अ to औ are called स्वर (swara) - vowels
अः is called विसर्ग (visarga)
क to ह are called व्यञ्जन (vyanjana) - consonants
Also, each varga is identified by the starting alphabet of that particular varga - कवर्ग, चवर्ग, टवर्ग, तवर्ग, पवर्ग (ka-varga, cha-varga, Ta-varga, ta-varga, pa-varga).
As per the origination of the sound, the vyanjana-s are classified as thus -
- अ इ उ ऋ लृ - ह्रस्व स्वर (hrasva swara) - short vowels
- आ ई ऊ ॠ ए ऐ ओ औ - दीर्घ स्वर (deergha swara) - long vowels (note that ए ऐ ओ औ are nitya deergha, no hrasva for them)
अः is called विसर्ग (visarga)
क to ह are called व्यञ्जन (vyanjana) - consonants
- क to म are called वर्गीय व्यञ्जन (vargIya vyanjana) - grouped consonants
- य to ह are called अवर्गीय व्यञ्जन (avargIya vyanjana) - un-grouped consonants
- अल्पप्राण (alpapraaNa) - the 1st and 3rd alphabet of each वर्ग (varga) group
- महाप्राण (mahaapraaNa) - the 2nd and 4th alphabet of each वर्ग (varga) group
- अनुनासिक (anunaasika) - nasal consonants - the 5th alphabet of each वर्ग (varga) group
Further, the SAME vargIya vyanjana-s are regrouped as -
- कर्कश (karkasha) - Hard consonants - the 1st & 2nd alphabet of each varga (group)
- मृदु (mRudu) - Soft consonants - the 3rd & 4th alphabet of each varga (group)
- अनुनासिक (anunaasika) - nasal consonants - the 5th alphabet of each varga (group)
As per the origination of the sound, the vyanjana-s are classified as thus -
- कवर्ग, ह, : (visarga) -> कण्ठ्य (ka-varga, ha, -H -> kaNThya) - Gutturals - Pronounced from the throat
- चवर्ग, य, श -> तालव्य (cha-varga, ya, sha -> taalavya) - Palatals - tongue touches the front of the palate
- टवर्ग, र, ष -> मूर्धन्य (Ta-varga, ra, Sha -> mUrdhanya) - Cerebrals - tongue rolls all the way, as if towards the head
- तवर्ग, ल, स -> दन्त्य (ta-varga, la, sa -> dantya) - Dentals - tongue touches the teeth
- पवर्ग, व -> ओष्ठ्य (pa-varga, va -> oShThya) - Labials - lips are essential in their pronunciation
- य र ल व -> अन्तस्थ (antastha) - Semi-vowels - soft consonants
- श ष स -> ऊष्म (uShma) - Sibilant - hard consonants - made with a hissing noise
- ह -> महाप्राण (mahaapraaNa) - Aspirate - soft consonant
Thank you so much! Love this info.
ReplyDeleteNice info...
ReplyDeleteVery good info. A quick Q - why is ॡ (the long for ऌ) not mentioned.
ReplyDeleteThere are actually 6 forms of अ - अ आ आऽ and अ (in उदात्त, अनुदात्त and स्वरित forms) and like wise for इ उ ऋ ऌ too. Similarly, there are 5 forms for ए ऐ ओ औ (as they are nitya deergha and do not have hrasva equivalents).
DeleteThe akSharamaala does not contain any of these either.
These are used only in certain circumstances, like in vedic chanting, etc. Similarly ॡ is not used in regular words. Hence not included in the list. Hope that helps.
Thank you for replying. Though ऌ and ॡ are very rare, they are mAtRukA mantras, which are Bhagavat svarUpaas. They are there in Vedic mantras. So, they should be in Akshara mAla, even though we don't use in day-to-day life.
Deleteऌशः meaning giver of joy to Aditi, where ऌ means आदिति
ॡजिः meaning conquerer of Diti by killing her sons, where ॡ means दिति
Keshava Tadipatri ji, just seeing this comment. Sorry I missed it.
DeleteThank you for sharing this interesting info about Diti and Aditi.
What is mrudu vyanjana
ReplyDeleteकर्कश (karkasha) - Hard consonants - the 1st & 2nd alphabet of each varga (group)
Deleteमृदु (mRudu) - Soft consonants - the 3rd & 4th alphabet of each varga (group)
Very nicely done. Easy to understand. thank you.. Looks like the blog is still being sought after, even after 10 years!!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Sundar ji. Happy to note that you are enjoying the content on the blog.
DeleteYou may also be interested in my other blog https://sanskritpearls.blogspot.com/ with subhaaShitas and their meanings. Do check it out.
Thank you bhagini. Are ushmanas grouped with karkasha vyanjanas. I got the doubt while studying visarga sandhi.
DeleteSS Rao ji, not all karkaShas are mapped to the Ushmas. Here's the link to visarga sandhi. This might help -
Deletehttps://sanskritstudy.blogspot.com/2009/10/visarga-sandhi.html
Thank you for all the info,it is very informative and nicely presented
ReplyDeleteThank you :)
DeleteNice info.... Thank you
ReplyDeleteThank you :)
DeleteExcellent detailing of notes ! Thanks so much for posting this. I am using this extensively in my study. धन्योहम्
ReplyDeleteThank you for your kind words. Happy to hear that you are enjoying the material here.
DeleteIf you are interested in Sanskrit and study further, do check out -
https://sanskritpearls.blogspot.com/
You may enjoy reading the subhaaShita-s there.
Can u tell the number of mridu and karkasha vyanjanani
ReplyDeleteThere are 10 of each one
DeleteAnd also name them pls
ReplyDeletekarkasha - क ख च छ ट ठ त थ प फ
ReplyDeletemRudu - ग घ ज झ ड ढ द ध ब भ
Hope that helps.
Thank you very much. I really wanted to learn Sanskrit.
DeleteMadam, got to know which alpabhets are mrudu and Karkasha vyanjana. Can you pls let us know why are they classified as Karkasha and mrudu.
ReplyDeleteA karkasha vyanjana uses more of the technique of that varga. The corresponding soft consonant uses the same technique but with lesser effort. Like क and ख take more effort (of the kaNTha) where as ग and घ use same technique but with less effort. Hope that helps
DeleteThank you madam
ReplyDeletePlease advise how to count the number of hrasva and deerga letters in a sentence
ReplyDeleteSrinivasan ji,
DeleteYou just have to count the number of 'samyuktaakShara's and decide if they end with a short or long vowel. For example, the word kShatriya is split into its individual components as क् ष् अ त् र् इ य् अ. In this there 3 vowels. No matter how many consonants are in a samyuktaakShara, ONE vowel will complete the syllable. Hence, end of each vowel is a syllable. Hope that helps.
Good idea and info. I want to count the number of syllables in a sline by using computer. Can you give a small program that will accomplish this on a computer. Pl send reply to E mail as well.
DeleteMay Sri Krishna bless you,
Regards
OVS
Please reple to my email ovs1945@gmail.com
ReplyDeleteSent to your email as well.
DeleteNamaste Rashmi ji, i wanted to know how to decide whether a sanskrit name of female ending with ekaar be hrasva or deergha eg. name Avanti. does it depend on how we pronounce ? Is there any rule ? if yes please explain. dhanyavadaH.
DeletePerfectly explained mam, it's really informative and knowledgeable about Sanskrit grammar.tqsm mam
ReplyDeleteHappy to hear that! :)
DeleteWhy ya, Rs , la ,VA are called ardha swara
ReplyDeleteNamaste,
ReplyDeleteThankyou for the clear article! Just one potential correction- when we say 'alphabet', we mean the entire set of letters. Each individual one is called a letter, not alphabet.
Utkarsh, we do say 'how many alphabet are in English/Sanskrit language?' So using the word alphabet to refer to one letter is acceptable.
DeleteCan you mention the letters of karkasha vyangana
ReplyDeleteCan you please tell me which are the Samyuktaswara in Sanskrit ?
ReplyDeleteSunil Kadameth ji, there are no samyukta-swaras. It is samyukta-akSharas. It means a conjoining of consonants to vowels. Please check the link below to get more insight into the topic. Hope that helps -
Deletehttps://sanskritstudy.blogspot.com/2010/11/lesson-5.html
Rashmi ji and others. Very good fundas. In Trying to recover the little learning i had in school, I am being pulled into this ocean of a language. My respects and best wishes to all.
ReplyDeleteHappy to hear that you are drawn back to your learnings! Best wishes in your pursuit. (Btw, these blogs are a one-woman-show :)
DeleteThank you for the excellent info. I was searching for
ReplyDeleteThank you Rashmiji in helping me recovering my little learning in school with much clarity.
ReplyDeleteCan you pls name some Alpha pranas.
ReplyDeleteThese are all the alpa praaNas -
Deleteक ग च ज ट ड त द प ब
ka ga cha ja Ta Da ta da pa ba
Hope that helps.
Thank you so much for your wonderful explanation. Would you have any combined notes for all sandhis together. It would be really helpful to see and compare all sandhis in one page. THank you once again
ReplyDeleteOn the right side, there is a list of keywords. The label 'Sandhi-s' will give you all of them in one cluster -
Deletehttps://sanskritstudy.blogspot.com/search/label/sandhi-s
I think there is some disagreement regarding the pronounciation of "r".
ReplyDeleteTaittirīya Prātiśākhya says it is Dantya. (2,34 onwards)
Also, even if it is Mūrdhanya, as suggested elsewhere, which is also acceptable, the tip of the tongue (Jihvāgra) is used without rolling.
I haven't found any sutra that says that the tongue should be rolled for "r". Even otherwise, I've never heard anyone pronounce "r" by rolling their tongue.
The difference is clear when it comes to ṭ-varga, the tongue has to be rolled back i.e., prativēṣṭita.
I think it is important to differentiate between ṭ-varga and "r". For ṭ-varga the position is the Mūrdhanya (i.e., retroflex) and the tip of the tongue is used by rolling the tongue backwards.
Whereas, for r-kāra it is either Mūrdhanya (retroflex) or Dantya (Dental or alveolar). Pronounciation is done with the tip of the tongue without rolling.
Taking into account everything mentioned earlier, the most standard pronounciation for the r-kāra should be akin to [ɾ] in IPA, also known as the dental/alveolar tap or the dental/alveolar flap.
Ofcourse, for specific vedic śākhās, one must stick to the Pratiśākhya prescribed, but that's an entirely different matter.
P.S : Open for corrections.
[I has posted the same thing earlier, but unfortunately there is some issue in loging in. I'm reposting with my e-mail since I won't get notifications on an anonymous pot.
ReplyDeleteE-mail: amoghm20022016@gmail.com]
I think there is some disagreement regarding the pronounciation of "r".
Taittiriya Prātiśākhya says it is Dantya. (2,34 onwards)
Also, even if it is Murdhanya, as suggested elsewhere, which is also acceptable, the tip of the tongue (Jihvagra) is used without rolling.
I haven't found any sutra that says that the tongue should be rolled for "r". Even otherwise, I've never heard anyone pronounce "r" by rolling their tongue.
The difference is clear when it comes to t varga, the tongue has to be rolled back i.e., prativēştita.
I think it is important to differentiate between -varga and "r". For t-varga the position is the Murdhanya (ie., retroflex) and the tip of the tongue is used by rolling the tongue backwards.
Whereas, for r-kara it is either Murdhanya (retroflex) or Dantya (Dental or alveolar). Pronounciation is done with the tip of the tongue without rolling.
Taking into account everything mentioned earlier, the most standard pronounciation for the r-kara should be akin to [r] in IPA, also known as the dental/alveolar tap or the dental/alveolar flap.
Ofcourse, for specific vedic śākhās, one must stick to the Pratiśakhya prescribed, but that's an entirely different matter.
P.S: Open for corrections.