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संस्कृतवीथी - सरलं संस्कृतपठनम् !

Entry Level – Module 1 Sanskrit Alphabet - Lesson 2 - Alphabet - Primary Grouping

प्रावेशिकः स्तरः - प्रथम-विभागः – वर्णमाला - द्वितीय: पाठः - संस्कृतवर्णानां सामान्यविभागाः

We learn about........

We saw the list of Vowels (स्वरवर्णा:) and Consonants (व्यञ्जनवर्णाः) in our first lesson. We also got familiar with their sound forms. Let us now learn how vowels and consonants are primarily divided into distinct groups. You may find the classification initially overwhelming. We anyway request you to go through the next few chapters even if they do not make sense totally. These initial lessons are actually intended for the student to get familiarized with the alphabet.

Vowels in Sanskrit are classified into three types based on the time taken to pronounce.

The time taken for articulating a short vowel is measured as one Matra (मात्रा). Hence the time required for saying the related long vowel is two Matras and protracted vowel takes three or more matras to be uttered. Protracted vowels occur in Vedic chanting and a beginner does not come across this form during the study of Sanskrit language.

The 13 vowels we learned in Lesson-1 are separated in Short and Long forms. Click on the vowels again to hear their sound forms!

स्वरा: - Vowels
ह्रस्व-स्वरा: Short Vowelsअइउऋऌ Total = 5
दीर्घ-स्वराः Long VowelsआईऊॠएऐओऔTotal = 8
प्लुत-स्वराः Long Vowelsअ3इ3उ3ऋ3 ऌ3ए3ऐ4ओ3औ4Total = 9
  • When vowels are pronounced, air is let to flow through the mouth organs.
  • The vowels अ इ उ ऋ ऌ and आ ई ऊ ॠ are termed as simple vowels. The short vowels अ इ उ ऋ have corresponding long vowels in आ ई ऊ ॠ. The Vowel ऌ does not have a long form. The long vowels ए ऐ ओ औ do not have a corresponding short vowels and are called Diphthongs.
  • The classification short, long and protracted Vowels is made on the basis on the time required for pronouncing the letter.
  • The five short vowels अ इ उ ऋ ऌ and the Diphthongs ए ऐ ओ औ also have protracted form (प्लुत) which are longer than दीर्घ-स्वराः.
  • Other classifications done on Svaras are
    1. Nasalised (Anunasika) and Non-nasalised (Ananunasika). Each svara has both nasalised and non-nasalised versions.
    2. Udattha, Anudattha and Svarita. These clasiffications define the pitch of Svaras which are commonly practiced in Vedic Chanting.

Let us now look at the classification of Consonants.

Consonants व्यञ्जनवर्णाः
स्पर्श-व्यञ्जनाः Mute Consonantsक्ख्ग्घ्ङ्
च्छ्ज्झ्ञ्
ट्ठ्ड्ढ्ण्
त्थ्द्ध्न्
प्फ्ब्भ्म्Total = 25
अन्तःस्थ-व्यञ्जनाः Semi-Vowelsय्र्ल्व्Total = 4
ऊष्म-व्यञ्जनाः Aspirate and the Sibilantsश्ष्स्ह्Total = 4
  • The classification is done on the basis how the mouth organs are used in pronouncing the letters. Mute consonants are pronounced by closing the mouth organs completely, while for semi-vowels, air is let go after initial stoppage. Sibilants are pronounced by letting the air pass narrowly. The aspirate ह is articulated at the throat.
  • A consonant can be pronounced only with the help of vowel. While writing a pure consonant a small line ् called Hal Chinha is used. For example, the pure consonant ka is written as क्. The consonant such written with a hal chinha cannot be articulated.
  • A pure consonant is half a matra long. A consonant in combination with a short vowel is considered to be one matra long. Same way, a consonant when combined with a long vowel is two matra long and in combination with a protracted vowel it is three matra long.

We can thus see there are 55 letters in Sanskrit alphabet. Anusvara – ̇ and Visarga - : combine with the svaras (vowels) to form closing sounds. They are not counted in the group of vowels and considered as just symbols to denote the sound extensions. Anusvara and Visarga along with Jihvamula and Upadhmaniya (Half Visargas) are called Ayogavaha (अयोगवाहाः) as they are not included in Panini’s Maheswara Sutrani. Including the Ayogavahas, the alphabet count can be taken as 59.

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Our next lesson Lesson-3 tells about Alphabet Grouping (Origination) संस्कृतवर्णानां औत्पत्तिकविभागः

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