●          The Siva Sutras of Abhinavagupata treat the multiplicity of the aksharas as the various shaktis of Lord Shiva . We have seen how Shiva is likened to the spanda or ‘a throbbing point’ also called a bindu . This Shiva – Shakti dichotomy gives rise to the string of alphabets called the Matrika-chakra , literally meaning the ‘Mother-wheel’. These are arranged in a circle or chakra much like the beads in a rosary and each letter has its individual universal resonant energy, a Divine Shakti .

The letters in red are the svars , the vowels. These are 13 in number and if ‘a’ ( A ), that stands for Brahman , the Unknown is suppressed we are left with 12 – the number of sun-signs. The vowels are like the day and they are the ‘shining ones’. They contribute the maatra or the meter and timing to the words and the mantras.

The aksharas in black are the sparsh, the mute-consonants. These are the ‘dark ones’ and are 25 in number. Each letter e.g. the first ‘k’ needs the ‘a’ sound to complete it, for it is pronounced as ‘ka’. Therefore the mute-consonants have 26 syllables and this approximately is the number of waxing & waning cycles of the moon in a year.