What Is Sondhi?
Sondhi is the joining of two sounds. There are three types: swar sondhi (vowel with vowel), banjan sondhi (involving consonants) and bisarga sondhi (involving the visarga sound). Sondhi bichhed means splitting a joined word back into its original parts.
Vowel Sondhi
The main rules are these. A or aa with a or aa becomes aa, as in deb plus alay equals debalay. I or ii with i or ii becomes ii, as in oti plus it equals otit. A with i becomes e, as in gon plus ish equals ganesh. A with u becomes o, as in surjo plus uday equals surjoday. A with ri becomes ar, as in deb plus rishi equals debarshi.
For the diphthong rules, e plus a becomes ay, as in ne plus on equals noyon. Ai plus a becomes aay, as in noi plus ok equals nayok. O plus a becomes ab, as in po plus on equals pobon. Au plus a becomes aab, as in nou plus ik equals nabik. When i is followed by another vowel it becomes a y sound, as in oti plus ochar equals otyachar. When u is followed by another vowel it becomes a b sound, as in su plus agoto equals shagoto.
Consonant Sondhi
The sound t often changes. T plus ch becomes cch, as in sot plus choritro equals sochchoritro. T plus j becomes jj, as in ut plus jwal equals ujjwal. T plus l becomes ll, as in ut plus lekh equals ullekh. T plus sh becomes chchh, as in ut plus shwas equals uchchhwas. T plus h becomes dh, as in ut plus har equals uddhar. Also, after the sounds ri, r and sh, the letter n often becomes retroflex n, as in pori plus nam equals porinam.
Bisarga Sondhi
Monoh plus jog becomes monojog. Nih plus choy becomes nishchoy. Duh plus kor becomes dushkor. Nomoh plus kar becomes nomoskar. Tirah plus kar becomes tiroskar.
Irregular Forms to Memorise
Ashchorjo comes from a plus chorjo. Brihospoti comes from brihot plus poti. Porospor comes from por plus por. Monisha comes from mon plus isha. Goshpod comes from go plus pod. Kulota comes from kul plus ota. Proudho comes from pro plus udho.
Shortcut
Remember the vowel chart: a with i is e, a with u is o, a with ri is ar, e with a is ay, o with a is ab, ai with a is ay and au with a is ab. When splitting a word, look for ay, ab, ay or ab clues inside it.
Worked Examples
Example 1: Split 'mohesh'.
Solution: Maha plus ish equals mohesh, using the rule aa plus ii equals e.
Example 2: Split 'nabik'.
Solution: Nou plus ik. The clue 'ab' shows the rule au plus i, so the form is nabik.
Example 3: Split 'nishchoy'.
Solution: Nih plus choy, a bisarga sondhi where the visarga with ch gives shch.
Quick Check
Question 1: Name the three types of sondhi.
Answer: Swar, banjan and bisarga.
Question 2: Split 'surjoday'.
Answer: Surjo plus uday.
Question 3: Split 'brihospoti'.
Answer: Brihot plus poti, an irregular form.
Question 4: Split 'nomoskar'.
Answer: Nomoh plus kar.