Pronounced evenly:

"Pronounced evenly" is svarita, the falling tone. See Sanskrit Glossary.

Siksa sastra:

"Siksam vyakhasyamah. Varnah, svarah, matra, balam, sama, santanah, ityuktah Siksadhyayah. "

Chandas:

The discourse in which the Paramaguru speaks of "Chandas" being the language of the Vedas appears as part of Appendix 1 in this book.

Root-base:

One of the six cakras in the body according to yoga. "Cakra" is literally wheel, but means here center or lotus. Muladhara is the seat of the Kundalini, the " coiled one", thought to be a sleeping serpent of the yogic body and situated between the anus and the genitals. Some understand the cakra as plexus. The other cakras in the "yogic body " are svadhisthana, manipura, anahata, visuddha, and ajna. The sahasrara-padma (the one thousand petalled lotus) is situated close to Brahmarandhra(see Sanskrit Glossary).

Sandhi:

For the meaning of "sandhi" see notes appended to Chapter 10, part Five.

Ka:

Guttural - some classify it as velar.

Ta:

Dental

Santana:

These terms maybe roughly translated as pronunciation or enuniciation, tone or accent, duration in pronouncing vowels, force or stress, continuity or combination.

Nirosthya-Ramayana:

The author of this work is Mallikarjunabhatta who belonged to the court of the Kakatiya king Prataparudradeva(13th - 14th ceturies).

Category:

Abhicali, Candrakomi, Yajnavalkya, Vasistha, Katyayana, Parasara, Mandavya, Narada and Lomasa are some authors of Siksa sastra whose works are extant.

- Ra. Ga

Dravidian languages evolved:

Probably the scripts of some of the languages of countries like Burma, Cambodia, Thailand and so on are based on Brahmi. Indeed they resemble the scripts of the Dravidian languages.

Sricakra:

Sricakra is a yantra or diagram for the worship of the supreme Goddess.

Kurram, marrum, sorrunai:

The words in brackets are pronounced in the same way as the term familiar to people in many parts of India, arangetram, meaning in tamil debut or exhibition of a new art. Strictly, the word is spelt arangerram". The words in brackets are pronounced :"kutram"(fault, defect, crime); "matrum"(and so on). The "t" in these words has more or less the same sound as the t's in "matter".

Compositions of Tyagaraja :

For instance the composition in the raga Nadanamakriya, "Karunajaladhe". Here "jaladhe" is voiced as "jalathe".

--Ra. Ga. (Tyagaraja, 1769-1847, is the most celebrated composer of Carnatic music. )

Gha:

As indicated by the Paramaguru, in most Indian languages including Dravidian tongues other than Tamil, each of the five "vargas"(ka-varga, ca-varga, ta-varga, ta-varga, pa-varga) have all the letters. In Tamil the consonants have been reduced to 18 in number, omitting the voiced and aspirated plosives and the sibilants. But certain retroflex and and alveolar letters are added.

Inpam:

Pronounced "anbu", "ambu", "inbam".

Supam:

Pronounced "subam" in Tamil.

Zha:

A retroflex affricate sound.

Aytam:

Winslow 's A comprehensive Tamil and English Dictionary defines "aytam" thus:"The letter so called from the indistinctness of its sound, or the peculiarity or minuteness of its form. It is chiefly a consonant, but sometimes occurs as a vowel; yet it cannot be confounded with any other letter. "

Upatmaniya:

It is defined as the aspirate visarga before p and ph.

e and o are used:

Chandoganam Satyamugri

Ragayaniya ardham-ekaram

Ardham okaram ca adhiyate.

- Ra. Ga.

Tvasta:

Tvasta (Tvastr) is the divine carpenter.

Indra:

Indra is the lord of the celestials.

Tvasta's son:

The son of Vrtra.

Ruins of Hampi:

The ruins of Humpi, on the Tungabhadra, are such as to proclaim the splendour of the Vijayanagara Empire.

Vadamas:

Folks in Tamil Nadu pun on the word "Vadama". "Vada" is a snack popular all over the South and in Tamil "ma" means flour or the batter for dosa and iddali. So goes the joke : " What vadama or dosa ma? " The Paramaguru himself tells this joke in this discourse.

Vadamar:

"Vadamar" - from Vadakku or North. Here " North" should be understood simply in the sense of being north of Tamil Nadu. Otherwise the word usually refers to Northern India.

Nayanmars:

A relative or friend.

The land we know intimately:

The Paramaguru is here speaking to a Tamil audience.

Tamizh:

"Tamil" is strictly "Tamizh".

Anusvara:

"Anusvara" literally is "after sound". One authority describes it as the unmodified nasal following a vowel.