Vibhakti

Vibhakti ('division') is the case inflection of a Sanskrit noun, which marks its role in the sentence. There are seven cases, prathamā (nominative) to saptamī (locative), plus the vocative (sambodhana), each in singular, dual and plural, giving twenty-one endings in Pāṇini's sup list. Because case carries the grammatical relation, Sanskrit word order is relatively free.