Sanskrit Vowels - स्वराः (Svarāḥ)
Chapter
3
Skill Level
All
Language
Sanskrit explained in English
Overview
By now, you must have familiarized yourself with and learnt the Maheshwari Sutrani and Sanskrit Alphabet in chapter 1 and 2 respectively.
Sanskrit Vowels – स्वराः (Svarāḥ) are also known as अच् (Ac), as given in the Māheśvarī-Sūtrāṇi, which are given from अ (A) to च् (C).
The next step is to learn the Sanskrit Vowels which are called as स्वराः (Svarāḥ).
Learning this chapter will help you:
- Understand what are Sanskrit Vowels
- Learn the different types of Sanskrit Vowels
- Know when Sanskrit vowels are used
Who is the chapter for?
- Any person interested in learning Sanskrit.
- Any learner who wants to revisit the basics of Sanskrit language.
- One who wants to learn Sanskrit Vowels.
Sanskrit Vowels - स्वराः (Svarāḥ)
As mentioned in the overview section above, Sanskrit Vowels – स्वराः (Svarāḥ) are also known as अच् (Ac), as in the Māheśvarī-Sūtrāṇi.
| अइउण् | ऋऌक् | एओङ् | ऐऔच् | अच् |
| aiuṇ | ṛḷk | eoṅ | aiauc | ac |
Svaras i.e. vowels in Sanskrit are considered as Svaras according to how long they retain their sound when spoken.
If you take any Sanskrit vowel and pronounce it for a long period of time, all of the time you will hear its sound being reverberated.
Vowels can be used independently or can be mixed with a consonant. Their pronunciation will always be the same, irrespective of how they are used.
There are three types of vowels:
ह्रसव-स्वराः (Hrasava-Svarāḥ) | Short vowels,
दीर्घ-स्वराः (Dīrgha-Svarāḥ) | Long vowels and
संयुक्त-स्वराः (Saṃyukta-Svarāḥ) | Compound Vowels.
ह्रस्व-स्वराः (Hrasava-Svarāḥ) | Short vowels:-
These are the vowels from which all other vowels are made. They are five in number and are as given below:
स्वराः (Svarāḥ) Vowels
| अ |
| इ |
| उ |
| ऋ |
| ऌ |
IAST Transliteration
| a/A |
| i/I |
| u/U |
| ṛ/Ṛ |
| Ḷ |
Type of Vowel
(According To Place of Pronunciation)
| Monophthongs |
दीर्घ-स्वराः (Dīrgha-Svarāḥ) | Long vowels:-
They are four in number and are as given below:
Note: The sounds of दीर्घ-स्वराः (Dīrgha-Svarāḥ) Long vowels are pronounced twice as long as that of ह्रसव-स्वराः (Hrasava-Svarāḥ) Short vowels.
स्वराः (Svarāḥ) Vowels
| आ |
| ई |
| ऊ |
| ॠ |
IAST Transliteration
| ā/Ā |
| ī/Ī |
| ū/Ū |
| ṝ/Ṝ |
Type of Vowel
(According To Place of Pronunciation)
| Monophthongs |
संयुक्त-स्वराः (Saṃyukta-Svarāḥ) | Compound Vowels:-
They have been formed by combining the ह्रसव-स्वराः (Hrasava-Svarāḥ) – Short vowels and the दीर्घ-स्वराः (Dīrgha-Svarāḥ) – Long vowels.
They are four in number and are as given below:
स्वराः (Svarāḥ) Vowels
| ए |
| ऐ |
| ओ |
| औ |
IAST Transliteration
| e / E |
| ai / Ai |
| o / O |
| au / Au |
Type of Vowel (According To Place of Pronunciation)
| Dipthongs |
Combination (Of Vowels)
| अ/आ + इ/ई |
| अ/आ + ए |
| अ/आ + उ/ऊ |
| अ/आ + उ/ऊ |
Note: The sound of the letter ऐ (Ai) is pronounced twice as long as that of the letter ए (E). The sound of the letter औ (Au) is pronounced twice as long as that of the letter ओ (O).
There is another type of Vowel in Sanskrit which is not used very often. It is the प्लुत-स्वराः (Pluta-Svarāḥ).
They are nine in number. They are as follows: अ३ (a3), इ३ (i3), उ३ (u3), ऋ३ (ṛ3), ऌ३ (ḷ3), ए३ (e3), ऐ४ (ai4), ओ३ (o3), औ४ (au4).