Anunsika (Nasalization)

in the gveda
Narsing Rao
April, 2011
Email: nbrao@dataone.in

Table of Contents
Introduction..........................................................................................................................................3
Nasalization of long vowels.................................................................................................................3
Example 1 (Nasalization of )........................................................................................................4
Example 2 (Nasalization of ).........................................................................................................5
Example 3 (Nasalization of )........................................................................................................5
Example 4 (Nasalization of )........................................................................................................5
Example 5 (Application of 8|3|10)...................................................................................................5
Special case Nasalization of ..................................................................................................6
Nasalization of .........................................................................................................................6
Nasalization Statistics...........................................................................................................................7
Nasalization of short vowels................................................................................................................7
Nasalization rules in the gvedaprtikhya.......................................................................................8
Summary...............................................................................................................................................9

Introduction
There are several examples of nasalization (i.e. Pronouncing the nasal form of a vowel) in the
gveda and this paper will provide an analysis of these.
In Sanskrit, every vowel has two variations based on nasalization:

Nasalized ( )
Not Nasalized ( )

Bhattoji Dikita, in his Siddhnta Kaumud, summarizes the variations as follows:

- !" " & )! ! , .
"
these have 18 variations (3 durations X 3 pitches X 2 nasalizations = 18) each
) - has 12 variations, since it has no , form, only and (2 X 3 X 2)
these have 12 variations each since they don't have any form, only , and
In the Devanagari script, a nasalized vowel is written with a Candrabindu5 . For example: 5, 5.
Rules pertaining to nasalization in Sanskrit can be grouped into two categories:

Nasalization of long (drgha) vowels

Nasalization of short (hrasva) vowels

Of these, the first category (nasalization of long vowels) are better defined, and will be dealt with
first.

Nasalization of long vowels

Several rules pertaining to nasalizition are found in the Rutva prakaraa - Atdhyy 8.3.1
8.3.12. Pini uses as a substitute in exactly two rules:
8|2|66 8 &
8|3|1 8 :<
The first rule above (8|2|66) requires that the ending of a . as well as the of be
substituted with . This is actually ; however Pini needed to distinguish between the a
naturally occuring final (as, for example, in ), and the final which is a substitute for .
An example will illustrate why this difference needs to be made:
+ @& = @:
but
=

A! + @:
A! + + @&

(by 8|2|66)

=
=
=

A! + + @:
A!B + @&
A!B@&

(by 6|1|113
(by 6|1|87
(by 6|1|109

8 8 ")
D&)
& . )

The rules relevant to nasalization are shown in the table below:

Number

Sutra

Comment/Interpretation

8|3|1

Anuvtti of till 8|3|12

8|3|2

Adhikra till 8|3|12, indicating that these rules apply to the

svara immediately preceding

8|3|3

Makes compulsory (nitya) the option that follows from 8|3|2

and 8|3|9

8|3|4

Interpreted as follows: either the vowel immediately preceding

is nasalized (i.e. Made ) or it is followed by
(in which case it is not nasalized)

8|3|6

Anuvtti of ." till 8|3|8. Note that = {

!}

When the ending (except that of } is followed by any

of { } which in turn is followed by any of
, the gets substitued by . Anuvtti of & till 8|3|12

! + - In the gveda, the previous rule (i.e.

Substituion of by ) becomes optional. Anuvtti of till
8|3|9

8|3|9

/ $

In the gveda, the final preceded by a long ( ,) vowel and

followed by any of (any vowel or ! ) gets substituted
by provided that both and are in the same pda.

8|3|10

1 $

The ending of L is substituted by if follwed by .

8|3|7

8|3|8

Let us now see how these rules work using a few examples:

Example 1 (Nasalization of )
Fourth pada of RV 10.90.14:
! , ,B <&
. A 8 8 5 .!

=
=
=
=

8
8
8
8
8

.!
.!
5 .!
5 ! .!
5 .!

(by 8|3|9)
(by 8|3|3)
(by 8|3|17 8 D8 8 .A! !8 )
(by 8|3|19 8.& !! )

Example 2 (Nasalization of )
Third pada of RV 1.37.12
8 ! 8 : 5 !, D,5 !,
=
=
=

D, !,
D, !,
D, 5 !,
5
D,!,

(by 8|3|9)
(by 8|3|2)

Example 3 (Nasalization of )
Second pada of RV 1.78.4
) !8 !A5A" [ \&
!A + A" = !A5A" (using the same rules as in Example 2)

Example 4 (Nasalization of )
Second pada of RV 5.54.15
8 ! !8 !" L5
" 8 ! 8 !! " &
L + = L5 (using the same rules as in Example 2)

Example 5 (Application of 8|3|10)

RV 1.121.1
L5: .
" ! _8 `D !
! !!8 !" " !&
RV 8.84.3
!

A8 L5: . , D& 8

L .
=
L .
(by 8|3|9)
=
L5 .
=
L5: . or L5 .
There are no instances of nasalizations of , , , and .

Special case Nasalization of

The particle is nasalized by the following rule:
8 (6|1|123)
The meaning of this rule is: when is followed by in in the Veda, then it is nasalized.
The Mahbhya clarifies further: 8 !" A - 8 : ! ...
: ! 8 :
Here are some examples:
RV 1.122.5

. &
. . &

5 8"!
" 8"!

RV 9.86.23

. &
. . &

. 5 !
." 8 !

RV 8.67.11

. &
. . &

D, 5 ."
D," ."

Nasalization of
The word (meaning together) occurs 94 times in the gveda; of these 7 are nasalized following
6|1|123. Here is Syaa's explanation (extract from the commentary on 1.51.11):
RV 1.51.11

. &
. . &

" 5 8 `A
" & `A

!" . 8 " l. ! 8.! " &

" & !
8 !
Notes:

=
=

By 3|2|76 l. , l. can be used with any verbal root. Here is the Kik Vtti on this
sutra: !& 8.. " !8 .. " ! ! l. !!8
Ultimately nothing remains of l. - and . are tags (:), and is to facilitate
pronunciation. What is left is , which is removed by 6|1|67 ".)!
! 8.! is a Vrttika on 7|1|39 . .A "! ! & It
means that , ! and ! should also be included in the substitutions for . .
has two forms: with and without the tag . The following loka distinguishes the two
forms:
r ! !8D" ! < !& !!8
+ l. +
+
(by the Vrttika above)
5
(by 6|1|123)

Nasalization Statistics
The following table shows the frequencies of nasalizations of long vowels in the gveda:
Vowel

Number of
occurences

Common words

7251

" (88), (33), (30), (33),

(29), (13), (13), (13), (15),
(11), (10), (9), ! (8),
. (8), (7), (7), ! (7), (6),
(5), (5), 8 (4), (4), .. (4),
, (4), (4), (3), ! (3),
(3), , (3)

47

., (8), , (5), , (4), ., (4), ., (4),

, (3)

46

!A (11), A (8), A (6), A (4), .) !A (3)

Total

822

Nasalization of short vowels

In the , among short (hrasva) vowels, we find anunsika forms only of (i.e. 5 ). This is more
difficult to explain. There are 14 such instances in the gveda.
Syaa explains these (somewhat unsatisfactorily) using the rule:
8|4|57 8D)! &
Combining this with the previous rules (8|4|57 " ), this means that the ending { }
of a word optionally becomes nasalized.
The Kik Vtti on this rule is as follows:
8D)! " !
" 8 , 5, ,,5 ,
? ) ) D)!" ? @, !A
We now give the occurrences of 5 along with the explanations by Syaa :
1.33.4

/9:; <= 9 <= 9 $ 9 > 9 = 9$=

"5 & ) (. A ...) ! ) &

&
Note:

) is a Vrttika on 6|1|127 8r !!
It means that there are several cases in the Veda where there is praghya (i.e. no
sadhi), and in such cases the shortening of the final vowel by 6|1|127 does not apply.

Example from RV 8.5.29: !!, , 8 !!& !!

1 Approximate number

 $= 9 =>9 H = I9 = I9 /9

1.79.2

, ! [ ! & !!"
" & ) : 8D)!
[. " ,! !!" ! .
1.110.5

$ =$ 9 > <9 =9 I 9 $:=

$=9 =9

"" 8D)! & " !!" ! !

) :
1.113.1

9 = 9 9 >= 9 9 $9 = H

8D)! & ! & &

Syaa does not provide any explanations for the anunsika after Mandala 1:
2.14.2

= 9 < =
9 >= 9 = : /9=

4.35.2

9 9 I 9 =9 = >9 <= 9 =9 < =9

6.30.1

9 =I $ /9 =>9 = 9 Y =$9 =

6.46.5

9 $<= 9 => 9 =<9 =9 =

7.25.4

$: = / >9 = I : 9 =a

8.15.3

= >9 = I9 = $

8.15.11

9 < =>9 = I9 = $

8.98.10

< = 9 => 9 = I9< = $

8.100.5

= $9 =:I9>9 9 /= < :9= I9 $

10.034.05

= 9 9 9 =9 > /$= < I9 < 9/=

One thing that can be noticed in the above examples is that in all cases, 5 is followed by either or
.

Nasalization rules in the gvedaprtikhya

The gvedaprtikhya has a rule very similar to Adhyy 8|4|57, which is:
"D) ! . . .
< " D) ! & &
The first eight vowels ( ) are considered by cryas to be anunsika when they
are at the end of a word (with no follwing word) provided they are not praghya.

However this rule appears to have been optional, since the next rule is:
"

!! ! .8."& . . .

" & ! !- -.8.-"&

That (anunsika), according to the followers of kalya, who do not wish to be the cause of the
disappearance of the tradtion, should apply only for a vowel that has three mtras (i.e pluta).
Uvvaa, in his commentary, gives the following example from RV 10.161.1:
, , 5
Here, the last is pluta and occurs at the end of the pda, which is avasna, hence it becomes
anunsika. It should be noted that in the sahit recitation, avasna occurs only at the end of the
pda.
All this indicates that the use of anunsika at the end of the pda in the gveda was the rule in
ancient times. Later on, this rule was gradually relaxed, till it became applied only in the case of
pluta.
The gvedaprtikhya uses the term rakta for anunsika:
8 : . . .
A related topic pertaining to defects in pronunciation appears in the uccraadoapaalam :
!!5 & 8 . .
This means that a defect in pronunciation occures when a nasal vowel (called rakta) is lengthened
(drghayanti), as in 5 & (see RV 7.25.4 above).

Summary
This paper has summarized the use of nasalization (anunsika) in the gveda. While the rules for
nasalization of long vowels are well defined in the Rutva prakaraa of the Atdhyy (8.3.1
8.3.12), the rules for nasalizations of short vowels are not as clear.
The gvedaprtikhya indicates that nasalization was widely prevalent in ancient times but
gradually got reduced in scope.
There appears to be several studies done on nasalization in the Prkts as well as in modern Indian
languages. Transformations from Sanskrit to Hindi often involve nasalizations; for example to
5 and . to 5.. It also appears that there are languages in which nasalization serves as a wordboundary marker. These topics, however interesting, are beyond the scope of this paper; however
they could throw some light on nasalizations in the gveda.
The reason for the nasalization appears to be clear delineation of lexical units.