Sixteen Guṇas of Rāma

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हे सर्वगुणोपेत श्रीराम ! अस्मिन् शुभे विजयदशमीदिने त्वद्गुणप्रतिपादकमिमं निबन्धं भक्तजनप्रेरणार्थं तव चरणयोः समर्पयामि ॥ Vālmīki's Question Before Vālmīki composed a single verse of the Rāmāyaṇa, he asked a question. Meeting Nārada, the foremost of the learned, he inquired whether there lived in this world a person who embodied a particular set of qualities. The whole epic is, in a sense, the answer. Nārada begins by saying that the qualities Vālmīki has listed are many and hard to find together (१-१-७). He then names Rāma of the Ikṣvāku line. इक्ष्वाकुवंशप्रभवो रामो नाम जनैः श्रुतः । नियतात्मा महावीर्यो द्युतिमान् धृतिमान् वशी ॥ १-१-८ ikṣvākuvaṃśaprabhavo rāmo nāma janaiḥ śrutaḥ | niyatātmā mahāvīryo dyutimān dhṛtimān vaśī || "Born in the line of Ikṣvāku, he is known among people by the name Rāma: self-controlled, of great valor, radiant, steadfast, and master of his senses." In this short essay I look at the sixteen qualities Vālmīki asked about, and at one place in the...
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Shiva's Damaru



1. अ इ उ ण् |

2. ऋ ऌ क् |

3. ए ओ ङ् |

4. ऐ औ च् |

5. ह य व र ट् | 

6. ल ण् | 

7. ञ म ङ ण न म् |

8. झ भ ञ् |

9. घ ढ ध ष् |

10. ज ब ग ड द श् |

11. ख फ छ ठ थ च ट त व् |

12. क प य् |

13.श ष स र् |

14. ह ल् |

As most know, the Sanskrit alphabets are arranged in an interesting order in the माहेश्वरी-सूत्राणि (Maheshwara Sutras) as shown above. We find the order peculiar because we do not really learn the alphabets in this order. For example, we learn the vyanjanas (consonants) in a different order that is based on where they emerge from the mouth:

क ख ग घ ङ - from the throat (Kantha)

च छ ज झ़ ञ - tongue touches the middle palate (Talavya)

ट ठ ड ढ ण - tip of the tongue touches the front palate (Murdhanya)

त थ द ध न - tip of the tongue touches the teeth (Dantya)

प फ ब भ म - from the lips (Oshtya)

In the Maheshwara Sutras, the first four sutras are all svaras (vowels) and they start with अ and end with च्. Any word that ends with these svaras are Ajanta Shabdas (अ thru च् अन्त). Words such as राम, सीता, गुरु, are all ajanta shabdas.  

The subsequent sutras 5-14 have vyanjanas (consonants) that give rise to halanta shabdas (ह thru ल अन्त). Since these don’t have svaras and instead end with an अर्ध आकार or half form. All shabdas ending with these are halant shabdas such as atman (आत्मन्), राजन् etc.

Out of these last 10 sutras, 5,6,13,14 are made up of semivowels Anthastha/ Ushana (यरलव)/(शषसह ). That leaves sutras 7-12 are pure vyanjana (consonant) sutras

While the svaras arise from free flow of air/sound, the consonants are produced when air flow is stopped at some part of our mouth between the throat and the lips.

The peculiar arrangement in the sutras produce a dance of consonants as they oscillate between the throat, palate, teeth and the lips. It is as though the mouth is the drum surface and the tongue is the beaded chord — Embodying creation itself through the manifestation of sound. 

To understand and map the pattern of this oscillation that reflects the damaru, I assigned a number and color for the location of the source of the sound (second row on top). The associated color is mapped on the consonants themselves and the associated sequence of number is shown on the right most column of sutras 7-12. While the origins of this order remain enigmatic, the pattern that emerges illustrates the sophistication in the conception of  sound and speech in the backdrop of the cosmic canvas of creation, consciousness and how we experience life.


While the above analysis focusses on the logic behind the sutras, our tradition talks about the spontaneous revelation or burst of these syllables from Shiva’s Damaru. Here is a must-see 2012 video of Pandit Chunni Lal Mishra talking about the mystical rhythms of the Maheshvara Sutras: https://youtu.be/zv0oBapCui4?si=ym-Omdi9TbMpdcib



10/9/23

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