478
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
[Canto 3, Ch. 12]
TRANSLATION
The art of writing verse, paṅkti, became manifested from the bone marrow, and that of bṛhatī, another type of verse, was generated from the life-breath of the lord of the living entities.
TEXT 47
स्पर्शस्तस्यामत्रजीवः स्वरो देह उदाहृत । ऊष्माणमिन्द्रियाण्याहुरन्तःस्था बलमात्मनः । स्वराः सप्त विहारेण भवन्ति स प्रजापतेः ॥४७॥
sparśas tasyābhavaj jīvaḥ svaro deha udāhṛta ūṣmāṇam indriyāṇy āhur antaḥsthā balam ātmanaḥ svarāḥ sapta vihāreṇa bhavanti sma prajāpateḥ
sparśaḥ —the set of letters from  ka  to  ma ;  tasya —his;  abhavat —became;  jīvaḥ —the soul;  svaraḥ —vowels;  dehaḥ —his body;  udāhṛtaḥ —are expressed;  ūṣmāṇam —the letters  śa ,  ṣa ,  sa  and  ha ;  indriyāṇi —the senses;  āhuḥ —are called;  antaḥsthāḥ —the set of letters so known ( ya ,  ra ,  la  and  va );  balam —energy;  ātmanaḥ —of his self;  svarāḥ —music;  sapta —seven;  vihāreṇa —by the sensual activities;  bhavanti sma —became manifested;  prajāpateḥ —of the lord of the living entities.
TRANSLATION
Brahmā's soul manifested as the touch alphabets, his body as the vowels, his senses as the sibilant alphabets, his strength as the intermediate alphabets and his sensual activities as the seven notes of music.
PURPORT
In Sanskrit there are thirteen vowels and thirty-five consonants. The vowels are  a ,  ā ,  i ,  ī ,  u ,  ū ,  ṛ ,  ṛ ,  l ,  e ,  ai ,  o ,  au , and the consonants are  ka ,  kha ,  ga ,  gha , etc. Amongst the consonants, the first twenty-five letters are called the  sparśas . There are also four  antaḥsthas . Of the  ūṣmas  there are three  s 's, called  tālavya ,  mūrdhanya  and  danta . The musical notes are  ṣa ,  ṛ ,  gā ,  ma ,  pa ,  dha , and  ni . All these sound vibrations are originally called  śabda-brahma , or spiritual sound. It is said, therefore, that Brahmā