Samskritam Notes: Classification of Letters

(This vendible requires you to have some vital knowledge of Samskritam and uses Devanagari script in between)

Panini’s Ashtadhyayi

I don’t know if grammarians of any other language have analyzed the reports of a language like Samskritam grammarians. Samskritam reports have been classified in many ways — from where the sound originates in the mouth to the value of vapor involved to the effort involved in saying the letter. In this post, I want to go over classifications based on length, tone, and nasalization.

In Samskritam, like most languages, there are vowels and consonants. In most Indian languages, they are kind of similar. For example, here are the Malayalam vowels. If you read the transliteration unelevated the letter, you will find that your mother tongue has identical letters.

Malayalam Vowels

When it comes to Samskritam, the vowels are represented in the Maheshwara Sutras by the pratyahara рдЕрдЪреН (See The radiance of Panini). If you expand, рдЕрдЪреН, you get the pursuit letters: рдЕ рдЗ рдЙ рдЛ рд▓реГ рдП рдО рдУ рдФ. There are just 9 letters.

The first letter is pronounced as “a” in both Malayalam and Samskritam. While Malayalam has “a” and “aa,” Samskritam has only “a.” Does it midpoint that Samskritam does not have a long a.?

In Samskritam, if you pick one of the vowels, it does not represent that single weft but much more. For example, take the letter “a.” It’s not just one letter. It encompasses many variegated letters.

There are three variegated classifications of vowels, and they are based on

  • length (it can be short, regular, or long)
  • tone (there are three variegated tones or pitches at which you pronounce the letter)
  • nasalization (a letter can be said in a usual way and moreover in a nasalized way)

Length

Each vowel can be pronounced as either hrasva (рд╣реНрд░рд╕реНрд╡), deergha (рджреАрд░реНрдШ ) or plutha ( рдкреНрд▓реБрдд). Let’s say someone is mentioning the person named Krishna. They could say Krishna with a short ending and not elongating the end. That would be рд╣реНрд░рд╕реНрд╡ or short. If they are calling on Latha, the ending “a” is long or рджреАрд░реНрдШ. Now let’s say Krishna is far yonder in the field, and Yashoda calls him “Krishnaaa” with an elongated “a” for three beats. That would be a рдкреНрд▓реБрдд. When you write a рдкреНрд▓реБрдд letter, you put the number 3 next to it, to indicate that it should be elongated for three beats. Technically, рд╣реНрд░рд╕реНрд╡ is of one matra of time, рджреАрд░реНрдШ is two and рдкреНрд▓реБрдд three.

If you put it into a table, it will squint like this.

рд╣реНрд░рд╕реНрд╡рд╛рдГрджреАрд░реНрдШрд╛рдГрдкреНрд▓реБрддрд╛рдГ
рдЕ рдЖ рдЕ рей
рдЗ рдИ рдЗ рей
рдЙрдК рдЙ рей
рдЛреардЛ рей
рдМрдМ рей
рдПрдП рей
рдРрдР рей
рдУрдУ рей
рдФрдФ рей
Samskritam Aksharaprakaranam

As you can see, not all reports have all the variations.

  • рд▓реГ does not have a рджреАрд░реНрдШ.
  • рдП does not have a рд╣реНрд░рд╕реНрд╡. It starts off as рджреАрд░реНрдШ
  • рдУ, рдР and рдФ does not have have рд╣реНрд░рд╕реНрд╡ either.

The take yonder from this section is that, when you refer to the vowel рдЕ, it refers to the three variations of рдЕ, which are the рд╣реНрд░рд╕реНрд╡ рджреАрд░реНрдШ and рдкреНрд▓реБрдд variations.

That’s not it.

Tone

Take the letter рдЕ. You can utter it in a higher pitch, normal pitch, or low pitch. These three pitches are tabbed рдЙрджрд╛рддреНрдд, рдЕрдиреБрджрд╛рддреНрдд. and рд╕реНрд╡рд░рд┐рдд

  • рдЙрджрд╛рддреНрдд is a higher pitch
  • рдЕрдиреБрджрд╛рддреНрдд is a lower pitch
  • рд╕реНрд╡рд░рд┐рдд happens when the рдЙрджрд╛рддреНрдд and рдЕрдиреБрджрд╛рддреНрдд are combined, and you get the middle sound.

This is nonflexible to explain verbally. So here are two videos where Vedic scholars demonstrate this concept. I visualize this as a sine wave. The рдЙрджрд╛рддреНрдд is the crest, рдЕрдиреБрджрд╛рддреНрдд is the trough and рд╕реНрд╡рд░рд┐рдд is the base.

Nasalization

Finally, you can utter a letter with a nasal sound or in a non-nasalized form.

These are referred to as

  • рдЕрдиреБрдирд╛рд╕рд┐рдХ (nasalized)
  • рдЕрдирдиреБрдирд╕рд┐рдХ (non-nasalized)

If you squint at the рдЕ mentioned in the Maheshwara Sutras, you can see that it has all these forms. If you take рдЕ, it can have 3 lengths (рд╣реНрд░рд╕реНрд╡, рджреАрд░реНрдШ, рдкреНрд▓реБрдд), 3 tones(рдЙрджрд╛рддреНрдд, рдЕрдиреБрджрд╛рддреНрдд, рд╕реНрд╡рд░рд┐рдд), and 2 (рдЕрдиреБрдирд╛рд╕рд┐рдХ, рдЕрдирдиреБрдирд╕рд┐рдХ). Thus рдЕ can have 18 forms. That is true for рдЕ рдЗ рдЙ and рдЛ. The remaining reports do not have three lengths. Hence they will only have 12 forms. So when you threnody the Maheshwara Sutras, you should know that they have all these forms.

Who has overly thought well-nigh reports this way? Classifying and categorizing them in so many variegated ways.

References

  • рд╕рдВрдзрд┐рдГby рдорд╣рдмрд▓реЗрд╢реНрд╡рд░рднрдЯреНрдЯреН:
  • Lecture by Sri Varun Khanna at Chinmaya International Foundation

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