Pali and Sanskrit in Thai script, read aloud
The same Thai letters, under different rules, told apart by a few marks.
Pali and Sanskrit in Thailand are written in Thai letters. The consonants are the ones Thai uses, plus a few marks a Thai word never carries. A dot under a letter, a circle above one, and the rule that a bare letter reads with a short a.
A voice that reads a chanting book has to know those rules. Each mark below has an example word and its reading, and you can check what you send and what you hear against it.
The marks#
Six things a reader meets on the first page of a chanting book, each with one word that carries it and the reading the book prints for that word.
ตสฺส reads ตัสสะ
Phinthu (พินทุ)
A dot under a consonant removes its vowel. The syllable ends on that letter, or the letter joins the next one as a cluster.
Also called the dot below, virāma
อรหํ reads อะระหัง
Nikhahit (นิคหิต)
A small circle above the last letter of a word is the nasal. In Thai reading it sounds as ัง, and chanting books print it that way in the reading line.
Also called the circle above, niggahīta
ภควโต reads ภะคะวะโต
The unwritten a
A consonant with no vowel sign reads with a short a. Thai spells that vowel out with ะ or leaves it to ordinary words. Pali never writes it.
Also called สระอะที่ไม่มีรูป, the inherent vowel
พ๎ราห๎มณ reads พราหมะณะ
Yamakkan (ยามักการ)
An older mark set above the first consonant of a cluster, still met in old prints. Modern printing sets the same word with the dot below, as พฺราหฺมณ.
Also called the cluster mark
สมฺมาสมฺพุทฺธสฺส reads สัมมาสัมพุทธัสสะ
The reading line (คำอ่าน)
The line a chanting book prints under the Pali, one Thai syllable per Pali syllable, with ะ and ั written in. Both lines are the same words, and both are read.
Also called syllable reading
อรหโต reads อะระหะโต
No tone marks
Pali and Sanskrit carry none of the four Thai tone marks. A mark on a chant line is a sign the text has been rewritten as Thai.
Also called ไม่มีวรรณยุกต์
Sending a line#
The voices read the printed form and the reading form. Three things decide whether what you hear is the chant.
In a chant, the dot under a letter is the difference between two syllables and three.
ตสฺส is tas-sa. Without the dot the same three letters read ta-sa-sa, and the line loses its meter.
As printed
Copy the Pali line with every mark. The dot below and the circle above are characters of their own, and a copy from a PDF or a typed line keeps them.
Or as the reading
The reading line under it is ordinary Thai spelling and reads the same way. Use it when the source only has that form.
With nothing added
No tone marks, no extra spaces, no Thai particles. The line reads as the book prints it.
Pali or Sanskrit#
Four rules of thumb from Thai school grammar, each with one word in both languages. The voices read both under the same marks.
สนฺติPali
ศานฺติSanskrit
One s or three
Pali has ส alone. Sanskrit keeps ศ and ษ beside it, and a word carrying either is Sanskrit.
กีฬาPali
กรีฑาSanskrit
ฬ against ฑ
Where Pali writes ฬ, Sanskrit writes ฑ. The Thai words กีฬา and กรีฑา came in one from each.
ธมฺมPali
ธรฺมSanskrit
The doubled ร
Sanskrit's r before a consonant becomes รร in Thai spelling, as in ธรรม. The Pali form doubles the consonant instead, ธมฺม.
อิสิPali
ฤษิSanskrit
ฤ and its family
The vocalic ฤ, ฤๅ, ฦ, and ฦๅ belong to Sanskrit. Pali has no such vowel, and its cognate words take อิ or อุ.
Questions#
Is Pali a language of its own, or a way of writing Thai?
A language of its own, with no native script. Thailand writes it in Thai letters, Sri Lanka in Sinhala, and scholars in Latin letters with diacritics. The Thai form is the one on this page.
Why do chanting books print two lines?
The top line is the Pali in its own orthography. The bottom line spells each syllable the Thai way for readers who have not learned the marks. Both are the same text.
Does the voice read Pali with a Thai accent?
It reads the marks as a Thai chanting book prints them, and it reads in a Thai voice. Play a line before deciding whether that is the read you want.
Can I mix Thai and Pali in one request?
Yes. A dhamma reading that quotes a Pali line in the middle of a Thai paragraph goes in one request. Each part reads under its own rules.
Does it read Sanskrit in Devanagari or in Latin letters?
Sanskrit appears here in Thai script only. Devanagari and romanized Sanskrit are outside the page.
Where can I hear it?
The chanting page carries a sheet of four lines with a clip for each, and a box that speaks any line you type. The console reads a whole chant on the free grant.
Try it on a line from your own book
Sign in, paste the line as printed, and listen. The free grant covers a whole service, with no card.