Guide to Pronunciation and Terminology
Sanskrit vowels are pronounced very much like Italian vowels, with the exception of the short a, which is pronounced like the u in the English word “but”; long ā is pronounced like the a in “father.”
As for the consonants, a reasonable approximation will be obtained by pronouncing c as in “church,” j as in “jungle,” ṣ as in “shun,” s as in “sun,” and ś as something halfway between the other two s’s. The aspirated consonants should be pronounced distinctly: bh as in “cab horse,” dh as in “madhouse,” gh as in “doghouse,” ph as in “top hat,” and th as in “goatherd.” ṛ is a vowel, pronounced midway between “ri” as in “rivet” and “er” as in “mother.”
I have tried to be consistent in substituting English words for the various Sanskrit terms for different kinds of mental error. “Delusion” translates moha; “illusion” is māyā; and “mistake” is bhrama or vibhrama or bhrānti. I have called pratibhāsa “reflected image,” pramāṇa “proof of knowledge” or “way of knowing” or “authority,” saṃvid “conscious perception,” pratyakṣa “direct perception” or “first-hand experience” or “before one’s own eyes,” and vāsanā “karmic memory trace.” I have also tried to distinguish between the various castes of demons: Asuras (demons), Rākṣasas (ogres), Piśācas (ghouls or flesh-eating ogres), Vetālas (vampires), Pretas (ghosts), and Bhūtas (ghosts or has-beens). I have not tried to distinguish between the various castes of Untouchables but have used the word “Untouchable” to translate several different Sanskrit terms for people beyond the Aryan pale—Caṇḍālas, Pulkasas (or Pukkasas, or Puṣkasas), Śvapacas (Dog-cookers), Bhūtas (Spooks), and Kirāṭas (hunters).
The translations are all my own unless otherwise attributed, but they are often summaries of long texts rather than complete translations; I have added nothing, but I have left a lot out. In condensations of European texts, as in translations from the Sanskrit, something of the flavor of the original is inevitably lost, but I hope that the structure and some of the meanings still come through.