Brahmin vs Brahman

[Sankaran Kartik Jayanarayanan]

On Sat, 23 Mar 2002, Jaldhar H. Vyas wrote:

[..]

> Also I would like to point out that Brahman (the supreme spirit), Brahman
> (the priestly caste), Brahman (the knower of the supreme spirit), and
> Brahman (the explanatory sections of the Vedas)  are phonetically exactly
> the same.  The only difference is the first is neuter in gender while the
> other three are masculine.
>

There is a clear phonetic difference between Brahman (the supreme spirit)
and BraahmaNa or BraahmaN (the priest).

Note that the first "a" in Brahman is short, pronounced like the "u" in
"but", while the "aa" in BraahmaNa is long, pronounced like the "a" in
"far".

The last "n" in the Brahman is the same as the "n" in "agni", but the "N"
in BraahmaN is pronounced like the "N" in "kaNTha".

-Kartik