व्यञ्जनानि
Vyañjanāni
In our first lesson, we met the
स्वराः — Svarāḥ,
the vowels.
Now we take the next step.
We enter the world of
व्यञ्जनानि — Vyañjanāni,
the consonants.
Sanskrit gives us a beautiful way of seeing
these sounds in an organised pattern.
श्रवणम् → उच्चारणम् → अभ्यासः → बोधनम्
Listen → Pronounce → Practise → Understand
🌱 Discover the Pattern
The first twenty-five consonants are arranged in
five groups of five.
These groups are traditionally called
वर्गाः — Vargāḥ.
क-वर्गः च-वर्गः ट-वर्गः
त-वर्गः प-वर्गः
Rather than trying to memorise everything at once,
simply observe the pattern.
Five groups.
Five sounds in each group.
This orderly arrangement is one of the beautiful
features of Sanskrit phonetics.
🌿 The Remaining Consonants
After the five Varga groups come the remaining
commonly taught consonants:
👂 Listen Before You Memorise
You may notice that several consonants look very
similar in their transliteration.
For example:
क ख ग घ
Do not try to master the subtle differences merely
from written English letters.
Sanskrit pronunciation is best learned by
hearing and repeating the sounds.
In a future version of Gurukulam, we can add
authentic audio for each sound.
🕉️ Read the Groups
क ख ग घ ङ
च छ ज झ ञ
ट ठ ड ढ ण
त थ द ध न
प फ ब भ म
Read one row at a time.
Slowly.
Clearly.
Without worrying about speed.
🌱 अभ्यासः — Practice
Let us see whether your eyes are beginning to
recognise the consonants.
1
Which letter represents ga?
2
Which letter begins the
ca-varga?
3
Which letter represents
ṇa?
4
Which letter represents
bha?
5
Which letter represents
śa?
🪷
Manana — A Moment to Reflect
There is order in these sounds.
There is rhythm.
There is a journey from one sound to another.
We do not need to understand everything today.
We simply begin to listen.
We begin to recognise.
We begin to pronounce.
Learning itself can become a form of sādhanā.
🌿 The Journey Continues
In the next lesson, we will discover how the vowels
we learned in Lesson 1 join with consonants.
We will meet:
मात्राः
Mātrāḥ — vowel signs
Next Lesson →