The letters of the Tamil Alphabets are grouped into
‘masculine’, ‘feminine’, and ‘neuter’.
Among vowels, ‘a’, ‘i’, ‘u’, ‘e’, and ‘o’, are ‘masculine’, ‘aa’, ‘ii’, ‘uu’, ‘ee’, ‘ai’, ‘oo’ and ‘au’, are ‘feminine’, and ‘ak’ is ‘neuter’.
Among the consonants,
‘ka’, ‘sa’, ‘da’, ‘ta’, ‘pa’, and ‘ra’ are ‘masculine’ (Vallinam);
‘ngha’, ‘nggha’ , ‘nhha’, ‘na’, ‘ma’,
and ‘nha’ are ‘feminine (mellinam);
and ‘ya’, ‘ra’ , ‘la’,
‘va’, ‘lha’ and ‘zha’ are ‘neuter’ (idainam).
There are six consonants in each of the three groups
(‘masculine’ 'feminine’ and 'neuter’), totaling eighteen.
There are five and seven vowels in the two groups (‘masculine’
and ‘feminine’) respectively, and one vowel in the ‘neuter’ group, totaling twelve.
Excluding ‘ak’ which is astram, there are twelve vowels and eighteen
consonants, totaling thirty.
(All in multiples of six – suggest the divinity Shanmuga,
Saravana, Karthikeya, Subramanya, Muruga – Tamil God).
He represents both ‘masculine’ (Siva) and ‘feminine’ (Kaumari)
principles of phenomenal existence. The different modes of the interaction
between these two principles explain the differences that obtain between
various accomplishments. The letters of the alphabet, especially the vowels
(which can occur without the involvement of consonants), are called the
“aspects” (kala- time) of the mother-goddess.
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