sanskrit transliteration

7/30/2019 Sanskrit Transliteration

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Transliteration, Transcriptionand

Pronunciation

CONTENTS

Transliteration Scheme and Pronunciation 2 Transliteration table 2 Pronunciation guide 5

Transliteration and Transcription 15

Transliteration of Tamil Script 19 Transliteration of Tamil vowels 20 The Tamil hermaphrodite letter 20 Transliteration of Tamil consonants 21 Transliteration of Grantha consonants used in Tamil 28

Transliteration of Devanagari Script 30 Transliteration of Sanskrit vowels 31 Transliteration of Sanskrit consonantal diacritics 32 The classification of Sanskrit consonants 33


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Transliteration, Transcription and Pronunciation2

Transliteration Scheme and Pronunciation

The transliteration scheme that I use is based upon several closely related

schemes, namely the International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration(IAST) , the scheme used in the Tamil Lexicon, the National Library atKolkata romanization scheme , the American Library Association and theLibrary of Congress (ALA-LC) transliteration schemes and the more recentinternational standard known as ISO 15919 Transliteration of Devanagariand related Indic scripts into Latin characters (a detailed description of which is available here ).

Transliteration table

The following table summarises this transliteration scheme. In the firstcolumn I list all the diacritic and non-diacritic Latin characters that I use totransliterate the Tamil and Sanskrit alphabets, in the second column I givethe Tamil letter that each such character represents [followed in square

brackets where applicable by the Grantha letter that is optionally used inTamil to denote the represented sound more precisely], in the third columnI give the Devanagari letter that it represents, and in the last column I givean indication of its pronunciation or articulation.

In the Tamil and Devanagari columns, a dash () indicates that there isno exact equivalent in that script for the concerned letter in the other script.In the Tamil column, round brackets enclosing a letter indicates that it is

pronounced and transliterated as such only in words borrowed fromSanskrit or some other language. Likewise, in the Devanagari column,round brackets enclosing a letter indicates that it is not part of the alphabetof classical Sanskrit, though it does occur either in Vedic Sanskrit or insome other Indian languages written in Devanagari.Vowels:a Short a, pronounced like u in cut Long a, pronounced like a in father i Short i, pronounced like e in English Long i, pronounced like ee in seeu Short u, pronounced like u in put Long u, pronounced like oo in food Short vocalic r, pronounced like ri in merrily
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Alphabet_of_Sanskrit_Transliterationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Alphabet_of_Sanskrit_Transliterationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Alphabet_of_Sanskrit_Transliterationhttp://dsal.uchicago.edu/dictionaries/tamil-lex/http://dsal.uchicago.edu/dictionaries/tamil-lex/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Library_at_Kolkata_romanizationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Library_at_Kolkata_romanizationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Library_at_Kolkata_romanizationhttp://www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/roman.htmlhttp://www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/roman.htmlhttp://www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/roman.htmlhttp://www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/roman.htmlhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_15919http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_15919http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_15919http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_15919http://homepage.ntlworld.com/stone-catend/trind.htmhttp://homepage.ntlworld.com/stone-catend/trind.htmhttp://homepage.ntlworld.com/stone-catend/trind.htmhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latin_alphabethttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latin_alphabethttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latin_alphabethttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamil_scripthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamil_scripthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grantha_scripthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grantha_scripthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grantha_scripthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devanagarihttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devanagarihttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devanagarihttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devanagarihttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grantha_scripthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamil_scripthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latin_alphabethttp://homepage.ntlworld.com/stone-catend/trind.htmhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_15919http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_15919http://www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/roman.htmlhttp://www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/roman.htmlhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Library_at_Kolkata_romanizationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Library_at_Kolkata_romanizationhttp://dsal.uchicago.edu/dictionaries/tamil-lex/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Alphabet_of_Sanskrit_Transliterationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Alphabet_of_Sanskrit_Transliteration


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Transliteration, Transcription and Pronunciation 3

Long vocalic r Short vocalic l, pronounced like lry in revelry (not

to be confused with the Tamil consonant , which isalso transliterated as )

Long vocalic le ( ) Short e, pronounced like e in else Long e, pronounced like ai in aidai Diphthong ai, pronounced like ai in aisleo ( ) Short o, pronounced like o in cot Long o, pronounced like o in doteau Diphthong au, pronounced like ou in soundConsonantal diacritics: Tamil ytam, indicating gutturalization of the

preceding vowel, pronounced like ch in loch Sanskrit anusvra, indicating nasalization of the

preceding vowel, pronounced like m or (whenfollowed by certain consonants) , , or n

Sanskrit visarga, indicating frication (or lengthenedaspiration) of the preceding vowel, pronounced likeh followed by a slight echo of the preceding vowel

Consonants:k Velar plosive, unvoiced and unaspiratedkh ( ) Velar plosive, unvoiced but aspirated g Velar plosive, voiced but unaspirated

gh ( ) Velar plosive, voiced and aspirated Velar nasalc Palatal plosive, unvoiced and unaspirated

(pronounced like c in cello or ch in chutney)ch ( ) Palatal plosive, unvoiced but aspirated j [ ] Palatal plosive, voiced but unaspirated jh ( ) Palatal plosive, voiced and aspirated

Palatal nasal

Retroflex plosive, unvoiced and unaspirated h ( ) Retroflex plosive, unvoiced but aspirated Retroflex plosive, voiced but unaspirated
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h ( ) Retroflex plosive, voiced and aspirated Retroflex nasalt Dental plosive, unvoiced and unaspiratedth ( ) Dental plosive, unvoiced but aspiratedd Dental plosive, voiced but unaspirateddh ( ) Dental plosive, voiced and aspiratedn Dental nasal p Labial plosive, unvoiced and unaspirated ph ( ) Labial plosive, unvoiced but aspiratedb Labial plosive, voiced but unaspiratedbh ( ) Labial plosive, voiced and aspiratedm Labial nasal y Palatal semivowelr Dental tap (in Tamil phonology) or retroflex trill (in

Sanskrit phonology)l Dental lateral approximantv Labial semivowel Retroflex central approximant (transliterated as in

the Tamil Lexicon, and commonly transcribed as zh) ( ) Retroflex lateral approximant Alveolar plosive, unvoiced (pronunciation of only

when it is muted, that is, not followed by a vowel) Alveolar plosive, voiced (pronunciation of only

when it follows )

Alveolar trill (pronunciation of when it follows and precedes a vowel)

Alveolar nasal ( ) [ ] Palatal aspirated sibilant, pronounced somewhat like

s in sure (or sh in she) ( )

[ ]

Retroflex aspirated sibilant, pronounced somewhatlike s in sure (or sh in she), but with the tonguecurled further back

s [ ] Dental aspirated sibilant, pronounced like s in seeh [ ] Voiced glottal fricative
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Pronunciation guide

In the following guide to the pronunciation of Tamil and Sanskrit words as

represented by this transliteration scheme, I will not venture to go too deepinto the science of phonetics, which is a subject of which my understandingis very limited, but will attempt to offer at least a simple guide.

For those who wish to learn more about the phonetics of Tamil andSanskrit (and also their phonologies, scripts, transliteration, grammar andso on), there is abundant (but not always entirely reliable) informationavailable online, particularly in Wikipedia articles that can be accessed

through the language portal such as Tamil language , Tamil phonology , Tamil script , Tamil grammar , Sanskrit , Vedic Sanskrit , ik (the scienceof Sanskrit phonetics), Grantha script , Devanagari script , Devanagaritransliteration and International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration (IAST).

More detailed information about phonetics in general (includingdetailed explanations of many of the technical terms that I have used here)is also available in Wikipedia and can be accessed through the index of

phonetics articles . In many of these articles the symbols of theInternational Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) are used, and a detailed list andexplanation of these symbols are given in the Wikipedia:IPA article, whichwill be helpful to anyone who wants to learn exactly how Tamil andSanskrit letters should be pronounced.

Each diacritic mark used in this transliteration scheme indicates aspecific quality of pronunciation. A macron above any vowel ( , , , , , and ) indicates that it is long (and a breve above any vowel, such as , or , indicates that it is particularly short, though it does not actually occur asa diacritic in this scheme). Except in the case of , which indicates that the

preceding vowel is aspirated, an underdot below any consonant ( , h, , h,, and ) or any vowel ( , , and ) indicates that it is retroflex (as alsodoes the overdot above the Tamil consonant ). A macron below anyconsonant other than (namely , , and ) in a Tamil word indicates that

it is alveolar . An h appended to any other consonant ( kh, gh, ch, jh, h, h, t h, d h, ph and bh) in a Sanskrit word indicates that it is aspirated .

However, no such general rule applies to any of the other diacriticmarks, namely those on , , , , , and , so I will explain below what
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each of them indicates while discussing each of these charactersindividually.

Vowels:A short vowel is pronounced for a single unit of sound duration called a

mtra, and a long vowel or diphthong is pronounced for two such units.The first vowel, a ( , ), is pronounced like u in pun or a in above,and ( , ) is the same sound pronounced twice as long, like a inafter or father. The next vowel, i ( , ), is pronounced like i in inor e in English, and ( , ) is the same sound pronounced twice aslong, like ee in see. The next vowel, u ( , ), is pronounced like u input, and ( , ) is the same sound pronounced twice as long, like ooin food. The next vowel in Tamil, e ( ), is pronounced like e in else,and ( , ) is the same sound pronounced twice as long, like ai in aid.

Unlike Tamil, in Sanskrit there is no short e, but prior to the long ( )there are four other vowels (though the last of these is only classified for the sake of symmetry, since it is never actually used), namely ( ), whichis pronounced almost like ri (as in merrily) or somewhere between riand ru (with a short u as in put), ( ), which is the same sound

pronounced twice as long (somewhat like ri in marine), ( ), which is pronounced almost as lri (like lry in revelry), and ( ), which istheoretically the same sound pronounced twice as long.

In both Tamil and Sanskrit, ( , ) is followed by the diphthong ai ( , ), which is pronounced like ai in aisle. In Tamil this is followed by o ( ), which is pronounced like o in cot, and then in both languages

comes ( , ), which is the same sound pronounced twice as long, likeo in dote. The final vowel is another diphthong, au ( , ), which is

pronounced like ou in sound.

Consonantal diacritics:In Tamil the next letter is the hermaphrodite ytam, ( ), which is

pronounced somewhat like a guttural k, g or h (or ch in the Scottishword loch) appended to the preceding vowel, and which only occurs

between a short vowel and one of the hard class consonants.In Sanskrit the fourteen vowels are followed by two consonantal

diacritics, the anusvra, ( ), which nasalises the vowel to which it isappended, and which may therefore be pronounced either like m or
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(when it is not at the end of a sentence) like any form of n, dependingupon which consonant follows it, and the visarga, ( ), which aspirates thevowel to which it is appended, and which is therefore pronouncedsomewhat like h, but often followed by a slight echo of the precedingvowel. Thus nama is pronounced namah, and nti pronounced ntih .

Consonants:In Sanskrit the consonants begin with five groups of five stop

consonants (known in Sanskrit as spara or touch consonants, since theyare formed by complete contact of the organs of utterance), each groupconsisting of four plosives (oral stops) followed by one nasal stop . Eachgroup of four plosives consists of a pair of voiceless (unvoiced or agh a)and a pair of voiced ( gh a) consonants, and each pair consists of oneunaspirated ( alpapra or slight breath) and one aspirated (mahpra or great breath) consonant. Thus the order of plosives within each group isunvoiced and unaspirated, unvoiced and aspirated, voiced and unaspirated,and voiced and aspirated.

In Tamil the consonants also begin with the same five groups of stopconsonants, but each group of four plosives is represented by a single letter (all of which are collectively known as the val-l-iam or hard class of consonants). As I will explain in more detail in the section on thetransliteration of Tamil consonants, these five hard class consonants (andthe sixth one, [ ], which is placed near the end of the Tamil alphabet ) may be either unvoiced or voiced, because their exact pronunciation is

determined by their position in a word and the letters that precede or followthem. In words of pure Tamil origin they are never aspirated, but inloanwords from Sanskrit and other languages they are aspirated whereappropriate. In the Tamil alphabet each of these hard class consonants isfollowed by its corresponding nasal (which are collectively known as themel-l-iam or soft class of consonants), so whereas Sanskrit has fivenasal consonants ( , , , n and m), Tamil has six ( , , , n, mand ).

With the exception of the sixth group of stop consonants in Tamil(namely [ ] and [ ], which are alveolar and therefore belong

phonetically between the third and fourth group, but which are placedseparately at the end of the Tamil alphabet), in both Sanskrit and Tamil the
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five groups of stop consonants are arranged phonetically according to their place of articulation , beginning from the back of the mouth (velar) andending with the lips (labial), so their sequence is velar (ka hya or guttural), palatal (tlavya), retroflex (mrdhanyaor cerebral), dental (dantya) and labial ( hya).

Thus in both languages the first group of stop consonants are velar , which means that they are pronounced with the back part of the tongueagainst the velum (the soft palate at the back of the mouth). The first velar consonant in both languages is k ( , ), which is an unaspirated andunvoiced plosive, pronounced like k in skip (though in Tamil can

also be pronounced as g or h, according to the rules that I will explainlater in the section on the transliteration of Tamil consonants). In Sanskritthis is followed by three more velar plosives, the aspirated unvoiced kh ( ), which is pronounced like k but with a stronger exhalation (like themore strongly aspirated k in kip), the unaspirated voiced g ( , ),which is pronounced like g in game, and the aspirated voiced gh ( ),which is pronounced like g but with a stronger exhalation. The final

consonant in this group is the velar nasal , ( , ), which is pronouncedlike ng in sing.

The second group of stop consonants are palatal , which means that theyare pronounced with the body of the tongue raised against the hard palate (the middle part of the roof of the mouth). The first palatal consonant in

both languages is c ( , ), which is an unaspirated and unvoiced plosive, pronounced like ch in church (though in Tamil can also be

pronounced as j or s, according to the rules that I will explain in thesection on the transliteration of Tamil consonants). In Sanskrit this isfollowed by three more palatal plosives, the aspirated unvoiced ch ( ),which is pronounced like ch but with a stronger exhalation, theunaspirated voiced j ( , , ), which is pronounced like j in jug, andthe aspirated voiced jh ( ), which is pronounced like j but with a stronger exhalation. The final consonant in this group is the palatal nasal , ( , ),which is pronounced like ni in onion or ny in canyon.

The first of these palatal consonants, c ( , ), is often transcribed (bothin Tamil and in Sanskrit words) as ch, since it is pronounced like ch inmany English words such as chair (and also in chutney, which English
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has borrowed from an Urdu and Hindi word, ca n ), but its correcttransliteration is only c, since in all precise schemes for transliteratingIndic scripts the post-consonantal h is reserved for indicating that theconsonant to which it is appended is aspirated. Therefore the transliterationch represents the second of the Sanskrit palatal consonants ( ), which isaspirated. Thus, though some frequently used Sanskrit words such asarucala, cit and vicra are commonly transcribed as Arunachala, chit and vichara respectively, when transliterated precisely the ch soundshould be represented by c.

In Sanskrit a commonly occurring consonant cluster is j (for which theDevanagari character is , which is a ligature of [ j] and []), but it isnot pronounced exactly as it is spelt. In north India ja ( ) tends to be

pronounced like gya, whereas in south India when it occurs in initial position (as for example in , jna) the j ( ) is hardly pronounced(and hence in Tamil jna is spelt as it is pronounced, namely [nam]), whereas in the middle of a word (as for example in ajna or prajna) the j ( ) is pronounced somewhat like g (which in Tamil isindicated by gemination of [], as for example in ajna, which is spelt

[anam]). In this respect j is similar to the cognatecluster gn in English, because in initial position (as for example in gnawor gnosis) the g is silent, whereas in the middle of a word (as for example in agnostic or diagnosis) the g is pronounced.

The third group of stop consonants are retroflex (as indicated intransliteration by the diacritic underdot ), which means that they are

pronounced by curling the tip of the tongue back to point up towards (or inthe case of these stop consonants, to actually touch) the roof of the mouth,

just behind the alveolar ridge (for which reason they are called in Sanskritmrdhanya, head or cerebral consonants). When articulating any of thefive retroflex spara or touch consonants ( , h, , h and ) or the Tamilretroflex lateral approximant, ( ), the tip of the tongue actually touchesthe roof of the mouth, but when articulating Tamil retroflex centralapproximant, ( ), or the Sanskrit retroflex sibilant, ( ,

), no contact

is made.The first retroflex consonant is ( , ), which is an unaspirated and

unvoiced retroflex plosive, pronounced like an English t but with the
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tongue curled up (though in Tamil can also be pronounced as d withthe tongue curled up, according to the rules that I will explain in the sectionon the transliteration of Tamil consonants). In Sanskrit this is followed bythree more retroflex plosives, the aspirated unvoiced h ( ), which is

pronounced like an English t but with the tongue curled up and with astronger exhalation, the unaspirated voiced ( , ), which is pronouncedlike an English d but with the tongue curled up, and the aspirated voiced h ( ), which is pronounced like an English d but with the tongue curledup and with a stronger exhalation. The final consonant in this group is theretroflex nasal , ( , ), which is pronounced like an English n butwith the tongue curled up.

The fourth group of stop consonants are dental , which means that theyare pronounced with the tongue touching or close to the upper teeth (unlikethe corresponding consonants in English, which are pronounced with thetongue touching or close to the alveolar ridge, just above the upper teeth).The first dental consonant is t ( , ), which is an unaspirated and unvoiceddental plosive, pronounced like an English t but with the tongue touching

the teeth (though in Tamil can also be pronounced as d with the tonguetouching the teeth, according to the rules that I will explain in the sectionon the transliteration of Tamil consonants). In Sanskrit this is followed bythree more dental plosives, the aspirated unvoiced t h ( ), which is

pronounced like an English t but with the tongue touching the teeth andwith a stronger exhalation, the unaspirated voiced d ( , ), which is

pronounced like an English d but with the tongue touching the teeth, and

the aspirated voiced d h ( ), which is pronounced like an English d butwith the tongue touching the teeth and with a stronger exhalation. The finalconsonant in this group is the dental nasal , n ( , ), which is pronouncedlike an English n but with the tongue touching the teeth.

The fifth group of stop consonants are labial (or more precisely, bilabial ), which means that they are pronounced with the lips. The firstlabial consonant is p ( , ), which is an unaspirated and unvoiced labial

plosive, pronounced like p in spun (though in Tamil can also be pronounced as b, according to the rules that I will explain in the sectionon the transliteration of Tamil consonants). In Sanskrit this is followed bythree more labial plosives, the aspirated unvoiced ph ( ), which is
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pronounced like p but with a stronger exhalation (like the more stronglyaspirated p in pun), the unaspirated voiced b ( , ), which is

pronounced like b in bat, and the aspirated voiced bh ( ), which is pronounced like b but with a stronger exhalation. The final consonant inthis group is the bilabial nasal , m ( , ), which is pronounced like anEnglish m.

These five groups of stop consonants are followed by a group of oralsonorants that in Sanskrit are called antastha (anta-stha), which meansstanding between (since they are sounds that considered to be standing

between vowels and true consonants), and in Tamil are called the i ai-y-iam or medial class of consonants. Since the Sanskrit term antastha issometimes translated in English as semivowel, this group of oralsonorants are often loosely described as semivowels, but they are moreaccurately described as approximants , because only two of them ( y and v)are truly semivowels and the rest ( r , l , and ) are liquids .

In Tamil there are six of these medial class consonants ( y, r , l , v, and ), but in Sanskrit there are only the first four members of this group. The

first of these is y ( , ), which is the palatal semivowel (also called the palatal approximant or palatal central approximant). The second is r ( , ),which according to Tamil phonology is a dental tap (though phonetically itis described as the alveolar tap ), but according to Sanskrit phonology is aretroflex trill (though phonetically it is described as the alveolar trill ). Thethird is l ( , ), which is traditionally described as the dental l or dentallateral approximant (though phonetically it is described as the alveolar

lateral approximant ). The fourth is v ( , ), which is the labiodentalsemivowel (also called the labiodental approximant ).Each of these four oral sonorants is pronounced more or less like its

counterpart in English, except that the voiced labiodental approximant, v ( , ), is often pronounced slightly more like an English w (the voicedlabiovelar approximant ) [or in Sanskrit loanwords in Tamil like v with aslight u sound before it], particularly when it follows a mute consonant inSanskrit (so for example vara is pronounced wara [or vara], and svmi is pronounced swmi [or svmi]), or colloquially in certainTamil words, such as the respectful greeting (vaakkam),which is often pronounced waakkam.
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In Tamil these four are followed by two more liquid sonorants, both of which are retroflex. The first is the retroflex central approximant , ( ),which is pronounced by simultaneously curling the tongue back so that itstip points up towards but does not touch the roof of the mouth, andspreading it sideways so that its sides touch the sides of the upper alveolar ridge , thereby causing the air to flow centrally (that is, over the centre of the tongue). The resulting sound (which is the final l in Tamil andwhich is often transcribed as zh) is somewhere between an r and an l,

but phonetically it is classified as an r rather than an l, since it is not alateral sound but a rhotic one (and hence, though the Tamil Lexicon transliterates it as , some scholars [such as the authors of A Dravidian Etymological Dictionary] transliterate it as an r with either one or twodots below [ or r , and I transliterate it as , for a reason that I will explainin the section on the transliteration of the Tamil script). The second is theretroflex lateral approximant , ( , ), which is pronounced by curling thetongue back so that its tip touches the roof of the mouth, thereby causingthe air to flow laterally (that is, past both sides of the tongue).

Thus in Tamil there are two pairs of liquids , each of which consists of one rhotic (or r-like) sound and one lateral (or l-like) sound, thedistinction between them being that the first pair, r ( ) and l ( ), aredental (that is, pronounced with the tongue close to or touching the upper teeth), whereas the second pair, ( ) and ( ), are retroflex (that is,

pronounced by curling the tip of the tongue back to point up towards or touch the roof of the mouth).

In Tamil these six oral sonorants or medial class ( i aiyia) consonants( y, r , l , v, and ) are followed by the last two letters of the Tamil alphabet , namely the sixth hard class ( vallia) consonant, ( ), which is thealveolar trill , and the sixth soft class ( mellia) consonant, ( ), which isthe alveolar nasal . Thus, though the pronunciation of this hard class ( )is similar to that of the medial class r ( ), it is somewhat harder, andhence it is phonetically classified as a trill , as opposed to the medial classr , which is classified as a tap .

As I will explain in more detail in the section on the transliteration of Tamil consonants, when this hard a ( ) is muted (that is, when its inherentvowel sound, a , is suppressed, as indicated by the addition of a pu i or
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diacritic dot above it, ), it is pronounced (which is a voiceless alveolar plosive ), when it is geminated (that is, doubled as ), it is pronounced a, and when its follows the mute form of the final nasal, ( ), it is pronounced a (which is a combination of a voiced alveolar plosive andan alveolar trill ).

The pronunciation of the final Tamil nasal, ( ), is virtually the sameas that of the dental nasal , n ( ), though it is phonetically classified as analveolar nasal , which means that it is pronounced by touching the tip of thetongue against the upper alveolar ridge rather than the upper teeth.However, in practice this distinction hardly exists (and hence in the

International Phonetic Alphabet the dental and alveolar nasals arerepresented by the same symbol), and both these Tamil nasals are used totranscribe the Sanskrit dental nasal, n ( ) the one that is used in each casedepending upon which vowels or consonants precede or follow it sowhen transliterating Tamil words of Sanskrit origin, I often do notdistinguish ( ) but transliterate it according to the Sanskrit spelling as n.

In the Tamil alphabet, after this final Tamil consonant, a ( ), six

Grantha characters (five consonants and one consonantal ligature) areappended for optional use when writing loanwords from Sanskrit or other languages. These six Grantha characters are ( ja), ( a), ( a), ( sa), (ha) and (k a), which are pronounced exactly like their Devanagari counterparts, ( ja), ( a), ( a), ( sa), (ha) and (k a).

In Sanskrit the four oral sonorants ( y, r , l and v) are followed by four

fricatives , of which the first three are sibilants , namely the voiceless palatalfricative , ( , , ), the voiceless retroflex fricative , ( , , ), and thevoiceless dental fricative, s ( , , ). The palatal ( ) is pronouncedsomewhat like s in sure or sh in she; the retroflex ( ) is

pronounced like but with the tongue curled back to point up at the roof of the mouth; and the dental s ( ) is pronounced like s in see.

The retroflex ( ) is often transcribed as sh, and the palatal ( ) issometimes transcribed thus, but since in all precise schemes for transliterating Indic scripts the post-consonantal h is used only todistinguish aspirated (mahprna or great breath) consonants from their unaspirated ( alpaprna or small breath) counterparts, and since all the
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three Sanskrit sibilants are aspirated and have no unaspirated counterparts,none of them should be transliterated as sh.

The final letter of the Sanskrit alphabet is the voiced glottal fricative , h ( , , ), which is pronounced somewhat like h in happy, but withmore resonance of the vocal cords.
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Transliteration and Transcription

There are two basic methods that can be employed when writing in Latinscript words from a language whose original script is not Latin based, suchas Tamil or Sanskrit, namely precise transliteration or simple transcription .

Though the terms transcription and transliteration are often usedinterchangeably, in a technical sense transcription means the writing of thesounds of one language in the script of another language (and thoughstrictly phonetic transcription employs the use of a technical code such asthe International Phonetic Alphabet , simple transcription employs no code

other than the basic alphabet of the language in which it is written and istherefore less precise), whereas transliteration means the writing of thescript of one language in the script of another language using diacriticmarks (or some other device) where necessary to indicate precisely howeach word is spelt in the original script.

Thus when a word from a language such as Tamil or Sanskrit istranscribed in Latin script for English-speaking readers, no diacritical

characters are used to indicate precisely how it is spelt in its original script(or exactly how it should be pronounced), so it is written using only thetwenty-six Latin characters of the English alphabet to indicateapproximately how it is pronounced. But when a word from such alanguage is transliterated in Latin script, a specific (and usuallyinternationally recognised) code employing diacritical characters is used toindicate precisely how the word is spelt in its original script (and also

ideally how it should be pronounced).The principle that I generally follow is just to transcribe the names of

people or places and their associated titles whenever I write them in plaintype, and to transliterate them and all other Tamil or Sanskrit words,including the titles of poems, books and other texts, whenever I write themin italic type. For example, I transcribe names such as (ramaa),

(arucala) and (tiruvamalai) andtitles such as ( r ) and (bhagavn) in plain type asRamana, Arunachala, Tiruvannamalai, Sri and Bhagavanrespectively, except when they are part of the title of a text, but Itransliterate all other Tamil or Sanskrit words according to the following

principles:
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Firstly, I try to strike a balance between precision and user-friendliness, because a precise system of transliteration does not always indicate how anon-Latin script should be pronounced, since many scripts include letterswhose pronunciation varies according to context. This is particularly trueof the six hard class consonants in Tamil (as I will explain in more detail

below), and also of the anusvra () in Sanskrit. Therefore I transliteratethese consonants according to their actual pronunciation, rather thanaccording to a strict one-to-one system of transliteration.

Moreover Tamil has its own system of transcribing Sanskrit words,which in many cases involves certain euphonic changes that alter the

original pronunciation, so if Sanskrit words used in Tamil are transliteratedexactly as they are spelt in Tamil, they may become unrecognisable.Therefore I generally transliterate such words as they are spelt in Sanskrit,unless there is any particular reason for transliterating them as they arespelt in Tamil (as for example in the case of ahandai, the Tamil form of ahat, meaning ego, which I often transliterate as it is spelt in Tamil,since this is also how it is usually pronounced and since it is word that Sri

Ramana uses so frequently in his Tamil writings).Secondly, since the scripts of Indian languages such as Tamil or

Sanskrit do not have any capital letters, I avoid capitalising the initialcharacter of any Tamil or Sanskrit word, except when such a word occursin the title of a text or at the beginning of an English sentence.

(Incidentally, with the exception a few words such as God, which areconventionally spelt with an initial capital, I also avoid capitalising the

initial character of any English word that is used to denote the one absolutereality, such as self, being, consciousness or reality, because there issomething intrinsically dualistic about attempting to distinguish between acapitalised Self and a lesser self, when in reality there are no two selves.When used by Sri Ramana, self is a metaphysical term that often defiesdefinition, and is intended to defy it. For example, when we translate theterm tma-vicraas self-investigation, self-scrutiny or self-enquiry, itis unnecessary and undesirable to define whether the word self denotesour real self or our false self, because though we may initially imagine thatthe I we are scrutinising is our finite mind or ego, which appears to beour self, we will end up discovering that what exists and shines as I is in
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fact only the one infinite being-consciousness, which is our real self, justas a person may initially imagine that he is scrutinising a snake but willend up discovering that what he is actually looking at is only a rope.)

There are also no hyphens in the scripts of Indian languages, but whentransliterating compound words, which occur frequently in such languages,I often use hyphens to separate the individual words within eachcompound. Thus for example in a compound term such as tmajna (which means self-knowledge), I usually insert a hyphen between its twocomponent words, tma and jna, to indicate that it is a compoundformed of these components.

I also follow the Tamil Lexicon (the comprehensive Tamil-Tamil-English dictionary published in seven volumes by the University of Madras

between 1924 and 1939) in using hyphens to separate consonants that areinserted in Tamil compounds according to the rules of word-conjunction(known in Tamil as puarcci or sandhi, which is a Tamil form of aSanskrit word that is spelt sadhi but pronounced sandhi). For example, inthe compound name (tiru-v-amalai), the v isinserted to link euphonically the two consecutive vowels, u and a. Thisinsertion of consonants for the sake of euphonic conjunction often occursnot only in compound words but also between consecutive words within asentence, when the first of two words ends with a vowel, so whereappropriate I separate such inserted consonants by hyphens.

However, when transliterating Tamil, I sometimes omit suchconjunctive consonants, particular in the titles of poems or books, such as

Upada-v-Undiyr or Guru-Vcaka-k-Kvai, which I transliterate simplyas Upada Undiyr and Guru Vcaka Kvairespectively. Moreover,though it may be useful in some titles to separate certain words, it may not

be necessary to separate other words, so for example I transliterate the titleUpada-t-Tai-p-Pkka (which means Solitary Verses of Instruction) asUpada Taippkka , because it seems unnecessary and inelegant to splitthe compound word taippkka (which means solitary verses).

Moreover, as I mentioned above, I usually transliterate Tamil words of Sanskrit origin according to the spelling of the Sanskrit original, becausethis makes it easier for people who do not know Tamil to recognise them,and because in most cases this is more or less how they are pronounced in
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Tamil. Thus, for example, I often transliterate the title of the Tamil poem kma Pacakamas ktma Pacakam, but I generally transliterate thetitle of the Tamil poem ma-Viddaias it is spelt and pronounced inTamil, rather than as tma-Vidy, as it would be spelt and pronounced inSanskrit.


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Transliteration of Tamil Script

When transliterating Tamil words, I use a modified form of thetransliteration scheme used in the Tamil Lexicon, which was later incorporated in the National Library at Kolkata romanization scheme for all Indic scripts and more recently in the international standard known asISO 15919 Transliteration of Devanagari and related Indic scripts intoLatin characters (a detailed description of which is available here ).

The reason why I use a modified form of the Tamil Lexicon transliteration scheme rather than its original form is that it uses a single

Latin character (with or without an appropriate diacritic mark) or pair of Latin characters (in the case of the two diphthongs, [ai] and [au]) torepresent each individual letter of the Tamil alphabet , and hence it is not astrictly phonetic scheme, because as I will explain in more detail below,the pronunciation of the six hard class Tamil consonants varies accordingto the context in which each of them is used. Therefore, I transliterate eachsuch consonant according to its actual pronunciation in each particular

context.I also differ from the Tamil Lexicon scheme in the transliteration of the

retroflex consonant , the mute form of which is the final l in the wordTamil ( , tami ), but which in many other words is traditionallytranscribed as zha, as in Tiruchuzhi ( , tiru-c- cu i , the birthplaceof Sri Ramana), vazhi ( , va i , which means path, way or means) ande zhuttu ( , e uttu, which means a letter or alphabetical character).

Whereas the Tamil Lexicon transliterates this consonant as a, I transliterateit as a, because it is not a lateral approximant (a typical l-like sound) buta central approximant , which means that it is actually closer to an r-likesound than an l-like sound (though when muted it is often pronouncedwith a somewhat more l-like quality [almost as a fusion of a retroflex rand l], and in some spoken dialects it is wrongly pronounced as [ a],which creates confusion between certain pairs of words such as [a i ,meaning destroy] and [a i, meaning give]).

This consonant ( a) is technically described as the retroflex centralapproximant , in contrast to the subsequent consonant, ( a), which is theretroflex lateral approximant . Therefore, since the standard diacritic used todistinguish the retroflex consonants is the underdot (as in , h, , h, ,
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and ), should logically be transliterated as a (as some scholarstransliterate it), but since is used to transliterate the seventh vowel inSanskrit (the retroflex ), to avoid confusion I chose instead totransliterate as a.

Transliteration of Tamil vowels

Since the pronunciation of each of the twelve Tamil vowels is fixed, theTamil Lexicon transliteration scheme is phonetic with respect to them, so Itransliterate each vowel accordingly as follows: a, ( ) , ( ) i,

( ) , ( ) u, ( ) , ( ) e, ( ) , ( ) ai, ( ) o, ( ) , ( ) au.

The five vowels with a macron above are each a long form of the samevowel without a macron, so for example (a) is a short sound while () is a long sound. The symbol that I have given in brackets after eachvowel except (a) is the typical diacritic form that that vowel takes whenit is combined with a preceding consonant (though the actual diacritic formof some vowels varies according to the consonant with which it is

combined), the dotted circle in each case representing the position of theconsonant in the resulting ligature or compound set of characters. The firstvowel, (a), has no such diacritic form, because it is inherent in thedefault form of each consonant, and whenever a consonant is not followed

by any vowel sound, the absence of a vowel is indicated by a pu i ( ), adiacritic dot placed above the consonant. Thus, for example, the thirteen

possible forms of the first consonant (ka) are as follows: (k ), (ka),

(k), (ki), (k ), (ku), (k), (ke), (k ), (kai),(ko), (k) and (kau).

The Tamil hermaphrodite letter

There is one Tamil letter called the ytam, which is considered to beneither a pure vowel nor a pure consonant, and is therefore described as theali-y-e uttu or hermaphrodite letter. It is hence the thirteenth letter in theTamil alphabet, being placed after the twelve vowels and before theeighteen consonants, and it is pronounced somewhat like a guttural k, gor h (or ch in the Scottish word loch) appended to the precedingvowel. It is written as and it is transliterated as .

In words of Tamil origin it is rarely used, occurring only in about fifty
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such words, some of which are alternative spelling of other words, such as(a du), which is an alternative spelling of (adu), meaning

that, and it always occurs only after a short open initial syllable (that is,an initial syllable consisting of only a short vowel or a short consonant-vowel combination, without any closing mute consonant) and before ahard class consonant.

Transliteration of Tamil consonants

There are eighteen pure Tamil consonants, plus another six consonantalcharacters borrowed from the Grantha script that are optionally used in

Tamil to write words of Sanskrit origin. The original eighteen Tamilconsonants are divided into three groups of six, namely the val-l-iam or hard class of consonants, which consists of six plosives (oral stops), (ka), (ca), ( a), (ta), ( pa) and ( a, a trill, whose muted form, ,is a plosive), the mel-l-iam or soft class of consonants, which consists of six corresponding nasals , (a), (a), (a), (na), (ma) and (a), and the i ai-y-iam or medial class of consonants, which consists of

six oral sonorants (two semivowels and four liquids ), ( ya), (ra), (la), (va), ( a) and ( a).

The pronunciation of each of the six soft consonants ( , , , ,and ) and six medial consonants ( , , , , and ) is more or lessfixed, as is the pronunciation of each of the six Grantha characters, ( ja),

( a), ( a), ( sa), (ha) and (k a), but the pronunciation of each of the six hard consonants ( , , , , and ) varies, and hence I

transliterate them as far as possible according to their actual pronunciationin each context.

In the case of words of Tamil origin, the actual pronunciation of each of these six hard consonants depends largely upon its position in a word andwhether or not it is conjoined to another consonant, because each of themhas an unvoiced and a voiced form of pronunciation, and some of themalso have a fricative or trilled form of pronunciation. In simpler terms, theunvoiced pronunciation of each of these hard consonants ( k , c, , t , p and respectively) is hardest, their voiced pronunciation ( g , j, , d , b and respectively) is softer, and the fricative pronunciation of the first two ( h and s respectively) and the trilled pronunciation of the final one ( ) are stillsofter.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grantha_scripthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grantha_scripthttp://dsal.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/philologic/getobject.pl?c.11:1:5523.tamillexhttp://dsal.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/philologic/getobject.pl?c.11:1:5523.tamillexhttp://dsal.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/philologic/getobject.pl?c.11:1:5523.tamillexhttp://dsal.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/philologic/getobject.pl?c.11:1:5523.tamillexhttp://dsal.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/philologic/getobject.pl?c.11:1:5523.tamillexhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plosive_consonanthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plosive_consonanthttp://dsal.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/philologic/getobject.pl?c.11:1:428.tamillexhttp://dsal.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/philologic/getobject.pl?c.11:1:428.tamillexhttp://dsal.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/philologic/getobject.pl?c.11:1:428.tamillexhttp://dsal.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/philologic/getobject.pl?c.11:1:428.tamillexhttp://dsal.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/philologic/getobject.pl?c.11:1:428.tamillexhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nasal_consonantshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nasal_consonantshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nasal_consonantshttp://dsal.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/philologic/getobject.pl?c.0:1:7843.tamillexhttp://dsal.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/philologic/getobject.pl?c.0:1:7843.tamillexhttp://dsal.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/philologic/getobject.pl?c.0:1:7843.tamillexhttp://dsal.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/philologic/getobject.pl?c.0:1:7843.tamillexhttp://dsal.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/philologic/getobject.pl?c.0:1:7843.tamillexhttp://dsal.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/philologic/getobject.pl?c.0:1:7843.tamillexhttp://dsal.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/philologic/getobject.pl?c.0:1:7843.tamillexhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonoranthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonoranthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonoranthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semivowelhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semivowelhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semivowelhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liquid_consonanthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liquid_consonanthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voicelesshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voicelesshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voice_(phonetics)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voice_(phonetics)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fricativehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fricativehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fricativehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trill_consonanthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trill_consonanthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trill_consonanthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trill_consonanthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fricativehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voice_(phonetics)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voicelesshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liquid_consonanthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semivowelhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonoranthttp://dsal.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/philologic/getobject.pl?c.0:1:7843.tamillexhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nasal_consonantshttp://dsal.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/philologic/getobject.pl?c.11:1:428.tamillexhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plosive_consonanthttp://dsal.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/philologic/getobject.pl?c.11:1:5523.tamillexhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grantha_script


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More precisely, unvoiced (or voiceless ) means a sound that is pronounced without resonance of the vocal cords (as in the normal English pronunciation of k, ch, t or p), whereas voiced means one that is pronounced with resonance of the vocal cords (as in the normal English pronunciation of g, j, d or b), and fricative means one that is pronounced by forcing the breath through a narrow opening between twoorgans of articulation (as in the normal English pronunciation of h or s),whereas trilled means one that is pronounced with vibration of (in thiscase) the tongue.

The hardest (unvoiced) pronunciation of the velar is ka, its softer (voiced) pronunciation is ga, and its softest (fricative) pronunciation is ha.The hardest (unvoiced) pronunciation of the palatal is ca (pronouncedsomewhat like the English chu in chum or chutney), its softer (voiced)

pronunciation is ja, and its softest (fricative) pronunciation is sa. Thehardest (unvoiced) pronunciation of the retroflex is a and its softest(voiced) pronunciation is a. The hardest (unvoiced) pronunciation of thedental is ta and its softest (voiced) pronunciation is da. The hardest

(unvoiced) pronunciation of the labial is pa and its softest (voiced) pronunciation is ba. And the hardest (unvoiced) pronunciation of thealveolar is a (though this is actually used only when it is muted), itssofter (voiced) pronunciation is a, and its softest (trilled) pronunciation is a.

The rules that determine how each of these hard class consonantsshould be pronounced in any given context are defined in Tolkppiyam, the

most ancient extant Tamil grammar, and are based upon natural principlesof euphony , which are as follows: The pronunciation of each of theseconsonants is hardest (unvoiced) when it is the initial letter of a word,when it is muted (that is, when its inherent vowel sound is suppressed),when it is geminated (that is, when its basic consonantal sound islengthened by duplication) or when it follows any other muted hard classconsonant; it is softer (voiced) when it occurs post-nasally (that is, after any muted soft class consonant, , , , , or ) or when itfollows any muted medial class consonant (such as or ); and it issoftest (either fricative or trilled, or if it has no such form, voiced) when itoccurs intervocalically (that is, between two vowels).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voicelesshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voicelesshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voicelesshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voiced_consonanthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voiced_consonanthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voiced_consonanthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fricativehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fricativehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fricativehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Velar_consonanthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Velar_consonanthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palatal_consonanthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palatal_consonanthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palatal_consonanthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retroflex_consonanthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retroflex_consonanthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dental_consonanthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dental_consonanthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labial_consonanthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labial_consonanthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alveolar_consonanthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alveolar_consonanthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tolk%C4%81ppiyamhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tolk%C4%81ppiyamhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tolk%C4%81ppiyamhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euphonyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euphonyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geminationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geminationhttp://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/intervocalicallyhttp://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/intervocalicallyhttp://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/intervocalicallyhttp://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/intervocalicallyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geminationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euphonyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tolk%C4%81ppiyamhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alveolar_consonanthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labial_consonanthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dental_consonanthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retroflex_consonanthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palatal_consonanthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Velar_consonanthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fricativehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voiced_consonanthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voiceless


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Thus is pronounced ka when it is the initial letter of a word, k when itis muted ( ), kkawhen it is geminated ( ), ka when it follows any other muted hard consonant (such as or ), ga when it follows a muted softconsonant (as in the frequently occurring cluster , which is pronounced ga) or a muted medial consonant (such as or ), and ha when it followsa verb. Likewise is pronounced ca (or arbitrarily sa, as in fact it iscustomarily pronounced in many if not most cases, though strictly speakingthis contravenes the ancient rule described here) when it is the initial letter of a word, c when it is muted ( ), cca when it is geminated ( ), ca whenit follows any other muted hard consonant, ja when it follows a muted softconsonant (as in the frequently occurring cluster , which is

pronounced ja), and sa when it follows a verb. is not the initial letter of any word of Tamil origin, but it is pronounced when it is muted ( ), a when it is geminated ( ), and a when it follows either a muted softconsonant (as in the frequently occurring cluster , which is

pronounced a) or a verb. is pronounced ta when it is the initial letter of a word, t when it is muted ( ), tta when it is geminated ( ), and da

when it follows either a muted soft consonant (as in the frequentlyoccurring cluster , which is pronounced nd a), a muted medialconsonant or a verb. is pronounced pa when it is the initial letter of aword, p when it is muted ( ), ppa when it is geminated ( ), pa when itfollows any other muted hard consonant, and ba when it follows either amuted soft consonant (as in the frequently occurring cluster , which is

pronounced mba, or in the clusters and , which are pronounced

respectively ba and ba) or a verb.Like these other hard consonants, the final hard consonant, , also hasseveral allophones or variant forms of pronunciation. Like ( a), it isnever the initial letter of a word. Its default pronunciation is considered to

be a (in which is a trilled r, described technically as an alveolar trill ), but its mute form ( ) is pronounced (or sometimes slightly more like ,depending upon which consonant it precedes, and when it is used in thetransliteration of a word of Sanskrit origin, it can also be pronounced d or l ). Its geminated form ( ) is pronounced a, and the cluster is

pronounced a, the extra sound being a na

sanskrit transliteration

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