question, 'medicine is given to whom?' the answer that we get is 'patient'.
In sentence 2 above, if we ask the question, 'salutations to whom?' the answer that we get is 'God'.
So, in general, answer to the question 'who' or 'what' is the subject of the sentence and is always in nominative case.

Examples of Chaturthī Vibhakti in Sanskrit

Chaturthī Vibhakti of Ram

विभक्ति	एकवचन	द्विवचन	बहुवचन
प्रथमा	रामाय	रामाभ्याम्	रामेभ्यः

Chaturthī Vibhakti of Lataa

विभक्ति	एकवचन	द्विवचन	बहुवचन
प्रथमा	लतायै	लताभ्याम्	लताभ्यः

Chaturthī Vibhakti of Fal (Phal)

विभक्ति	एकवचन	द्विवचन	बहुवचन
प्रथमा	फलाय	फलाभ्याम्	फलेभ्यः