English
9 * Consonants to be pronounced without any vowel after them, are marked below with a stroke slanting from loft to right, called Mruum ( stop’). Thus uk must be written The only marks of punctuation are the sigu | at the end of a half-verse or sentence, and the sign || at the end of a verse or paragraph. Hie elision of ^ a at the beginning of a word is marked in European editions with the sign $ called Avngraha (‘separa¬ tion e.g. te ’pi for ^ to api. A11 abbreviation is indicated by the sign °; thus ^ c T^ gatam, °nT (ga)-tena. IO. \\ hen tho five nasals are followed by consonants of their own class within a word, they arc often, to savo trouble, incor- rect ly repla ced by the sign for Auusvara e. g. anikita for ankita ; ^ifacT kampita for kampita. In the same way final at the end of a sentouce is often wrongly written with Auusvara ; thus f aham for ^f^aham. In both cases the pronunciation remains unaffectod by the substitution. 7 ore hurj (surj - v ° i “ ie 8 )- *“• m u- aof t 1 Hus was not originally an essential clement in the letter, but represents a part of the line below which the characters were written. 6 THE ALPHABET T U 11. If a consonant is followed immediately by one or more consonants they are all written in a group;—e.g. atka: arra?$kru tsnya. The general principle followed in the formation of these conjunct consonants, is to drop the perpendicular and horizontal lines except in the last letter. Most of these combina¬ tions, with the exception of those transliterated with thick type in the subjoined list, may be recognized without difficulty. 12 . The following are the most noticeable modifications of simple consonants when written in conjunction with others:— 1. The component parts are indistinguishable in si or ij jua= ST + : and in TH or ^ ksa = ^ -f *1. 2. A horizontal line is .sometimes substituted for the distinctive portion of t and for the loop of efi k e.g. tT tta = r^ -f rT: Wi kta= o[i-|-rT. 3 . is often written when followed by a consonant or by the vowels u or r ;—e.g. s'ca, su, ’Tsf. 4. ^ r following a consonant is written with a short oblique stroke from right to left at the foot of the letter;—e.g. kra, 5^ dra. ^ stra, *F ?7 utrya. r preceding a consonant or the vowel 1 is written with placed at the top of the letter before which it is to be sounded:—e.g. arka, varsma; nn rt il^ This sign for T is placed to the right of any other marks at the top of the same letter;—e.g. arkendu. List of Compound Consonants. 13 . ^ k-ka. ^ k-kha, TO k-ca, TO k-na, W k-ta, k-t-ya, 7 |i k-t-ra, ?J57 k-t-r-ya. k-t-va, k-ua, k-n-ya, 3*1 k-ma, 33 k-ya, ?F or 3i k-ra, 5f3 or ^57 k-r-ya, W k-la, k-va, m k-v-ya. 01 ^ k-sa, ^ k-s-ma. ^ k-s-ya. ^ k-s-va.— THE ALPHABET 7 I *3 ^ kh-ya, *3 kk-ra.—53 g-ya, V g-ra, 121 g-r-ya.—’5T gh-na, & gh-n-ya, gh-ma, 'ET gh-ya, ^ gh-ra.—^ n-ka, ^ n-k-ta, W h-k-t-ya, n-k-ya, ^ n-k-sa, ^ n-k-s-va, fi-kha, ff h-kh-ya.^u-ga, ^ n-g-ya, ^ n-gha.^f h-gh-ya, ^ h-gh-ra, h-ka, n-na, ii-ma, n-ya. W c-ca, ^ c-cha, xg c-ck-ra, c-fia, c-Dia, c-ya.— ^ ch-ya, ^ ck-ra.—j-ja, j-jka, 3 or ^ j-na, TO j-fi-ya, j-ma, 53j-ya,^j-ra,^I j-va.—^ iI-ca f TO fi-c-ma, ^*1 fi-c-ya, ^ fl-cha, ^ fi-ja, TOT ff-j-ya. f t-ta, 5T t-ya.—ij th-ya, £ th-ra —J d-ga, d-g-ya, 1" d-gha, ^ d-gh-ra, d-ma, SJ d-ya.—ST dh-ya, ^ dk-ra.— T5 n-ta, n-tka,3S n-da, TOJ n-d-ya, n-d-ra, TO! n-d-r-ya, ^ n-dlm, ^ n-na, TO n-ma, n-ya, TJ3 n-va. <^T t-ka, c^T t-k-ra, tT t-ta, W t-t-ya, t-t-ra, ^ t-t-va, W t-tha, <3 t-na, 753 t-n-ya, ?q t-pa, <3 t-p-ra, <17 t-ma, rB! t-m-ya, 73 t-ya, 3 or 3 t-ra, t-r-ya, ^ t-va, <tf t-sa, 33 t-s-na, <TO t-s-n-ya. 1ZJ tk-ya.-ff d-ga, ^ d-g-ra, 3 d-gka, 5 d-gh-ra, ^ d-da, ^ d-d-ya, ^ d-dha, SI d-dk-ya, * d-na, 3: d-ba, d-bha, W d-bh-ya, ?7 d-raa, 37 d-ya,^ d-ra, 31 d-r-ya, ^ d-va, ST d-v-ya.— V dh-na, dh-u-ya, *57 dh-ma, **7 dh-ya, W dh-ra, W7 dh-r-ya, *3 dh-va.—iff n-ta, 33 u-t-ya, 33 n-t-m, ^ n-da, ^ n-d-ra, *7 n-dha, 1W n-dh-ra, ^ n-na, *7 n -pa, ** u-p-ra, 37 n-ma, 37 n-ya, 357 n-ra, s*7 n-sa. P-ta, J?7 p-t-ya, 51 p-na, HI p-pa, *57 p-ma, 37 p-ya, 3 p-ra, P-la, *3 p-va, 37 p-6a, ^ p . s .va.—^1 b-gha, b-ja, ^ b-da, 3^ b-dha, jj b-na, ^ b-ba, b-bha, TOT b-bh-ya, ^ b-ya, ^ b-ra, ^ b-va.—^ bk-na, 7 bk-ya, ^ bh-ra, ^ bh-va.— ^ m-na, iq m-pa, m m-p-ra, 53 ra-ba, 3! m-bha, *1 m-rna, 53 m-ya, ^ m-ra, 3T m-la, 53 m-va. 8 THE ALPHABET I 14 ^ y-ya, ^ y-va.—^ 1 -ka, ^7 1 -pa, 1 -ma, ^71-ya, R 7 1 -la, ^ 1 -va, 1 -ha.—^ v-na, 37 v-ya, 3 v-ra, if v-va. s-ca, ^27 8 -c-ya, 37 a'-na, ^ s-ya, 37 s-ra, 3*? s-r-ya, 37 a-la, ^7 s-va, 327 s-v-ya, s-sa.—U s-ta, ®7 s-t-ya, ^ s-t-ra, s-t-r-ya, £ s-t-va, B 8 -tha, "SIT s-na, E*g 7 s-n-ya, **7 s-pa, ^7 s-p-ra, **7 s-ma, 3J s-ya, ^ s-va.—^7 s-ka, ^ s-kha, ^7 s-ta, *5?7 s-t-ya, *jR s-t-ra, ^ 8 -t-va, *57 s-tba, *?f s-na, ^ s-n-ya, ^7 s-pa, ^77 s-pha, *|7 s-ma, *5*7 s-m-ya, ^ s-ya, ^ s-ra, *<7 s-va, *S 7 s-sa. h-na, li-na, jR h-ma, ^7 h-ya, 5 h-ra, k-la, 5 h-va. 14 . 'Hie numerical figures in Sanskrit are— 123456 78 90 These figures were borrowed from the Indians by the Arabs, who introduced them into Europe. Pronunciation. 15- The following mles should be noted:— 1 . The vowels are pronounced a< in Italian. The short **7 a, however, has rather the sound of the so-called neutral vowel in English, like the u in ‘ but.’ It had this sound (in Sanskrit samvrta, ‘closed’) at least as early as 300 B.C. 2 . The aspiration of the consonants should be heard distinctly. Thus *§=k-h in ‘ink-horn’; 37 = t-h in ‘ pot-fiou.se ’; X 75 =p-h in ‘ topkeavy*; 37=g-li in ‘loghouse’; \ 7 =d-h in ‘ madhouse’; *T = b-h in ‘ Hobhouse.’ 3 . The guttural ^ h has the sound of ng in ‘ king.’ 4. Tho palatals ^ c and ^ j have the sound of ch in church, and of j in * join.' THE ALPHABET 9 I >5 5 . The cerebrals are pronounced similarly to the so-called dentals t, d, n in English, the tongue being, however, turned rather further back against the roof of the mouth. 6 i The dentals in Sanskrit are at the present day pronounced as inter-dentals, being produced by bringing the tip of the tongue against the very edge of the front teeth. In the days of the ancient Indian phoneticians they were pro¬ nounced as post-dentals, being produced at the back of the upper front teeth. 7* The dental ^ s sounds like s in ‘sin/ the cerebral like sh in shun’; while the palatal is produced midway between the two, being the sibilant pronounced in the same place as the spirant in the German ‘ ieh.* 8 . The Visarga, being a final hard breathing, is in India generally pronounced as a hard h, followed by a short echo of the preceding vowel. 9* The Anusvara, being a pure nasal unmodified by any stop, is sounded like n in tho French ' bon.’ *o. Since about the beginning of our era Sanskrit has been pro¬ nounced with a stress accent (instead of the earlier musical accent) much in the same way as Latin. Thus the stress is laid on a long penultimate (Kalidasa), on the antepenulti¬ mate when followed by a short syllable (Himalaya), and on the fourth from the end when two short syllables follow (karayati). IO CHAPTER II RULES OF SANDHI OR EUPHONIC COMBINATION OF LETTERS 16. In Sanskrit every sentence is treated as one unbroken chain of syllables. The coalescence of final and initial letters is called Sandhi (‘putting together.’). The rules of Sandhi are based chiefly on the avoidance of hiatus and on assimilation. The absence of Sandhi is in many cases sufficient to mark the stops which in other languages have to be marked by punctuation. Though both arc based on the same phonetic principles, it is essential, in order to avoid confusion, to distinguish external Sandhi, which determines the changes of final and initial letters of words, from internal Sandhi, which applies to the final letters of verbal roots and nominal stems when followed by certain suffixes or terminations. b. Tlie rules of external Sandhi apply, with few exceptions (which are survivals of an earlier stage of external Sandhi), to words forming compounds, and to the final letters of nominal stems before the Pada or middle case-endings bhyam, fire: bhis, bhyas, su (71), or before secondary (182, 2) suffixes beginning with any consonant except ^T y. A. External Sandhi. Classification of Vowels. 17 . Vowels are divided into— A. 1 . Simple vowels: ^ffa.^Ta; ^i, ^3u,^iu; W - ^ x -* >-■ ■ , ^ ■ ' * 2. Guna vowels: a; V e; ^fro; ^ar; IT^al. 3. Vrddhi vowels: a: l£ai; au; rer ar 1 . The Vrddhi form of ^ j (which would be does not occur. 1 II II i 9 RULES OF SANDHI a. Guna (‘secondary form’) is the strengthening of the simple vowels l\v a preceding a (which leaves ^ a itself un¬ changed) ; Yj-ddhi (‘increase ’) is the further strengthening of Guna vowels by means of another Ua 1 . B. i. Vowels which are liable to be changed into semivowels : ^i, t ^ r> ^ r, and the diphthongs (the latter half of which is ^ i or u): liquid vowels. 2. Those which are not: ^ a, a. Combination of Final and Initial Vowels. l8. If the same simple vowel (short or long) occurs at the end and beginning of words, the result is a long vowel;—e.g. 4 ^^ sii api iksate becomes sapiksate; fdfij kimtu udeti becomes kimtudeti; kartr rju becomes kartfju. 19 * * and a— a. coalesce with a following simple liquid vowel to Guna;—e.g. lava indrah= tavendrah ; ^IT sa uktva = ^|RiT soktva ; sa rddhih = I sarddhil.u ^3 U vowels to Vrddhi; — o. g. tava eva=d%^f tavaiva ; Wl sa osadhi\i = sausadhilj. c. arc absorbed by Vj-ddlii vowels ; — e.g. sa autsukyavatl= ^T| (*j q eft sautsukyavatT.