Re: Question: Sanskrit & Amba Mata
Posted By Roy Raja (rajaroy@ecf.toronto.edu)
Tue, 15 Jul 1997 11:39:05 -0400
In article <ghenEDBzEq.J9x@netcom.com>,
Vicki Jerome <vjerome@clear.net.nz> wrote:
>Please could anyone help me with a couple of questions (totally unrelated):
>
>1. I notice that in Sanskrit, the letters m and n sometimes appear to be
>used interchangeably - e.g. Sanskrit/Samskrit, and recently in a posting
>someone referred to Ahinsa (non-violence, harmlessness) which I have always
>seen written as Ahimsa. Are they indeed interchangeable, or are there some
>rules? And how do you pronounce such words - with the lips closed (as for
>m) or apart (as for n)?
What you should bear in mind that by writing "m" or "n" what is being
done is to write sanskrit word in roman alphabet. In sanskrit, it is
called "Anuswar" and there is no confusion about how it should be
written. It is written by putting a dot on top.
Anuswar is normally interchangeable with fifth letter of the group
following the anuswar. It is hard for me to illustrate this using
roman alphabet.
Amba is another name for the goddess Uma or Parvati.
Raja
