Beginning Prayers:
- शुक्लाम्बरधरं विष्णुम् - shuklaambaradharaM viShNum
- सरस्वति नमस्तुभ्यम् - saraswati namastubhyam
- गुरुर्ब्रह्मा गुरुर्विष्णुः - gururbrahmaa gururviShNuH
Topic Summary:
- Introduction to Sanskrit
- Alphabet arrangement
- Writing swara-s
Home Work:
- Practice writing swara-s
Topic Details:
'Sanskrit', also referred to as 'devabhaasha', is a very ancient and complex language. It's origin is older than the oldest of the languages. It is highly scientific, phonetic and linguistically advanced language. There is culture, spiritual, moral, medical, mathematical, grammar, astronomy, architecture, art, drama, poetry, humor and many other genre of literature in the language!! The variety, richness and depth of topics are unsurpassed yet! The guru-s of the past transcended knowledge to their pupil, exclusively in Sanskrit.
The grammar is so intricate and complex like none other that, it is considered the most unambiguous language that is suitable for programming computers even! Only, we need people very well versed in both computers and Sanskrit...
Why is it so important to learn Sanskrit and also, learn it in the right way? Because, every syllable has it's own place. A small mispronunciation could take the meaning to an altogether different place! We will see examples of such instances as we go along. So, while learning, it is very very essential to learn it correctly. Once the cornerstone is strong, any kind of architecture on it will automatically hold up, isn't it!
Every language comes with its own set of sounds and can be very different from another language. For ex., the sound 'a' makes in English, is completely different from the sound A (a) makes, in Sanskrit! There is no 'a' equivalent of one in another language! To begin learning any language, the first thing one needs to know is the set of sounds that make up the language, i.e., the alphabet set. In Sanskrit the alphabet set, it is called 'akSharamaalaa'. The specialty of the alphabet set in here begins with - the very arrangement of the alphabet! All the vowels are grouped together and are called 'swara'-s. With the swara-s two special alphabet, namely, 'anuswaara' and 'visarga' are included as well. In the swara-s there are two types - hrasva, deergha. hrasva is a short vowel, where as, deergha is a long vowel. Check the akSharamaala page for the descriptions and categorizations of the vowels.
Consonants will be dealt in the next lesson.
Ending prayer:
- ॐ पूर्णमदः पूर्णमिदम् - aum pUrNamadaH pUrNamidam
