Upaniṣads · Gaṇapati 7.2
॥
Devanāgarī
गकारः पूर्वरूपम् । अकारो मध्यमरूपम् । अनुस्वारश्चान्त्यरूपम् । बिन्दुरुत्तररूपम् नादः सन्धानम् । संहिता सन्धिः
Transliteración (IAST)
gakāraḥ pūrvarūpam | akāro madhyamarūpam | anusvāraścāntyarūpam | binduruttararūpam nādaḥ sandhānam | saṃhitā sandhiḥ
Palabra por palabra
SánscritoIASTSignificado
ग-कारः पूर्व-रूपम्ga-kāraḥ pūrva-rūpamthe sound 'ga' — the preceding form
अ-कारः मध्यम-रूपम्a-kāraḥ madhyama-rūpamthe sound 'a' — the middle form
अनुस्वारः च अन्त्य-रूपम्anusvāraḥ ca antya-rūpamand the anusvāra — the final form
बिन्दुः उत्तर-रूपम्binduḥ uttara-rūpamthe dot — the succeeding form
नादः सन्धानम् संहिता सन्धिःnādaḥ sandhānam saṃhitā sandhiḥthe resonance is the joining, the junction is the union
Traducción
The sound 'ga' — the preceding form, the sound 'a' — the middle form, the anusvāra — the final form, the dot — the succeeding form; the resonance is the joining, the junction is the union.
Versión
6f052c7608ab · publicado 12 ago 2026, 5:00:00 UTC
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The syllable is broken into parts, and the parts are named with words taken from grammar: pūrva-rūpa, madhyama-rūpa, antya-rūpa, sandhāna, sandhi. All of these are concepts of linguistics. Sandhi is the coalescing of sounds at the junction of words, to which Pāṇini devoted whole sections; pūrva-rūpa and uttara-rūpa are the "preceding" and "succeeding" forms of a sound in such a coalescence.
That is, the sacred syllable is described in the language of the science of language. This circumstance deserves note, for it says much about the milieu in which such books were written. Grammar in India was not a school subject but the highest of the sciences; it occupied the best minds, and its concepts were, for an educated person, what the concepts of mathematics are for us.
Hence the highest, too, was described in its words: the most precise of the available languages was taken. It is worth examining also the word nāda, "resonance, humming," called a joining. What is meant is the nasal echo, which is drawn out and has no sharp end; and of it it is said that it is sandhāna, that by which the parts are held together.
This observation is precise, and not merely acoustic. In the syllable the distinct sounds are separate and discrete, while the humming is continuous; and that which links what is separate cannot itself be separate. The Vaiṣṇava side knows the teaching about nāda and uses it, but places it not at the end but at the beginning. For it, sound is traced not to an impersonal hum but to śabda-brahman, the word-God, and further to the breath of the flute; and so what is ultimate for it turns out not to be humming but melody, that is, sound that has a player.