The forty-six sounds, in the order she received them.
Sanskrit was not made to be read silently. Every sound here has its place in the mouth, its own breath, its own life. Press any letter to hear it. Say it back. Then say it once more with your eyes closed; the second time is the one that counts.
The recordings are being made. Each one arrives here as it is finished.
Four things shape every consonant
Where the tongue rests
The lips, the teeth, the dome of the roof, the palate, the back. Five places. The sounds are given here in those five families, the way Vajra gives them.
Whether breath comes through
Hold your hand in front of your mouth. Say ka, then kha. The second one should touch your hand. The first should not.
Whether the throat is vibrating
Put two fingers on your throat. Say ka, then ga. One hums, one does not. The old language calls the humming ones voiced.
Whether it goes through the nose
Pinch your nose and try ma. The last sound of each family lives there.
A line over a vowel means hold it longer. A dot under a letter means the tongue-tip curls up to the dome of the roof. The marks are how the sound reaches you before you know how it really sounds. Be patient with them.
the self-sounding
The vowels. Sanskrit calls them svara, the self-sounding, because each one is a whole sound on its own: open your mouth, let the breath out, and it is already there. Thirteen of them: short and held, then four made of two held together.
the throat-sounds
The consonants begin here. Sanskrit calls them vyañjana, the showing-forth, because a consonant cannot sound alone: it needs a svara to carry it, and the a is already inside every one. Five at the back of the mouth, where the root of the tongue rises to meet the soft roof.
the palate-sounds
Five sounds where the middle of the tongue lifts and meets the palate.
the crown-sounds
Five sounds you must reach for. The tip of the tongue rises and curls up to the high dome of the roof.
the teeth-sounds
Five sounds at the teeth. The tip of the tongue touches the back of the teeth.
the lip-sounds
Five sounds at the lips. The two lips press together and open.
the in-between ones
Four that stand between the vowels and the consonants: not quite svara, not quite vyañjana. Each is a vowel leaning into a consonant — ya out of i, ra out of ṛ, la out of ḷ, va out of u — and each lives in its own place.
the breath-sounds
Three sounds the breath flows through, and one more, alone: the breath itself, from the throat.
the after-sound and the letting-go
Not letters, but you will meet them in your first words. One quiets an m into a hum. One lets a word breathe out before it ends.
Say them out loud
Stories come alive when you speak their names. These five are met before the sounds are; here they are, sound by sound.
Read it the way she woke with it
Every line of Siṃhī’s Dreams, one night to a file, in her order. Workbook Four follows these page by page. Listen to the whole night first; then find your line and say it back.
The first whole sentence
Seven words. You have every sound in them.
Sounds that were made to be held
Not from the workbooks. These are older than the books and will outlast them, and they are here because the sounds you have been tracing are the sounds these are made of. Listen first. Say them when you are ready.
Where the sounds go next
The book that gives the sounds one at a time, each in a story, until the cub has her first whole sentence.
Twelve nights, twelve first sentences. Where the sounds become words in a mouth.
Trace the letters, read them back, build the first words and lines, all with the same cast. The play buttons on this page are the workbook’s audio.
ComingSaying a sound with your whole attention is already a practice. There is a deeper room for that: an hour of lying down and going inside, in Ashland or online.
About the sessions