Sanskrit Tidbits-5: The Importance of Pronounciation in Sanskrit

Pronunciation is extremely important in Sanskrit.  Take the sentences below and you are saying “I am so and so”.  Those are all proper names, Kamini, Charu, Tintin, Tanika and Parimala.  How will you pronounce “aham”?  You will be tempted to say “aham” as in with “m”, but you will be wrong.  Sanskrit flows seamlessly like water and that also explains many of the rules of grammar.

अहम् कामिनी। अहम् चारु। अहम् टिनटिन। अहम् तनिका। अहम् परिमळ।

Letters are grouped into different classes, क वर्ग, च वर्ग, ट वर्ग, त वर्ग, प वर्ग and so on.  क वर्ग letters are pronounced from the throat, च वर्ग letters are pronounced from one part of the palate, ट वर्ग letters are pronounced from another part of the palate, त वर्ग letters are pronounced from the base of the teeth and प वर्ग letters are pronounced from the lips.  That is the tongue occupies different places within the mouth.  If the म in अहम् is pronounced as म, the tongue will have to move to a different position to pronounce कामिनी and there will be a break in speaking.  Therefore, in अहम् कामिनी, the म will be pronounced as ङ.  In अहम् चारु, the म will be pronounced as ञ.  In अहम् टिनटिन, the म will be pronounced as ण. In अहम् तनिका, the म will be pronounced as न.  And of course in अहम् परिमळ, the म will be pronounced as म.  The tongue doesn’t have to move and speech flows easily.  Do you get the idea?

If you make mistakes in pronunciation, the consequences can be disastrous, probably much more than in English.  Take the words स्वजनाः श्वजनाः.  The former means one’s own people, that is, one’s relatives.  The latter means the relatives of a dog, since shvān is a dog.  If you invite me to dinner and ask me to bring my स्वजनाः, I will bring my relatives.  But if you ask me to bring my श्वजनाः, I will bring my dog and his friends.

I think you should begin to read some of Adi Shankaracharya’s (788-820 CE) stotrams.  The Sanskrit,  though not always the philosophy, is easy to understand and they constitute beautiful poetry, easy to learn and memorize.  The one I am going to quote from is called चर्पट पञ्जरिका, पञ्जरिका means a cage and चर्पट is a tattered piece of cloth.  The idea is that, in our pursuit for the irrelevant, we are caging ourselves in a tattered piece of cloth.  The stotram has 18 shlokas.  Some of it requires an understanding of grammar forms we still aren’t familiar with.  But here is one shloka that should be crystal clear. I have only broken up the sandhi to make it easier.You shouldn’t have any problems.  But here is what it says.  The limbs have decayed.  The head is grey.  The mouth is bereft of teeth.  The old man is walking with a stick.  But the mass of desire still doesn’t free him.

अङ्गम् गलितं पलितं मुण्डम् दशनविहीनम् जातं तुण्डं

वृद्धः याति गृहित्वा दण्डम् तदपि न मुञ्चति आशापिण्डम् !!

This stotram has a more famous shloka too and this is the following.  This has verb forms we are still not familiar with, such as the imperative (bhaja) instead of bhajasi.  But you will probably get the general sense.  O foolish person!  Worship Govinda.  When death is near, you will not be saved by डुकृञ्करणे !

भजगोविन्दं भजगोविन्दं गोविन्दं भजमूढमते

संप्राप्ते सन्निहिते मरणे नहि नहि रक्षति डुकृञ्करणे

I have you the shloka because of the डुकृञ्करणे bit.  What does it mean?  I don’t think it is a very poetic expression.  But let that be.  There are two kinds of verbs in Sanskrit, परस्मैपद (PP) and आत्मनेपद (AP).  PP is when I do something for someone else.  So if I cook for someone else, it will be पचामि.  However, if I cook for myself, it will be AP and पचे.  So far, you are only familiar with PP verbs.  AP will come.  But I have been a bit inaccurate.  There are verbs that can be both PP and AP and these are called उभयपद (UP).  The verb “to do” (कृ) is one such.  It is UP and can adopt both PP and AP forms.  डुकृञ्करणे means the two forms of the verb कृ.  When death is near, knowing about the two forms of the verb isn’t going to save you.  And the expression is really being used as an instance of grammar.  That is when death is near, knowledge of grammar isn’t going to save you.  There is a story about how Shankacharya came to compose the stotram, during his stay in Varanasi.  He saw an old man, struggling with the rules of Panini’s grammar.  I thought I would mention this, because I have been cautioning you not to get too bogged down by grammar, especially mugging it up.  I am not suggesting you only worship Govinda instead.  After all, you are interested in learning Sanskrit.  However, go easy on the grammar.

Mihir Jha gave me a shloka that seems to run counter to this proposition.  Here it is.  It is in the imperative form again and is being addressed to a son.  O son!  Even if you do not study a lot, do study grammar, so that you do not get confused between स्वपचः श्वपचः, सकळः शकल: and सकृत् शकृत्.  Of this, सकळः is the entire part, while शकल: is a fragment. सकृत् means once, or a person who is acting at once or immediately. But शकृत् is fertilizer or dung. स्वपचः is someone who cooks for himself.  I will revisit श्वपचः next week, because I don’t like the translation I am giving today.  For today, श्वपचः means someone who cooks and eats dogs.  Do we really have two shlokas that are opposite in intent?  I don’t think so.  Though Mihir’s shloka mentions grammar, I think it is more about correct pronunciation.  On grammar, as I have said, go easy.

यद्यपि बहुषु नाधीषे तथापि पुत्र पठ व्याकरणम्

स्वपचः श्वपचः मा भूत सकळः शकल: सकृत् शकृत्!