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Re: < Pronunciation >
Satish V Maruvada (maruvada@hpax.cup.hp.com) wrote:
: My friend started laughing and said that it was 'nirvan' and not
: 'nirvana'. I asked him about 'Rama', Krishna, Shiva, Ravana and
: moksha. He said that it was Ram, Krishn, Shiv Ravan and Moksh
: respectively. I'm confused and tried telling him that may be out in
: the north (where he hails), it may be pronounced that way, but in
: the south it's different.
: My question is : What is the right pronunciation ? And how are these
: words prononunced in Samkskrit ?
Well, you're both right. In the northern part of India, many of
the words you're referring to are not pronounced with the weak 'a' at the
end. Some other words of this type include Mahabharata and Ramayana. In
the north, many people pronounce the two epics as the Mahabharat and the
Ramayan, respectively.
Most Sanskrit scholars, however, would call the South Indian
pronunciation the correct, or uncorrupted, one(i.e. Ganesha, Rama, Shiva,
etc...)
As far as Nirvana is concerned, I'd go with Nirvana, not Nirvan.
Just because that's what everyone calls 'em!
Manoj Khiani
kmanoj@cory.EECS.berkeley.edu
