svarāḥ

In the first chapter, we learned about Maheśvara sūtrāṇi. In this Chapter we will learn about swaras. Let us study all 14 Maheśvara sūtrāṇis once more before we learn about swaras.

अइउण्, ऋऌक्, एओङ्, ऐऔच्, हयवरट्, लण्, ञमङणनम्, झभञ्, घढधष्, जबगडदश्, खफछठथचटतव्, कपय्, शषसर्, हल् are the 14 Maheśvara sūtrāṇis.

The first 4 are for Swaras [ अइउण्, ऋऌक्, एओङ्, ऐऔच् ], and the remaining 10 are for Consonants [ हयवरट्, लण्, ञमङणनम्, झभञ्, घढधष्, जबगडदश्, खफछठथचटतव्, कपय्, शषसर्, हल् ].

They can also be remembered through Pratyahar as अच् प्रत्याहार and हल् प्रत्याहार.

Swaras are called swaras because they retain their original sound no matter how long we pronounce them.

We take the first 4 Maheśvara sūtrāṇi to understand swaras. The first 4 sutras are: अइउण्, ऋऌक्, एओङ्, ऐऔच्. They can also be called by pratyahara as अच् प्रत्याहार.

When we expand the first and second sutras, that is, अइउण् & ऋऌक्, we get what is called pure vowels / शुद्ध स्वरा. These are the basic human sounds that our vocal cavity produces. If you pronounce them, you will realize that the sound is produced using different organs of the vocal column.

अ[्] is made from the pit of the throat when we expel air outwards; our mouth expands when we make this sound.

इ[ि] is also made from the pit of the throat when we expel air outwards, but in this, our tongue subconsciously moves slightly backward.

उ[ु] is also made from the pit of the throat when we expel air outwards, but in this, we press our lips together to produce the sound.

ऋ[ृ] is also made from the pit of our throat, but now we have to consciously move our tongue backward to produce the sounds.

ऌ[ॢ] is also made from the pit of our throat, but we consciously move the tongue backward without stretching the vocal muscles.

These are also called Short Vowels [ह्रस्व स्वरा].

The next 5 vowels are made when we stretch the pronunciation of the short vowels; hence, they are named Long Vowels[दीर्घ स्वरा].

आ[ा] is made when we extend the sound of अ.

ई[ी] is made when we extend the sound of इ.

ऊ[ू] is made when we extend the sound of उ.

ऋृ[ृृ] is made when we extend the sound of ऋ.

These all are called Long Vowels[दीर्घ स्वरा]. All the long vowels are pronounced twice as long as short vowels.

The next 4 vowels are a combination of two vowels and therefore they are called compound vowels /[संयुक्त स्वरा].

अ/आ + इ/ई = ए

अ/आ + ए = ऐ

अ/आ + उ/ऊ = ओ

अ/आ + ओ = औ

The sound of ऐ is pronounced twice as long as ए and the sound of औ is pronounced twice as long as ओ.



There is another category of swaras which are not common nowadays known as Protracted Vowels or / प्लतु स्वरा which are found in old texts like the Vedas and Puranas.

In these types of swaras, a number is added after swaras. For example, अ(३) , इ(३) , उ(३) , ऋ(३) , ऌ(३) , ए(३) , ऐ(४) , ओ(३) , औ(४).