How to say Siṃhī

Siṃhī. Say sim as in “simple,” let the breath soften through the middle, and land on hee — sim-HEE. That is the whole of it. And it means lioness.

Look again and you will see a small dot beneath the m: a direction for the mouth. It tells you the sound is nasal — hummed, not closed. The line above the final vowel tells you to hold it a beat longer. Sanskrit is written almost exactly as it is spoken. Once you can read the directions, you can read the sound of the language — long before you know what any of it means.

With most languages we are taught that meaning comes first, and sound is something you approximate along the way. Sanskrit runs the other way: sound is the ground floor, because the meaning is carried in the sound, not laid beside it. It is how you learned your own first language — by ear, in the mouth, before anyone showed you a single rule.

This is the entry point Gāyatrī’s Song is built on: it begins not with grammar but with the forty-six sounds of the varṇamālā — the garland of letters — learned one at a time, in the body, the way a child learns to speak. You are never asked to memorize. You are asked to make the sounds, and to enjoy them.

Every one of the forty-six is read aloud.

Hear each sound in a mouth, one at a time, in the order the cub received them.

Listen to the sounds

How to say the rest of the names

Every name in the series is a real Sanskrit word. Say them slowly. The meaning comes after.

Gāyatrī

GUY-uh-tree

The two long vowels are held, unhurried. The word names one of the most sacred verse-meters of the tradition — the shape a prayer takes when it is sung. Meet Gāyatrī’s Song ›

Vajra

VUJ-ruh

The a’s soft, close to the u in “cup.” One word holding two images: the thunderbolt and the diamond — the thing that cannot be broken. Meet Vajra’s Fire ›

Sarpa

SAR-puh

The first part rhyming with “harp,” then a soft uh. The word means snake — and the sound seems to move as you say it. Meet The Beginning ›

Gāyatrī’s Song is three nights beneath an ancient tree, where a father gives his daughter the forty-six sounds one at a time, each placed in the mouth and carried in a story before it is ever named. The sound first. The meaning after.

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Questions people ask

How do you pronounce Siṃhī?

Sim-HEE. Say sim as in “simple,” soften the breath, land on hee. It means lioness.

What does the dot under the letters mean?

It is a direction for the mouth: the sound is nasal, hummed rather than closed (the anusvāra).

How do you say Gāyatrī?

GUY-uh-tree. The long vowels are held, unhurried.

How do you say Vajra?

VUJ-ruh, the a’s soft, close to the u in “cup.” It means thunderbolt, and diamond.

How do you say Sarpa?

SAR-puh, the first part rhyming with “harp.” It means snake.

Where can I hear them said aloud?

All forty-six sounds are recorded at The Sounds, each one on its own.

Where do these names come from?

From the Siṃhī series — stories that teach the language as you read. The sounds come first, in Gāyatrī’s Song.

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Begin where you are.

The other half

Saying a sound with your whole attention is already a practice. There is a room for that too — an hour a week: we sit, we read a little, and we talk, in Ashland or online.

About sitting