The Letter अ (a)

This is the first form of the Devanagari letter अ (a), which makes a sound similar to the sound found in the English word alone. It should be easy to remember it, since you have already learned आ (ā). After all, अ (a) makes a shorter sound than आ (ā) and is therefore physically shorter by one vertical mark.

Your first reaction may be, Wait a minute; didn't we already go over the sound a? Doesn't every consonant make the a sound by itself? What about क (ka) and य (ya) and र (ra) and म (ma)? Why do we need another vowel if consonants already make this sound?

That is a very good observation, which calls for a good explanation: We need a vowel letter for the sound a whenever it starts a word. Of course, any consonant by itself (if not modified by another vowel) will make the vowel sound a but the sound will come after the consonant. If we want to start a word with the sound a we need to use अ (a).

Well, then, you might say, trying to straighten everything out in your mind, shouldn't अ (a) have a mātrā, too, for modifying the sound of consonant? There are two ways to approach this. The first is to say, No, all vowels make the a sound anyway, so there is no need for a mātrā for अ (a).

However, take just a second to remember the first vowel we learned, आ (ā). We formed its mātrā by taking away the अ part of the vowel, leaving ा. Let's follow that process with this vowel: Start with अ (a) and take away the अ part, leaving its mātrā, . Following this reasoning is that if अ (a) has a mātrā, it is invisible.

This suddenly puts consonants in a completely differently light. If the mātrā of अ (a) is really an invisible letter, then that means that there is an invisible अ between every single consonant. The mātrā of अ (a), which isn't seen, comes after क (ka) and य (ya) and र (ra) and म (ma). No wonder every consonant has an inherent a sound; every consonant is followed by the invisible mātrā to अ (a)!

Therefore, once you have learned अ (a), you already know its mātrā, the invisible letter. In fact, you've been using it since you learned your first Devanagari consonant!