Sounds [Sanskrit]

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Sounds

learnsanskrit.org

November 25, 2012

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aand Almost any language resource will start by describing its language's sounds. This guide will do

the same. But unlike most other languages, Sanskrit requires total mastery of its different

sounds. They shift, blend, and transform constantly, and unless you are very familiar with

them, Sanskrit will be difficult to understand.

Fortunately, the Sanskrit sound system is easy to master. It has remained nearly the same for

thousands of years, and we know almost exactly how Sanskrit once sounded.

a

Let's start with the very first sound in the Sanskrit alphabet. It is a fundamental sound that we

can produce effortlessly:

When you produce this sound, let your breath flow cleanly through your mouth, without any

breaks or stops. Sounds produced in this way are calledvowels.

As you learn the Sanskrit sounds, study the recordings carefully and consult the

knowledgeable people around you. Use the English approximations as a last resort.

To get the second sound of the alphabet, we make atwice as long as it was before. The soundof the vowel changes slightly:

ais called shortbecause it is not as long as . is called longbecause it is longer than a. As

you pronounce these vowels, try to make exactly twice as long as a.

a"u" in "but"

"a" in "father"

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Blended sounds

Background

Some languages, such as English, have writing systems that do not match the sounds of the

language well. For example, the English word "enough" does not have a "g" sound, but a "g" is

added anyway.

Other languages, such as Spanish or Italian, have writing systems that match the sounds of the

language very well. Even if you do not know either of these languages, you can probably

pronounce words likeplaza or numero fairly well.

But Sanskrit goes one step further. In almost every text, written Sanskrit is a perfect record of

the sounds that appear in spoken Sanskrit.

This might be confusing. Let's see some examples.

Examples

Here are two simple Sanskrit sentences:

blya haHe speaks for the boy.

s pnotiShe obtains.

Try reading the first sentence out loud ten times.

As you might have noticed, it is tiresome to keep stopping after blyaand keep starting againat ha. That pause is difficult to pronounce, and it takes too much extra time. Because of thesepauses, speaking Sanskrit can feel hard and slow.

The earliest Sanskrit speakers solved this problem byblendingwords together. Blended words

are easier to say, and it takes much less time to say them. In blya ha, for example, it is somuch easier to blend aand into blyha.

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This is how Sanskrit is usually written down, too. Even if two words are supposed to be

separate, they are blended wherever possible:

blya ha blyha

He spoke for the boy.

s pnoti spnotiShe obtains.

In the wild

This blending occurs almost everywhere. Try to blend the words in the sentences below:

pram eva avaiyate

na anuocanti pait

nityaabdena atra anityatvasya abhva

These sentences are all from real Sanskrit texts, like the Upanishads:

( ) (prasya pram dya) pramevvaiyate(Taking the full from the full,) the full itself remains.

a Upaniad

the Bhagavad Gita:

() (gatsn agatsca) nnuocanti paitThe learned do not grieve (for the dead or the living).

Bhagavad Gita 1.11

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and technical works, like this logical treatise from the 6th century:

()nityaabdentrnityatvasybhva (ucyate)By the word "permanent" here (is meant) the absence of impermanence.

Nyyapravea2.3

So even though blending comes from spoken Sanskrit, it can appear in written Sanskrit as well.

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Simple Vowels

Sounds and letters

When most people think of written Sanskrit, they think ofDevanagari:

May our studies be glorious.

Upanishads (various)

But although Devanagari is standard now, it wasn't always. Historically, every Indian script

has been used to write Sanskrit:

This fact is deeply connected to the Sanskrit tradition, which has always valued speech over

writing. Even when writing was abundant and widely known, the Vedas and other important

texts were learned from the mouth of a teacher and memorized so that they could be taughtlater on. And although it is weaker now, this tradition has survived to the present day. This

emphasis on speech over writing helps to explain why words are blended in so many Sanskrit

texts.

But it also leads to a more practical matter. If Sanskrit has no script of its own, we can choose

whatever script we like.

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Devanagari is an obvious choice. But Devanagari takes some time to learn, especially if you

have never learned another Indian script. Moreover, Devanagari was not built for Sanskrit,

and it can be awkward and clumsy when used to write it.

Instead, we could use romanizedSanskrit. It is almost as common as Devanagari, and it was

built to be easy to learn:

tejasvi nvadhtamastu

As a compromise, this guide will use romanized Sanskrit and switch to Devanagari over time.

With this approach, we can spend less time on reading and writing and more time on Sanskrit.

And speaking of Sanskrit, let us continue with the alphabet.

Seven vowels

Four of these vowels have English counterparts:

Three do not:

is extremely rare. Most texts do not have it, and it does not have a long form. Generally, youcan pronounce it however you like.

Short and long

We have studied 9 vowels so far. Of these, five are short:

and four are long:

i"i" in "bit"

"ee" in "teeth"

u"u" in "put"

"oo" in "mood"

(no match)

(no match)

(no match)

a i u

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Together, these nine vowels are called simple vowels.

Blending simple vowels

The simple vowels are easy to blend:

blya ha blyhaHe spoke for the boy.

s pnoti spnotiShe obtains.

gacchati vara gacchatvaraThe lord goes.

gacchati madhu udakam gacchati madhdakamHe goes to the sweet water.

In these sentences, the vowels that blend resemble each other. blends with , iblends with ,ublends with u, and so on. In each case, the vowels are roughly the same, although they mighthave different lengths.

Let's call such vowels similar. For example, is similar to and , but it is notsimilar to u.

In the wild

Try to blend the words in the phrases below:

na anyadasti iti

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ea tu uddeata

These phrases are from theBhagavad Gita:

nnyadastti(The unwise, who delight in the letter of the Vedas and proclaim) "there is

nothing else",

Bhagavad Gita 2.42

ea tddeata(What I have declared) is just an example (of my many splendors.)

Bhagavad Gita 10.40

These two blends are common all throughout Sanskrit literature.

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Compound Vowels

Just as simple tin and copper can combine to make bronze, two vowels can combine to make a

compoundvowel.

Compound vowels vowels are a crucial part of Sanskrit and are used in simple but powerfulways. But for now, let us just pronounce them.

The vowels

Sanskrit has four compound vowels. Each is a longvowel. And each is made by a different

combination.

Since the compound vowels are combinations of two vowels, they aresimilar to nothing.

a/+ simple vowel

Consider the combinations a+ iand a+ u. These combine in an obvious way:

a + i ai

a + u au

But it can be tiresome to keep these two sounds separate. So, the early Sanskrit speakers

blended the two sounds into something a little easier:

The other combinations (a, i, , a, u, ) blend in the same way.

As you pronounce eand o, try to make the sound "flat" and constant. If you are a nativeEnglish speaker, this can be hard; English "e" sounds like Sanskrit eiand English "o" soundslike Sanskrit ou.

For now, let's ignore combinations with and .

a/+ compound vowel

Consider the combinations a + eand a + o. These combinations are not obvious. But if weremember that ecomes from a + iand that ocomes from a + u, they become easy:

a + ai i

e"a" in "mane"

o"o" in "go"

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a + au u

But it can be tiresome to spend so much time pronouncing a vowel. So, the early Sanskrit

speakers made the sound a little shorter:

The other combinations (e, o) blend in the same way.

Can we combine aiand auwith anything? We can try:

a + ai i

a + au u

But they shorten back to aiand au, with no changes. The other combinations (+ai, +au) dothe same.

As you pronounce aiand au, try to make the "a" part ofaiand ausound just like the vowel a.The shorter it is, the better.

Blending compound vowels

When two vowels are similar, they blend easily:



And if they are not similar, they still blend easily.aand combine like they do above:

s icchati secchatiShe wants.

ai"i" in "fight" au"ow" in "cow"

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tasya udakam tasyodakamhis water

blasya odanam blasyaudanamthe boy's rice

tasya aivaryam tasyaivaryamhis power

In the last example, note that a + a i combine with no change. Also, remember that nothing issimilar to a compound vowel.

In the wild


paya etm

hatv etn

sakh iti matv

ca oadh

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na asad sn na u sad st

These words blend as you would expect:

payaitmLook at this (army of the Pandavas, O master).

Bhagavad Gita 1.3

hatvaitnHaving killed them,

Bhagavad Gita 1.36

sakheti matvThinking (of you) as a friend,

Bhagavad Gita 11.41

cauadhAnd (I nourish all) the plants.

Bhagavad Gita 15.13

nsad sn no sad stThen there was neither nothing nor anything.

Nsadya Skta

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Semivowels

How do two vowels blend together? If they are similar, they become long:


If they are not similar, the blend depends on the first vowel. aand , for example, combine tocreate compound vowels:


But there are other combinations that are more puzzling:

gacchati avaThe horse goes.

sdhu steHe sits well.

To blend the vowels in these sentences, we need a new kind of letter.

Semivowels

Consider the combinations i+ aand u+ a. These combine in an obvious way:

i + a ia

u + a ua

It can be tiresome to keep these two sounds separate. But these sounds do not blend easily.

They fight for space, like two wrestlers in the ring. And only one of them can remain.

Instead ofblending, one of the sounds collapses and becomes shorter. Wherever possible, the

first sound is the one that shortens:

i + a ya

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u + a va

These shortened vowels are called semivowels. And apart from aand , every vowel has one:

Since semivowels can only exist around other vowels, they are all listed with the vowel a. Asyou pronounce these letters, keep them as short as possible.

Blending vowels

When vowels cannot blend or combine, one of them becomes a semivowel:

gacchati ava gacchaty avaThe horse goes.

sdhu ste sdhv steHe sits well.

With compound vowels

This applies to compound vowels, too. We just have to remember where they come from. For

example, aucomes from a + a + u, or u. So, we get:

avau icchati avu icchati avv icchatiHe wants the two horses.

In the wild


bhavati iti anuuruma

na tu eva aha jtu na sam

ya"y" in "yellow"

ra(no match)

la"l" in "loose"

va"v" in "vase"

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tejasvi nau adhtam astu

yadi api ete na payanti

These words blend as you would expect:

bhavatty anuuruma(They dwell eternally in hell) so we have heard.

Bhagavad Gita 1.44

na tv evha jtu nsamNever was I ever not.

Bhagavad Gita 2.12

tejasvi nv adhtam astuMay our studies be glorious.


yady apy ete na payantiBut even if they do not see,

Bhagavad Gita 1.38

Other sounds

We can now describe how the Sanskrit vowels blend and interact. This knowledge is highly

useful and will be especially important later on.

But there are still many other sounds to consider. Let's take a break from the vowels and see

what some of these sounds are. These sounds are much simpler, and they will be much easier

to learn.

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Stops and Nasals

Other sounds

In the Vedic tradition, the Vedas are divine and "otherworldly."[1]

And as the language of the

Vedas, Sanskrit was seen this way, too. As a result, some saw Sanskrit as a metaphor for a

deeper divine truth. Thus Krishna says:

Of sounds I am a. Of compounds I am the dual.I alone am unending time, the Founder facing every side.

Bhagavad Gita 10.33

To understand the metaphor, we must think about the vowel a. It is a simple and effortlesssound, and it is the sound we make when we breathe out. So when seen in this way, ais the

basis of all speech.

But we can take that metaphor and apply it to something more practical.

Vowels and semivowels

Picture the flow of air that makes the vowel a. It starts in the lungs, moves through the throat,and flows cleanly through the mouth, like a river flowing straight.

By changing the shape of this flow, we change the sound of the vowel. This is what the tongue

does. It creates simple vowels like iand . And if we change from one flow to another, we getthe compound vowels, like aiand au.

By squeezing this flow tight, we change the sound again. This creates the semivowels, like yaand va. Although the flow of air is pressed tight, it still flows cleanly through the mouth, withno breaks or obstacles.

But we can alter this flow in more drastic ways.

Stops and nasals

Try pronouncing the vowel a. While pronouncing the vowel, stop the flow of air entirely, thenquickly let it flow again. This produces sounds like kaand taand pa. We can call such soundsstops, since they are made when the air flow stops.

Once more, try pronouncing the vowel a. While pronouncing the vowel, stop the flow of airentirely then redirect it through your nose. Then let the air flow normally. This produces

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sounds like naand ma. We can call such sounds nasals, since they are made with help fromthe nasal cavity.

Let us study these stops and nasals. They are much simpler than the vowels, so they will take

much less time.

But you might be wondering: do simple sounds like kaand na really need so muchintroduction? Not quite. But by learning to become aware of how sounds are formed and why

they sound the way they do, you will have less trouble learning Sanskrit.

Stopping the flow of air

The mouth is a large cavern with a long roof. We can stop the flow of air at many points.

Sanskrit uses five of these points, and you can see them below:

In Sanskrit, the flow of air is stopped only in these five places.

These five points are:

The soft palate

The hard palate

The hard bump on the roof of the mouth

The base of the teeth

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The lips

Together, we can call these placespoints of sound. These five are used to create the stops and

nasals:

Soft palate

We start at the soft palate, at the back of the mouth:

Hard palate

Moving forward, we reach the hard palate:

calooks and sounds similar to the English "ch" sound. But the two are distinct. The English"ch" is pronounced near the teeth. cais pronounced much further back. Getting this soundright can take some practice.

Hard bump

Further still, we reach the hard bump on the roof of the mouth:

For convenience, let us say that these sounds are retroflexed. This word evokes a tongue that

has bent ("flex") backward ("retro") to produce the sound.

Retroflexed sounds do not exist in English. If you have trouble pronouncing them, try curling

your tongue further back.

Base of the teeth

A little further, we reach the base of the teeth:

ka"k" in "skill"

a"ng" in "lung"

ca(no match)

a(no match)

a(no match)

a(no match)

ta"t" in "thumb"

na"n" in "nose"

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This is the base of the teeth, not the tip. At the tip, you get the English "th". At the base, you

get the Sanskrit ta. The difference is small but still noticeable.

Lips

And finally, we reach the lips:

Blending stops and nasals

We have seen that vowels blend with each other in several ways. But stops and nasals are

much simpler.

Here are a few simple sentences:

tat na syamThat is not a mouth.

r naraThe king is a man.

Try reading the first sentence out loud ten times.

As you might have noticed, it is tiresome to shift from tto nwhen pronouncing tat na. Becauseof clustered sounds like these, speaking Sanskrit can feel hard and slow.

But as you might have guessed, the earliest Sanskrit speakers solved this problem by blending

stops and nasals together. Whenever a stop is in front of a nasal, it becomes nasal, too:

tat na syam tan nsyamThat is not a mouth.

pa"p" in "spill"

ma"m" in "mill"

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When a stop becomes nasal like this, it keeps its point of pronunciation. It is like a diamond

dropped in the mud; it may be dirty, but it is still a gem:

r nara r nara

The king is a man.

Still, too much blending can be a bad thing. Letters help to make one word distinct from

another. This is the main job of the stop letters. So, stops only blend between words, not

inside them.

In the wild


tasmt na arh vaya hantum

yac chreya syt nicita brhi tat me

tvatprasdt may acyuta

These phrases are from theBhagavad Gita:

tasmn nrh vaya hantumThus it is not right that we kill

Bhagavad Gita 1.37

yac chreya syn nicita brhi tan me

Truly, tell me that which would be best. Bhagavad Gita 2.7

tvatprasdn maycyutaMy (delusion is gone, and I've come to wisdom,) by your favor, O Krishna.

Bhagavad Gita 18.73

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Voice and Aspiration

The stop letters are simple sounds produced in a simple way:

But as with many things in life, these letters become more interesting when they become more

complex. For one, we can make a stop voiced:

or unvoiced, like ka. These letters are in English, too. You can feel the difference between thesetwo letters by touching your windpipe while you produce them.

But Sanskrit complicates the stops letters in a second way. Recall that a stop is produced when

the flow of air stops then quickly resumes. In ka, this flow resumes normally, like water from atap. But this flow can also resume explosively, like water bursting through a dam:

Sounds like khaare aspirated("breathy"), and sounds like kaare unaspirated("not breathy").

And of course, these aspirated letters can be voiced, too:

The stops and nasals

Each of the five points of sound has four stops and one nasal. Together, these give us the

following 25 sounds:

ka"k" in "skill"

ga"g" in "gill"

kha"k" in "kill"

gha(no match)

ka"k" in "skill"

kha"k" in "kill"

ga"g" in "gill"

gha(no match)

a"ng" in "lung"

ca(no match)

cha(no match)

ja(no match)

jha(no match)

a(no match)

a(no match)

ha(no match)

a(no match)

ha(no match)

a(no match)

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This arrangement is over 2800 years old. It stands at the beginning of the Indian linguistictradition.

varga

The word vargalets us create a shortcut to refer to certain groups of consonants. The stops andnasals at the soft palate (ka, kha, ga, gha, a) are together called kavarga. And we have namesfor the other groups of stops and nasals, too:

cavarga

ca, cha, ja, jha, aavarga

a, ha, a, ha, atavarga

ta, tha, da, dha, napavarga

pa, pha, ba, bha, ma

We can also refer to the semivowels with the termyavarga.

Blending stops

Stops blend very easily, whether with nasals:

tat na syamThat is not a mouth.

ta"th" in "thumb"

tha(no match)

da"th" in "this"

dha(no match)

na"n" in "nose"

pa"p" in "spill"

pha"p" in "pill"

ba"b" in "bill"

bha(no match)

ma"m" in "mill"

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r naraThe king is a man.

or with most other letters. Stops becomevoiced in front of any voiced letter, including vowels:

tat asat tad asatThat is false.

vk eva vg evaspeech itself

semivowels:

tat yacchati tad yacchatiHe restrains it.

and other stops:

sa r bhavati sa r bhavatiHe becomes a king.

but like a diamond in the mud, these stops keep their value: they use the same point of sound.

As before, stops only blend betweenwords, not inside them. Otherwise, we would become

hopelessly confused:

tan mantram

That is a mantra.

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tan mandramThat is charming.

In the wildTry to blend the words in the phrases below:

na asat st na u sat st tadnm

uta amtatvasya no yat annena atirohati

These are lines from various Vedic hymns:[2]

nsad sn no sad st tadnmThen there was neither nothing nor anything.

Nsadya Skta

utmtatvasyeno yad annentirohatiAnd he is the lord of immortality, who grows further by food.

Purusha Sukta

The first example is from one of the most popular Vedic hymns. The line had all of its blending

undone, but we were able to fully restore it.

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Other Consonants

Generally, any sound that is not a vowel is called a consonant. Sanskrit has 33 consonants in

all: the 25 stops and nasals, the 4 semivowels, and the 4 sounds that we will study in this

lesson.

The consonants

Like all Sanskrit consonants, these four use the following "points of sound":

In Sanskrit, the flow of air is stopped only in these five places.

As you pronounce these letters, be mindful of these five points.

"s" sounds

Once more, picture the flow of air that makes the vowel a. It starts in the lungs, moves throughthe throat, and flows cleanly through the mouth, like a river flowing straight.

Normally, the air flows simply and straight. But when this air flow becomes turbulent, we get a

"hissing" sound, like the "s" in "snake" or the "sh" in "shore." For convenience, let us call these

sounds "s" sounds.

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English has two "s" sounds: the "s" in "snake" and the "sh" in "shore." But Sanskrit has three:

auses the hard palate. ais retroflexed. sais just like the English "s".

ha

If you breathe out and make your breath voiced, you'll hear a sound like "haaa." That "h" is our

last consonant:

hais the same breathy sound that you hear in gha,jha, ha, dha, and bha. hais pronouncedwith the soft palate, at the back of the mouth.

avarga

Together, these four sounds are called avarga.

Special combinations

Three consonant combinations are pronounced in a distinct way.jais pronounced more like

ga. hmaand hnaare pronounced like mhaand nha.

The history of these special pronunciations is uncertain. But this is how Sanskrit is

pronounced today.

A new convention

The aat the end of a consonant makes the consonant easy to pronounce. But this acan also beconfusing sometimes. So let us create a new convention. From now on, this guide will not

add ato the end of consonants.

Blending t

Of all consonants, tblends the most. Just as water spreads to fill its container, tchanges toblend with the letter after it.

a(no match)

a(no match)

sa"s" in "snake"

ha(no match)

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Like other stops, tcan become nasal:


tat mantram tan mantramThat is a mantra.

and voiced:

tat asat tad asatThat is false.

We have seen these changes already.

But tcan also change its point of sound. If the next sound is a stop that uses the tongue,then it changes:

tat cpam tac cpamThat is a bow.

tat ksu ta ksuThat is in the commentaries.

tat tanotiHe spreads that.

even if those sounds are voiced:

tat jyate taj jyateThat is born.

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tat amarau ta amarauThat is in the drum.

tat dahati tad dahatiThat burns.

For other stops (kavargaand pavarga), the point of sound does not change:

tat kahoramThat is hard.

tat gurum tad gurumThat is heavy.

tat phalamThat is a fruit.

tat bjam tad bjamThat is a seed.

In the wild

Try to blend the words in the phrase below:

yat bhta yat ca bhavyam

This phrase is from thePurua Skta, one of the most popular Vedic hymns:

yad bhta yac ca bhavyam(He is all of this) which has been and which is yet to be.

Purua Skta

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Our Sanskrit alphabet is almost complete. Only two sounds remain.

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Anusvraand VisargaThe two sounds here are fundamentally different from the others we have studied. They

appear only because of blending. They can be pronounced in multiple ways. They must follow

vowels. And although they seem to be consonants, the tradition calls them something else.

Each sound has its own special term.

anusvra

This sound is called the anusvra("after-sound"). It is a "pure nasal" sound that appears onlyin front of consonants.

It is difficult to pronounce a "pure nasal." But the anusvrais easy to pronounce. Generally, ituses the same point of sound as the sound that follows it:

Written as Sounds like

akara akara

sajaya sajaya

saskta sanskta

sabuddha sambuddha

The anusvrain different contexts

Because of this behavior, sasktais spelled in English as "Sanskrit."

visarga

This sound is called the visarga("release").

Originally, the visargawas probably just like the "h" in "house." We could think of it as an "s"sound pronounced at the soft palate. But today, it is usually pronounced as an echo of the

vowel before it: alike aha, and ilike ihi.

a(no match)

a(no match)

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Blending the visarga

The visargais a difficult sound. So wherever possible, it blends with the letters around it. Infront of unvoiced consonants, the visargabecomes the "s" sound with the same point of sound:

nara carati nara caratiThe man walks.

nara tarati naras taratiThe man crosses.

t k t kThose are commentaries.

This change also occurs in front of other "s" sounds, like and s. But surprisingly, the changeis rarely written out:

()nara ocati (nara ocati)The man grieves.

()nara smarati (naras smarati)The man remembers.

The Sanskrit alphabet

We have now studied every sound in the alphabet.. Unlike the English alphabet, the

Sanskrit alphabet is intuitive and easy to remember:

Vowels

We start with the thirteen vowels:

a i

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anusvraand visarga

The anusvraand visargaare not quite the same as normal consonants, so they are listed withthe vowels:

Stops and nasals

Next come the stops and nasals:

Semivowels

Then the semivowels:

"s" sounds and ha

And, finally, the "s" sounds and ha.

u e ai

o au

a a

ka kha ga gha a ca cha ja jha a a ha a ha a ta tha da dha na pa pha ba bha ma

ya ra la va

a a sa ha

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Syllables

We have now studied every sound in later Sanskrit (with one small exception). But although

real language is made of sounds chained together, we have studied these sounds in isolation. If

we cannot pronounce these sounds together, we will be like those musicians who can play

beautiful notes but no songs.

So let us spend our last lesson here on meter, the study of how sounds flow together. Even if

you can pronounce Sanskrit well already, a good knowledge of meter is vital to understanding

certain parts of how Sanskrit behaves.

Along with phonetics (ik), meter (chandas) is one of the six vedga, the "limbs" of theVedas that support the study of its contents. Four of the sixvedgafocus on language.

Definition

We start with the most basic part of meter: the syllable. Syllables are simple. They have

exactly one vowel:

i

k

nau

yo

he

they start with consonants wherever possible:

-phalam pha-lam

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-iti i-ti

and they end with the anusvraand visargawherever possible:

----nara pacati na-ra-pa-ca-ti

---ta carmi ta-ca-r-mi

Sometimes, however, a phrase can be divided in multiple ways:

-, -putra pu-tra, put-ra

-, -dharma dha-rma, dhar-ma

In these cases, you can divide the phrases however you like. Traditional grammar tries to make

syllables end in vowels (dha-rma). But this makes some parts of Sanskrit more difficult lateron. So let us make our own convention:

A syllable should end with a consonant if possible, without breaking the rules above.

With this convention, all phrases can be divided in only one way:

-putra put-ra

-dharma dhar-ma

Now we can split any Sanskrit phrase into syllables:

-------anekavaktranayanam a-ne-ka-vak-tra-na-ya-nam

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Light and heavy

A syllable that ends in a short vowel is light. All other syllables are called heavy. Heavy

syllables last exactly twice as long as light syllables. This is the key insight of this lesson.

Let's see some examples. In this sentence, every syllable here is heavy:

-------vddho vkas tihaty agre vd-dho-vk-as-ti-hat-yag-reAn ancient tree stands ahead.

Even though some of these syllables have short vowels, each syllable lasts the same amount of

time.

Here is another example. In this sentence, every syllable is light:

-------sa ukam api girati sa-u-ka-ma-pi-gi-ra-tiIt swallows the parrot, too.

Like the previous example, this example has eight syllables. But since every syllable here is

light, this example lasts exactly half as long.

Finally, consider this example:

--arjuna ar-ju-naArjuna

"ar" and "juna" last for exactly the same amount of time, even though all of these vowels areshort.

As you read Sanskrit, try to be mindful of these light and heavy syllables. They do more than

control how Sanskrit is pronounced; they also give Sanskrit poetry some of its beauty and

power.

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Review

And that is all! We have learned virtually everything we need to know about pronouncing

Sanskrit sounds correctly. We have also learned why and how sounds blend together. Finally,

we learned a bit about syllables and meter.

This knowledge is extremely useful, and it will make many parts of Sanskrit much easier.

In the next unit, we will finally start with real Sanskrit. We will create simple sentences,

learn how words are used together, and create new words of our own.

But before you go on, take a moment to review the material from this unit.

Sounds

Instead of just reviewing the alphabet, we can rearrange the sounds in a more meaningful way:

Vowels

Short Long

Soft palatea

Hard palatei e ai

Hard bump

Teeth

Lipsu o au

Consonants

Stops Nasals Semivowels "s" ha

Soft palateka kha ga gha a ha

Hard palateca cha ja jha a ya a

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Hard bumpa ha a ha a ra a

Teethta tha da dha na la sa

Lips pa pha ba bha ma va

Blending

Sometimes, it can be tiresome to pronounce certain sounds next to each other. The earliest

Sanskrit speakers solved this problem byblending words together.

Blending vowels

It is easy to blend vowels. Simple vowels are the easiest:


s pnoti spnoti

She obtains.


gacchati madhu udakam gacchati madhdakamHe goes to the sweet water.

Otherwise, vowels can blend in several ways. They can combine:


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tasya udakam tasyodakamhis water

blasya odanam blasyaudanamthe boy's rice

tasya aivaryam tasyaivaryamhis power

or one canbecome a semivowel:

gacchati ava gacchaty avaThe horse goes.

sdhu ste sdhv steHe sits well.

tejasvi nv adhtam astuMay our studies be glorious.


Blending consonants

It is easy to blend consonants, too. Stops canbecome nasals:


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r nara r naraThe king is a man.

or they can justbecome voiced:

vk eva vg evaspeech itself

tat yacchati tad yacchatiHe restrains it.

sa r bhavati sa r bhavatiHe becomes a king.

na asat st na u sat st tadnm nsad sn no sad st tadnmThen there was neither nothing nor anything.

Nsadya Skta

t, especially,blends very easily:

tat cpam tac cpamThat is a bow.

tat ksu ta ksuThat is in the commentaries.

tat jyate taj jyateThat is born.

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tat amarau ta amarauThat is in the drum.

Blending the visargaJust like t, the visargablends often and easily:

nara carati nara caratiThe man walks.

nara tarati naras taratiThe man crosses.

t k t kThose are commentaries.

Meter

We studied Sanskrit syllables and learned how they affect the way Sanskrit is spoken.

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End matter

Footnotes

1. ^ alaukika"not of (this) world" or apaurueya"not of mankind".

2. ^ Like most all Vedic Sanskrit, the lines here are open to some interpretation.

Sounds [Sanskrit]

Documents

Transcript of Sounds [Sanskrit]