Siva Sutrani

Namaste !!!  This notes credit goes to Kartik of Arsha Vidaya Gurukulam.  I used cut and paste only. 
The grammar of Sanskrit language has been originally composed by three sages – मुनित्रयम्. The first and foremost of these three is पाणिनि:. His Magnum Opus अष्टाध्यायी (group of eight chapters) is the primary source book of the grammatical tradition. There were other grammatical systems before and after that of पाणिनि:, but his work has gained such universal acceptance that it has completely obscured the others.
The माहेश्वर-सूत्राणि are said to have been revealed by महेश्वर: Himself, which is what gives them their name. महेस्वरात् आगतानि – माहेश्वराणि सूत्राणि.
They form the “A, B, C” of the Sanskrit language. One cannot begin to understand the grammar of the Sanskrit language without comprehending the terminology of the माहेश्वर-सूत्राणि. The aphorisms give an alternative arrangement of the Sanskrit sounds as opposed to the regular one which is based on the place of origin of the sound in the mouth.

Regular Ordering    
अ आ इ ई उ ऊ ऋ ॠ ऌ ए ऐ ओ औ

क ख ग घ ङ

च छ ज झ ञ

ट ठ ड ढ ण

त थ द ध न

प फ ब भ म

य र ल व

श ष स ह

माहेश्वर-सूत्राणि

1 अ इ उ ण् ।

2 ऋ ऌ क् ।

3 ए ओ ङ् ।

4 ऐ औ च् ।

5 ह य व र ट् ।

6 लँ ण् ।

7 ञ म ङ ण न म् ।

8 झ भ ञ् ।

9 घ ढ ध ष् ।

10 ज ब ग ड द श् ।

11 ख फ छ ठ थ च ट त व् ।

12 क प य् ।

13 श ष स र् ।

14 ह ल् ।

In these fourteen सूत्राणि, the last sound of each सूत्रम् (ण्, क्, ङ्, च्, ट्, ण्, म्, ञ्, ष्, श्, व्, य्, र्, ल्) is only a marker.
Even though a large number of प्रत्याहारा: can be formed from these सूत्राणि, the grammatical tradition makes use of only 44 of these.

The sound ह occurs twice in the सूत्राणि, once in the fifth सूत्रम् and again in the last सूत्रम्. However, the हल्-प्रत्याहारः is always counted from the first ह, making the name हल् stand for all consonants. This is obviously so, because otherwise the हल्-प्रत्याहारः would refer to the single letter ह् and serve no purpose.

1. What are the letters in अक् प्रत्याहारः ?

2. Which प्रत्याहारः can be formed to refer to all vowels? How about all letters (vowels and consonants)?

3. Which प्रत्याहारः can be formed to refer to all semi-vowels (य्, व्, र् and ल्)?

4. Which प्रत्याहारः can be formed to refer to all consonants except semi-vowels and nasals?


5. One प्रत्याहारः can be contained within another प्रत्याहारः. The इण्-प्रत्याहारः is a subset of which of the following प्रत्याहारा:?

a) अट् b) इच् c) अल् d) अम्