FAT Pronunciation clarifications

[Guest guest]

Dear A,

 

I have read your e-mail with interest.

 

 

 

Both thamizh and thelugu people commit mistakes of pronunciation.Just that thelugu and Malayalis are saved to a great extent because of their promixity of their language to samskruthA.Thus very few mistakes are made.

 

Also,it is interesting your research corroborates on my take that vadamA iyers originally belonged to andhrA des'am(though some claim they migrated to andhrA and thus called "vadamA"-"vada" meaning north in thamizh) and they migrated ages ago down south.Yet, the corruption of their samskruthA is because of the local dravidA language influence.{(dhravidA* is in itself a samskruthA variation "dhrA" means to see and "vidA" comes "knowledge".This refers to the nAdI granthAs(nAdi astrology being an off-shoot here) and sidDHas who were 'seers with knowledge' in aravades'A(current thamizhnAdU).This point maybe noted by staunch drAvidians and realized that most of anti-vedic notions it is modern-day political rhetoric.}

 

(I'm using "dha" as in first "dha" in dhas'a(for ten) and not the second dHa as in "dHiyOyOnah:")

 

 

 

I have been trained in samskruthA by the ahObilA mutt right from a way young age,thelugU I learnt in a proper way from my father and one more s'AstrI while in AndhrA(it is my mother toungue too) and thamizh from a very fanatic thamizh who even drew facial(labial?)diagrams to me as a kid(I was then maybe 9 years or so) to make me pronounce certain thamizh syllables properly, in which he took pride, like "zha"(he too is my bhAshA-guru in a way),malayAlam from my malayAla mAntrIka gurU.Thus, I can humbly claim certain amount of expertise in these languages.I should be quick to point out here that I'm still a student and would be so eternally.

 

 

 

 

I was really amused when I posted my video(rAjarAjeshwarI dandakamU and gurupAdhukA stOtrA in thelugU and samskruthA respectiviely,wherein I checked my pronunciation to the hilt along with chandas and have a comment from a telugu member from one of our groups(envy?) who wrote a comment that I was not conversant in both languages and that I do not know about prAnA,mahAprAnA and alpaprAnA respectively and how to pronounce them. And he had spelt the word prAnA as 'prinA','mahAprinA' and 'alpaprinA'.

'prInA' means 'to be content' or 'to please' and comes from the etymological root word 'prI'.Yeah right! maybe I do not know how to 'please' him or such biased people! And maybe he does not like a thelugU to support a thamizh(I do not support anyone though,except, try maximal, to support the dharmA in a person or situation!).I have removed that video to post a better one later and also to safegaurd my privacy for the moment.

 

These points are very small and nit-picky but while chanting manthrAs it makes a big difference cumulatively.God lies in the details!

 

 

 

Let me take up the mistakes of thelugU people themselves first lest I be considered parochial or biased because I'm a thelugU:

 

 

Many thelugUs(and maybe other language speakers,especially hindhi-speaking people{(who currently speak 'hindusthAnI' which is a combination of samskruthA hindhU bhAshA(hindhI) and urdU} too) say for samskruthA word "pHa"(second "pHa") as "fa"(as in English "fat")--So, they make mistakes like pronouncing "pHals'ruthI" as "falas'ruthI"--the former meaning the "fruit of the litany",the latter bearing no meaning.).More pronounced is the detrimental effect when people say for vIja{(not bIjA as is popularly known as vIjA means in original samskruthA 'seed' and bIjA is a pAli corruption of this word in substituting "va" for "ba"-giving rise to eastindian names like 'debajAnI' instead of 'devayAni' or 'debabrathA' instead of 'devavrathA')} mantrAs--"hUm(protection or cover bIjA) pHat swAhA" where pHat denotes the shabdhA(sound) of the arrow leaving the bow('astrAya pHat'-means 'may

this mantriac astrA(weapon) leave with a penetrating sound pHat).It is used when seeking something specific and leaving a manthrA towards the target like an arrow.

Now, the sound 'fat'(as in english 'fan' or 'fat') means,that which going a waste.So each time the sound 'fat' is invoked instead of 'pHat', the manthrA loses potency.No wonder people complain that the manthrAs are not effectively.

Also, 'pHat' must be pronounced like "pHattu"(the last "u' sound must be only said half and not full "u",it then becomes pHalthU(a waste) as the hindhI speaking guys say!)

Many thelugU speaking people also say "vijjyA"(with an emphasis on the sound "ja" (as in the English word "jam") for 'vidhyA',especially uttharAndhrA-des'am.I do not know wherefrom they pick up these accents and pronounciations as it is clearly given in in thelugU 'vidhyA'! "vij" in samskruthA means "to tremble" so instead of knowledge/manthrA(vidhyA means both knowledge and manthrA) they start trembling!

Also, thelugU people have a tendency to aspirate more and stress the sounds more(This is more pronounced in kannadigAs) unnecessarily, thinking it is more perfect.(athivrushTihi: anAvrushTihi:!--Too much of anything is bad).Instead of a simple first "dha", they tend to pronounce the second "dHa".This gives a thelugu-ized samskruthA version,which is better avoided.

I may add here that many have been influenced due to northindians and islamic people in their pronunciations.Northindians have a tendency(especially in popular sabr' or sabari(sabari is a further corruption of the arabI word "sabr" menaing 'patience'-from which came the popular shirdI sAi related word 'sabUrI') manthrAs to inculcate arabI pronunciations like "fa","za",etc sounds which ar not existent in samskruthA as these sounds produce lower vibrations in a human being leading them down from sathvA to rajO and thamO gunAs and thus have been avoided(However,these do exist in kshudra manthrAs,which we need not discuss here).These have been scientifically verified and proved by auric studies using both Cymatics and Kirlian imaging('Google' it out!).This is a point worn by samskruthA as devabHAshA.Also, it maybe noted that even their jAthkAs(rhombus/diamond shaped) have been influenced

by the arabI invaders and the influence seeped till eastern Indian(where they use brihath-jAthakA with diagonal lines at the quadrants) as opposed to the vAidIkA rectangular system.

 

 

 

thamizhs and their mistakes:(It is "thamizh",technically speaking and not "Tamil" or worse--> "Tamilians")

 

 

The predominant mistakes of pronunciation of samskrutha padhAs is because of the language itself,which was used as a sandhyA bhAshA(twilight language) by sidDhAs of yore(agasthyA,pulasthyA,etc).They used to speak samskruthA and used this drAvidian language as a code-language to hide certain things.This language existed even before agasthyA but popularly it is held that he is the 'inventor' of the language.He laid down certain easy rules for pAmarAs as they could not speak smaskruthA or ancient tamizh(coded-language of the sidDhAs) with the same felicity as them and thus syllables like "pa" and "ba"("tha" and "dha"; "sa" and "cha"; "ka" and "ga") were conjoined as one unit and can be used interchangeably.It is ok for anything else but not for manthrAs of a samskruthA kind.Thus, modern-day books carry notations in numbers above the thamizh syllable to denote

first,second,third,etc.Those who read samskruthA manthrAs or litanies must buy one such book and then make a careful note of the notations and then pronounce/chant it carefully.

thUya thamizh(pure thamizh) or sangha-thamizh(thamizh as declared official in one sanghA (meeting) held in yore purportedly near current-day madhurai) also does not have sounds like "s'rI","hA","kshA",etc and the syllables which have come about are later-day additions by tamizh-brAhmanAs(thamizh-iyengArs(not kannadA iyengars who have a substrate of kannadA) to be specific played an important role in fostering the connection between tamizh and samskruthA.Their grip and usance of thamizh(thUya thamizh words like 'sAtramudhu'(colloquially said as "sAthumundhu" or "sAthumdu" instead of 'rasam',) is more than iyers',is what I have personally observed.Ofcourse, this is just a subjective outlook and I might be perfectly wrong or naiive here.)

Even those who know samskruthA makes mistakes due to the influence of the dhramilA(another word for dhravidA) lingo.I have seen tamizh-brAhmanA-priests wrongly pronounce "brum-hA"/"brum-ha"(with the half- "u" sound in the English word "broom") instead of "bram-hA"/"bram-ha"(with "bra"(sans elongating the sound, though) as in the English word "brawl").Th confusion is also compounded because traditionally devanAgiri lipi scribes "bram-ha" with "h" first.So it is scribed "brahma" but must be pronounced "bram-hA"."ma" must come before "ha".The etymological root word for "brahma' is 'brhaman'.When the word is used as the first part of a compound the "n" drops off, hence we get "brahma-shabdham".Other example of "n" ending words are Atman(soul),naman(name) etc.And we get "Athma-jnAnA", "hari-nAma-samkIrthanA",etc.

Also there is a purushapumsa(masculine gender) 'brahman' and napumsakA(neuter gender or a-sexual) Brahman. The masculine one is pronounced bram-hA(aa),and refers to the divine-entity who creates. The neuter/a-sexual is bram-ha andrefers to the supreme being.This is a subtle difference.Brahma also means Vedas in many places

"brum-hA" would mean "submerged with pain('hA' indicates 'painful expletive' when conjoined with the prefix "brum-hA") whereas "bram-hA" means "divine/God/Lord Brahma,etc".So the divinity is submerged with pain each time it is recited so!This is irony of sorts in kaliyugA.No wonder,with such wrong pronunciations and apaswarAs in the CD/Music cassette market,so many anarthAs(ill-happenings or happenings without any 'meaning'(arthA) in kaliyugA happen).

Another word which bears similar confusion,especially for those who read vishnu sahas'ranAmA is 'vanhi' vs 'vahni'.The word means 'fire'.The word is written 'Vahni' but must be pronounced as 'vanhi'("h" is flipped while pronouncing/chanting it).Many with great difficulty pronounce 'vahni',which is wrong.

Sri.M.S.Subblakshmi Garu had such a doubt when she was about to take up the divine assay of recording vishnu sahas'ranAmA and got it clarified from none other than peddhAyanA of kanchi srI muttHA.It would be interesting to note,she did a sAdhanA of the vishnu sahas'ranAmA for 108 days(chanting the divine litany many times per day) and perfected her accent,samskruthA,learnt the padha-bHedhA,etc before she recorded for HMV.Such was her dedication.

Similarly there is a word called "ahnA"/"ahna" pronounced as "anhA",though scribed as "ahnA" or "ahna".the word means "day".Thus, madhyAhnA (meaning noon or mid-day) must be pronounced as "madhyAn-hA"

Also, tamizh accentuation of pronouncing aspirated words softly,instead of mahAprAnA using alpa-prAnA(reverse situation of their thelugu counterparts) is best avoided.

malayAlis(pravAlabhAshikAs) who know samskruthA and chant it do it correctly(including some nambUdirIs I have seen chanting sAmagAnam and pUrvamImAmsika manthrAs).Others make more or less the same mistakes as tamizhs just that they are (even more) softer than them.Though it sound sweet to hear,they are still erroneous and sometimes give detrimental effect.

 

 

 

 

Coming to your query:

 

 

 

"vashat" is a vashIkaranA vIjA and is used to entice or attract a particular result.It is used to direct,control,guide and command a particular happening and is used primarily in vAidhIkA nyAsAs and tAntrIkA manthrAs.E.g: "vashat kuru kuru"

 

"vaushat" on the otherhand used to control one's roving and roaming eyes(vision and observation) on the purpose(say,manthrAnushtAnA) and keep it foccussed.E.g.: "vaushadAkarshaya"(vaushat+Akarshaya).

svAhA is used for hOmAs of a right kind as it comes from the etymological root "su"(meaning good) and it is a form of surrender while praising the deities in the sacred fire to 'consume' the evil.

 

"svadHA" on the otherhand is used for pithrU karmAs(cleansing of the ancestral manes and rites relating to it to appease them) It comes from the root-word "svad" which means "to taste"(The hindhi word "svAdh" meaning "taste" comes from this) and this is used for the pindA samskArAs(s'rAdHA rites) for the departed-souls to "taste" the morsels and appease them through the minimum of three bHOkthAs(brahmA,s'ivA and vishnu bHOkthAs) who attend such a rite.Ancestors are fulfilled of their strong unfulfilled desires using this mantrical word.

 

Thus, it is metaphorically said, agni de'vA has 2 wives/consorts (depicted by by a bi-toungued flaming fire-god anthropomological imagery):svadHA and svAhA.

 

rAjarAjes'varI BhagavathI namO namO hum pHat svAhA!

 

Yours yogically,

 

 

 

Shreeram Balijepalli

Hreem Rajarajeshwari Paradevatha!