While the Gods Play

by Alain Daniélou

  Already in mankind the power of language is out of all proportion to the minimal movements of the throat and lips that produce the sounds.

  The use of a few vowels and consonants which did not originally exist in Sanskrit seems to indicate that Sanskrit is not at the base of the phonetic system even though it became closely linked with it. The phonetic system is independent of the diversity of languages and of the various systems of writing, through phonemes or ideograms. Alphabets differ only in their imprecision and their deficiencies. The twenty or so alphabets used in India are for the most part merely different ways of transcribing the same phonetic system. The Semitic alphabets (Aramaic, Hebrew, Arabic), as well as the Phoenician and Greco-Roman alphabets, are particularly deficient, being very imprecise. The alphabet of classical Sanskrit, called Devânagarî, is by far the most suitable for the transcription of the fifty-four elements of articulation at the base of all languages. The limits of the possibilities of language are tied to the limits of our possibilities for collective and transmittable knowledge, that is, to the role that has devolved upon the human species as a whole in the play of creation. We can only surpass these limits if we are able to pass the limits of language and of the mental mechanisms to which it is tied; such experiments are, however, difficult to communicate.

  The seeds of all human knowledge, the sciences and all that language can contain and express, can be derived from the Maheshvarä Sûträ, which means "Sacred Formula of the Great God." The Maheshvarä Sûträ is as follows:

  A-I-U-N; Ë-Ü-K; É-Ó-Ñ; È-Ò-CH; Ha-Ya-Va-Ra-T; La-N; Na-Ma-Na-Na-Na-M; Jha-Bha-Ñ; Gha-Dha-Dha-Sh; Ja-BaGa-Ga-Da-Sh; Kha-Pha-Cha-Tha-Tha-Chha-Ta-Ta-V; Ka-Pa-Y; Sha-Sha-Sa-R; Ha-L.

  U is pronounced like ou in you; I like the i in bit; Ë and Ü like the French e and u; CH like tch; J as in dj (z is considered to be a variant of j). The cerebrals, indicated by underlining, are obtained by touching the palate with the tip of the tongue. Ñ is guttural. Sh is pronounced like the French ch, Ñ as in Spanish. The half consonants at the end of each group are called "it". Their meaning refers to the whole of the group that they bring to a close. They allow the sets of groups to be established. A–Ch represents the group of vowels.

  According to Nandikeshvarä's interpretation, the groups of letters represent, following a given order and hierarchy, the sound symbols that allow the transmission of concepts, starting from the most abstract, just as the series of numbers and their relationships can be the basis for a mathematical expression of the manifestation of the elementary principles that make up the substance of the world. These two series form the base of the sciences and all forms of knowledge. The Maheshvarä Sûträ attempts to bring out the relationship between the sounds and the meanings of the various basic elements of language. The roots as well as the grammatical structures of all languages can, in principle, be derived from these data. Pânini provides an explanation of this relationship for the Sanskrit language, but it would be possible to analyze the structures of any other language using the same method. What is important is to establish the connection between sounds and fundamental notions, allowing one to express the other, which is the primary problem of language. The structures of language, formed from elementary meaningful units, appear parallel to those of the elementary cells that give birth to matter and life.

  The Nine Vowels

  A-I-U-N

  A represents Purushä, Universal Man, the plan, the first stage in the manifestation of the world. In the first group, A-I-U-N, the first letter, A (pronounced as in father), is the least articulated sound. It is produced when all the organs of articulation are at rest. All the other sounds are but its modifications. "The totality of speech is contained within the A," says the Aitareyä ranyakä; while the god of the Bhagavat Gîtâ also declares: "I am the A among letters." "This is why A, the first of the letters, represents the form (rûpä) which the undifferentiated, unqualified, informal principle, the Nirgunä Brahman, takes on when he creates the world. Omnipresent throughout his work, he is the universal ego (Aham) in which the beginning and end are united" (Nandikeshvarä Kâshikâ 3–4). The notion of individual person, whether divine or human, exists only within the limits of the apparent world. A is thus the symbol of the first stage of existence, of the passage from a nonexistent, indivisible, and impersonal absolute to a totality of personified existence, represented as the Universal Man, Purushä, whose form is the universe.

  I evokes Shakti, the energy and substance of the world. "I represents the conscious part (cit kalâ) of organized matter" (Nandikeshvarä Kâshikâ 3). It is the closest vowel to A, and to produce it, it is necessary only to add an intention or a tendency toward the exterior without moving the lips. Nandikeshvarä explains that "when, in the undifferentiated Principle, the desire to create a world which does not yet exist appears, this corresponds to an I. I (pronounced as in bit) is termed the 'seed of desire' (kâmä-bîjä)" (Kâshikâ 8). "Without the I, which represents his energy, the eternal Shiva remains as inanimate as a corpse (shavä). It is only when united with his energy that he can act. From man's point of view, the letter A represents the object of knowledge, while I is the instrument of knowledge—consciousness (cit)" (Kâshikâ, 9).

  U (pronounced as in rule) represents the accomplished plan, the materialized desire—that is, the universe. If our organs of articulation combine the positions for A and I, and the result is exteriorized through the lips, the sound U is obtained. U is A + I exteriorized, that is, the plan exteriorized in matter. "U represents the sovereign principle (Ishvarä) of which the universe is the expression" (Kâshikâ 3). For the Sâmkhyä, the sovereign principle is Universal Consciousness (Mahat). "U represents the consciousness (Mahat) which is present in all things and which we call Vishnu, the Omnipresent" (Kâshikâ 9). The first group of letters in the Maheshvarä Sûträ thus evokes the eternal Trinity of the ideating principle, the active principle, and their result, the manifested principle (the world). The sounds that are the symbols of these three principles constitute the roots which, in the primordial language, evoke these notions. This is why, in all languages, the sound A expresses the void, the nonexistent, the nonmanifest, and is therefore negative, privative, and passive. It is predominant in the words that represent these ideas, whereas the sound of I is an indication of action. I predominates in words expressing life, activity, desire, etc. "The letter A, by making vibration perceptible, is the image of the creative principle of the world. I, representing Shakti, suggests the energy which is at the origin of [all the aspects of the apparent world represented by] the other letters" (Kâshikâ 7). We shall see that the causal aspect of the I influences the classification on the consonants. U represents localization, the apparent world.

  Ë-Ü-K

  A is pronounced with the throat, I with the palate, U with the lips. The two vowels of the following group are pronounced in the intermediate spaces corresponding to a cerebral and a dental. The cerebral Ë corresponds to the French e, according to its definition by the ancient grammarians. Modern Indians, who cannot pronounce it precisely, call it ri which is clearly wrong since a vowel is defined as a prolonged, sustained sound.

  The following vowel is a dental Ü, corresponding to the French u. It is pronounced as lri by modern Indians because I is the consonant pronounced at the same place. These vowels are still used in some Indian languages. In these cases one refers to the god Keushnä rather than Krishnä.

  "Ë and Ü symbolize movement, the activity (vrittä) of thought, an activity which can be compared to that with which the Divine Being engenders through his power of illusion a universe which is pure movement" (Kâshikâ 10).

  In the order of manifestation Ë (ri) represents the first and absolute reality (ëtä or ritä), which is to say the Creative Principle, the Sovereign God personified (Parameshvarä).

  Ü (lri) represents Mâyâ, the power of illusion by which the universe seems to exist. Ë and Ü thus correspond on the manifest plane to what A and I evoke on the plane of the preexistent. The Sove
reign God, by means of his powers of illusion, makes the world appear. Yet the Divine Being cannot be separated from his power of action. This is why

  Ë and Ü are not truly distinct from one another. There is no real difference between the tendency itself and the one in whom that tendency exists; the relationship is the same as that between the moon and its light, or between a word and the meaning it expresses. [Kâshikâ 11]

  It is through his own "power to conceive" (cit) it that the Sovereign God is able to make the world appear at his whim (God and the world are neither opposite nor complementary principles). Existence is not truly separate from the Being which it reflects; yet a reflection does not have the ability to act autonomously. This is why the verbal symbols Ë and Ü are termed impotent, neutral, or androgynous (klïbä). [Kâshikâ 12]

  All creatures issue from an androgynous principle, which is subsequently divided, only in appearance.

  The fifth vowel is the last of the pure vowels, for we have only five distinct places of articulation. The obstruction or explosion of the vowels in these very five places constitutes the five groups of consonants: the gutturals, the palatals, the cerebrals, the dentals, and the labials.

  É-Ó-Ñ

  The two vowels of this group are hybrids and not consequential ones like U. They are A + I = É and A + U = Ó.

  É represents the nonmanifested principle (A) when it is combined with its energy (I). A is the immovable and indestructible principle (aksharä). I is illusion, active intelligence, stemmjng from indivisible, inactive intelligence. "In E [that is, A in I] the motionless principle becomes identified with its energy; the nonmanifest is present in its powers of action. We meet this fundamental identity of the creative principle and its powers of illusion in everything that exists" (Kâshikâ 13).

  Ó represents the principle A present in its work U. "Having created the universe, he resides in it." O (A in U), the vowel from which the syllable of adoration, AUM, is formed, represents the unity of macrocosm and microcosm, of the divine being and the living being; the iconographic form of this symbol is the god Ganeshä, who is both man and elephant. Ó thus declares the "unity of opposites" (nirâsä) and reminds us that the total and the individual, the Sovereign Principle (Ishvarä) and his power of illusion (Mâyâ), are one. It is the Sovereign Principle which is consciousness (Mahat), which "like a witness or spectator is the principle of unity present in the [multiplicity] of beings and elements (bhûta[s])" (Kâshikâ 13).

  È-Ò-CH

  This group presents open vowels which are almost diphthongs (AÉ, AÓ) and which comprise three elements: A + É = È, and A + Ó= Ò. Eis formed by adding a new A in front of E, which is already A + I. È is the retroactive effect of E (the power of manifestation) on A (the nonmanifest principle). E is therefore an image of the relationship between the Supreme Being and the universe contained within him. It is the nonmanifest principle marked by its power of illusion.

  In the same way, Ò, which is A + Ó—that is, A + (A + U)—represents the nonmanifest principle in which the manifest world exists like an embryo within the womb. "The world is but an apparent form stemming from a formless principle in which it resides and which develops it or reabsorbs it as it chooses" (Kâshikâ 14).

  This completes the series of vowels, which thus comprises nine sounds (seven principal and two subsidiary), like the musical scale but also like the astral molecule which forms the solar system. The musical scale is also based on frequency relationships, which can be expressed in numbers. There are thus arithmetic parallels to the sounds of language; these are also to be found in the geometric diagrams (Yanträ[s]) which are at the base of the structures of matter and the principles of life.

  Various elements, when added to the pronunciation of vowels, modify their meaning and allow the expression of multiple concepts. Each of the vowels can in effect be pronounced eighteen different ways, which are differentiated by the pitch of the sound (by raising or lowering the voice of a tone, or by keeping it level), or by its duration (short, long, or prolonged), or finally by exteriorizing or interiorizing it, that is, by making it natural or nasal. (We express a question by raising the voice on, for example, the word "Yes," and express assent by lowering the sound of the same syllable).

  All these details are indicated in the system of writing used by the Indian grammarians, thus forming a total of 162 distinct vowel sounds. In a classical example, a mistake in accentuation in a magic rite of the incantation "Indrä shatruh" changed its meaning from "Indra the enemy" to "the enemy of Indra," and the utterer of the rite provoked his own destruction.

  The Consonants

  CONSONANTS are obstructions placed in the path of the utterance of vowels. Their differences depend upon the place of articulation together with the nature of the explosion and the effort, which can be directed either inwardly or outwardly. There are four categories of inner-directed effort: a strong touch, a light touch, open, or contracted. There are eleven sorts of outer-directed effort: expansion, contraction, and breath, to which are added (for syllables formed of a consonant and a vowel) the volume of the sound, its resonance or nonresonance, light aspiration or strong aspiration, and the tone, which can be high, low, or medium.

  The Five Groups (Vargä)

  THE various efforts to throw out, interrupt, or modify the vowel sounds in the five places of articulation form the consonants. These are grouped, like the vowels, into gutturals, palatals, cerebrals, dentals, and labials. In each place of articulation there exists an outward effort (K, C [tch], T, T, P) and an inward effort (hard G), J (dj), D, D, F, etc.). Both can be either voiceless or aspirated.

  The basic consonants are twelve in number: the gutturals K and G (hard); the palatals C (tch) and] (dj); the cerebrals T and D; the dentals T and D; the labials P and F; the fricative Sh (the French ch); and the semivowel L.

  Mixed with the aspirates or in combination, these twelve types of consonants produce thirty-three distinct articulations. Their meaning is determined by the meaning of the vowels, the place from which they are articulated, combined with the effort of articulation. The complete alphabet comprises five groups of consonants, called Vargä(s):

  Five gutturals: K, Kh, G (hard), Gh, and (guttural-nasal); and also a guttural fricative H (as in Arabic) and an exhaled final H (Visarga).

  Five palatals: C (tch), Chh, J, Jh, and Ñ (nasal-palatal); and also a semivowel Y and a fricative Sh (French ch).

  Five cerebrals (where the point of the tongue touches the palate): T, Th, D, Dh, and N (nasal-cerebral); and also the semivowel R and the fricative Sh

  Five dentals: T, Th, D, Dh, N (dental-nasal); and also the semivowel L and the sibillant S.

  Five labials: P, Ph, B, Bh, M; and the semivowel V and an exhaled final W (Upadmaniyä).

  There are thus five groups, each comprising seven consonants (five principal and two supplementary). Two exhalations, the final Visargä and Upadmaniyä, must be kept aside, since they cannot exist in the middle of words. This leaves thirty-three consonants, which, combined with the vowels, form, with very slight variations in pronunciation, the roots and further the words of all languages.

  In the Maheshvarä Sûträ, the consonants are not presented in alphabetical order. We meet first of all the semivowels, followed by the nasals, which are the fifth letter in each group of consonants. Only then follow the fourth, third, second, and finally the first letter of each group. We shall see how Nandikeshvarä and his commentators explain this order.

  In the logic of creation, once the elements and the "spheres of perception" are defined, we arrive at perception and the individual consciousness on which all perception rests. It is perception which, because of its very limitations, gives the world an apparent reality.

  The Tattvä

  THE Tattvä(s), all that which in the constituent elements of the world can be called "something" (tat), will find their expression, the means of pointing them out, in the constituent elements of language.

  HA-YA-VA-RA-T AND LA-N: THE ELEM
ENTS (BHÜTÄ)

  Following the vowels in the Maheshvarä Sûträ comes the semivowels, or slightly touched (îshsprishtä) consonants, in the production of which the tongue comes close to the places of articulation but barely touches them. They are merely lightly articulated modifications of the corresponding vowels. They indicate the spheres of manifestation of the principles that the vowels represent; they correspond, in the order of appearance, to the five elements or degrees of manifestation of matter which are the spheres of perception of the five senses.

  The first four elements are considered to be part of the plan (Purushä, the male principle); the fifth, the solid or earth element, stemming from Prakriti, is considered to be feminine. "The five elements (bhûtä[s]) stem from the Sovereign Principle (Maheshvarä). Ether, air, water, and fire are known as Ha, Ya, Va, and Ra. In the creation by the Word (vâk), H is the name of ether, air is called Y, R is fire, and V is water" (Kâshikâ 15–16).

  First among the semivowels appears the guttural H, deriving from A, the formless, undifferentiated principle. H corresponds to the element ether, whose properties are space and time. The first stage in the manifestation is the creation of space and its corollary, time. Once the universe is reabsorbed, space and time cease to exist. Ether is the primordial element on which depends the possibility (avakâshä) for the manifestation of the other elements, which are vibratory modulations of it, in the same way that all articulated sounds are modifications of the nonparticularized sound A.

  The palatal Y, which derives from I, introduces the first form for the organization of matter; the gaseous state of air.

  The labial V, deriving from U, corresponds to the liquid state of water. The cerebral R, from Ë(ri), corresponds to the state of fire.