hariḥ oṁ
~~~~~~

namasté & hello,

The verse in the last post was disassembled (vyākaraṇa) for inspection, now it will be put back together (pratyāhāra or put together ) with the rules of saṁdhi applied. Let me start here:

paśyan + śṛṇvan + spṛśan + jighran + aśnan + gacchan + svapan + śvasan ||8


  • n + ś when these two sounds combine there are a few rules that come into play.
    • the rule 1st says an optional ‘t’ in the middle can be inserted , n + t + ś and call it a day, yet this is usually not done.
    • n + t + ś , the ś is transformed to a ‘ch’, so now you have n + t + ch. Another suggests this:
    • n + t + ch, when ‘t’ comes in contact with ’ch’, it too can be changed to a ‘c’ ; we have n + c + ch; then
    • n + cch , when ‘n’ comes in contact with ‘c’ we use the nasal sound that is found in this family and that is ñ.

Why not ṇ , ṅ or for that matter m nasal sounds ? It is because this ñ is part of the tālu (palatal) family of sounds along with ‘ca’; the articulation within one’s mouth and throat area are complimentary. It suggests the ease in shifting from one sound to another... that is the ~polishing~ or smoothness of complimentary sounds.

  • now we have ñcch and the combined word of paśyañcchṛṇvan as it appears in the verse. This occurs for another reason; it is optional only if the orginal ś is followed by a vowel ( it is, a vowel)1.


One last thing; there is a rule that says if a consent is followed by another consonant of the same kind2 e.g. c+ch it may be optionally dropped, therefore paśyañcchṛṇvan could be paśyañchṇvan. I find it done both ways. I chose to keep the consonants in place.

Now when you look at the rules above it makes your head swim. That is why its not for everyone. Why me then? I use it for my studies and for me to get to root word meanings (nirukta) or etymology. It is the 4th of the 6 vedā
ṅga-s ( limbs of the veda).


इतिशिवं
iti śivaṁ



1. followed by a vowel - in this case ṛ. Yet too the rule can be used if a semi-vowel was next, a nasal, or 'h'.
2.of the same kind - excludes nasal sounds (ṇ,ṅ,n,ma), semi-vowels (ya, ra,la, va), and 'h'.