The Letter स (sa)

Now let's examine the letter स, sa, which makes a sound like the English, s in, sit.

This letter looks somewhat more complicated than the ones we have learned so far, but it has similarities with many other letters. There's that ever-present horizontal bar on top, and the vertical line descending on the right, much like प (pa), which you just learned.

On the left, however, we have something different: a line comes down slightly, curving around to the left, and then stopping. Another line comes out of the left side of the vertical line, curves up, and then curves sharply down and to the right.

Curves here, curves there, here a curve, there a curve. There are so many curving lines that it looks like a pit of snakes! This is the snake letter, because it not only has as many curved lines as a snake, it makes the same sound: hisssssss!

Look again at that last line we talked about, the one coming out of the vertical line, curving up, curving around, and then curving down and to the right. Is that a dagger? A knife? a spear? Or simply the razor of a letter opener? Whatever it is, it's very sharp. In fact this snaking hissing letter is just sharp in general.

(Note that technically स (sa) does not make the, sh sound in sharp; it only makes the, s sound, as in snake. I only included sharp here to help you remember the, s sound.)

Look at the letter स (sa) and pay attention to how solidly that sharp object comes snaking down, as if it were going to pierce the ground. Then say the letter स (sa): स Sa. स Sa. स Sa. स Sa.