Sanskrit Phonetics (The sounds of the language) Narsing Rao
[email protected] February, 2011
Table of Contents Abstract.................................................................................................................................................3 Introduction..........................................................................................................................................3 Basic Sounds........................................................................................................................................4 Based on the Aśtādhyāyī of Pāṇini and Prātiśākhyas......................................................................4 Varṇasamāmnāya........................................................................................................................4 Akṣara.........................................................................................................................................4 Ayogavāha...................................................................................................................................5 Vowel Variations.........................................................................................................................7 Based on the Śikśā of Pāṇini...........................................................................................................8 Encoding Considerations......................................................................................................................9 Summary.............................................................................................................................................10 Appendix: The First Sūkta of the Ṛgveda..........................................................................................11
Abstract This paper describes the basic sounds of the Sanskrit language, based on their descriprion in traditional works.
Introduction Sanskrit is the only language which pays paramount important to correct pronunciation. When one learns Sanskrit (or any Indian language for that matter), the first step is to learn the basic sounds of the language as normally contained in the varṇasamāmnāya or varṇamālā. This is in sharp constrast with English where the approach is to learn the alphabet (a, b, c, ...) which really gives one no idea as to what the sounds of the language are. In fact the basic sounds of English are not documented at all and have to be learnt only by convention. The science of the correct pronunciation of Sanskrit is called Śikṣā (श क ). Śikṣā is the first of a set of works called the Vedāṅgās, which, as their name suggests, are indispensable for the understanding of the veda. The earliest enumertaion of the Vedāṅgās can be found in the Muṇḍakopaniṣad of the Atharvaveda: तस स ह व च द शवद वद तव इशत ह स य बहशव व श त पर चव ऽपर च । तत ऽपर ऋगव यज&व' ( स व ऽथव*व ( श क कलप व करण. श/रक. छ जय शतषश शत । अथ पर य कर श6गमयत । &ण:क पश/ष १।१।४ -५ This passage enumerates the following six vedangas: Śikṣā (phonetics), Kalpa (ritual), Vyākaraṇa (grammar and linguistics), Niruktam (etymology), Chhandas (prosody), and Jyotiṣa (astronomy). The veda is the earliest recorded literature known to mankind and has been preserved for thousands of years practically intact. The preservation of the veda is a remakable human achievement and owes itself, among other things, to the emphasis on correct pronunciation. The chanting of the veda therefore provides a model for the correct pronunciation of Sanskrit. However, each veda had special rules of pronunciation applicable to that veda alone. Furthermore, there were several branches of each veda, called śhakhās, characterized by variations in textual reading. But even so, all śhakhās of a particular veda followed the same pronunciation rules as described in works called prātiśākhyas. The word prātiśākhya means 'pertaining to all śhakhās' (of a particular veda). Therefore there are works such as the Ṛgveda Prātiśākhya, Vājasaneyi Prātiśākhya (pertaining to the Śukla Yajuyveda), Atharvaveda Prātiśākhya, and so on. Similarly there were several Śikṣā works – some pertaining to a particular veda, and others not specific to any veda. The total number of Śikṣās available is about 30. For the purpose of this paper, the following works have been used: 1. The Śikṣā of Pāṇini 2. The Aśtādhyāyī of Pāṇini, along with relevant commentaries 3. Prātiśākhyas of the Ṛgveda and the Yajurveda, along with relevant commentaries These works provide sufficient information for the pronunciation of Sanksrit in practice.
Basic Sounds Based on the Aśtādhyāyī of Pāṇini and Prātiśākhyas The basic sound of the Sanskrit language is called varṇa. The set of varṇas is normally referred to the varṇasamāmnāya or varṇamālā. The varṇamālās of most Indian languages are similar to that of Sanskrit. Varṇasamāmnāya The traditional enumeration of the varṇas is found in the māheśvara sūtras of Pāṇini and these form the basis for his grammar. The fourteeen māheśvara sutras are: अइउण । ऋऌक । एओङ । ऐऔच । हयवरट । लण । ञ ङण/ । झभञ । घढ6ष । जबग: खफछठथचटतव । कपय । षसर । हल ।
।
The last consonant in each sutra (ण , क , ङ , and so on) is just a tag, used to form sets such as अक = {अ इ उ ऋ लP }. There are two broad categories of varṇas: • •
अच (vowels, called सवर) ◦ {अइउऋऌएओऐऔ} हल (consonants, called वञ/) ◦ {हयवरलञ ङण/ झभघढ6जबग:
खफछठथचटतवकप
षस}
The order may seem strange to those unfamiliar with this scheme – suffice it to say that the purpose is to form various sets such as झ = {झ भ घ ढ 6 ज ब ग : }, चर = {च ट त व क प ष स} and so on. Also, note that the अ in ह, य, व etc. is used only for pronunciation – in other words, ह represents ह . Uvvaṭa, in his commentary on the Ṛgveda Prātiśākhya, gives the definition of svara: सवय* त बद त इशत सवर ( । Svaras are those that make a sound (and can be pronounced independently). He gives the following definition of vyañjana: वञयश त पकट / क& व* Uयथ *श/शत वञ/ श/ । Vyañjanas are those that express meaning (in a word). For example, the words कV प, 6Vप, and यVप have the same svaras (ऊ and अ); however the presence of different vyañjanas changes the meaning of the word. The Taittirīya Prātiśākhya defines vyañjana as a sound which is pronounced with the help of the following svara: परण सवरण वञत इशत वञ/ । Akṣara The term akṣara can be loosely translated by the word "syllable", although the rules for determining
what an akṣara is can be quite complicated. Here are some rules pertaining to akṣara from the Vājasaneyi prātiśākhya: सवर ऽकर । १.९९ । A svara is an akṣara. Uvvaṭa, in his commentary on this sutra says: सवञ/( स /&सव र( &द व ऽशप सवर ऽकर A svara, used alone or in conjunction with a vyañjana or anusvāra, is considered to be an akṣara. Other sutras pertaining to akṣara are: सह दव*ञ/( । १. १००। Vyañjanas preceding the svara are considered to be part of the akṣara. For example, in the word पशत, the akṣaras are प and शत. उतरश वशसत( । १. १०१ । Vyañjanas following the svara are also considered to be part of the akṣara, provided they are followed by a pause. Using this rule, the entire word व क will be an akṣara. स]यय ग द ( पVव*सय । १. १०२ । If a svara is preceded by saṁyoga, i.e. a conjunct consonant, the first consonant of the conjunct is considered to be part of the previous akṣara. For example, in the word अशa( which has two , the first is considered to be part of the first akṣara. The akṣaras in this word अ are and a(. There are many other sutras dealing with the finer aspects of determining what an akṣara is; the interested reader is encouraged to explore the Vājasaneyi prātiśākhya. Ayogavāha In addition to the basic sounds (अच and हल ), there are other sounds known as अय गव ह (ayogavāha). These are sounds that cannot be made independently, but only with the help of other sounds, in particular vowels. Patañjali, in his commentary on the sutra हयवरट , says: क प&/रय गव ह ( । शवसज*/bयशजहव Vलbय पध /bय /&सव र/ शसकय य ( । कथ. प&/रय गव ह ( । य य&क वहश त अ/&पद ष श शVय त । From the above, we see that there are six types of ayogavāhas: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.
शवसज*/bय (visarjanīya) शजहव Vलbय (jihvāmūlīya) उपध /bय (upadhmānīya) अ/&सव र (anusvāra) / शसकय (nāsikya) य (yama)
Why are these called ayogavāhas? Because they are not part of the वण*स म य, that is, the original set of sounds enumerated in the maheśvara sūtras but are heard (in the spoken language).
Visarjanīya Pāṇini uses the term visarjanīya for what we nowadays refer to as visarga. It comes from vi + sṛj which literally means "to release (air)". In Pāṇini's grammar, visarjanīya is a substitute for the ending र of a pada (roughly analogous but much wider in scope than the English term "word"), as indicated by the following rule1: खरवस /य रवसज*/bय( (८।२।१५) The ending र of a pada is substitued by visarjanīya when followed by खर {ख फ छ ठ थ च ट त व क प ष} or when there is a pause (in speech). The र itself is often a subsitute for स. Thus we have, for example, र स => र र => र ( In the modern Devanāgari script, visarjanīya is indicated by a colon like symbol (:). Now, visarjanīya itself can be substituted by a variety of sounds, depending on the circumstance. In particular, two of the possible subsitutions are शजहव Vलbय (jihvāmūlīya) and उपध /bय (upadhmānīya): क& पवl( Ñ क Ñ पm च । (८।२।१४२) When is visarjanīya is followed by any of क& {क ख ग घ ङ } , it is substituted by jihvāmūlīya (written as Ñ क or Ñ ख ) and when followed by प& { प फ ब भ } it is substituted by upadhmānīya (written as Ñ प or Ñ फ ). Jihvāmūlīya means "produced from the root of the tongue" and Upadhmānīya means "blowing".
For practical purposes, this rule works only in the case of क, ख , प, and फ, since in other cases other rules supersede this rule. Anusvāra Anusvāra literally means "after (अ/&) sound (सव र)" is a purely nasal sound, formed by closing the mouth and letting the air out through the nose, like ".mmm.". Anusvāra is a subsitute for
and / under circumstances described by the following rules:
ऽ/&सव र( (८।३।२३) /श प तसय झशल (८।३।२४) The first of the above rules states that the ending followed by any consonant.
of a pada must be substituted by anusvāra if
The second rule states that and / that do not occur at the end of a pada are also substituted by anusvāra if followed by झल (any consonant except ह य र ल व ङ ञ ण / ). The Ṛgveda prātiśākhya says that anusvāra can be considered to be either a vowel or a consonant: अ/&सव र वञ/. व सवर व । (१.३) 1 We use the standard numbering convention for the aṣṭādhyāyī – adhyāya | pāda | sūtra
Anusvāra is indicated by a dot above the letter. Here are some examples: Substitution : गPह + गचछशत = गPह. गचछशत । य / + शस = य .शस । आक + सयत = आक. सयत । No substitution: Uव + अत = Uव त (not followed by consonant), गमयत, यत (not followed by झल) Anusvāra in turn can be subsituted by other sounds – we will not cover all the details here. In the Yajurveda, anusvāra is pronounced with a ग sound. The relevant rule is found in the व सश क (specific to Yajurveda phonetics): अ/&सव र यज&षयव धय यऽशप य भवत ॥ २३८ ॥ त गक रस.य&क / श तश सरपर( ॥ २३९ ॥ Nāsikya Nāsikya means "pronounced through the nose". All vowels have two forms: अ/&/ शसक (anunāsika nasal) and अ//&/ शसक (aannunāsika - non-nasal, or normal). The anunāsika form is written with a candrabindu sign ँ]. Here are some examples from the Ṛgveda: स व ] एह वकशत । (१.१.२) चछद रश bर] रशत / 6 / ( । (१.१०९.३) इ x य सयV]र6र ] अव शतर/ । (१.१०१.५) कद Uथ /y:] प त. वयत . । (१.१२१.१) Furthermore the consonants {य व ल } also have anunāsika variants. These are also referred to as अ तसथ (antahstha – literally, "standing between") , or semi-vowels. Here are examples: यय&]: । दकवव] तb । शवद शलल]खशत । Yama Yama, literally meaning "twin" is a very subtle sound – its name indicates that it is similar to another sound. Yama is discussed extensively in the ṣikśās and the prātiśākhyas. It represents a transition sound between a non-nasal and a nasal. For example, if you carefully observe the pronunciation of agni, you will notice that it is pronounced as: agg*ni where the g* represents the yama. Vowel Variations Vowels have further variations based on: • • •
Duration {हसव, bघ*, पल&त } Pitch {उ त, अ/& त, सवररत } Nasalization {अ/&/ शसक, अ//&/ शसक }
Bhattoji Dikṣita, in his Siddhānta Kaumudī, summarizes the variations as follows: तद Uथ - अ इ उ ऋ एष . वण */ . पUयक ष तष . हसव भ व त ।
भ ( । लPवण*सय द
। तसय bघ *भ व त । एच शप द
।
अ इ उ ऋ – these have 18 variations (3 durations X 3 pitches X 2 nasalizations = 18) each लP - has 12 variations, since it has no bघ* form, only हसव and पल&त (2 X 3 X 2) ए ओ ऐ औ – these have 12 variations each since they don't have any हसव form, only bघ* and पल&त
Based on the Śikśā of Pāṇini As mentioned earlier, there are over 30 extant Śikṣā works. Some Śikṣā works address the phonetics of a particular vedic śākhā whereas others are more generic. Of these, the Śikṣā of Pāṇini is generic in that it applies to all vedic śākhās. It is also perhaps the most well known. The Pāṇiniīya śikṣā is a metrical composition. The ślokas referring to the number of varṇas of are as follows: शतषशषशत&षषशषव * वण *( मभ& त2 त ( । प कP त स.सकP त च ऽशप सवय प क ( सवयमभ&व ॥ ३ ॥ सवर वव शतरकश सप */ . पञवव शत( । य यश स Pत हषm चUव रश य ( स Pत ( ॥ ४ ॥ अ/&सव र शवसग*श Ñ क Ñ पm च शप पर शशतm । स& सपPषशशत शवजय लPक र पल&त एव च ॥ ५ ॥ According to these ślokas, Svayambhū ( Brahmā) himself created the sounds of the Prākṛta and Saṁskṛta languages, and these number either 63 or 64. They are: Svara अ, इ, उ, ऋ (each having हसव, bघ*, पल&त) – 4 X 3 = 12 ए, ओ, ऐ, औ (each having bघ*, पल&त) – 4X2= 8 लP 1 Total
21
Sparsha क, ख, ग, ङ, ..., प, फ, ब, घ,
25
यरलव
षसह
8
Yamas (one for each varga)
5
अ/&सव र, शवसग*, Ñ क, Ñ प
4
Grand Total
2 Alternate reading: समभवत(
63
Some add to this the पल&त form of लP, making a total of 64. Note that pitch and nasalization variations in svaras are ignored.
Encoding Considerations Unicode is now widely used as a character encoding scheme and supports practically all the character sets used in the world. However, the current Unicode encoding scheme is script based, which is why it is unsuitable for Sanskrit. The reason is that Sanskrit gives paramount importance to sound, and not to writing. Script has been more or less irrelevant to the preservation of the language. The Devanagari script has been in use only for the last 1000 years. Prior to that, Brahmi was widely used. Sanskrit manuscripts are found in a variety of scripts including Devanāgarī, Shāradā, Brāhmī, and Grantha. The earliest specimens of writing available in India are the Brāhmī and Kharoṣṭi inscriptions of Aśoka. Writing was certainly known by Pāṇini (as evidenced by the word lipi), but we do not know what script was used in those times – it is difficult to imagine that such a huge volume of literature could have be preserved without a script. There have been attempts to propose phonetic encodings for Sanksrit; however no system is widely accepted. Phonetic encoding is of paramount importance for accurate preservation. Furthermore, it will make searching easy and useful. Having powerful search capabilities is indispensible for research purposes. For preservation of vedic texts, many more sounds will need to be encoded. Here is an example of how a Vedic passage should be encoded: स.शहत प ठ( अ€श• b‚ळ प&€र शह‚त. य€जसय‚ €व P€शUवज.‚ । ह त ‚र. रत€6 त‚ . ॥ (१.१.१) प प ठ( अ€व• । ई€ळ†€ । प&€र(ऽशह‚त । य€जसय‚ । €व । ऋ€शUवज‚ । ह त ‚र । र€त€ऽ6 त‚ The sounds (in the saṁhitā paṭha) are: ग
/
ळ प र ह त य ज स
ञ य
अ (हसव, अ/& त, अ//&/ शसक) इ ( हसव, उ त, अ//&/ शसक) इ ( bघ*, सवररत, अ//&/ शसक) ए ( bघ*, एकश&शत, अ//&/ शसक) उ (हसव, अ/& त, अ//&/ शसक) ओ ( bघ*, उ त, अ//&/ शसक) इ (हसव, सवररत, अ//&/ शसक) अ ( हसव, एकश&शत, अ//&/ शसक) अ/&सव र अ (हसव, अ/& त, अ//&/ शसक) अ (हसव, उ त, अ//&/ शसक) अ (हसव, सवररत, अ//&/ शसक) ए ( bघ*, अ/& त, अ//&/ शसक)
।
व त ज
व
ह त र र त 6 त
/
अ (हसव, उ त, अ//&/ शसक) ऋ ( हसव, अ/& त, अ//&/ शसक) इ (हसव, उ त, अ//&/ शसक) अ (हसव, सवररत, अ//&/ शसक) अ/&सव र ओ ( bघ*, उ त, अ//&/ शसक) अ ( bघ*, सवररत, अ//&/ शसक) अ ( हसव, एकश&शत, अ//&/ शसक) अ/&सव र अ (हसव, एकश&शत, अ//&/ शसक) अ (हसव, अ/& त, अ//&/ शसक) अ ( bघ*, उ तब, अ//&/ शसक) अ (हसव, सवररत, अ//&/ शसक) अ (हसव, एकश&शत, अ//&/ शसक) अ/&सव र
Summary This paper has attempted to clarify some fudamentals of Sanskrit phonetics and has raised some issues pertaining to the encoding of Sanskrit.
Appendix: The First Sūkta of the Ṛgveda अश• bळ इशत /वच*सय सVकसय वa श त
6&चछ
ऋशष( । अश• व ' त । ग यतb छ ( ।
अ€श• b‚ळ† प&€र शह‚त. य€जसय‚ €व P€शUवज‚
। ह त ‚र. रत€6 त‚
अ€श•( पVव'‚शभ€र ऋशष‚शभ€रbड € /Vत‚/र€त
। स €व ] एह व‚कशत ॥ २ ॥
अ€श•/ ‚ र€शय ‚शव€Uप ष‚ €व द €वद व ‚
। य€ स.‚ वb€रव‚त
अ•€ य. य€ज ‚धव€र. शव€aत(‚ परर€भVरशस‚
। स इद€वष&‚ गचछशत ॥ ४ ॥
अ€श•हŠत ‚ क€शवक‚ त&( स€Uयशश€तश‚वसत (
। €व
य €ङग
। तवतस€Uय ‚शङगर( ॥ ६ ॥
€ &ष€ Uव •‚ भ€x. क‚ रर€षयशस‚
उप‚ Uव • द €वद व ‚ €
ष ‚वसतर6€य व€य
॥१॥ ॥३॥
€वशभ€र ग‚ त ॥ ५ ॥
। / € भर‚ त€ ए ‚शस ॥ ७ ॥
र ज‚ त धव€र ण .‚ ग €प P€तसय€ bद व‚ व
। व6*‚ /.€ सव
‚
॥८॥
स /(‚ शप€तव‚ सV€/वऽ•‚ सVप य€/ भ‚व
। सच‚सव /( सव€सतय ॥ ९ ॥
