(comprehensive), The Thousand Holy Names of ... - Mandhata Global

Consonant & Vowel Combinations
k- ka ku- ku œ kÿ k-aE kau
k-a kä kU- kü ke- ke A" aù
ik- ki k*- kå kE- kai A& aà
k-I ké k›- kè k-ae ko
Sanskrit Pronounciation Guide
Short
vowels
Long
vowels
Sanskrit, especially Sanskrit poetry, is not so much spoken as sung or
chanted. The three essential elements of chanting sacred Sanskrit
poetry are mantra, svära and mätra. Mantra means the text, svära
refers to the intonation and mätra means the rhythm. The mantras of
Çré Viñëusahasranäma are found beginning on page 31.
Svära is beyond the scope of this short guide. Please simply take our
word for it that the intonation in this edition is authentic. There is
more information on Vedic intonation on our sacred music website at
www.esoteric-teaching.org/articles/articles.htm
Regarding mätra, Sanskrit does not have stressed and unstressed
syllables like Western languages; it has long and short syllables
instead. In the table above, the long vowels are shown in the shaded
boxes. In other words, the short vowels are a, i, u, å and ÿ, and the
long vowels are ä, é, è, e, ai, o and au.
The short and long syllables are measured with a time intervals called
a päda. A päda is very similar to the concept of an eighth-note beat in
Western music. In Sanskrit, short syllables are one päda long, and
long syllables are two pädas. The pädas only apply to the length of
the vowel sounds; the consonants do not count.
So for example, in the word mätra the vowel of the first syllable is
sounded twice as long as the second. In the word keçava, the vowel of
the first syllable is sounded twice as long as the second and third.
Again, the mätras in this edition have been researched extensively
and are very authentic to the style of Sanskrit in use at the time of
Vyäsadeva.
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