Sounds

Sandhi is an important part of Sanskrit. Thus sandhi is an important part of the Ashtadhyayi. The metalanguage of the Ashtadhyayi gives us a few ways to describe different groups of sounds as tersely as possible.

Savarṇa sets

First, a way to describe related sounds:

Vowels and semivowels, as well as consonants with u as an it letter, refer to all savarṇa (“homogeneous”) terms. (1.1.69)

Savarṇa has a precise definition, but generally it refers to sounds that are similar in some way. Anyway, some examples:

  • a refers to a and ā
  • i refers to i and ī
  • ku refers to all sounds in kavarga
  • cu refers to all sounds in cavarga

a and i also refer to the corresponding nasal vowels, but generally we can ignore the nasal sounds entirely. (The rule mentions semivowels because some semivowels can be nasal, too.)

Single vowels

In the grammar, a always refers to both a and ā. To refer to just the sound a, we use the following rule:

A vowel stated with t refers to just that vowel. (1.1.70)

Some examples:

  • at refers to just a
  • āt refers to just ā

These terms refer to nasal sounds too, but generally we can ignore the nasal sounds entirely.

Pratyāhāra

Finally, a way to refer to other groups of interest. Consider the following list:

  1. a i u ṇ
  2. ṛ ḷ k
  3. e o ṅ
  4. ai au c
  5. ha ya va ra ṭ
  6. la ṇ
  7. ña ma ṅa ṇa na m
  8. jha bha ñ
  9. gha ḍha dha ṣ
  10. ja ba ga ḍa da ś
  11. kha pha cha ṭha tha ca ṭa ta v
  12. ka pa y
  13. śa ṣa sa r
  14. ha l

These rows are usually called the Shiva Sutras. They were arranged deliberately so that similar sounds would appear next to each other.

Here’s how we use the list. Each row has a list of sounds that ends with an it tag. We take advantage of the following metarule:

In lists like the one above, an item stated with an it refers to all the items between them, too. (1.1.71)

and use it to produce concise terms for various Sanskrit sounds.

For example, the ha on row 5, when used with it letter l on row 14, creates the term hal. And this hal refers to all sounds between ha and that it letter l. That is, it refers to the set of Sanskrit consonants.

Such groups are called pratyāhāra. Other examples:

  • ac refers to all vowels. By rule 1.1.69, a refers to ā, and so on for the other vowels.
  • khar refers to all unvoiced consonants.
  • yaṇ refers to all semivowels.
  • al refers to all sounds.

Certain sounds and it letters are used in the list twice, but context is enough to tell us how to interpret a given pratyāhāra.