The Shiva Sutras (also Maheshvara Sutras) are the 14 sutras that form the basis of the Aṣṭādhyāyī, the Sanskrit grammar by Pāṇini. According to legend, these sutras were revealed to Pāṇini by Shiva, who then composed his grammar to be dependent on them. Sutra (सूत्र) in Sanskrit is derived from the verb √siv, meaning to sew. ... The Ashtadhyayi (AṣṭādhyāyÄ«, meaning eight chapters) is the earliest known grammar of Sanskrit, and one of the first works on descriptive linguistics, generative linguistics, or linguistics altogether. ... The Sanskrit language ( संस्कृता वाक्) is one of the earliest attested members of the Indo-European language family and is not only a classical language, but also an official language of India. ... Grammar is the discovery, enunciation, and study of rules governing the use of language. ... (पाणिन ; IPA ) was an ancient Gandharan grammarian (approximately 5th century BC, but estimates range from the 7th to the 3rd centuries) who is most famous for formulating the 3,959 rules of Sanskrit morphology known as the . ... A legend (Latin, legenda, things to be read) is a narrative of human actions that are perceived both by teller and listeners to take place within human history and to possess certain qualities that give the tale verisimilitude. ... Aghora redirects here. ...

The purpose of the sutras is to give a list of all Sanskrit phonemes. But rather than listing just the phonemes, they are interspersed by meta-linguistic markers, the so-called "IT sounds" (later called "anubandhas"). By naming one phoneme and one marker, a list of all intervening phonemes is intended, allowing the grammar to refer to classes of sounds by just one syllable. These syllables referring to lists of phonemes are called pratyaharas, and the sutras themselves are also known as pratyahara-vidhayaka-sutrani (Sutras forming Pratyaharas). In oral language, a phoneme is the theoretical basic unit of sound that can be used to distinguish words or morphemes; in sign language, it is a similarly basic unit of hand shape, motion, position, or facial expression. ...

For example, al refers to the list of all phonemes, ac refers to all vowels, hal to all consonants and ñam to all nasals - the purpose of the a in hal etc. is to ease pronunciation.

The 14 sutras are (the IT sounds are at the end of each sutra, transcribed in boldface):

1. a i u ṇ (simple vowels)

2. ṛ ḷ k (sonant vowels)

3. e o ṅ,

4. ai au c (diphthongs)

5. h y v r ṭ,

6. l ṇ (voiced fricative + semi-vowels)

7. ñ m ṅ ṇ n m (nasals)

8. jh bh ñ,

9. gh ḍh dh ṣ (voiced aspirate stops)

10. j b g ḍ d ś (voiced unaspirated stops)

11. kh ph ch ṭh th ca ṭ t v,

12. k p y (unvoiced stops)

13. ś ṣ s r (sibilants)

14. h l (voiced fricative, the only phoneme listed twice)

These 14 sutras encompass the phonemes of the Sanskrit language. The first 4 sutras cover all the vowels and the last 10 sutras include all the consonants. Again, all vowels and consonants of Sanskrit have been arranged in such a way in these sutras that they can be referred to without mentioning them separately. In phonetics, a diphthong (Greek δίφθογγος, diphthongos, literally with two sounds) is a vowel combination usually involving a quick but smooth movement from one vowel to another, often interpreted by listeners as a single vowel sound or phoneme. ... Note: This page contains phonetic information presented in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) using Unicode. ... A nasal consonant is produced when the velum—that fleshy part of the palate near the back—is lowered, allowing air to escape freely through the nose. ... In phonetics, aspiration is the strong burst of air that accompanies the release of some stop consonants. ... A stop, plosive, or occlusive is a consonant sound produced by stopping the airflow in the vocal tract. ... In phonetics, aspiration is the strong burst of air that accompanies the release of some stop consonants. ... Phoneticians define phonation as use of the laryngeal system to generate an audible source of acoustic energy, i. ... A sibilant is a type of fricative, made by speeding up air through a narrow channel and directing it over the sharp edge of the teeth. ... In oral language, a phoneme is the theoretical basic unit of sound that can be used to distinguish words or morphemes; in sign language, it is a similarly basic unit of hand shape, motion, position, or facial expression. ... In oral language, a phoneme is the theoretical basic unit of sound that can be used to distinguish words or morphemes; in sign language, it is a similarly basic unit of hand shape, motion, position, or facial expression. ...

Of the hundreds pratyaharas that could in principle be formed from these sutras, Panini has used 41 (with a 42nd introduced by later grammarians, raṇ={r,l}).

Note that some pratyaharas are ambiguous. For example, IT ṇ occurs twice in the list, which means that you can assign two different meanings to pratyahara aṇ (including or excluding ṛ etc.); in fact, both of these meanings are being used in the grammar. On the other hand, pratyahara hal is always used in the meaning "all consonants" - Panini never uses pratyaharas to refer to sets consisting of a single phoneme.