Recordings

Students should, as early as possible, develop the habit of reading texts out loud to cultivate a sense for Sanskrit as a language rather than a mere puzzle to be deciphered. Students may refer to the following audio recordings created for each text to correct their pronunciation. By paying close attention to the reader’s intonation, students will also find clues as to how a sentence should be construed.

 

Note on pronounciation: all of the optional visarga and anusvāra sandhi rules have been applied when reciting the texts. These are

 

• the jihvāmūlīya or guttural visarga pronounced before the consonants "k/kh" and the upadhmānīya or fricative visarga pronounced before the consonants "p/ph",

• the assimilation of visarga before sibilants,

• and the assimilation of anusvāra into homorganic nasals (e.g., "ṃ" is pronounced "ṅ" before the consonants "k/kh/g/gh/ṅ").