Sanskrit Refresher (version LV7)

(Made by volunteers of Art of Living)

Disclaimer – No guarantee is taken for the factual accuracy of the material presented below. The compilation are
contributed by volunteers as a dedication to VDS and hence this is to be used only for the benefits or purposes of VDS
and Art of Living courses. Special credit is given to volunteers of greenmesg.org for their outstanding work in
propagating the richness of Sanskrit to global masses. Pinch of humour is added in this refresher to keep it lively. Any
corrections and suggestions to improve this refresher are heartily appreciated.

Note – In this text phonetic pronunciation of words is typed in English as is for the correct English pronunciation.

Contents –

1. Akshara
1.1 Short Vowels (Hraswa-Swara)
1.2 Long Vowels (Deergha-Swara)
1.3 Grouping of Consonants
1.4 Pronunciation of Consonants
1.5 Mahaapraana Consonants
1.6 Basic Swara sandhee
1.7 Akshara in speaking (Maatrakaala)
1.8 Akshara in writing (Half akshars & Saiyukts)
2. Visarg
2.1 Visarg at end of sentence
2.2 Visarg sandhee
3. Anuswaar

References & Acknowledgements

Part 1 – Akshar (Letters)

Akshar is classed into
• Independently spoken sounds “Swara”
• Dependently spoken sounds “Vyanjana” (they depend on the Swaras)

Swara (Vowels) are those sounds which can be produced independently. They are categorized into
• Short Vowels or ‘Hraswa Swara’
• Long Vowels or ‘Deergha Swara’

Let us now understand them one by one

1.1 Short Vowels

Vowels when uttered momentarily form the Hraswa Swara (Short Vowel)

Box 1. This box shows the roman script equivalents of the short vowels
(Hraswa Swara)
 Box 2. This box shows pronunciation
examples for the Short Vowels (Hraswa
Swara)

Note : Short vowels should not be

extended, nor should they be skipped.
There are no silent letters in Sanskrit and
every letter of the word participates in it
both in sound and meaning. Every akshara
should be spoken to its specified
‘maatrakaala’ (or time of pronunciation).
Short vowels have a relative maatrakaalaa
of 1 second

1.2 Long Vowels

Vowels when extended form the Deergha Swara (Long Vowel)

Box 3. This box shows the roman script

equivalents of the Long vowels (Deergha
Swara)

Box 4. This box shows pronunciation

examples for the Long Vowels (Hraswa
Swara)

Note : Trying to spell Deerghaa swara with

less force or less air leads to wrong
pronunciation. For example (“Baalaa” or
girl child, would become “Balaa” or trouble
if mispronounced, this should be avoided in
chanting, therefore one must always use
full breath for correct pronunciation of
deergha swaraas). Every akshar should be
spoken to its specified ‘maatrakaala’ (or
time of pronunciation). Long vowels have a
relative maatrakaalaa of 2 second

1.3 Grouping of Consonants

Similar to grouping of Swaras, the Consonants are also grouped. We shall look at two most relevant groupings here –

• Based on the origin of sound during correct pronunciation

 • Based on the amount of air required for correct pronunciation

Box 5. This box describes the first

type of classification based on
location and mechanism of sound
origin, for each of the five groups
into which consonants are organized.

Note : Other than these 5, there are

two more– Nasal Sounds & Group 6.

Nasal Sounds- are actually the

collection of all the noises that
require nose involvement. They can
be formed by involving the last
member of each of the 5 groups.

Group 6- are the sounds that can be

semivowels, ‘sa’-related sounds and
the ‘ha’ sound.

1.4 Pronunciation of Consonants

Box 6. This box shows

tabular classification
of all consonants into
respective groups
along with their
roman script
equivalents.

Note: It is highly
recommended to
practice the
consonants right now
to verify that their
origin of sound
matches the location
specified by its group
in the Box 5

Kindly go through this

table as this will be
our main table which
will be needed for
understanding other
concepts.

“Varg” loosely means group. Therefore, from the table it should be noted that the first group of consonants
(Gluttarals) is called the ‘Ka-varg’. Likewise the 2nd group (Palatals) are called ‘cha-varg’. Likewise group 3,4,5 are
denoted by their 1st letter followed by the word ‘varg’. Last letter of each group is called the nasal sound of that
group. It is immensely helpful to remember the (nasal sound) of each group.
This is a simple trick used by Aol volunteers to create the nasal sounds.

• Pick the first letter of the group. Try to pronounce it repeatedly with the anuswaar in between.
Automatically your mouth will produce that exact nasal sound correctly [audio file “demo.mp3” attached]
• For eg… kankkankkankkankk… pamppamppamppamp.. you will see automatically correct nasal sound comes

1.5 Mahaapraana Consonants

Box 7. This box shows the tabular classification into

Maha-praan and Alpa-praan consonants. As we shall
see further, each of these rows represent one of the
groups from 1 to 6

Note : If one tries to pronounce “Bha” sound (as in

Bhavani, mother goddess) with insufficient breath
then the pronunciation will sound like a “ba” sound
(as in “Batakk”, duck) which should be avoided in
chanting.

Therefore care must be taken that the Mahaapraan

letters are pronounced with proper force. Correct
use of Mahaapraan sounds in chantings improves
digestion related organs.

If you notice carefully you will find that 1st column, 3rd column and last column of the table in Box 5 is alpa-praana.
Similarly the 2nd and 4th columns are the mahaa-praana columns. Okay, what does this systematic arrangement
signify? It is very beautiful actually because if you try to do only half-pronunciation of ‘ka’ sound and back it up with
‘ha’ sound automatically it becomes a ‘kha’ sound. Similarly if you only half pronounce ‘pa’ and back it up with ‘ha’ it
automatically becomes ‘pha’ (it is different from ‘fa’ used widely in hindi because ‘fa’ actually comes from urdu
origin). Technically yes it also means fruit is ‘phal’ not ‘fal’.

In fact if you have been alert you will also notice that 2nd column is nothing but the mahaa-praana correspondent of
1st column. Similarly 4th column is the mahaa-praan correspondent of 3rd column. And the reason you need to
pronounce a firm ‘ha’ sound to back up while pronouncing 2nd and 4th column is exactly why they are called mahaa-
praan because you need to exale much more air to pronounce them. As a simple experiment you can keep your
hand in front of you while saying ‘kha’, ‘tha’, ‘gha’ etc. you will feel a blow of air (possibly warm air since a lot of air is
exhaled) hence these when chanted generate heat in body (उष्णता)

1.6 Swara Sandhi

How to read the below examples? (All credits to greenmsg.com)

“Any of the entries from 1st bracket + any of the entries from 2nd bracket = right hand side”

(For those interested in technical details this one is called deergha sandhee as it produces deergha swaras)
(For those interested in technical details this second one is called guna sandhee)

(For those interested in technical details this third one is called vriddhee sandhee as it builds up the swara)

Please refer to Box 2 and Box 4 for pronunciations

(For those interested in technical details this fourth one is called Yana sandhee & is very useful in chanting)

(This fourth one was only a part of the detailed ‘ayadi’ sandhee. Most of it omitted to keep things simple)

1.7 Akshara Maatrakaalaas

In hindi, the ‘a’ sound is trimmed or cut short to make communication faster for eg. “raam” , “praan” where as they
should be “raama” and “prana” because the ‘a’ sound is supposed to have its full maatrakaala (time of
pronunciation), in Sanskrit there is no cutting short. Simple vowels (including ‘a’ sound) have 1 maatrakaal,
compound vowels (like ‘ey’ and ‘o’) have to be spoken for 2 maatrakaal and deergh vowels for 3 maatrakaals

1.8 Akshara in writing (Half-letters and Saiyukts)

• If you see a half letter like तिष्या it is read off as “Tishyaa”, not as “Tishayaa”, and definitely not as
“Teeshayaa” (because the ‘ee’ sound would become incorrectly become deergha)
• So what it means is, the ‘sh’ is pronounced only half, or quickly, or it basically gets the support of the ‘yaa’ to
get pronounced smoothly, in any case we don’t stress or emphasize that letter, we speak it quickly and move
to the next , it is forbidden to stop in middle of saying a half-letter.

Rule for half-letters (in which first sound is half) (or double letters “Saiyunkt”) can therefore be stated as
Step 1) Speak the first letter quickly and speak the second letter as normal
Step 2) If first sound is ‘ha’ and second is nasal sound, then that nasal sound will be pronounced before the ‘ha’ sound
Now let us look at some simple (or scary) half-letters (Details on grammar of Sanskrit can be found be searching with
keywords “Sanskrit Vyaakaran”). In the box below, some popular words have been provided with meaning/source.

Kinchit (even a little bit)

Samaapt (Finished)

Mittee (Soil)

Padma (Lotus)

Odyaanpeethnilaya (Lalita Sahasranaam)

Dvait (Duality)

Runk (Slave)

Mukt (Free)

Sri (Ashtlakshmi)

The step 1 is very simple to apply and the list of words above give sufficient examples to illustrate it. Now, the step 2
applies to the half-letter (double letters) which have a nasal sound coming after a ‘ha’ sound. For example-

Example
• Correct :: ‘Van-hi’ sounds like Vanhee (‘ee’ is said quickly since it is not deergha)
• Wrong :: “Vah-ni”
• Why ? Because ‘na’ is a nasal sound, so by rule it actually comes first, then comes ‘ha’ sound

Example
• Correct :: “Bram-haa” sounds like Bramhaa (or Bramma depending on the Accent)
• Wrong :: “Brah-maa”
• Why? Because ‘ma’ is nasal sound, so by rule it actually comes first, then comes ‘ha’ sound

So in these two examples ‘ha’ sound is the half letter,, so since it starts with ‘ha’ and ends in nasal sound, the nasal
sound will jump and actually come before the ‘ha’ sound. And both nasal and ‘ha’ sounds will be said quickly.

Part 2 – Visarg
2.1 Visarg at end of sentence
In many sanskrit words, you must have seen a colon or a vertical pair of dots behind some words, that’s Visarga.
How it is pronounced completely depends on whether the word is at end or in middle of a sentence. If it is at the end
it is very easy you just repeat the last vowel again but starting with ‘ha’-sound. When it is in the middle it will do
sandhee with the next word and all the complexity starts :)  this is a smiling face if you rotate 90 degrees
Let us take a simple example-
Example 9
 • The root word is Vishnu (not vishnuu, because it is not deergh, so we cut it short)
• The root word has visarg (colon), if it is at end of sentence then “Vishnuhu”
• If it is not at the end of sentence then it will be pronounced “Vishnuh” like an ‘uuh’ sound at
the end of Root word (but cut it short because it is not deergh)
So the same sound with which the word ends, gets repeated starting with ‘ha’
Here ending sound was ‘u’ from Vishnu.. so pronunciation is Vishnu+’hu’. If at end of sentence the ‘hu’ is
pronounced full else it is cut short to ‘h’ and we only speak ‘Vishnu’+’h’… meaning ‘Vishnuh’ (if in middle) and
‘Vishnuhu’ (if at end) of sentence. Also, don’t forget if it is in the middle that means it will also do sandhee with the
next word :)

Let us see another example-

Example 10
• Here root word is Lakshmee (here extend or prolong the ‘ee’ as it is deergha)
• Root word has visarg (colon), so if it is as end of sentence then “Lakshmeehi”
• If it is not at end of sentence then it will be pronounced “Lakshmeeeh” (basically ‘eeh’ sound
at end of root word, but extend it because it’s deergh)

The same sound with which the word ends, gets repeated starting with ‘ha’ so here ending sound was ‘ee’ from
Lakshmee.. so pronunciation is Lakshmee+’hee’. If at end of sentence the ‘hee’ is pronounced full else it is cut short…
meaning ‘Lakshmeeeh’ (if in middle) and ‘Lakshmeehi’ (if at end) of sentence.

Similarly Raama → Raamah/Raamaha, Geetaa → Geetaah/Geetaahaa depending on mid/end of sentences

If it is in the middle we will get visarg sandhi. Let us have a look

2.2 Visarg Sandhee

Looking at these two examples, many of you will suddenly connect the dots and say “oh so that’s what’s happening..
It was always namah… with the visarg in the Rudram phase 1 but due to sandhi it was becoming Namo sometimes”
and yes that would be a good guess. So let’s see how these things work. The vowels are split into two types “hard”
and “soft” depending on whether they can be pronounced instantly or afterwards [check “demo.mp3” attached]

This doesn’t work everywhere. It is not for every type of visarg But if you have visarg of ‘a’ sound like namaha (root
word = nama, ending vowel = so this visarg if of ‘a’ sound because it tries to become ‘ha’ in namaha)

So if you have a visarg of ‘a’ sound and next word starts with

➔ a soft vyanjan(consonant) (on the green bordered table above) then it becomes

➔ a simple then also it becomes , however in writing there is an ‘avarga’ added ( ) this avarga is just a
writing symbol it is not spoken so it can be ignored in the chanting but in writing it is necessary
 ➔ anything except a simple then the visarg disappears as shown :

(this is how it becomes nama from namaha due to sandhi)

There are some more beautiful behaviours of the visarga like

The best example is “Gurur brammha Gurur Vishnuhu.. Gurur devo Maheshwaraha” however we are omitting all the
other details to keep things simple

Let us look at the doubling property

Basically any sa sound ‘sa’ , ‘sha’ or ‘shh’ if they come after visarg then visarg will also become that same sound and
it will be a double sound for eg. hisssing of snake

This also happens in the shaanti mantra it is not “omm shaantih shaantih shaantihee”, rather due to sandhi it also
becomes “omm shaantish-shaantish-shaantihee”

Box 9 This is an alternate classification of

group 6 in association with the 5 primary
groups.

• That’s the reason (कष्ट) because next letter

is which belongs to group 3 and so it has a
has a

• Similarly, another example हस्त has next

letter as which belongs to group 4 so it
has

• Similarly in पश्चिम the next letter is

which belongs to group 2 so it has

Please DO NOT Use this (Box 9) for anuswaar. Restrict the use of this is for purely non-anuswaar sandhee
Infact there is a full fledged property in the visarg sandhee
Anyways let us not get into details and keep things simple as this is a beginners guide :)

Part 3 – Anuswaar (The Single Dot on Top)

Now we will learn how to use the Anuswaara, it is denoted by small dot that can be seen on top of many words.
One can use a simple rule
Step 1) Identify the group of the consonant immediately next to the anuswaar
Step 2) Insert the nasal sound of that group, if at end of sentence then use group 5 nasal sound

Let us now solve some examples

Example 1

Ku (dot) ti → Kunti
Since letter immediately next is which belongs to Group 4, so we insert the nasal sound of Group 4 which is

Example 2

Ku (dot) bhakaran → Kumbhakaran

Since letter immediately next is (‘Bha’) which belongs to Group 5, so we insert nasal sound of Group 5 which is

Example 3

Correct :: “Tvan Dehat-trayaa-teeetaha”

Wrong :: “Tvam Dehat-trayaa-teeetaha”
Here the anuswaar (dot) appears at the end of word, since next word is available, we use first letter of next word.
Since letter immediately next is which belongs to Group 4, so we insert nasal sound of Group 4 which is

Example 4
 Correct :: “Madhuram”
Here the anuswaar (dot) appears at the end of word, there is no word next to it.
Since no next letter remaining as per the rule we insert nasal sound of Group 5 which is

Example 5 (Combined Example)

Correct :: “Chaturangam”
Here the first anuswaar (dot) appears before ‘ga’ sound (group 1) therefore we insert group 1 nasal sound.
Since for last anuswaar, no next letter remaining, as per the rule we insert nasal sound of Group 5 which is
Please note for example 4 & example 5 it has been assumed that there is no word afterwards, if there is a next
letter then obviously it will change the second anuswaar.

This is what scares people away from Sanskrit but it is super easy actually and anyone can become expert easily, it is
nothing to be scared of. The intent is many a times, to help us not get confused with nasal sounds, which is why
many of the half-words (double words) are just nasal sound prefixed. Let us look at ‘chaturangam’ once more

If you check the table, the middle anuswar is replaced with its correct nasal sound to help us pronounce more easily,
but unfortunately, we get scared seeing the complex word. There is no complication, it is simply the appropriate
nasal sound that has been written.

So yes that’s the logic.. If the next letter after anuswaar is from Group X you simply use the nasal sound of Group X
for the anuswaar. That’s all. Very easy. Very systematic and beautiful also.

There are many other rules, but we skip them for simplicity however there are two very relevant rules

1) If after anuswaar the next letter is ‘ya’ then the anuswaar becomes an ‘ai’
for eg. In Ganapati Atharvasheersham the correct pronunciation is “Twaai yogino dhyaayanti nityam”
because the anuswaar in ‘twaam’ is followed be ‘ya’ sound of ‘yogino’ so it becomes ‘ai’
Similar happens in “Shrotram” followed by ‘ya’ sound of ‘yagnyen’ making it ‘Shrotrei yagnyen kalpataam’

2) Same way if after anuswaar the next letter is ‘va’ then the anuswaar becomes an ‘au’
For eg. In Rudram Chamakam (10th stanza) there is a ‘-mano yagnyen kalpantaam’ followed by ‘vaag-
yagnyen’ so this ‘va’ will convert it into ‘kalpantaau’
So after sandhee it will actually become “…-mano-yagnyen kalpantaau vaag-yagnyen-…”

That’s why it becomes the ‘anchamey’ where this ‘anch’ is the 2nd group nasal sound.. Because anuswar simply says
“Which group does the next letter belong to? I will become the nasal sound of that group. And if it is a ‘ya’ or ‘va’
sound I will become ‘ai’ or ‘au’ respectively”. Next we have an appendix for more details on Anuswaar (examples
may be repeated for illustration)
 Unvoiced
Unvoiced Unvoiced Voiced Voiced Unvoiced Unvoiced Unvoiced
Or Voiced
Alpapraan or
Alpapraan Mahapraan Alpapraan Mahapraan Alpapraan Alpapraan Mahapraan Alpapraan
Mahapraan
Hard or Soft Hard Hard Soft Soft Soft
Group Second Third Fourth Nasal Sound
No.
Group Names First Column Sibilant Aspirate Antastha
Column Column Column of the group
Gutturals
1 कण्ठय क (k) ख (kh) ग (g) घ (gh) ङ (n1) ह (h)
क-varga
Palatals
2 िालव्य च (ch) छ (chh) ज (j) झ (jh) ञ (n2) श (sh)
च-varga
Cerebrals
(Linguals)
3
मूर्धन्य ट् (tt) ठ (tth) ड (dd) ढ (ddh) ण (n3) ष (ss)
ट-varga
Dentals
4 दन्त्य त (t) थ (th) द (d) ध (dh) न (n4) स (s) ल (l)
ि-varga
Labials
5 ओष्ठय प (p) फ (ph) ब (b) भ (bh) म (m)
प-varga

Anuswaar (The dot on the top)

We are going to learn the correct pronunciation for anuswaar. For this we have to follow a very very simple step

• Let X be the letter above which the dot (or anuswaar) is put
• Let Y be the letter which comes immediately after X

Let us understand by examples

Example 1. संदेह (Here X = स and Y = द)

Example 2. शंका (Here X = श and Y = क)

Example 3. संपन्न (Here X = स and Y = प)

Now I think we all are comfortable recognizing what is X and what is Y. But let us make sure we fully understand -
X is the first letter, above which anuswar (the dot) is put
Y is the second letter, which comes just after X
VERY IMPORTANT NOTE – If X is the last letter of a sentence then anuswar automatically becomes म

Now the golden rule is :

“Change anuswar to whatever is the Nasal sound of Y (which is same as the letter immediately after anuswar)”

“If the anuswar is at end of sentence then it will turn into म sound. That’s it” (this is same as the V.Imp. Note)

However if the next letter (Y) = य then anuswar will become अइ that is why in Ganapati Atharvasheersham we have

Correct : “Twaai yogino dhyaayanti nityam” (Twaa + ai)

Wrong : “Twaam or Twaan yogino dhyaayanti nityam” (Twaa + am or an)
This is because the anuswaar in ‘twaam’ is followed by ‘य’ sound of yogino so it becomes ‘ai’
Similar happens in “Shrotram” followed by ‘य’ sound of ‘yagnyen’ making it ‘Shrotrai yagnyen kalpataam’
Same way if after anuswaar the next letter is ‘व’ then the anuswaar becomes an अउ ‘au’ sound Hece in Rudram
Chamakam (10th stanza) there is a ‘-mano yagnyen kalpantaam’ followed by ‘vaag-yagnyen’ so this ‘व’ will convert it
into ‘kalpantaau’. So after sandhee it will actually become “…-mano-yagnyen kalpantaau vaag-yagnyen-…” and it
continue like that.

So in Chamakam next letter च which is 2nd group so we anuswar automatically becomes 2nd group’s nasal sound ञ
That’s why it becomes the ‘anchamey’
Another thing to note is-

It happens automatically. If you look again at the examples, while speaking automatically correct nasal sound comes

Example 1. संदेह (Here X = स and Y = द) Correct Replacement of Anuswar : न

Example 2. शंका (Here X = श and Y = क) Correct Replacement of Anuswar : ङ

Example 3. संपन्न (Here X = स and Y = प) Correct Replacement of Anuswar : म

So now you can use Anuswar like an expert. You simply ask
“Which group does the next letter belong to? Anuswar will become the nasal sound of that group. And if it is a ‘य’ or
‘व’ sound it will become अइ ‘ai’ or अउ ‘au’ respectively.. And if Anuswar is at the end of sentence it will become म ”.

That’s all. Jai Gurudev.

This table summarizes what the anuswar will become based on the next character
Group Second Third Fourth Nasal Sound
No.
Group Names First Column Sibilant Special
Column Column Column of the group
Gutturals
1 कण्ठय क→ङ ख→ङ ग→ङ घ→ङ ङ→ङ
क-varga
Palatals
2 िालव्य च→ञ छ→ञ ज→ञ झ→ञ ञ→ञ श→म
च-varga
Cerebrals
(Linguals)
3
मूर्धन्य ट् → ण ठ→ण ड→ण ढ→ण ण→ण ष→म
ट-varga
Dentals
4 दन्त्य त→न थ→न द→न ध→न न→न स→म ल→न
ि-varga
Labials
5 ओष्ठय प→म फ→म ब→म भ→म म→म
प-varga
Please note I am not sure about what happens if next letter is ष or श this is why I have put a question mark

I suspect it to become म but I am not sure, and in case of what will happen when next letter is ल I have no clue

I really appreciate if readers can point me to authentic sources that I can refer to for clarification

Special Transforms : य → अइ and व→ अउ

References :
https://greenmesg.org/sanskrit_online_tools/sanskrit_sandhi_rules.php
Acknowledgements :
VDS for inspiring and spreading the light of sanskrit to the world

Dedicated to VDS by an amateur participant with no knowledge of Sanskrit, apologies in

advance if any error, please let me know so that I can rectify :)