GRAMMATICAL VIEW OF वर्णमाला

I had initially coined the title of this write-up as GRAMMATICAL VIEW OF DEVANAGARI SCRIPT. 

Since there is already a write-up ou DEVANAGARI SCRIPT. It is clear from the title of this write-up the grammatical view of Devanagari script is really different from what script one learns as DEVANAGARI SCRIPT. This is especially so in respect of the order of the वर्णाः both the vowels स्वराः and consonants व्यञ्जनानि.  

Before detailing the differences, let me clarify that the concept of वर्णमाला in Sanskrit grammar is itself different from DEVANAGARI SCRIPT. The difference starts wih the word वर्ण: itself. See, in Apte’s dictionary 

वर्णः [वर्ण्-अच् Uṇ.3.10] 1 A colour, hue; अन्तःशुद्धस्त्वमपि भविता वर्णमात्रेण कृष्णः Me.51. -2 A paint, dye, paint-colour; see वर्ण् (1). -3 Colour, complexion, beauty; विविक्तवर्णाभरणा सुखश्रुतिः Ki.14.3; त्वय्यादातुं जलमवनते शार्ङ्गिणो वर्णचौरे Me.48; R.8.42. -4 Look, countenance; मध्यस्थवर्ण इव दृश्यते Madhyamavyāyoga 1; किं त्वं शङ्कितवर्ण इव Chārudatta 4; अवदातिका परशङ्कितवर्णेव दृश्यते Pratimā 1. -5 A class of men, tribe, caste (especially applied to the four principal castes, ब्राह्मण, क्षत्रिय, वैश्य and शूद्र); वर्णानामानुपूर्व्येण Vārt; न कश्चिद्वर्णानामपथमपकृष्टोऽपि भजते Ś.5.10; R.5.19. -6 A class, race, tribe, kind, species; as in सवर्णम् अक्षरम्; ब्रह्मणा पूर्वसृष्टं हि कर्मभिर्वर्णतां गतम् Mb.12.188.10. -7 (a) A letter, character, sound; न मे वर्णणविचारक्षमा दृष्टिः V.5; Ki.14.3. (b) A word, syllable; S. D.9. -8 Fame, glory, celebrity, renown; राजा प्रजारञ्जनलब्धवर्णः R.6.21. -9 A good quality, merit, virtue; त्रिवर्णा वर्णिताऽस्माभिः किं भूयः श्रोतुमिच्छसि Bhāg.11.3.16. -10 Praise; स्वगुणोच्चगिरो मुनिव्रताः परवर्णग्रहणेष्वसाधवः Śi.16. 29. -11 Dress, decoration. -12 Outward appearance, form, figure. -13 A cloak, mantle. -14 A covering, lid. -15 The order or arrangement of a subject in a song (गीतक्रम); अभिध्यायन्वर्णरतिप्रमोदानतिदीर्घे जीविते को रमेत Kaṭh.1.28; उपात्तवर्णे चरिते पिनाकिनः Ku.5.56 ‘celebrated in song, made the subject of a song.’ -16 The housings of an elephant. -17 A quality, property; जङ्गमानामसंख्येयाः स्थावराणां च जातयः । तेषां विविधवर्णानां कुतो वर्णविनिश्चयः ॥ Mb.12.188.9. 

From the various shades of meaning of the word वर्णः as detailed in Apte’s dictionary, वर्णः in a वर्णमाला is every other ध्वन्यंशः sound element.  

In Sanskrit grammar, the order of the वर्णाः is as detailed in 14 सूत्राणि called as शिवसूत्राणि or माहेश्वरसूत्राणि or प्रत्याहारसूत्राणि.

TABLE 1

सूत्रक्रमाङ्कः	सूत्रे वर्णाः	End-marker इत्	वर्णसंख्या	प्रत्याहारसंख्या
1	अ इ उ	ण्	3	42
2	ऋ लृ	क्	2	26
3	ए ओ	ङ्	2	24
4	ऐ औ	च्	2	22
5	ह य व र	ट्	4	40
6	ल	ण्	1	9
7	ञ म ङ ण न	म्	5	40
8	झ भ	ञ्	2	14
9	घ ढ ध	ष्	3	18
10	ज ब ग ड द	श्	5	25
11	ख फ छ ठ थ च ट त	व्	8	32
12	क प	य्	2	6
13	श ष स	र्	3	6
14	ह	ल्	1	1*
कुलतः				304

Note, 

1. Every सूत्रम् is to be read along with its End-marker called as इत्. 
2. One can form two-letter words, with every वर्णः in each सूत्रम् as the first letter and each of the end-markers ahead of it as the second letter. Such a two-letter word is called as प्रत्याहार:. Because the three वर्णाः अ इ उ in सूत्रम्#1 have 14 end-markers ahead of them one can obtain 42 प्रत्याहारा:. So the formula for the number of प्रत्याहारा: obtainable from the number of वर्णाः present in every सूत्रम् is (15-s)*v where s is सूत्रक्रमाङ्कः and v is the number of वर्णाः in the सूत्रम्. 
3. Every प्रत्याहार: is actually the name of a set of the वर्णाः starting from the first letter and up to the end-marker. So the प्रत्याहार: अच् is the name of the set containing the वर्णाः अ इ उ ऋ लृ ए ओ ऐ औ. Note all वर्णाः in प्रत्याहार: अच् are vowels स्वराः. 
4. Though वर्णाः in प्रत्याहार: अच् are vowels स्वराः in शिवसूत्राणि there is no mention of आ ई ऊ ॠ. This is not to say that Sanskrit grammar does not recognise these vowels. On the contrary, Sanskrit grammar goes into very elaborate detail that every vowel can be pronounced in 18 different ways. I don’t think that grammar of any other language in the world goes into such nuance of phonetics. 

आ is दीर्घ long अ, ई is दीर्घ long इ, ऊ is दीर्घ long उ and ॠ is दीर्घ long ऋ. 

5. Note in सूत्रम्#3 we have ए ओ and in सूत्रम्#4 we have ऐ औ. But in Devanagari script the order is ए ऐ ओ औ. The order in शिवसूत्राणि has the bas the basis of the order of the मूलस्वराः अ इ उ. The order ए ओ is because अ+इ =ए and अ+उ = ओ. So ए ओ are minor गुण-diphthongs. Further on अ+ए=ऐ  and अ+ओ=औ. So ऐ and औ are major वृद्धि-diphthongs. Between अ and आ, अ is गुण, आ is वृद्धिः 
6. Since the concept of प्रत्याहार: is always a set of two or more वर्णाः, the technique for mentioning a singular vowel is to suffix it with the consonant त्. So अत् means अ only, आत् means आ only, … औत् means औ only. 
7. प्रत्याहार: हल् is set of वर्णाः starting from ह in सूत्रम्#5 to ल् the end-marker of सूत्रम्#14 hence is set of वर्णाः ह य व र ल ञ म ङ ण न झ भ घ ढ ध ज ब ग ड द ख फ छ ठ थ च ट त क प श ष स. All these are consonants. So प्रत्याहार: हल् is set of all consonants व्यञ्जनानि.
8. In सूत्रम्#14, there is only one वर्णः ह, which can have only one इत् the end-marker ल्. So, here also one gets the same प्रत्याहार: हल्, By convention प्रत्याहार: हल् is the set from ह in सूत्रम्#5 to ल् of सूत्रम्#14. 
9. Whereas in Devanagari script there are 25 consonants in 5 classes वर्गाः of 5 consonants each, in सूत्रम् #7, in turn in प्रत्याहार: ञम् we have all the five nasals together. Also सूत्रम् #10, in turn प्रत्याहार: जश् is the set of the third consonant from each of the 5 classes वर्गाः. In Sanskrit grammar the 25 consonants in 5 classes वर्गाः are called as वर्गीयव्यञ्जनानि. The वर्गाः have the names कु चु टु तु पु. So the set कु means all 5 consonants of कवर्ग: i.e. क ख ग घ ङ 
10. The logic why the order of वर्णाः in शिवसूत्राणि is what it is, has the deep thought about what phonetic effect naturally results in their pronunciation, especially when one particular वर्णः is preceded by or followed by another वर्णः. For example pronunciation of सूर्य+अस्त = सूर्यास्त (अ+अ = आ), अति+इन्द्रिय अतीन्द्रिय (इ+इ = ई) भानु+उदय = भानूदय (उ+उ = ऊ). Grammarians did not create the language. But they understood the phonology and summarized their observations into rules. The most monumental work was done by पाणिनिमुनिः. He composed some 4000-odd aphorisms सूत्राणि compiled in his अष्टाध्यायी a book of eight chapters. Note अष्ट+अध्यायी = अष्टाध्यायी. 

The patterns (अ+अ = आ), (इ+इ = ई) (उ+उ = ऊ) are actually 20, because अ/आ+अ/आ = आ is a set of four patterns. This applies to all five basic vowels अ इ उ ऋ लृ. Now these five vowels can be together mentioned by the प्रत्याहार: अक्. The common phonetic effect is that the resultant is the दीर्घः. This is set in the rule or aphorism सूत्रम् – अकः सवर्णे दीर्घः (6-1-101) sixth chapter, first quarter thereof, सूत्रम् #101 therein. Such a coalesced phonetic effect is called संहिता. 

11. The vowels इ उ ऋ लृ suffer change to य् व् र् ल respectively, when followed by another vowel. For example अति+एति = अत्येति, सु+आगतम् = स्वागतम् पितृ+आज्ञा = पित्राज्ञा. Note hence that the order is य व र in शिवसूत्रम् #5 followed by ल in शिवसूत्रम् #6. The order in Devanagari script is य र ल व.  
12. The संहिता-effects happen in respect of consonants also. See जगत्+जननी = जगज्जननी (त्+ज् = ज्ज्), उत्+शिष्ट = उच्छिष्ट (त्+श् = च्छ्).  Note, in त्+ज् = ज्ज् there is a change or substitution of त् by ज्. In त्+श् = च्छ् also there is a radical change or substitution for both त् and श्. Actually संहिता-effects are of three types – (i) change or substitution आदेशः (ii) addition सम्+कृतिः संस्कृतिः Note, there is an addition आगमः of an extra स् between म् and कृ (iii) deletion लोपः ते+अपि = तेऽपि. The deletion of अ is indicated by the symbol ऽ called as अवग्रहः.  

Sanskrit literature is invariably inclusive of संहिता-effects, rules for which are detailed in अष्टाध्यायी in hundreds of सूत्राणि. In the सूत्राणि there is prolific use of प्रत्याहाराः. As said above, the प्रत्याहाराः are obtained from शिवसूत्राणि which have the order of वर्णाः fairly different from their order in the Devanagari script. 

Actually the very first सूत्रम् in अष्टाध्यायी – वृद्धिरादैच् (वृद्धिः आत्-ऐच्) is inclusive of संहिता-effects, though सूत्राणि about संहिता: are only in the sixth and eighth chapters. So for studying Sanskrit grammar from अष्टाध्यायी, there is “egg first or chicken first” dilemma. Rather, learning Sanskrit grammar from अष्टाध्यायी is not for novices. 

The basic thought behind this write-up was to present some insight into Grammatical View of वर्णमाला. There is very much a scientific logic, that of phonology, which is an integral part of Sanskrit grammar.

शुभमस्तु ! 

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