A small question

[Ashish Chandra]

>From: "Jaldhar H. Vyas" <jaldhar at braincells.com>
> >
> > I found out that there is a particular rule which governs the words in
> > which ha-kaara is followed by na,Na and ma.
> >
> > The sutra is   " hakaaraannaNama paraannaasikyam "
> >
> > which is stated in the yajurveda shiksha valli where the rules of
> > pronunciation of sanskrit words are given.
> >
> > The rule states that whenever 'ha' kaara is followed by 'na', 'Na' or
> > 'ma', the anunaasika has to be pronounced first followed by the
> > pronunciation of 'ha' kaara.
> > like in the word 'brahma' it has to be pronounced as 'bramha' and not as
> > 'brahma', in the word ' maadhyaahnika ' it is pronounced as '
> > maadhyaanhika ', ' subrahmanya ' should be pronounced as ' subramhanya '
> > etc.
> >
>
>Aha that explains everything.  The language of the Vedas is not strictly
>speaking Sanskrit.  Panini took the language of the various Vedic shakhas
>along with the refined usage of the day and combined it along with his own
>linguistic observations under the guidance of Shiva Bhagawan (from whose
>damaru the samjna sutras which are foundation of vyakarana are said to
>have flowed.)  This "polished" (sanskrit) language is thus in a sense
>artificial and doesn't precisely match any of the "natural" (prakrit)
>languages.   There are other vyakarana shastras but they all were eclipsed
>by the monumental work of Panini and his successors.
>
>Specifically Vedic usages are described in the vedanga called shiksha.
>Iconographically Shiksha is portrayed as a goddess who carries a large
>club to beat people who mispronounce the mantras. :-)  There are different
>Shikshas for different shakhas written by different sages.  Panini himself
>wrote the shiksha for the Rgveda.  The Yajnavalkya shiksha which we use in
>the Shuklayajuraveda doesn't have that rule you mention.
>

It might be interesting to read the chapters on Shiksha in the book Hindu
Dharma by Sri Chandrashekharendra Sarasvati, the late pontiff of Kanchi. IN
brief, he summarizes how the various languages that evolved in India were a
result of the methods for Vedic chanting in those areas i.e. how it was ok
in Vanga desh (Bengal) to replace "va" with "ba" and so forth. I am posting
the link for one specific chapter from the Shiksha section but it will
probably be better if one went throught the entire section.

http://www.kamakoti.org/hindudharma/part6/chap11.htm

ashish

p.s. IN north India, UP etc, we pronounce, and write, Sita as Sita but its
written as Sitha in the South. Is this how its written in the southern
languages as well?


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