Because the growing interest of people in the Sanskrit observed in two rooms of PalTalk – Water and Waves (at Religions), a room of Tibetan Buddhism Meditation and FozIber Ashram (at Social Issues), Humanistic, a room of Universal Ways of Thinking -, we decide to use the video to release the drawing of the symbols of this sillabary. Like a Journey Diary will this web begin as fruit of our experience with the difficulties of the interested people that does not yet have been able to found an explicit software in the same aspects of this language.

 

We are not masters in this… we have no graduation on this matter, but the experience we have is already enough to conclude that the sum of material (software and books) is so many and unnecessary to cover some simple aspects that never seems to be contemplated; to observe a book at a book shop is easy but a software is practically impossible.

 

Of course that is unfair if we do not elucidate about the so good and free software on line that we discover in some incursions across the internet like:

 

1- This dictionary http://members.chello.nl/l.bontes/sans_n.htm is very important. At the web you have six downloads and you must do all of them to a special directory only for this dictionary. In fact you will get two: an older version and a new one. The two versions are important.

The fonts you must keep at your control panel in the beginning or start menu. In definitions you have the control panel and there you have fonts or different types of letters. So, keep the fonts there like all the fonts that the different programs will give you. 

 

Unhappily this web seems that, since a long time, has no actualizations and in some computer systems does not work but this happens, obviously, because people sees this for free and don’t care about to contemplate with donations and the result is that the publisher stops to work on it. Sometimes even is not a question of donation but the mental laziness to leave at the web a comment about the work.

 

2- Now go this web http://www.sanskrit-lamp.org/ and at the left and down go to download and download this tutorial system. For this you must register yourself. There is no problem on register and do the download. It is a fantastic Sanskrit tutorial but has no sound yet which is not a problem for us. Put this software at a different directory from the first one we mentioned.

 

3- Go to http://www.omkarananda-ashram.org/Sanskrit/itranslator2003.htm#dls

and download the Itranslator 2003 that is the first on the top of the web. In the same way also download the fonts like the Chandas 1.2. The keyboard layout is an optional download… if you want to do it.

With this software you are able to begin playing with the Sanskrit symbols of the alphabets.

 

4 – At this web http://www.valmikiramayan.net/ramayana.shtml you will have the complete Ramayana book, a group of six books of the first Epic book of India. If you go to the first book down at each chapter you can choose if you want to see the text in Sanskrit, in ITranslator or in Romanization. But at the PalTalk room I will explain to you better sending to you a copy to see how I have organized the document for my studies. Now, for the people that is reading for the first time this webpage and is not aware of the PalTalk Rooms and even do not has the system just e-mail me and I will send the sample.

 

5 – At http://www.avashy.com/hindiscripttutor.htm you have the drawing and the pronunciation of each Sanskrit symbol on-line.

 

6 – Also on-line, a good dictionary http://webapps.uni-koeln.de/tamil 

 

7 – Finally and for more advanced students, please go to http://www.taralabalu.org/panini and make the download but, please, do not forget to donate. I know that I am being repetitive about this but there are always some people who simply have a strong tendency to forget. This system will require your registration but this will be no problem. If you cannot donate in the same day you will be always reminded for doing it.

 

This is all for now and after I will give you more for the advanced studies. But, please, do not forget to donate to the webs who ask for it because there is no excuse. A donation can be small but this “small”, gived by many is always a way to keep all this software for free and actualized; so, give in proportion of your possibilities. But and also leave there, at each of this webs, your comment  because it is good for who works to read not only the good about but also all what you feel that can be important to improve. In the same way – we don’t ask for donations because we don’t feel merciful for this, even having the work we have here but we leave this aspect for the others that, in reality, have developed more deep efforts -, please, leave us a message about what you think of this web, at least telling us about other free software that you are aware about and can be important for the students of this web.

 

Also we present here a truly good software with prices very accessible for the great part of the western world and which we had got fantastic results. Here, yes, here we have a lucrative aspect that is based in to have the right to get free material in agreement with the acquisitions you can make through this FozIber’s web.

 

The beginning of our journey

 

At the point 5- you have an on-line software that shows the drawing of the Sanskrit symbols with sound and at the point 2- the software that also shows the drawings (this has not yet sound; anyway, is very complete about the Sanskrit history and development) but the reason why we use the video is that, by any reason, none of the software we have shows how to write the numbers and the mātrā symbols, i. e: the change that the vowels suffer when applied to consonantal symbols.

 

At the beginning has a sample to show the importance of drawing well all the symbols and we have used this method:

 

Let us go to a small example about mātrā (for our ITranslator is maatraa). Few than two vowels keeps they form at the beginning of a word; anyway, each one of the vowels keeps they form if they are alone but never in or at the end of a word. Matra is the form that each vowel – and the group of that changed vowels -, when applied to a word.

 

Suppose that I will symbolise a consonant (a consonantal form) as

 

 

So, from now, this circle will symbolise any consonant to show the vowels comportment with consonants. Also and because this is only an example of the importance of the vowels study, I will only use the vowels that we will study until next Sunday.

 

Well, all the consonantal forms are based in the ‘a’ vowel and not like at the alphabets that we have: be, ce, de (e = I and not ai). At Sanskrit, like at Tibetan, our consonants are pronounced: ka, ga, na, etc. All based in ‘a’ vowel that is what the superior line expresses. 

This way the अ, one of the few that can stand with this shape at the begining of a word, is naturally aplied to any consonant by the form of

 

the line above and that supports the Sanskrit like the Tibetan writing always expresses the ‘a’ short vowel and only the short.

 

Now the long ‘a’ or आ appears in a word asand this is the reason why when we write the short ‘a’ अ we use to form the long ‘a’ as you can observe in आ.

 

The second group of vowells that we have (and are) study(ing) are the short ‘i’ इ and the long ‘i’ ई. But and because all the words are based under the superior line - and not like at the weastern idiomes above the line – and if this superior line is allways the short ‘a’ vowel how can this happens that a short ‘a’ becomes a short or long other vowel? They can because the matra will do it.

 

So, we get our any-consonante prototyp, we aply the line above and we get the short ‘a’ अ that now will be change in a short ‘i’ इ and the sequence to built this our vowel is:

 

1  2  3 and the final form is  (any distortions inside the circles have been a result of being very tired when I did this hehehehehehehehe nothing else.)

 

So, now that we have the short ‘i’ applied to a consonant – in which the matra diacritical drawing have stopped with the short ‘a’ sound -, let us see how to draw the long ‘I’ ई :

1  2  and the final art

 

So, the vertical stroke behind a consonant is the short ‘i’ and is written from right to left and the long ‘I’ have the vertical stroke in front of any consonant and is written from left to right. But is the arc that unites the consonant with the vertical stroke that defines the ‘i’ and if the ‘i’ is short or long.

 

Now and finishing this mine exhibition of the importance of the vowels, I will go to give you the others that we are studying until next Sunday – until does not mean anything! Take the time you need.)

 

short ‘u’    long ‘u’

 

 

short’r’ (sound ‘ri’)    long ‘r’ (also ‘ri’ sound

 

 

Again I ask you that this is not yet to be studied and, above all, do not permit (never ever) the stress in these studies.

 

But quickly we have realised that having for our use and reaching more people a system as the video this had no reason to be presented this way. We don’t say that we will stop with some imperfections fruit of our writing habits like to be filmed – even being only our hand -, when we are writing but will be much better understandable and permit us to repeat until we reach the better perfection for after to present here on-line and also with the sound.

 

So and for now, we will go to present the vowels and the mātrā that we are reaching in this first phase:

 

 

The last four ones are always long ( e ए  ai ऐ  o ओ  au औ ).

 

Please use the ITranslator to observe the design of the symbols.

 

Now, we have a “problem” which is that the Hindi Tutor doesn’t give you the last two sounds called anusvāraḥ and visargaḥ but this is an apparent problem. So, let us see:

 

1.                Both are based in the short vowel ‘a’ अ  so, you already know how to draw this symbol;

2.                The anusvāraḥ is an anasalation by the romanzation letter ‘m’ and this is represented by a dot up the symbol at the end of the draw; stays like this अं ; romanized is aṁ and for our ITranslator is aM

3.                Well, so what you need for this sound is to draw the short ‘a’ and after put a dot over.

4.                The visargaḥ expresses the end of a phrase, the final mark point. At the ancient native idioms we don’t have the weastern romanized pontuation because all was to be sang and the rythmics were and are the punctuation of a phrase. So, the visargaḥ, that is our mark of the end of a phrase, is also based on the short ‘a’ vowel;

5.                अः so, after drawing your short ‘a’ apply two vertical dots and you got the visargaḥ symbol. For romanization is represented as aḥ and for the ITranslator the input is aH

6.                This symbol obliges you to duplicate the last vowell of the sentence where is applied. For instance, the phrase finishes with ‘ai’ so you must pronounce ‘aiai’ or …. ending with ‘o’ so you say ‘o o’. For instance, the word visargaḥ will be pronounced visargaha.

 

 

 

 

 

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