Lesson l.A Sanskrit is written in devanagarT script. The word devanagarT means the 'city (nagarl) of immortals (deva)'. There are no capital letters. In Sanskrit, each letter represents one, and only one, sound. In English, the letter 'a' for example, may indicate many sounds (e.g. fat, fate, fare, far), but not so in Sanskrit. The alphabet is systematically arranged according to the structure of the mouth. It is essential to use the correct mouth position and not to merely imitate an approximation of the sound. Without this, the development of the alphabet and the euphonic combinations that occur in continuous speech, will not be understood. There are two fundamental divisions to the alphabet: the vowel (svara) and the consonant (vyanjana). The word svara literally means sound, tone, accent; and vyanjana an adornment or decoration (to the sound), manifesting (as a stop in the sound). l.A.l Vowel Measures Vowels can be short (hrasva) or long (dlrgha) or prolonged (pluta). The short vowels are held for one measure (matra), the long vowels for two measures, and the prolonged for three or more measures. This system of enumeration (one, two, many, where many means more than two) manifests throughout the grammar, and indeed throughout the systems of thought expressed in Sanskrit, for it reflects the natural evolution of creation. The prolonged measure occurs in Vedic Sanskrit but is rare in Classical Sanskrit; the prolonged measure (as a full breath) is useful in practising the vowels. The prolonged measure in both transliterated Roman script and devanagarT is indicated by the short vowel followed by the numeral 3. (You may also see it as the long vowel followed by 3.) l.A. 2 Sanskrit Pronunciation The pronunciation of Sanskrit is very simple: you open the mouth wide and move the tongue and lips as necessary: the tongue and lips are almost pure muscle and have little inertia or resistance to movement. By contrast, the pronunciation of English requires much effort, for we barely open the mouth (which means that all sounds are indistinct or blurred), and then instead of simply moving the tongue we move the whole jaw — and what a great weight that is to move about. Having
