How to pronounce ऋ in Rig Veda

Question

I am from North India and everyone pronounce this vowel ऋ as रि. I know this is wrong because vowel is a constant sound and when रि is pronounced for long it only comes as इ which is wrong. I did some research and found some pronounce it as रु but again this is wrong because of the above mentioned reason.

I have been struggling to find the correct pronunciation of it. Most of the videos tutorials of teaching Sanskrit pronounce it wrong. Some might be right but I have no way to verify and on top of that I have no means to mimic it as they do not show the tongue movement. I came to this thread and it explains a lot but because still I am unable to grasp anything concrete on the subject.

I finally resort to listening to Rig Veda chanting here and listening to the sound of ऋ but still it hasn't helped at all. It sounds like they are pronouncing it as रि which is probably because they are speaking it in a word.

So how shall I arrive at correct pronunciation of ऋ?

Please also do mention how to pronounce ऋ when it occurs with a consonant like कृ, मृ etc and how its different from क्र, म्र.

@sv. I don't think it is off-topic as OP wants it for correct pronounciation of Rig Vedic verse. — The Destroyer, Feb 14 '17 at 05:06
@TheDestroyer In that case, title needs to change, OP just mentions RV in one line, most of the question has nothing to do with RV I think. — Say No To Censorship, Feb 14 '17 at 05:20
@Pandya Your links doesn't add any additional information than I already have. — Lokesh, Feb 14 '17 at 13:26
@sv What should be the title? How to pronounce ऋ in RV? Its not just about RV. If we lose this vowel's sound we lose to pronounce all Hindu texts because they are all written in Sanskrit. — Lokesh, Feb 14 '17 at 13:29
Hinduism relies on Sanskrit which further relies on ऋ. That's how its related. — Lokesh, Feb 14 '17 at 13:30
@Lokesh Did you see this meta post and it's answer? You're asking a fundamental Sanskrit question it's not directly related to Hinduism. You can try asking it in Sanskrit Language Area51 for a faster response. — Say No To Censorship, Feb 14 '17 at 18:06
@Lokesh "How to pronounce ऋ in RV?" – Yes, that title seems appropriate and make your question on-topic for this site. Sanskrit and Hinduism are not one and same. There are many plays written in Sanskrit not all are related to Hinduism. What if someone starts asking questions about characters from Sanskrit plays here? Then that would be off-topic. Main theme of this site is Hinduism. Pure Sanskrit based questions don't make sense here on Hinduism.SE which is why there's a separate proposal for Sanskrit-Language.SE. Does it make sense now? — Say No To Censorship, Feb 14 '17 at 18:11
@Lokesh Ok, you should still post the same question there, some Sanskrit scholar may answer your question even before the site goes to beta. — Say No To Censorship, Feb 14 '17 at 18:16
@sv Should I add the question by clicking "create new discussion"? — Lokesh, Feb 14 '17 at 18:30
@Lokesh No, you need to "join" or "follow" the site, then you can propose or ask your example question. — Say No To Censorship, Feb 14 '17 at 18:38
ऋ is a retroflexed vowel. Pronounce it with your tongue in the same position as you would for ण or ष. — Richard MacPhail, Feb 20 '17 at 00:38
@RichardMacPhail Thanks.
Also I finally found a comprehensive answer at page 13 of this book. — Lokesh, Feb 26 '17 at 19:26

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Jan 20 '23 at 07:10

Imagine you have to produce the sound of a machine gun firing or an automobile revving up the accelerator or a motorbike going by at high speed.

What is the sound you would make to recreate that rrrrrrrrrrrr sound?

It is neither रि nor रु but yet a vowel as you can keep rrr-ing for however long you want to say it.

Theoretically, that is the way to pronunce of ऋ

So to say the word कृत्वा you have to say k-rrr-tvA but in practice people pronounce it as क्रुत्वा or क्रित्वा depending on regional influence.

How to pronounce ऋ in Rig Veda

1 Answers1