Question: Is it OK to pronounce the Maha Mantra using Ram instead of Rama, as would be done in Hindi?
Also, in Bengali dialect the sound comes closer to Ramo. Is that OK?
Answer by Romapada Swami :
BTG used to give this explanation: “Hare is pronounced huh-ray. Krsna is pronounced krish-na. And Rama rhymes with the English word drama.”
Since Rama is a sanskrit word, its not really acceptable to change it into an Indianized or Hindi-ized dialect version.
Rama should be pronounced “Rama” as in drama.
Quoting Isvara das – “I remembered one time a few of us went to see the President of Mauritius. The learned sannyasi who was leading the group was trying to narrate the glories of Lord Rama. However the sannyasi kept saying Ram, Ram, due to his Hindi origin.
However the President happened to be a Sanksrit pandit himself, so he aptly corrected the sannyasi that Rama should not be pronounced as Ram, but Rama.
The sannyasi was of course little bit embarrased noting that the president was correct.
Bengalis use “o” in place of short “a”, however it maybe good for the Bengalis as their tongue is made that way, but not for others. If you are not a Bengali, Ramo instead of Rama is not correct.”
