ALPHABET (SPANISH)

THE TRADITIONAL ARRANGEMENT OF THE SANSKRIT ALPHABET

The alphabet that Sanskrit mostly uses is Devanāgarī, which can be divided into several
parts according to various criteria. Let's look at the alphabet then, we will learn how to
pronounce the letters in the next section. One more thing, the "ḹ" is not considered here,
since it is a theoretical letter, rarely used. By 'theoretical' I mean that it was invented to
maintain the short/long duets that have been produced from a/ā, i/ī, etc., so that ḷ is not left
without its long counterpart.

Vowels

अआइई उ ऊ ऋॠ ऌ ए ऐ ओ औअअ
ं ः
aāiī or or ṛṝ ḷ and ai eithe ouc a ṁ to
r h
Consonants ḥ
First group
Deaf Sound
Subgroups No No
Sucked Sucked Nasal
sucked sucked

क ख ग घ ङ
Guttural
—
ka kha ga gha ṅ to

च छ ज झ ञ
palatal
—
AC cha ha jha na
Cerebral
(Cacuminales
ट ठ ड ढ ण
either
Retroflexes)
—
ṭa
—
ṭ ha
—
giv
— —
ḍ ha ṇa
es

त थ द ध न
Dental —
ta tha giv dha na
es
प फ ब भ म
Lipstick
pa pha ba bha ma

Second group
 Semivowels
य रल व
alread ra the goes
y
Third Group

Sibilants
श ष स
śa ṣa sa

Fourth Group

Sonora ह
Aspirate
ha

One of the notable things with Sanskrit is that the consonants are syllabic, that is, they have
the letter 'a' associated with them. Without the 'a' they could not be pronounced, since the
'a' is the supreme letter. Most vowels (except Anusvāra 'ṁ' and Visarga 'ḥ') can be
pronounced on their own, without the need for consonants or other vowels, but consonants
cannot be pronounced without vowels. This clearly speaks of an entire philosophical model
hidden in these simple signs. The vowels and their sounds have more to do with what is
higher and independent, while the consonants (especially those of the first and second
groups) have more to do with lower stages of Creation. The topic offers much more, have
no doubt about it. This has only been a mere pointing out of a particular characteristic of
Sanskrit, namely, that it is an extremely elaborate language in complete accordance with a
science hidden behind it. This is the wonderful thing about this language. Finally, the vowel
'ṁ' (called Anusvāra), as its name indicates, always comes after a vowel that supports it (in
the formal alphabet, of course, the 'a' is used to support it). The vowel 'ḥ' (called Visarga)
also requires vowel support, and is represented in the alphabet together with 'a'.

One more thing, apart from these characters that make up the Formal Alphabet, there are a
series of 'hybrid' signs that are the combination of two or more formal characters. For
example:

Ό (tta) Ι (dya) ẫ ग (ṅga), etc. Go to Sets for more information.