Mozart- Piano Sonata in F major, K. 332- 1st mov. Allegro

Sonata in F!

Does the letter F exists in Sanskrit?

Yes and No!

Well, this gets interesting because it does not exists as an alphabet but it exists as a sound.

So where do we find the F sound?

For this we need to go a little Vedic Sanskrit today.(Rigveda III.62.10)

Pay close attention, I would be quoting the Gayatri Mantra from the Rigveda III.62.10 here as an example.

Now do take note!! DO NOT  change how you pronounce the mantra after reading what I write because the conventional way of reciting this Mantra is accepted.

ॐ भू: भुवः स्वः । तत्स॑वि॒तुर्वरेण्यं॒ । भर्गो॑ दे॒वस्य॑ धीमहि । धियो॒ यो नः॑ प्रचो॒दया॑त् ॥

Let's get back to the whole F story.

There is a Visarga Sandhi rule seen in Vedic Sanskrit which gives the F sound.

The rule:

Visarga (: sign) preceded  by any vowel and followed by the letter प (pa) फ (pha) the Visarga though its retained in the writing but its  pronunciation changes to an F.

Formula:

Any Vowel + :(Visarga) + प  or फ = Visarga pronounced as F

Let's take an example of the last line of the Gayatri Mantra:


 धियो यो नः प्रचोदयात् ॥  (dhiyo yo naH pracodayat)

The rule applies for the last two words:

  नः प्रचोदयात् 

Let's break down these into the formula format.

न् + अ + : + प्रचोदयत्

The Visarga : is preceded by a vowel  अ and followed by प्र (which is conjunct consonant made up of प् र)

So this F rule applies.

Even though its written as  धियो यो नः प्रचोदयात् ॥  (dhiyo yo naH pracodayat) but it is pronounced as dhiyo yo naF pracodayat in Vedic Sanskrit.


As I said earlier there is nothing wrong in reciting this line as dhiyo yo naH pracodayat for daily practices because Vedic rules and accents for the Gayatri Mantra differs depending if we are reciting it for a homa or for daily japam.

So DO NOT change how you pronounce the Gayatri.

I typed this information for academic interests only.

So you can actually have a Sonata in F in Sanskrit!