Terminology
स्वर/Svara =
- All 16 Vowels, i.e अ/a to अ:/aḥ
व्यन्जन/Vyanjana =
- All Consonants, i.e क/k to म/m
संयुक्ताक्षर/Samyukta-akshara =
- letter composed by two or more vyanjana/consonants without any swara between them
- क्ष, क्र, प्र, प्ल
ह्रस्व/Hrasva =
- Vowels takes shorter time to utter
- अ , इ, उ, ऋ, ऌ/a, i, u, ṛ, ḷ
दीर्घ/Deergha =
- Vowels taking longer to utter
- आ, ई, ऊ, ऋृ, ॡ , ए, ऐ, ओ, औ/ ā,ī,ū,ṛṛ,ḹ,e,ai,ao,au
मात्र/Matra =
- time taken to utter one hrasva
लघु/Laghu =
- any letter that takes 1 matra to utter
- a consonant without Vowel like म्/m or स्/s is not counted as a laghu and often combined with before akshara
- indicated by ‘|’ on top/below letter in scriptures. Our website uses ‘plain’ font for easy identification
गुरु/Guru =
- any letter taking 2 matras to utter
- indicated by
on top/below in scriptures. Our website uses bold font for easy identidication - any letter that is Deergha is also a Guru
- Samyuktakshara won’t become a Guru unless its succeeded by another Samyuktakshara
Laghu becomes Guru when =
- it is followed by a Samyuktakshara, eg: इष्ट/iṣṭa where इ/i which is a Laghu becomes Guru by borrowing ष्/ṣ from its following Samyuktakshara ष्ट/ṣṭa
- it has a anusvara, eg: तं/taṃ
- it has a visarga, eg: ल:/laḥ
Anushtup definition
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| L | G | G | |||||
| L | G | L | |||||
| L | G | G | |||||
| L | G | L |
Sri Rama sloka
| श्री | रा | म | रा | म | रा | मे | ति | र | मे | रा | मे | म | नो | र | मे |
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| śrī | rā | ma | rā | ma | rā | me | ti | ra | me | rā | me | ma | no | ra | me |
| स | हस् | र | ना | म | तत् | तुल् | यम् | रा | म | ना | म | व | रा | न | ने |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| sa | has | ra | nā | ma | tat | tul | yaṃ | rā | ma | nā | ma | va | rā | na | ne |
Ganesha sloka
| शुक् | लाम् | ब | र | ध | रम् | विष् | णुम् | श | शि | वर् | णम् | च | तुर् | भु | जम् |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| śuk | lām | ba | ra | dha | ram | viṣ | ṇum | śa | śi | var | ṇam | ca | tur | bhu | jam |
| प्र | सन् | न | व | द | नम् | ध्या | येत् | सर् | व | विघ् | नो | प | शान् | त | ये |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| pra | san | na | va | da | nam | dhyā | yeत | sar | va | vigh | no | pa | śān | ta | ye |
Devi sloka
| या | दे | वी | सर् | व | भू | ते | षु | मा | तृ | रू | पे | ण | सम् | स्थि | ता |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| yā | de | vī | sar | va | bhū | te | ṣu | mā | tṛ | rū | pe | ṇa | sam | sthi | tā |
| न | मस् | तस् | यै | न | मस् | तस् | यै | न | मस् | तस् | यै | न | मो | न | मह् |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| na | mas | tas | yai | na | mas | tas | yai | na | mas | tas | yai | na | mo | na | mah |