Power of Sanskrit

09/03/2014

WEBPAGE: http://www.translink.profkrishna.com E-mail: [email protected] rofkrishna.com p www.

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वागतम ् amurthy, Singapore n n Swaagatham

N. Krishnamurthy 23 February 2014 www.profkrishna.com Copyright: Dr. N. Krish Consultant, Singapore 1

Acknowledgements and Scope of talk ी गुयो नमः (shri gurub’yo’ namaha)  Thanks to Singapore Dakshina Bharatha Brahmana Sabha, and Sri Srinivasan and all members of the

rofkrishna.com Sabha Committee for organising this event for me to p p launch my transliteration scheme KrishnaDheva. www.   Thanks also to the Sanskrit scholars here, as well as those who have come to learn how to pronounce Sanskrit correctly in English. This talk will not be a religious discourse amurthy, Singapore n This talk will not be a Sanskrit tutoring class This talk will simply be my sharing with you how to:  Write down in simple English (KrishnaDheva) any Sanskrit material without special rules, and, Copyright: Dr. N. Krish  Read Sanskrit correctly from KrishnaDheva. 2

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Starting off The wrong things we say:  Sri should be s’ri  Siva or Shiva should be s’iva rofkrishna.com p  Krishna should be kr+shna www.

  Visaka should be vis’a’k’a’  Shuklambaradharam should be s’ukla’mbaradh’aram  Vrishaba raasi should be vr+shab’a ra’s’ihi amurthy, Singapore n  Kowsika gothra should be kaus’ika go’thra … and so on! Copyright: Dr. N. Krish

http://sanskritdocuments.org/news/subnews/NASASanskrit.txt Power of Sanskrit – a In ancient India the intention to discover truth was so consuming, that in the process, they discovered perhaps the most perfect tool for fulfilling such a search that the world has ever known – the Sanskrit language. rofkrishna.com p p Sanskrit has been spoken for 4000-7000 years that www.  appears to be in every respect a perfect language designed for enlightened communication. This, the world's oldest spiritual language is the only unambiguous spoken language on the planet. amurthy, Singapore n Until 1100 A. D., Sanskrit was without interruption the official language of the whole of India. The extraordinary thing about Sanskrit is that it offers direct accessibility by anyone to that elevated plane

analytical and intuitive, scientific & spiritual become one. 4

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http://sanskritdocuments.org/news/subnews/NASASanskrit.txt Power of Sanskrit – b Fundamentally Sanskrit generates clarity and inspiration. Sanskrit after all is the language of mantra – words of power that are subtly attuned to the unseen harmonies of the matrix of creation, the world as yet unformed. rofkrishna.com p The b as ic a ttitud e t oward s l earni ng Sans kr it in In dia www. today is, "It's too difficult." Actually Sanskrit is not difficult.  On the contrary, there are few greater enjoyments. Its 49 unique sounds are based on clear distinctions of individual letters such as location of resonance and tongue position. amurthy, Singapore n The scri p t used to d ep ic t wr itten S ansk rit i s known as Devanaagari or that "spoken by the Gods“. Suitably for Sanskrit, it is a perfect system of phonetic representation. Its precise interrelationship of words describes activity of

order. Sanskrit and computers are a perfect fit. 5

My Sanskrit Background Learnt Amarakosa (Sanskrit Thesaurus) from family Vadhyaar as a boy.

rofkrishna.com Took two years of Sanskrit as p p second language in B.Sc. www.  Developed computer programme and wrote a paper on computerisa- tion of Panini’s Sandhi rules (Won a Prize!) amurthy, Singapore

n Studied about one year of Vedha under Padhmanabha Vadhyaar at Singapore Developed KrishnaDheva (from 2008) Copyright: Dr. N. Krish  Copyrighted in India in 2013 6

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Panini – Grammarian Pāṇini (4th century BC) (पािणिन, "descendant of Paṇi"), was a Sanskrit grammarian of ancient India. rofkrishna.com p He was born in Pushkalavati, www.  now in Pakistan. Pāṇini is known for his Ashta- dhyayi (अटायायी, meaning "eight chapters") Sanskrit amurthy, Singapore n n grammar, represented in 3,959 rules, as the foundatio- nal text of grammatical branch of the Vedanga, the auxiliary scholarly disciplines of Vedic Copyright: Dr. N. Krish religion [Hinduism] . 7

How we will use English in KrishnaDheva The rule in English pronunciation is that there are no rules for English pronunciation. Non- (Short (Short Indian अ आ इ ई उ ऊ ए) ए ऐ ओ) ओ औ rofkrishna.com p p a bank allow far say e sure ear even end www. i fir ink is final  o son song women to two one ghost u mule sun put sure The only way we will use English vowels in KrishnaDheva will be as follows K-D allow ink put end one ee owe amurthy, Singapore NOT aey ai you n (long i) (long o) We cannot change English, to make it sound more consistent in pronunciation. But we can use the sounds of English alphabet to echo the sounds of Sanskrit and other languages. Copyright: Dr. N. Krish This is called ‘Transliteration’. 8

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Transliteration Risk : Tamil to English & back

Tamil English Back to Tamil அவன் Avan அவன் thambi, dhambi, thampi, dhampi rofkrishna.com தம்பி தம்பி p pathmaa, padhmaa, bhathmaa, www. பத்மா bhadhmaa பத்மா  kantharvan, kandharvan, கந்தர்வன் gantharvan, gandharvan கந்தர்வன் பழம் pazham, bazham பழம் amurthy, Singapore n ராமா rama [raama] ரமா [ராமா] கிலி gili, kili கிலி, கிளி க்ருஷ்ணா krushna க்ருஷ்னா பல்லி palli, balli பல்லி, பள்ளி Copyright: Dr. N. Krish தமிழ் Tamil [thamizh] டமில் [தமிழ்] 9

Transliteration Risk : English to Tamil & back

English Tamil Back to English joy ஜாய் joy queen க்வன்ீ queen rofkrishna.com p p clementi க்ெளெமன்டி clementi www. boy paai, baai  பாய் tree ட்r tree, dree april ஏப்rல் epril, ebril thing திங்க் thing, dhing, think, dhink amurthy, Singapore n ant [and] ஆன்ட், ஏன்ட் aant, aand, eynt, eynd fan ஃபான், ஃேபன் fpaan, fpane zoo ஜு, சூ joo, choo Padhmaa, Pathmaa, Padma Copyright: Dr. N. Krish பத்மா Bhathmaa, Bhadhmaa 10

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Power of Sanskrit Letters and Words In Sanskrit, single letters, compound letters, and 2 letter words may have deep meanings. (Here + means add!) उमा  उ + मा [uma’  u & ma’] = Stressful penance & don’t rofkrishna.com p iD’ti.e. Don’t over-sti[train [– Also anger & d on’t , ?] www.

 सािक्ष  सह + अिक्ष [sa’kshi  saha & akshi] = With & sight i.e. witnessed

साबिशव  सह + अब + िशव

amurthy, Singapore [sa’mbas’iva  saha & amba & s’iva] n = Together with & Divine Mother & Siva i.e. Siva with Parvathi (Ardha-Nareeswara)

परीक्षा  पिर + ईक्षा [pari’ksha  pari & i’ksha] Copyright: Dr. N. Krish

= Thoroughly investigate 11

Importance of Pronunciation Proper pronunciation of mantra-s is crucial to produce the intended effect.  When intention and sound are both going in the same

rofkrishna.com direction, the likelihood that the desired result will p p occur is maximized. www.   If the mantra is mispronounced, unpredictable effects may ensue. Even in non-religious usage, pronunciation is important

amurthy, Singapore  मम वजनाः  mama svajana’ha = my own people n  मम वजनाः  mama s’vajana’ha = my dog’s friends Copyright: Dr. N. Krish

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Aspirates In Sanskrit (and some other Indian languages) there are unaspirated & aspirated versions of certain consonants Unaspirated Aspirated (Alpa-praana) (Mahaa-praana) rofkrishna.com p क ka k’a ख www.  ग ga g’a घ च cha ch’a छ ज ja j’a झ ट ta t’a ठ amurthy, Singapore n n ड da d’a ढ Aspirated  tha th’a त थ a puff of air द dha dh’a ध must come प pa p’a फ out when Copyright: Dr. N. Krish ba b’a you say it! ब भ 13

Common Languages and Krishna-Dheva rofkrishna.com p p www.

 amurthy, Singapore n Copyright: Dr. N. Krish

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Avagraha ‘Avagraha’ [denoted by “ ”, NOT the letter “S”!] simply means that the joining letter ‘a’ is omitted. The “a” sound is glided over, half pronounced.

rofkrishna.com  Then the combination may take on a different sound. p In KrishnaDheva, “a” in brackets, i.e. “(a)” may be www.  sufficient to indicate this. िशवः & अहम ् = s’ivaha & aham = s’ivo’(a)ham

amurthy, Singapore Chandra-bindhu n n Denotes that the character is nasalised (and not vocal)

o’m b’u’hu o’m b’uvaha o’gm suvaha In KrishnaDheva, Chandra-bindhu [ can simply be Copyright: Dr. N. Krish written as “gm” – not to be pronounced as “gum”!] 15

Sanskrit Transliteration Schemes – Vowels

“samskrta” Harvard Velth Deva- IAST ITRANS SLP1 K-D = put together well -Kyoto uis nāgarī IAST = International aa aaaअ a ā AA/aaaaAआ a’ Alphabet of Sans- rofkrishna.com ii iiiइ i p p kr it T ranslit era tion, ī I I/ii ii I ई i’ www. Geneva, 1894 uu uuu u  उ Harvard-Kyoto = ū UU/uuuuUऊ u’ Simpler than IAST ee eeeए e’ ITRANS = Indian ai ai ai ai E ऐ ai oo ooo o’ languages translit ओ amurthy, Singapore au au au au O औ au n eration (AiAvinas h ṛ R RRi/Rî .r f ऋ r+ Chopde), 2001 ṝ RR RRI/RÎ .rr F ॠ r+’ Velthuis, by Frans ḷ lR LLi/Lî .l x ऌ l+ Velthuis, 1996 ḹ lRR LLI/LÎ .ll X ॡ l+’ ṃ M M/.n/.m .m M अं am

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Sanskrit Transliteration Schemes – Consonants Harvard Vel- Deva- IAST ITRANS SLP1 K-D Harvard ITRA Vel- Deva- -Kyoto thuis nāgarī IAST SLP1 K-D -Kyoto NS thuis nāgarī ta ta ta ta ta त tha ka ka ka ka ka क ka tha tha tha tha Ta थ th’a kha kha kha kha Ka ख k’a da da da da da द dha rofkrishna.com p ga ga ga ga ga ग ga dha dha dha dha Da ध dh’a gha gha gha gha Ga घ g’a na na na na na न na www.

 ṅaGa~Na"naNaङ ng+a pa pa pa pa pa प pa ca ca cha ca ca च cha pha pha pha pha Pa फ p’a cha cha Cha cha Ca छ ch’a ba ba ba ba ba ब ba ja ja ja ja ja ज ja bha bha bha bha Ba भ b’a jha jha jha jha Ja झ j’a ma ma ma ma ma म ma amurthy, Singapore ña Ja ~na ~na Ya ञ ny+a ya ya ya ya ya ya n य ṭa Ta Ta .ta wa ट ta ra ra ra ra ra र ra ṭha Tha Tha .tha Wa ठ t’a la la la la la ल la ḍa Da Da .da qa ड da va va va/wa va va व va ḍha Dha Dha .dha Qa ढ d’a śazasha"saSaश s’a ṇaNaNa.naRaण n’a ṣaSaSha.sazaष sha Copyright: Dr. N. Krish 16 vowels, 33 consonants, sa sa sa sa sa स sa Total sounds 49 ha ha ha ha ha ह ha 17

Comparison of Different Schemes – a

The ideal transliteration scheme should …  Be reversible: convert a text in and out (in either direction) and end up with same text you started with.

rofkrishna.com  Be easy for non-specialists to read. p p  Map one-to-one between characters in the two scripts. www.

  Be easy to type on a normal keyboard. Let’s see how the commonly used schemes for Sanskrit compare: Ideal Property IAST ITRANS HK latin KrishnaDheva amurthy, Singapore

n Reeesbeversible 10 710 0 10 Legible 7651010 One-to-one 8676 10 Normal keyboard 0 9 10 10 10 Total (Credits) 25 28 32 26 40 Copyright: Dr. N. Krish

http://www.alanlittle.org/projects/transliterator/translittable.html 18

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Comparison of Different Schemes – b Another way of comparing different schemes will be to check:  What extra marks we need to add to the alphabets  Which of them are typable and which non-typable rofkrishna.com p  If captialisation would be significant www.  If some letters will denote other different sounds   These will decide if the user will feel comfortable about ‘recognising’ the sounds by just looking at it! From tables shown earlier, the following facts emerge: Ideal Property IAST HK ITRANS Velthuis SLP1 K-D amurthy, Singapore n EtExtra mark s, tbltypable 8 0 2 14 0 2 -do- ,non-typable 10 0 7 1 1 0 Capitals 016150 220 Special replacements 46 5 5 170

Percentage Effort 45% 45% 59% 41% 82% 4%19

Capitalisation Problems Capitalisation has the following vexing problems:  Most identify capitals with the first letter of any sentence and with proper nouns.

rofkrishna.com  Certain letters, such as "c" and "o", can be easily p p mistaken for capitals or lower case, especially in www.  handwriting.  In sans-serif fonts, capital "I" may be mistaken for lower case "l".  Many write certain lower case letters in their capital amurthy, Singapore n form, and some like to write everything in capitals.  Mixture of capitals and lower case letters within a single word can be visually distracting. [mUlAdhAra]

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–a rofkrishna.com p VA V www.

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-DHE

HN amurthy, Singapore n S

KRI Copyright: Dr. N. Krish

KRISHNA-DHEVA – b rofkrishna.com p p www.

 amurthy, Singapore n

Only TWO rules: 1. ’ for long vowels and aspirate & thick consonants Copyright: Dr. N. Krish 2. + for six special alphabets 22

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 amurthy, Singapore n Copyright: Dr. N. Krish

(माहेवर सूत्रािण) Maaheswara Suthra-s It is believed that Sanskrit language was recognized by drum-beats of the damaru. Maheshwara Sutra or Shiva Sutra is said to be revealed to Panini, the Sanskrit grammarian, by Lord Shiva. Alternatively, it is said

rofkrishna.com that ancient Seers heard damaru sounds emanating p p in Shiva-tandava and travelled towards them. www. IAST Devanāgarī KrishnaDheva  1. a i u ṇ १. अइउण्| 1. aiun' 2. ṛ ḷ k २. ऋऌक् | 2. r+ l+ k 3. e o ṅ ३. एओङ्| 3. e' o' ng+ 4. ai au c ४. ऐऔच्| 4. ai au ch 5. ha ya va ra ṭ ५. हयवर| 5. ha ya va ra t 6. la ṇ . | 6. la n' amurthy, Singapore ६ लण् n 7. ña ma ṅa ṇa na m ७. ञ म ङ ण न म ् | 7. ny+a ma ng+a n'a na m 8. jha bha ñ ८. झभञ्| 8. j'a b'a ny+ 9. gha ḍha dha ṣ ९. घढधष्| 9. g'a d'a dh'a sh 10. ja ba ga ḍa da ś १०. जबगडदश्| 10. ja ba ga da dha s' 11. kha pha cha ṭha tha ca ṭa ta v ११. खफछठथचटतव्| 11. k'a p'a ch'a t'a th'a cha ta tha v 12. ka pa y १२. कपय्| 12. ka pa y

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Ganesha Sthuthi rofkrishna.com p www.

 amurthy, Singapore n n Error count = 12 out of 36 syllables, that is 1/3 or 33%! s'ukla'mbaradh'aram vishn'um Krishna s'as'ivarn'am chathurb'ujam | Dheva prasannavadhanam dh'ya'ye'th Copyright: Dr. N. Krish sarva vig'no'pas'a'nthaye’‘|| 25

Samskritham and Krishna Problem? “Sanskrit” – “Samskritham” is formed from “sam + krit” where (sam) prefix means (samyak) “entirely” or “perfectly”, and krit means “done”. rofkrishna.com p p  Samskritham =“ perfectly developed ” www. “Krishna’ means “black”, “strong”, “most  attractive”, etc.  Mahabharata's Udyoga-parva divides “krishṇa” into “krish” (meaning "to plough, drag") and “ṇa” (expressing “nirvṛti” or "bliss“) amurthy, Singapore n

In KrishnaDheva samskr+tham kr+shn’a Copyright: Dr. N. Krish

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Siva Problem? rofkrishna.com p www.

 amurthy, Singapore n s’iva

Another Sloka

NK’s kr+shnaDhe’va कृ णदेव – Back to Sanskrit s’a’ntha’ka’ram b’ujagas’ayanam शाताकारं भुजगशयनं padhmana’b’am sure’s’am rofkrishna.com पद्मनाभं सुरेशं p p vis’va’dh’a’ram gaganasadhru+s’am

www. िववाधारं गगनसशं

 me’g’avarn’am s’ub’a’ngam मेघवणर्ं शभाङ्गमु ् । lakshmi’ka’ntham kamalanayanam लमीकातं कमलनयनं yo’gib’irdh’ya’nagamyam योिगिभयार्नगयम ् amurthy, Singapore n vandhe’ vishn’um b’avab’ayaharam वदे िवणुं भवभयहरं sarvalo’kaikana’th’am सवलोकर् ै कनाथम ् ॥ Copyright: Dr. N. Krish o’m s’a’nthihi s’a’nthihi s’a’nthihi 28

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Whom will Krishna-Dheva benefit most? Most North Indian languaged, and many South Indian languages like Grantham, Malayalam, Kannada, and Telugu, already have sounds mostly similar to those in Sanskrit. So those who have correct transliterations of rofkrishna.com p SkitiSanskrit in one o fthlf these languages may no t need dK K-D. www.

  But if they wish to share their documents with those who do not know their language, K-D will be of immense help. Tamils will benefit the most, because many Tamil letters amurthy, Singapore n (க, ச, ட, த, ப))p represent four sounds in Sanskrit. [Learning Grantham is equivalent to learning Sanskrit!] Most modern youth and children are not familiar enough with their mother tongues to be able to handle Sanskrit in their language, even if similar in sound. Copyright: Dr. N. Krish  For most youth therefore, K-D may be a boon! 29

S’a’nthi Manthra ॐ सह नाववतु । O’m saha na’vavathu  Om, May God Protect us Both (the Teacher and the Student)  saha nau b’unakthu rofkrishna.com सह नौ भनक्त । p p ु ु  May God Nourish us Both www.  सह वीय र्ं करवावहै । saha vi’ryam karava’vahai  May we Work Together with Energy and Vigour तेजिव नावधीतमतु मा िविवषावहै । the’jasvi na’vadh’i’thamasthu ma’ vidhvisha’vahai amurthy, Singapore n  May our Study be Enlightening and not give rise to ill feelings ॐ शाितः शाितः शाितः ॥ O’m s’a’nthihi s’a’nthihi s’a’nthihi  Om, Peace, Peace, Peace. Copyright: Dr. N. Krish

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Asatho Maa Sadh Gamaya This prayer is from Brihadhaaranyaka Upanishad.

o’m asatho’ ma’ sadhgamaya rofkrishna.com p  Lead me from the unreal to the real www.

 thamaso’ ma’ jyothirgamaya  Lead me from darkness to light amurthy, Singapore n n mr+thyo’rma ’(a)mr+tham gamaya  Lead me from mortality to immortality

O’m s’a’nthihi s’a’nthihi s’a’nthihi

A Geography Lesson (Samskritha Thrangini, 28 Jan. 2014) Mumbai’ b’a’rathasya br+hathsu nagare’shu anyathamam asthi. मुमबई भारतय बहसृ ु नगरेषु अयतमम ्अित। rofkrishna.com p p Mumbai’ naggyaram b’a’rathasya maha’ra’shtra ra’jyasya ra’jadh’a’ni’ asthi. www.  मुमबई नगरं भारतय महाराट्र रायय राजधानी अित। B’a’rathe’ lo’kasang+k’yaya’m prath’a’mam pr+th’ivya’m dhvithi’yam cha asthi e’thath nagaram. amurthy, Singapore n भारते लोकसङ्ख्ययां प्रथामं, पिथयापिथयाृ ंं िवतीयं च अित एतत ् नगरं । [ नगरं or नगरम ् same.] B’a’rathasya pas’chime’ samudhrapate’ e’thath nagaram sth’itham. Copyright: Dr. N. Krish भारतय पिचमे समुद्रपटे एतत ्नगरं िथतं । 32

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K-D for other languages: How are you?

Language Script KrishnaDheva Sanskrit भवान ् कथम ् अित? b’ava’n kath’am asthi?

rofkrishna.com Hindi आप कै से ह? a’p kaise’ hain? p Tamil ni’nga eppadi irukki’nga? www. நீங்க எப்படி இருக்கீங்க?

 Kannada ನೀವು ಹೇಗಿದಿದ್ೕರ? ni’vu he’gidh’dh’i’ra? Telugu రు ఏలా ఉాన్రు? mi’ru ela’ unna’ru? eny+ny+anamun’du Malayalam eനു് നിനk്? ninakku? amurthy, Singapore n Gujarathi તમે કમ છો? thame’ ke’m ch’o’? Bengali a’pni kemon a’ch’ch’en? Marathi आपण कसे आहात? a’pan’a kase’ a’ha’tha? Punjabi thuha’dha’ ki’ ha’l hai?

Copyright: Dr. N. Krish ਤੁਹਾਡਾ ਕੀ ਹਾਲ ਹੈ? http://www.tilakpyle.com/sanskrit_prayers.htm 33 rofkrishna.com p p www.  The End धयवादाः dh’anyava’dha’ha amurthy, Singapore n शभमतशभमतु ु ssubamasthu’ub’amasthu Copyright: Dr. N. Krish