See also anusvāraḥ.
E. anu before, svara to sound, ghañ aff.
sound; the name of a nasal sound which always belongs to
the preceding vowel and according to some is weaker, ac-
cording to others stronger than the anunāsika q. v. In
writing it is marked by a dot over the vowel after which
it sounds. It shares in the nature as well of consonants as
of vowels: of consonants, in as much as it has but half a
measure of time (or mātrā) and with another consonant
makes position: of vowels, by having their properties of
shortness, length, pluti q. v., and of being capable of ac-
centuation. (The vaidik grammarians call the consonants
and the Anusvāra the ‘body of a syllable’--akṣarāṅga--.)
On account of the organ of speech with which it is pro-
nounced it belongs to the nāsikya q. v., and on account of
the mode in which it is uttered to the ūṣman q. v. (see also
mahāprāṇa). If a combined consonant follows an Anusvāra
the vaidik grammarians want the first consonant of the group
to be repeated; e. g. somānaṃ ssvaraṇaṃ &c. instead of somānaṃ
svaraṇaṃ &c.; this rule, however, is neglected in most of our
vaidik Mss. and in all referring to the post-vaidik literature,
although the injunction of the grammarians is doubtless
founded on correct physiological observation and the system
of Sanskrit orthography on a correct imitation in writing
the spoken sound.--At the end of a pada (q. v.) Anu-
svāra is a substitute for m, in the middle of a pada that of
m or n; at the end of a pada it is only allowed to occur
when the pada does not stand in a pause, and in the middle
not before any other sound than ś, ṣ, sa and h, before
which it is the compulsory substitute. (These rules, too,
are frequently neglected in spite of the grammatical author-
ities.) It is compulsory, too, at the end of the pada, before
the same letters and r save a few exceptions as samrāj or
when h is followed by m, n &c., e. g. kiṃ hmalayati or
kimhmalayati, kiṃ hnute or kinhnute &c. For the interchange
and the confusion, that prevails in the classical literature,
between the use of Anusvāra and Anunāsika before y,
l, v see s. v. anunāsika.--A short syllable followed
by Anusvāra (which itself as results from the preceding
statement must always be followed by a consonant) becomes
of the nature of a long syllable, i. e. it becomes guru or
heavy; but though this is the constant case in the Vedas
and generally in the later literature, it will seem that this rule
may be departed from at the end of a Pāda, as in the instance
of the following first Pāda of the Āryā verse: atha lulitapa-
tatrimālaṃ rugnāsanavāṇakeśaratamālam &c. where trimālaṃ counts
for ˘¯˘ |. (‘yadyapi chandaḥśāstre sānusvārasya gurutvamanuśiṣṭaṃ
tathāpi tathā pādāntago'pi veti vacanāttasya laghutvātprathama-
pāde dvādaśa mātrā bhavanti’.) E. svṛ with anu, kṛt aff. ghañ.
m. (-raḥ) The nasal letter (M) or dot above the line.
E.
anu before, svara to sound, ghañ aff.