The Sanskrit Alphabet - available in paperback, hardback and eBook Editions
gist in English
Paperback/Hardback/eBook
|
Description
The Sanskrit Alphabet consists of 56 Letters. There are Vowels, Semivowels, Consonants, Sibilants and the Aspirate. Additionally we have the Vedic letter for "da" and the Vedic Ayogavahas and Accents. Letters are clearly divided into groups and Enunciation is closely connected to Tongue movement. Nasals lend a distinct twang and the Vedic chants are a delight to hear because of Accentuation of the Vowels. Reading an Avagraha, Ayogavaha, Visarga and Anusvara is clearly explained as all letters of the alphabet are laid out threadbare. Unicodes and relevant fonts are mentioned. A relevant and complete book for the novice, the amateur or the Scholar. |
Table of Contents
Blessing ix Introduction 1 The Sanskrit Alphabet 2 Characteristics of Letters 3 Alphabet as Commonly Written 4 Unicodes for Letters 6 Pluta Vowels 8 Accented vowels 9 Nasalized Consonants 10 Nazalisation of Vowels 11 Alphabet table for a Vowel 12 Maheshwar Sutras 13 Pronunciation of Sanskrit Letters 14 Shiksha Vedanga – Science of Pronunciation 15 Place & Effort of Enunciation 16 Letter Names 19 Ayogavaha 20 Letters that Look similar 22 Letters that Sound similar 23 Conjuncts 24 Punctuation marks 25 Vowel Matras 26 Writing Matras 27 Alphabet table for letter “k” 28 Vedic and Classical Sanskrit 29 Vedic Accents 31 Early Scripts and Languages 32 Languages that use Devanagari Script 33 A Complete Character Set 34 Written versus Spoken 37 Avagraha Ayogavaha Visarga Anusvara 38 Modern Editors 41 Fonts 42 Keyboard Mapping for Phonetic Typing 42 Devanagari Typesetting 43 Transliteration Standards 44 Devanagari Latin ISO 15919 Chart 45 Sanskrit Schools 46 Sanskrit Book Publishers 47 Sanskrit Scholars 48 A Sanskrit Speaking Town 49 Glossary 50 References 52 Epilogue 54 |
Preview
संस्कृत वर्णमाला अ आ इ ई उ ऊ ऋ ॠ ऌ ॡ ए ऐ ओ औ अं अः अँ क् ख् ग् घ् ङ् The Shiva Sounds च् छ् ज् झ् ञ् ट् ठ् ड् ढ् ण् The Brahma Sounds त् थ् द् ध् न् प् फ् ब् भ् म् The Vishnu Sounds य् र् ल् व् श् ष् स् ह् ळ् ळ्ह् Vedic Sanskrit ० १ २ ३ ४ ५ ६ ७ ८ ९ Numerals क्ष ज्ञ श्र Conjunct letter Additional letters found in Vedic Sanskrit are ळ् and ळ्ह् । The consonant ळ् is an alternate version of ड् alpaprana usage. अग्निमीडे -> अग्निमीळे agnimīḍe -> agnimīḻe अग्निम् ईडे Agni (is to be) praised. ई ड् ए -> ई ळ् ए Rigveda 1.1.1 Likewise ळ्ह् replaces ढ् in mahaprana usage. दृढं -> दृळ्हं dr̥ḍhaṁ -> dr̥ḻhaṁ दृ ढ् अं -> दृ ळ्ह् अं Rigveda 4.1.1 The vowel long ॡ is not found in literature. It is given only in the alphabet, grammar books or in font sets. Conjunct letter संयुक्त अक्षर क्ष ज्ञ श्र are not letters of the alphabet. Rather these are conjuncts that have become popular in writing. |
