The Māheśvara (माहेश्वर) sūtras (सूत्र)
Executive summary
The fourteen Māheśvara (माहेश्वर) sūtras (सूत्र) are the beats from which the tradition says the alphabet is set out. Each beat is a run of letters and a final marker, called an it. A pratyāhāra (प्रत्याहार) is a name made from a first letter and a marker: start at that letter, stop before the marker, and leave the marker out. The vowels are the first four beats. The consonants are the remaining ten. These pages are the letters. They do not teach a drum stroke.
नेपालीमा
चौध माहेश्वर सूत्र ती ध्वनि हुन् जसबाट परम्पराले वर्णमाला निकालिएको भन्छ। हरेक ध्वनि अक्षरको लहर र अन्तिम चिह्न हो, जसलाई इत् भनिन्छ। प्रत्याहार पहिलो अक्षर र चिह्नबाट बनेको नाम हो। नाम त्यो अक्षरबाट सुरु हुन्छ, चिह्नअघि रोकिन्छ, र चिह्न छोडिन्छ। पहिलो चार ध्वनि स्वर हुन्। बाँकी दश व्यञ्जन हुन्। यी पृष्ठ अक्षरका हुन्, र तालको प्रहार सिकाउँदैनन्।
Chapters
The book holds fourteen beats. The tradition says Śiva (शिव) sounded them on the ḍamaru (डमरु), and that Pāṇini (पाणिनि) set the alphabet out from those beats. Each beat is a run of letters and a final marker. The marker is called an it (इत्). A pratyāhāra (प्रत्याहार) is a name made from a first letter and a marker: start at that letter, stop before the marker, and leave the marker out.
The vowels are beats 1 through 4. The consonants begin at 5. 14 closes the list. ac (अच्) is every vowel. hal (हल्) is every consonant. al (अल्) is the whole list. Those three names are the bridge into the introduction and into lesson 22, where words are joined. The course is Learn Sanskrit.
The same fourteen are drumbeats. The rhythm rooms, where a drum is practiced, are Sangeet Yatra. These pages stay with the letters. They do not teach a stroke.
How a sitting goes
One beat is one page. The Devanagari is the beat. The table says which signs are letters and which sign is only the marker. The English sentence and the Nepali sentence say the same list.