Vasishtha shiksha: a treatise on the sanskrit alphabet

Recommended by: Shailendra Raj Mehta

Vasishtha Shiksha is an ancient manual of the Sanskrit alphabet, written by a celebrated sage, and completely lost to the world, but for one handwritten manuscript in Tirupati, India. Here is the revival of this comprehensive knowledge of pronunciation of Sanskrit. Systematic and concise, there are chapters on the 1) The letters of the Alphabet; 2) The places of articulation in the mouth of the different letters; 3) The degrees of contact of the different classes of letters, vowels, consonants, etc.; 4) Voiced and unvoiced letters, aspirated and unaspirated letters, and the duration of different letters; 5) The rules of the application of Vedic pitch accents in letters, words, and verses; and 6) The organs of articulation for the different letters. Authoritative and complete, the original Sanskrit text is presented with an English translation, and an extensive commentary to clarify and make accessible all the fine details of this ancient science of pronunciation. A pervading theme of the ancient Vedic system of education, Shiksha, is to provide total knowledge and complete enlightenment to the student in the first lesson.