[Advaita-l] Pronunciation of brahma vahni jihvA and so on

[H S Chandramouli]

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> Namaste.
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> Quote from   << Scripts from the Chapter "Siksa", in the book Hindu Dharma
>  (English translation of Daivattin Kural in Tamil by Kanchi Mahaswamigal )
> >> <http://www.kamakoti.org/hindudharma/part6/chap5.htm>
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> << It is only in Sanskrit that the pronunciation is fully phonetic but
> for two exceptions. One is when there is a visarga before "pa". Visarga
> more or less has the same sound as "ha" - not a full "ha", though. In Tamil
> Nadu it is pronounced fully as "ha" and Northerners who slur over it are
> made fun of. But their pronunciation is correct according to the rules of
> Siksa. With the visarga occurring before it, "pa" becomes "fa".
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> The second exception: "Subrahmanya", "Brahma", "vahni"(fire) are
> pronounced as "Subramhanya", "Bramha" and "vanhi". But all words with "ha"
> coming as a conjunct consonant are not like this as, for example,
> "jahvara"(deep, inaccessible), "jihva"(tongue), "guhya"(secret), and
> "Prahlada" [son of the demon Hiranyakasipu and a great devotee of Visnu]
> .>>
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> Note that jih-va is pronounced as jih-va only and not as jiv-ha.​
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> Regards
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