Thread by @TheSanskritDude

If you're just getting into the study of #Sanskrit grammar, one of the first things you need to learn is the Māheśvara Sūtras, aka the Śiva Sūtras. In this thread I'll teach you everything you need to know about them to get started.
#Pāṇini
1/

Let's start by recalling that thread about the story of Pāṇini. He received these sūtras as a gift from Śiva, who was dancing out of happiness at Pāṇini's austerities. On the surface, they are simply a special rearrangement of the alphabet. 2/

https://twitter.com/TheSanskritDude/status/1538039673259446273?s=20&t=nwP3vmmc9sBL6ER_2AABCQ

The sūtras themselves are:

1. अइउण्
2. ऋऌक्
3. एओङ्
4. ऐऔच्
5. हयवरट्
6. लण्
7. ञमङणनम्
8. झभञ्
9. घढधष्
10. जबगडदश्
11. खफछठथचटतव्
12. कपय्
13. शषसर्
14. हल्

Learn to pronounce them with this video by Vikram Bhaskaran:

But why this rearrangement? 3/

At the time the Māheśvara Sūtras were composed, the sūtra style of literature was in vogue. This style valued brevity over everything, probably to facilitate memorization, since everything was transmitted orally for generations.

So how do you use them? What are they for? 4/

The MS are used to create shortcuts (known as pratyāhāras in Sanskrit) to refer to large sets of letters in a single syllable. Notice that there are letters in each sūtra followed by an ending consonant. These ending consonants are "stops" we can use when making shortcuts. 5/

Start with a letter within a sūtra, and end with an ending consonant "stop". For example, the pratyāhāra अच् starts with the first letter अ (sūtra 1) and ends with the stop च् (sūtra 4). This shortcut refers to all the vowels अ इ उ ऋ ऌ ए ओ ऐ औ. Note we don't count the stops. 6/

What is the point of doing this? If Pāṇini had not set it up in this way, his Aṣṭādhyāyī might have been 10x as long! More importantly, we can refer to specific sets of letters easily for the sake of operations we need to perform. Let's see some more examples... 7/

हल् starts with the first letter ह (sūtra 5) and ends with the stop ल् (sūtra 14). This refers to all the consonants. So अच् = vowels and हल् = consonants. But we can make smaller subsets too: 8/

अक् = simple vowels; एच् = complex vowels; हश् = voiced consonants; खर् = unvoiced consonants; यण् = semivowels; झष् = voiced aspirated consonants; जश् = voiced unaspirated consonants; शर् = sibilants; etc. 9/

Now some questions:
Where are the letters आ, ई, ऊ, etc? Why are only the short forms of these listed? Remember our thread on how there are only 9 vowels in Pāṇinian Sanskrit: 10/

https://twitter.com/TheSanskritDude/status/1537603072234598400?s=20&t=JFcdWdwZpIdznJwP4Yu_HA

Why are there two हs listed in the sūtras? Sometimes Pāṇini needs to refer to ह along with all the voiced consonants (हश्) and sometimes with the sibilants (शल्). That's why ह is the only letter listed twice in the MS. 11/

Why are there two stops ण्? Won't we get confused between अण् as अ इ उ and अण् as अ इ उ ऋ ऌ ए ओ ऐ औ ह य व र ल? In only one sūtra in the Aṣṭādhyāyī (1.1.69) is अण् referring to the second stop. In all other instances of अण्, it refers to the first stop. 12/

Can you begin a pratyāhāra from the middle of a sūtra? Sure! take इक् for example. It refers to इ, उ, ऋ, and ऌ. There are many more such possibilities. But you can only END on a stop. 13/

Is there any time when we count the stops as part of the letters of the pratyāhāras? No. They are only used to stop pratyāhāras, and you don't count them when you are listing the letters included in a pratyāhāra. 14/

Now, practice making and breaking pratyāhāras on your own! This skill will be invaluable in learning Sanskrit grammar. Here is a chart that lists the 42 pratyāhāras that Pāṇini uses in his Aṣṭādhyāyī for your reference. Try taking each one and see which letters are in it: 15/

Slow version by Sanskrit Academy:

A fun singing arrangement of the sūtras by The Sanskrit Boys:

Another fun version by Soumen Chakraborty:

Enjoy and good luck! /end

PS: Please feel free to share more resources and notes if you have them!

Bonus: Here's another video clip of the MS being featured on the reality TV show SaReGaMaPa: