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Devanāgarī

देवनागरी
Devanāgarī script (vowels top three rows, consonants below)
Script type
Period
11th century to present
DirectionLeft-to-right Edit this on Wikidata
Official script
LanguagesApabhramsha, Angika, Awadhi, Bajjika, Bhili, Bhojpuri, Boro, Braj, Chhattisgarhi, Dogri, Fiji Hindi, Garhwali, Haryanvi, Hindi, Kashmiri, Khandeshi, Konkani, Kumaoni, Magahi, Maithili, Marathi, Marwari, Mundari, Nagpuri, Newari, Nepali, Pāli, Pahari, Prakrit, Rajasthani, Sanskrit, Santali, Sarnami, Sherpa, Sindhi, Surjapuri, and many more.
Related scripts
Parent systems
Sister systems
Nandināgarī
Kaithi
Gujarātī
Moḍī
ISO 15924
ISO 15924Deva (315), ​Devanagari (Nagari)
Unicode
Unicode alias
Devanagari
U+0900–U+097F Devanagari,
U+A8E0–U+A8FF Devanagari Extended,
U+11B00–11B5F Devanagari Extended-A,
U+1CD0–U+1CFF Vedic Extensions
  1. ^ a b c A Semitic origin for the Brāhmī script is not universally accepted.
 This article contains phonetic transcriptions in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA. For the distinction between [ ], / / and ⟨ ⟩, see IPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters.
Brahmic scripts
The Brahmi script and its descendants
Northern Brahmic
Southern Brahmic
Part of a series on
Writing systems in India
Overview
Brahmic scripts
Arabic-derived scripts
Alphabetical scripts

Devanagari (/ˌdeɪvəˈnɑːɡəri/ DAY-və-NAH-gə-ree;[6] in script: देवनागरी, IAST: Devanāgarī, Sanskrit pronunciation: [deːʋɐˈnaːɡɐriː]) is an Indic script used in the Indian subcontinent.[7] It is a left-to-right abugida (a type of segmental writing system),[8] based on the ancient Brāhmī script.[9] It is one of the official scripts of India and Nepal. It was developed in, and was in regular use by, the 8th century CE.[7] It had achieved its modern form by 1000 CE.[10] The Devanāgarī script, composed of 48 primary characters, including 14 vowels and 34 consonants,[11] is the fourth most widely adopted writing system in the world,[12][13] being used for over 120 languages, the most popular of which is Hindi (हिन्दी).[14]

The orthography of this script reflects the pronunciation of the language.[14] Unlike the Latin alphabet, the script has no concept of letter case, meaning the script is a unicameral alphabet.[15] It is written from left to right, has a strong preference for symmetrical, rounded shapes within squared outlines, and is recognisable by a horizontal line, known as a शिरोरेखा śirorekhā, that runs along the top of full letters.[8] In a cursory look, the Devanāgarī script appears different from other Indic scripts, such as Bengali-Assamese or Gurmukhi, but a closer examination reveals they are very similar, except for angles and structural emphasis.[8]

Among the languages using it as a primary or secondary script are Marathi, Pāḷi, Sanskrit,[16] Hindi,[17] Boro, Nepali, Sherpa, Prakrit, Apabhramsha, Awadhi, Bhojpuri, Braj Bhasha,[18] Chhattisgarhi, Haryanvi, Magahi, Nagpuri, Rajasthani, Khandeshi, Bhili, Dogri, Kashmiri, Maithili, Konkani, Sindhi, Nepal Bhasa, Mundari, Angika, Bajjika and Santali.[14] The Devanāgarī script is closely related to the Nandināgarī script commonly found in numerous ancient manuscripts of South India,[19][20] and it is distantly related to a number of Southeast Asian scripts.[14]

Etymology

[edit]

Devanāgarī is formed by the addition of the word deva (देव) to the word nāgarī (नागरी). Nāgarī is an adjective derived from nagara (नगर), a Sanskrit word meaning "town" or "city", and literally means "urban" or "urbane".[21] The word Nāgarī (implicitly modifying lipi, "script") was used on its own to refer to a North Indian script, or perhaps a number of such scripts, as Al-Biruni attests in the 11th century; the form Devanāgarī is attested later, at least by the 18th century.[22] The name of the Nandināgarī script is also formed by adding a prefix to the generic script name nāgarī. The precise origin and significance of the prefix deva- ('heavenly' or 'god') remains unclear.

History

[edit]
Further information: Sanskrit epigraphy

Devanāgarī is part of the Brahmic family of scripts of India, Nepal, Tibet, and Southeast Asia.[23][24] It is a descendant of the 3rd century BCE Brāhmī script, which evolved into the Nagari script which in turn gave birth to Devanāgarī and Nandināgarī. Devanāgarī has been widely adopted across India and Nepal to write Sanskrit, Marathi, Hindi, Central Indo-Aryan languages, Konkani, Boro, and various Nepalese languages.

Some of the earliest epigraphic evidence attesting to the developing Sanskrit Nāgarī script in ancient India is from the 1st to 4th century CE inscriptions discovered in Gujarat.[9] Variants of script called nāgarī, recognisably close to Devanāgarī, are first attested from the 1st century CE Rudradaman inscriptions in Sanskrit, while the modern standardised form of Devanāgarī was in use by about 1000 CE.[10][25] Medieval inscriptions suggest widespread diffusion of Nāgarī-related scripts, with biscripts presenting local script along with the adoption of Nāgarī scripts. For example, the mid 8th-century Pattadakal pillar in Karnataka has text in both Siddha Matrika script, and an early Telugu-Kannada script; while, the Kangra Jawalamukhi inscription in Himachal Pradesh is written in both Sharada and Devanāgarī scripts.[26]

The Nāgarī script was in regular use by the 7th century CE, and it was fully developed by about the end of first millennium.[7][10] The use of Sanskrit in Nāgarī script in medieval India is attested by numerous pillar and cave-temple inscriptions, including the 11th-century Udayagiri inscriptions in Madhya Pradesh,[27] and an inscribed brick found in Uttar Pradesh, dated to be from 1217 CE, which is now held at the British Museum.[28] The script's prototypes and related versions have been discovered with ancient relics outside India, in places such as Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Indonesia. In East Asia, the Siddhaṃ matrika script (considered as the closest precursor to Nāgarī) was in use by Buddhists.[16][29] Nāgarī has been the primus inter pares of the Indic scripts.[16] It has long been used traditionally by religiously educated people in South Asia to record and transmit information, existing throughout the land in parallel with a wide variety of local scripts (such as Moḍī, Kaithi, and Mahajani) used for administration, commerce, and other daily uses.

Sharada remained in parallel use in Kashmir. An early version of Devanāgarī is visible in the Kutila inscription of Bareilly dated to VS 1049 (992 CE), which demonstrates the emergence of the horizontal bar to group letters belonging to a word.[30] One of the oldest surviving Sanskrit texts from the early post-Maurya period consists of 1,413 Nāgarī pages of a commentary by Patanjali, with a composition date of about 150 BCE, the surviving copy transcribed about 14th century CE.[31]

In Sinja Valley, mid-western Nepal where the Nepali language originates from, the earliest examples of the Devanagari script from the 13th century were found on the cliffs and in nearby Dullu.[32]

Examples of Devanāgarī manuscripts created between the 18th and 19th centuries
Devanāgarī
Letter A in Devanagari
Languages
Transliteration
Vowels and syllabic consonants
अ a ॲ æ ऄ आ (का) ā
इ (कि) i ई (की) ī
उ (कु) u ऊ (कू) ū
ॶ (कॖ) ॷ (कॗ)
ऋ (कृ) r̥ ॠ (कॄ) r̥̄
ऌ (कॢ) l̥ ॡ (कॣ) l̥̄
ए (के) ē ऍ (कॅ) ê ऎ (कॆ) e ऐ (कै) ai
(कॕ) (कॎ)
ओ (को) ō ऑ (कॉ) ô ऒ (कॊ) o औ (कौ) au
ॳ (कऺ) ॴ (कऻ)
ॵ (कॏ)
Consonants
क k क़ q ख kh ख़ k̲h̲
ग g ग़ ġ ॻ gg घ gh ङ ṅ

च c छ ch
ज j ज़ z ॼ jj ॹ ž झ jh झ़ zh ञ ñ

ट ṭ ठ ṭh
ड ḍ ड़ ṛ ॾ ḍḍ ॸ ḍ ढ ḍh ढ़ ṛh ण ṇ

त t थ th
द d ध dh न n ऩ ṉ

प p फ ph फ़ f
ब b ॿ bb भ bh म m

य y य़ ẏ ॺ र r ऱ ṟ ळ ḷ ऴ ḻ
ल l व v

श ś ष ṣ स s ह h ॽ
Diacritics, punctuation, symbols
अं ṁ अः ḥ अँ m̐ अऀ ऽ ’
क़ क् ३ 3 ᳵ ẖ ᳶ ḫ
अ॑ ` अ॒ _ अ॓ अ॔ ॐ aum̐
। ॥ ॰ ॱ ₹ INR
Numerals
० 0 १ 1 २ 2 ३ 3 ४ 4 ५ 5 ६ 6 ७ 7 ८ 8 ९ 9

East Asia

[edit]

In the 7th century, under the rule of Songtsen Gampo of the Tibetan Empire, Thonmi Sambhota was sent to Nepal to open marriage negotiations with a Nepali princess and to find a writing system suitable for the Tibetan language. He then invented the Tibetan script based on the Nāgarī used in Kashmir. He added 6 new characters for sounds that did not exist in Sanskrit.[33]

Other scripts closely related to Nāgarī (such as Siddhaṃ) were introduced throughout East and Southeast Asia from the 7th to the 10th centuries CE: notably in Indonesia, Vietnam, and Japan.[34][35]

Most of the Southeast Asian scripts have roots in Dravidian scripts, but a few found in south-central regions of Java and isolated parts of southeast Asia resemble Devanāgarī or its prototypes. The Kawi script in particular is similar to the Devanāgarī in many respects, though the morphology of the script has local changes. The earliest inscriptions in the Devanāgarī-like scripts are from around the 10th century CE, with many more between the 11th and 14th centuries.[36][37]

Some of the old-Devanāgarī inscriptions are found in Hindu temples of Java, such as the Prambanan temple.[38] The Ligor and the Kalasan inscriptions of central Java, dated to the 8th century, are also in the Nāgarī script of north India. According to the epigraphist and Asian Studies scholar Lawrence Briggs, these may be related to the 9th century copper plate inscription of Devapaladeva (Bengal) which is also in early Devanāgarī script.[39] The term kawi in Kawi script is a loan word from kāvya (poetry). According to anthropologists and Asian studies scholars John Norman Miksic and Goh Geok Yian, the 8th century version of early Nāgarī or Devanāgarī script was adopted in Java, Bali, and Khmer around the 8th–9th centuries, as evidenced by the many contemporaneous inscriptions of this period.[40]

Evolution from Brahmi to Gupta, and to Devanagari[41]
k- kh- g- gh- ṅ- c- ch- j- jh- ñ- ṭ- ṭh- ḍ- ḍh- ṇ- t- th- d- dh- n- p- ph- b- bh- m- y- r- l- v- ś- ṣ- s- h-
Brahmi 𑀓 𑀔 𑀕 𑀖 𑀗 𑀘 𑀙 𑀚 𑀛 𑀜 𑀝 𑀞 𑀟 𑀠 𑀡 𑀢 𑀣 𑀤 𑀥 𑀦 𑀧 𑀨 𑀩 𑀪 𑀫 𑀬 𑀭 𑀮 𑀯 𑀰 𑀱 𑀲 𑀳
Gupta
Devanagari क ख ग घ ङ च छ ज झ ञ ट ठ ड ढ ण त थ द ध न प फ ब भ म य र ल व श ष स ह

Letters

[edit]

The letter order of Devanāgarī, like nearly all Brāhmic scripts, is based on phonetic principles that consider both the manner and place of articulation of the consonants and vowels they represent. This arrangement is usually referred to as the varṇamālā ("garland of letters").[42] The format of Devanāgarī for Sanskrit serves as the prototype for its application, with minor variations or additions, to other languages.[43]

Overall, Devanagari "देवनागरी" means "script of the divine city" or "script of the city of God".[citation needed]

The vowels and their arrangement are:

Independent form IAST ISO IPA As diacritic with प (Barakhadi) Independent form IAST ISO IPA As diacritic with प (Barakhadi)
kaṇṭhya
(Guttural) 		अ a [ɐ] प आ ā [aː] पा
tālavya
(Palatal) 		इ i [i] पि ई ī [iː] पी
oṣṭhya
(Labial) 		उ u [u] पु 6 ऊ ū [uː] पू 6
mūrdhanya
(Retroflex) 		ऋ ṛ r̥ [r̩] पृ ॠ 4 ṝ r̥̄ [r̩ː] पॄ
dantya
(Dental) 		ऌ 4 ḷ l̥ [l̩] पॢ ॡ 4, 5 ḹ l̥̄ [l̩ː] पॣ
kaṇṭhatālavya
(Palatoguttural) 		ए e ē [eː] पे ऐ ai [aːɪ] (in Hindi: [ɛː]) पै
kaṇṭhoṣṭhya
(Labioguttural) 		ओ o ō [oː] पो औ au [aːʊ] (in Hindi: [ɔː]) पौ
अं / ं 1,2 ṃ ṁ [◌̃] पं अः / ः 1 ḥ [h] पः
  1. Arranged with the vowels are two consonantal diacritics, the final nasal anusvāra ं ṃ and the final fricative visarga ः ḥ (called अं aṃ and अः aḥ). Masica (1991:146) notes of the anusvāra in Sanskrit that "there is some controversy as to whether it represents a homorganic nasal stop ..., a nasalised vowel, a nasalised semivowel, or all these according to context". The visarga represents post-vocalic voiceless glottal fricative [h], in Sanskrit an allophone of s, or less commonly r, usually in word-final position. Some traditions of recitation append an echo of the vowel after the breath:[44] इः [ihi]. Masica (1991:146) considers the visarga along with letters ङ ṅa and ञ ña for the "largely predictable" velar and palatal nasals to be examples of "phonetic overkill in the system".
  2. Another diacritic is the candrabindu/anunāsika ँ अँ. Salomon (2003:76–77) describes it as a "more emphatic form" of the anusvāra, "sometimes ... used to mark a true [vowel] nasalization". In a new Indo-Aryan language such as Hindi the distinction is formal: the candrabindu indicates vowel nasalisation[45] while the anusvār indicates a homorganic nasal preceding another consonant:[46] e.g., हँसी [ɦə̃si] "laughter", गंगा [ɡəŋɡɑ] "the Ganges". When an akṣara has a vowel diacritic above the top line, that leaves no room for the candra ("moon") stroke candrabindu, which is dispensed with in favour of the lone dot:[47] हूँ [ɦũ] "am", but हैं [ɦɛ̃] "are". Some writers and typesetters dispense with the "moon" stroke altogether, using only the dot in all situations.[48]
  3. The avagraha (ऽ अऽ) (usually transliterated with an apostrophe) is a Sanskrit punctuation mark for the elision of a vowel in sandhi: एकोऽयम् eko'yam ( ← एकस् ekas + अयम् ayam) ("this one"). An original long vowel lost to coalescence is sometimes marked with a double avagraha: सदाऽऽत्मा sadā'tmā ( ← सदा sadā + आत्मा ātmā) "always, the self".[49] In Hindi, Snell (2000:77) states that its "main function is to show that a vowel is sustained in a cry or a shout": आईऽऽऽ! āīīī!. In Madhyadeshi languages like Bhojpuri, Awadhi, Maithili, etc. which have "quite a number of verbal forms that end in that inherent vowel",[50] the avagraha is used to mark the non-elision of word-final inherent a, which otherwise is a modern orthographic convention: बइठऽ baiṭha "sit" versus बइठ baiṭh
  4. The syllabic consonants ॠ ṝ, ऌ ḷ, and ॡ ḹ are specific to Sanskrit and not included in the varṇamālā of other languages. The sound represented by ṛ has also been largely lost in the modern languages, and its pronunciation now ranges from [ɾɪ] (Hindi) to [ɾu] (Marathi).
  5. ḹ is not an actual phoneme of Sanskrit, but rather a graphic convention included among the vowels in order to maintain the symmetry of short–long pairs of letters.[43]
  6. There are non-regular formations of रु ru, रू rū, and हृ hṛ.
  7. There are two more vowels in Marathi, ॲ and ऑ, that respectively represent [æ], similar to the RP English pronunciation of ⟨a⟩ in act, and [ɒ], similar to the RP pronunciation of ⟨o⟩ in cot. These vowels are sometimes used in Hindi too, as in डॉलर dôlar ("dollar").[51] IAST transliteration is not defined. In ISO 15919, the transliteration is ê and ô, respectively.
  8. Kashmiri Devanagari uses letters like ॳ, ॴ, ॶ, ॷ, ऎ, ऒ, औ, ॵ to represent its vowels (see Kashmiri language#Devanagari).

Consonants

[edit]

The table below shows the consonant letters (in combination with inherent vowel a) and their arrangement. To the right of the Devanāgarī letter it shows the Latin script transliteration using International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration,[52] and the phonetic value (IPA) in Hindi.[53][54]

Phonetics → sparśa
(Occlusive) 		anunāsika
(Nasal) 		antastha
(Approximant) 		ūṣman/saṃgharṣī
(Fricative)
Voicing → aghoṣa saghoṣa aghoṣa saghoṣa
Aspiration → alpaprāṇa mahāprāṇa alpaprāṇa mahāprāṇa alpaprāṇa mahāprāṇa
kaṇṭhya
(Velar) 		क ka
[k] 		ख kha
[kʰ] 		ग ga
[ɡ] 		घ gha
[ɡʱ] 		ङ ṅa
[ŋ] 		ह ha
[ɦ]
tālavya
(Palatal) 		च ca
[tʃ] 		छ cha
[tʃʰ] 		ज ja
[dʒ] 		झ jha
[dʒʱ] 		ञ ña
[ɲ] 		य ya
[j] 		श śa
[ʃ]
mūrdhanya
(Retroflex) 		ट ṭa
[ʈ] 		ठ ṭha
[ʈʰ] 		ड ḍa
[ɖ] 		ढ ḍha
[ɖʱ] 		ण ṇa
[ɳ] 		र ra
[r] 		ष ṣa
[ʂ]
dantya
(Dental) 		त ta
[t̪] 		थ tha
[t̪ʰ] 		द da
[d̪] 		ध dha
[d̪ʱ] 		न na
[n] 		ल la
[l] 		स sa
[s]
oṣṭhya
(Labial) 		प pa
[p] 		फ pha
[pʰ] 		ब ba
[b] 		भ bha
[bʱ] 		म ma
[m] 		व va
[ʋ]
  • Additionally, there is ळ ḷa (IPA: [ɭ] or [ɭ̆]), the intervocalic lateral flap allophone of the voiced retroflex stop in Vedic Sanskrit, which is a phoneme in languages such as Marathi, Konkani, Garhwali, and Rajasthani.[55]
  • Beyond the Sanskritic set, new shapes have rarely been formulated. Masica (1991:146) offers the following, "In any case, according to some, all possible sounds had already been described and provided for in this system, as Sanskrit was the original and perfect language. Hence it was difficult to provide for or even to conceive other sounds, unknown to the phoneticians of Sanskrit (The phoneticians did describe certain sounds qua sounds — bilabial fricatives, for instance — which, being either sporadic or completely predictable, were never represented in the writing system.)". Where foreign borrowings and internal developments did inevitably accrue and arise in New Indo-Aryan languages, they have been ignored in writing or dealt through means such as diacritics and ligatures (ignored in recitation).

Vowel diacritics

[edit]
Vowel diacritics on क

The table below shows consonants with common vowel diacritics and their ISO 15919 transliteration. Vowels in their independent form on the top and in their corresponding dependent form (vowel sign) combined with the consonant 'k' on the bottom. 'ka' is without any added vowel sign, where the vowel 'a' is inherent.

a ā i ī u ū e ê ē ai o ô ō au r̥ r̥̄ l̥ l̥̄ ṁ ḥ m̐
अ आ इ ई उ ऊ ऄ / ऎ ॲ / ऍ ए ऐ ऒ ऑ ओ औ ऋ ॠ ऌ ॡ अं अः अँ
ा ि ी ु ू ॆ ॅ े ै ॊ ॉ ो ौ ृ ॄ ॢ ॣ ं ः ् ँ
ka kā ki kī ku kū ke kê kē kai ko kô kō kau kr̥ kr̥̄ kl̥ kl̥̄ kaṁ kaḥ k kam̐
क का कि की कु कू कॆ कॅ के कै कॊ कॉ को कौ कृ कॄ कॢ कॣ कं कः क् कँ


A vowel combines with a consonant in their diacritic form. For example, the vowel ऊ (ū) combines with the consonant छ् (ch) to form the syllabic letter छू (chū), with halant (cancel sign) removed and added vowel sign which is indicated by diacritics. The vowel अ (a) combines with the consonant छ् (ch) to form छ (cha) with halant removed. But the diacritic series of च, छ, ज, झ (ca, cha, ja, jha, respectively) is without any added vowel sign, as the vowel अ (a) is inherent.

The Jñānēśvarī is a commentary on the Bhagavad Gita, dated to 1290 CE. It is in written in Marathi using the Devanāgarī script.

The combinations of all Sanskrit consonants and vowels, each in alphabetical order, are laid out in the bārākhaḍī (बाराखडी) or bārahkhaṛī (बारहखड़ी) table. In the following barakhadi table, the IAST transliteration of each combination will appear on mouseover:

Barakhadi table
a ā i ī u ū e ai o au aṁ aḥ
अ आ इ ई उ ऊ ए ऐ ओ औ अं अः
k- क का कि की कु कू के कै को कौ कं कः
kh- ख खा खि खी खु खू खे खै खो खौ खं खः
g- ग गा गि गी गु गू गे गै गो गौ गं गः
gh- घ घा घि घी घु घू घे घै घो घौ घं घः
ṅ- ङ ङा ङि ङी ङु ङू ङे ङै ङो ङौ ङं ङः
c- च चा चि ची चु चू चे चै चो चौ चं चः
ch- छ छा छि छी छु छू छे छै छो छौ छं छः
j- ज जा जि जी जु जू जे जै जो जौ जं जः
jh- झ झा झि झी झु झू झे झै झो झौ झं झः
ñ- ञ ञा ञि ञी ञु ञू ञे ञै ञो ञौ ञं ञः
ṭ- ट टा टि टी टु टू टे टै टो टौ टं टः
ṭh- ठ ठा ठि ठी ठु ठू ठे ठै ठो ठौ ठं ठः
ḍ- ड डा डि डी डु डू डे डै डो डौ डं डः
ḍh- ढ ढा ढि ढी ढु ढू ढे ढै ढो ढौ ढं ढः
ṇ- ण णा णि णी णु णू णे णै णो णौ णं णः
t- त ता ति ती तु तू ते तै तो तौ तं तः
th- थ था थि थी थु थू थे थै थो थौ थं थः
d- द दा दि दी दु दू दे दै दो दौ दं दः
dh- ध धा धि धी धु धू धे धै धो धौ धं धः
n- न ना नि नी नु नू ने नै नो नौ नं नः
p- प पा पि पी पु पू पे पै पो पौ पं पः
ph- फ फा फि फी फु फू फे फै फो फौ फं फः
b- ब बा बि बी बु बू बे बै बो बौ बं बः
bh- भ भा भि भी भु भू भे भै भो भौ भं भः
m- म मा मि मी मु मू मे मै मो मौ मं मः
y- य या यि यी यु यू ये यै यो यौ यं यः
r- र रा रि री रु रू रे रै रो रौ रं रः
l- ल ला लि ली लु लू ले लै लो लौ लं लः
v- व वा वि वी वु वू वे वै वो वौ वं वः
ś- श शा शि शी शु शू शे शै शो शौ शं शः
ṣ- ष षा षि षी षु षू षे षै षो षौ षं षः
s- स सा सि सी सु सू से सै सो सौ सं सः
h- ह हा हि ही हु हू हे है हो हौ हं हः

Old forms

[edit]
A mid-10th century Sanskrit land grant for a college, written in Devanāgarī, and discovered on a stone buried in north Karnataka. Parts of the inscription are written in Canarese script.[57]

The following letter variants are also in use, particularly in older texts and in specific regions:[58]

Letter variants
Standard Ancient

Conjunct consonants

[edit]
Main article: Devanagari conjuncts
Picture with conjuncts from An Elementary Grammar of the Sanscrit Language, page 25, Monier Monier-Williams (1846).

As mentioned, successive consonants lacking a vowel in between them may physically join as a conjunct consonant or ligature. When Devanāgarī is used for writing languages other than Sanskrit, conjuncts are used mostly with Sanskrit words and loan words. Native words typically use the basic consonant and native speakers know to suppress the vowel when it is conventional to do so. For example, the native Hindi word karnā is written करना (ka-ra-nā).[59] The government of these clusters ranges from widely to narrowly applicable rules, with special exceptions within. While standardised for the most part, there are certain variations in clustering, of which the Unicode used on this page is just one scheme. The following are a number of rules:

Complete made by CB
Few examples of श consonant clusters.
  • 24 out of the 36 consonants contain a vertical right stroke (य ya, न na, ग ga etc.). As first or middle fragments/members of a cluster (when letters are to be written as half pronounced), they lose that stroke. e.g. त् + व = त्व tva, ण् + ढ = ण्ढ ṇḍha, स् + थ = स्थ stha. In Unicode, as in Hindi, these consonants without their vertical stems are called "half forms".[60] श śa appears as a different, simple ribbon-shaped fragment preceding व va, न na, च ca, ल la, and र ra, causing these second members to be shifted down and reduced in size. Thus श्व śva, श्न śna, श्च śca, श्ल śla, श्र śra, and शृ śṛi.
  • र ra as a first member takes the form of a curved upward dash above the final character or its ā- diacritic. e.g. र्व rva, र्वा rvā, र्स्प rspa, र्स्पा rspā. In Marathi and Nepali, र ra as a first member of a conjunct also takes on an eyelash form when in front of glides and semivowels. e.g. र्‍य rya, र्‍व rva. As a final member with ट ṭa, ठ ṭha, ड ḍa, ढ ḍha, ड़ ṛa, छ cha, it is two lines together below the character pointed downwards. Thus ट्र ṭra, ठ्र ṭhra, ड्र ḍra, ढ्र ḍhra, ड़्र ṛra, छ्र chra. Elsewhere as a final member it is a diagonal stroke extending leftwards and down. e.g. क्र ग्र भ्र ब्र. त ta is shifted up to make the conjunct त्र tra.
  • As first members, remaining characters lacking vertical strokes such as द da and ह ha may have their second member, reduced in size and lacking its horizontal stroke, placed underneath. क ka, छ cha, and फ pha shorten their right hooks and join them directly to the following member.
  • The conjuncts for kṣa and jña are not clearly derived from the letters making up their components. The conjunct for kṣa is क्ष (क् + ष) and for jña it is ज्ञ (ज् + ञ).

Accent marks

[edit]
Main article: Vedic accent § Notation

The pitch accent of Vedic Sanskrit is written with various symbols depending on shakha. In the Rigveda, anudātta is written with a bar below the line (◌॒), svarita with a stroke above the line (◌॑) while udātta is unmarked.

Punctuation

[edit]

The end of a sentence or half-verse may be marked with the "।" symbol (called a daṇḍa, meaning "bar", or called a pūrṇa virām, meaning "full stop/pause"). The end of a full verse may be marked with a double-daṇḍa, a "॥" symbol. A comma (called an alpa virām, meaning "short stop/pause") is used to denote a natural pause in speech.[61][62] Punctuation marks of Western origin, such as the colon, semicolon, exclamation mark, dash, and question mark have been in use in Devanāgarī script since at least the 1900s,[citation needed] matching their use in European languages.[63]

Fonts

[edit]

A variety of Unicode fonts are in use for Devanāgarī. These include Akshar,[64] Annapurna,[65] Arial,[66] CDAC-Gist Surekh,[67] CDAC-Gist Yogesh,[68] Chandas,[69] Gargi,[70] Gurumaa,[71] Jaipur,[72] Jana,[73] Kalimati,[74] Kanjirowa,[75] Lohit Devanagari, Mangal,[76] Kokila,[77] ,Preeti,[78] Raghu,[79] Sanskrit2003,[80] Santipur OT,[81] Siddhanta, and Thyaka.[82]

The form of Devanāgarī fonts vary with function. According to Harvard College for Sanskrit studies:[81]

Uttara [companion to Chandas] is the best in terms of ligatures but, because it is designed for Vedic as well, requires so much vertical space that it is not well suited for the "user interface font" (though an excellent choice for the "original field" font). Santipur OT is a beautiful font reflecting a very early [medieval era] typesetting style for Devanagari. Sanskrit 2003[83] is a good all-around font and has more ligatures than most fonts, though students will probably find the spacing of the CDAC-Gist Surekh[67] font makes for quicker comprehension and reading.

The Google Fonts project has a number of Unicode fonts for Devanāgarī in a variety of typefaces in serif, sans-serif, display and handwriting categories.

Numerals

[edit]
See also: Devanagari numerals, Indian numerals, Brāhmī numerals, and Hindu–Arabic numeral system
Devanāgarī digits
० १ २ ३ ४ ५ ६ ७ ८ ९
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Transliteration

[edit]
Main article: Devanagari transliteration
Indic scripts share common features, and along with Devanāgarī, all major Indic scripts have been historically used to preserve Vedic and post-Vedic Sanskrit texts.

There are several methods of Romanisation or transliteration from Devanāgarī to the Roman script.[84]

Hunterian system

[edit]
Main article: Hunterian transliteration

The Hunterian system is the national system of romanisation in India, officially adopted by the Government of India.[85][86][87]

ISO 15919

[edit]
Main article: ISO 15919

A standard transliteration convention was codified in the ISO 15919 standard of 2001. It uses diacritics to map the much larger set of Brāhmic graphemes to the Latin script. The Devanāgarī-specific portion is nearly identical to the academic standard for Sanskrit, IAST.[88]

IAST

[edit]

The International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration (IAST) is the academic standard for the romanisation of Sanskrit. IAST is the de facto standard used in printed publications, like books, magazines, and electronic texts with Unicode fonts. It is based on a standard established by the Congress of Orientalists at Athens in 1912. The ISO 15919 standard of 2001 codified the transliteration convention to include an expanded standard for sister scripts of Devanāgarī.[88]

The National Library at Kolkata romanisation, intended for the romanisation of all Indic scripts, is an extension of IAST.

Harvard-Kyoto

[edit]

Compared to IAST, Harvard-Kyoto looks much simpler. It does not contain all the diacritic marks that IAST contains. It was designed to simplify the task of putting large amount of Sanskrit textual material into machine readable form, and the inventors stated that it reduces the effort needed in transliteration of Sanskrit texts on the keyboard.[89] This makes typing in Harvard-Kyoto much easier than IAST. Harvard-Kyoto uses capital letters that can be difficult to read in the middle of words.

ITRANS

[edit]

ITRANS is a lossless transliteration scheme of Devanāgarī into ASCII that is widely used on Usenet. It is an extension of the Harvard-Kyoto scheme. In ITRANS, the word devanāgarī is written "devanaagarii" or "devanAgarI". ITRANS is associated with an application of the same name that enables typesetting in Indic scripts. The user inputs in Roman letters and the ITRANS pre-processor translates the Roman letters into Devanāgarī (or other Indic languages). The latest version of ITRANS is version 5.30 released in July 2001. It is similar to Velthuis system and was created by Avinash Chopde to help print various Indic scripts with personal computers.[89]

Velthuis

[edit]
Main article: Velthuis

The disadvantage of the above ASCII schemes is case-sensitivity, implying that transliterated names may not be capitalised. This difficulty is avoided with the system developed in 1996 by Frans Velthuis for TeX, loosely based on IAST, in which case is irrelevant.

ALA-LC Romanisation

[edit]

ALA-LC[90] romanisation is a transliteration scheme approved by the Library of Congress and the American Library Association, and widely used in North American libraries. Transliteration tables are based on languages, so there is a table for Hindi,[91] one for Sanskrit and Prakrit,[92] etc.

WX

[edit]
Main article: WX notation

WX is a Roman transliteration scheme for Indian languages, widely used among the natural language processing community in India. It originated at IIT Kanpur for computational processing of Indian languages. The salient features of this transliteration scheme are as follows.

  • Every consonant and every vowel has a single mapping into Roman. Hence it is a prefix code, advantageous from computation point of view.
  • Lower-case letters are used for unaspirated consonants and short vowels, while capital letters are used for aspirated consonants and long vowels. While the retroflex stops are mapped to 't, T, d, D, N', the dentals are mapped to 'w, W, x, X, n'. Hence the name 'WX', a reminder of this idiosyncratic mapping.

Encodings

[edit]

ISCII

[edit]

ISCII is an 8-bit encoding. The lower 128 codepoints are plain ASCII, the upper 128 codepoints are ISCII-specific.

It has been designed for representing not only Devanāgarī but also various other Indic scripts as well as a Latin-based script with diacritic marks used for transliteration of the Indic scripts.

ISCII has largely been superseded by Unicode, which has, however, attempted to preserve the ISCII layout for its Indic language blocks.

Unicode

[edit]
Main articles: Devanagari (Unicode block), Devanagari Extended (Unicode block), Devanagari Extended-A (Unicode block), and Vedic Extensions (Unicode block)

The Unicode Standard defines four blocks for Devanāgarī: Devanagari (U+0900–U+097F), Devanagari Extended (U+A8E0–U+A8FF), Devanagari Extended-A (U+11B00–11B5F), and Vedic Extensions (U+1CD0–U+1CFF).

Devanagari[1]
Official Unicode Consortium code chart (PDF)
  0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A B C D E F
U+090x ऀ ँ ं ः ऄ अ आ इ ई उ ऊ ऋ ऌ ऍ ऎ ए
U+091x ऐ ऑ ऒ ओ औ क ख ग घ ङ च छ ज झ ञ ट
U+092x ठ ड ढ ण त थ द ध न ऩ प फ ब भ म य
U+093x र ऱ ल ळ ऴ व श ष स ह ऺ ऻ ़ ऽ ा ि
U+094x ी ु ू ृ ॄ ॅ ॆ े ै ॉ ॊ ो ौ ् ॎ ॏ
U+095x ॐ ॑ ॒ ॓ ॔ ॕ ॖ ॗ क़ ख़ ग़ ज़ ड़ ढ़ फ़ य़
U+096x ॠ ॡ ॢ ॣ । ॥ ० १ २ ३ ४ ५ ६ ७ ८ ९
U+097x ॰ ॱ ॲ ॳ ॴ ॵ ॶ ॷ ॸ ॹ ॺ ॻ ॼ ॽ ॾ ॿ
Notes
1.^ As of Unicode version 17.0
Devanagari Extended[1]
Official Unicode Consortium code chart (PDF)
  0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A B C D E F
U+A8Ex ꣠ ꣡ ꣢ ꣣ ꣤ ꣥ ꣦ ꣧ ꣨ ꣩ ꣪ ꣫ ꣬ ꣭ ꣮ ꣯
U+A8Fx ꣰ ꣱ ꣲ ꣳ ꣴ ꣵ ꣶ ꣷ ꣸ ꣹ ꣺ ꣻ ꣼ ꣽ ꣾ ꣿ
Notes
1.^ As of Unicode version 17.0
Devanagari Extended-A[1][2]
Official Unicode Consortium code chart (PDF)
  0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A B C D E F
U+11B0x 𑬀 𑬁 𑬂 𑬃 𑬄 𑬅 𑬆 𑬇 𑬈 𑬉
U+11B1x
U+11B2x
U+11B3x
U+11B4x
U+11B5x
Notes
1.^ As of Unicode version 17.0
2.^ Grey areas indicate non-assigned code points
Vedic Extensions[1][2]
Official Unicode Consortium code chart (PDF)
  0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A B C D E F
U+1CDx ᳐ ᳑ ᳒ ᳓ ᳔ ᳕ ᳖ ᳗ ᳘ ᳙ ᳚ ᳛ ᳜ ᳝ ᳞ ᳟
U+1CEx ᳠ ᳡ ᳢ ᳣ ᳤ ᳥ ᳦ ᳧ ᳨ ᳩ ᳪ ᳫ ᳬ ᳭ ᳮ ᳯ
U+1CFx ᳰ ᳱ ᳲ ᳳ ᳴  ᳵ   ᳶ  ᳷ ᳸ ᳹ ᳺ
Notes
1.^ As of Unicode version 17.0
2.^ Grey areas indicate non-assigned code points

Devanāgari keyboard layouts

[edit]
For a list of Devanāgari input tools and fonts, please see Help:Multilingual support (Indic).
Introduction to Inscript Key board

InScript layout

[edit]

InScript is the standard keyboard layout for Devanāgarī as standardized by the Government of India. It is inbuilt in all modern major operating systems. Microsoft Windows supports the InScript layout, which can be used to input unicode Devanāgarī characters. InScript is also available in some touchscreen mobile phones.

Devanāgarī INSCRIPT bilingual keyboard layout

Typewriter

[edit]

This layout was used on manual typewriters when computers were not available or were uncommon. For backward compatibility some typing tools like Indic IME still provide this layout.

Phonetic

[edit]
Devanāgari Phonetic Keyboard Layout
One can use ULS "लिप्यंतरण" (Transliteration) or "इनस्क्रिप्ट" (Inscript) typing options to search or edit Devanagari-script articles as shown in this video clip example. CC instructions are available for British English.

Such tools work on phonetic transliteration. The user writes in the Latin alphabet and the IME automatically converts it into Devanāgarī. Some popular phonetic typing tools are Akruti, Baraha IME and Google IME.

The Mac OS X operating system includes two different keyboard layouts for Devanāgarī: one resembles the INSCRIPT/KDE Linux, while the other is a phonetic layout called "Devanāgarī QWERTY".

Any one of the Unicode fonts input systems is fine for the Indic language Wikipedia and other wikiprojects, including Hindi, Bhojpuri, Marathi, and Nepali Wikipedia. While some people use InScript, the majority uses either Google phonetic transliteration or the input facility Universal Language Selector provided on Wikipedia. On Indic language wikiprojects, the phonetic facility provided initially was java-based, and was later supported by Narayam extension for phonetic input facility. Currently Indic language Wiki projects are supported by Universal Language Selector (ULS), that offers both phonetic keyboard (Aksharantaran, Marathi: अक्षरांतरण, Hindi: लिप्यंतरण, बोलनागरी) and InScript keyboard (Marathi: मराठी लिपी).

The Ubuntu Linux operating system supports several keyboard layouts for Devanāgarī, including Harvard-Kyoto, WX notation, Bolanagari and phonetic. The 'remington' typing method in Ubuntu IBUS is similar to the Krutidev typing method, popular in Rajasthan. The 'itrans' method is useful for those who know English (and the English keyboard) well but are not familiar with typing in Devanāgarī.

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
[edit]
Revisions and contributorsEdit on WikipediaRead on Wikipedia

Devanagari

View on Grokipedia
from Grokipedia
Devanagari is an used predominantly for the of northern , , and parts of , characterized by its left-to-right orientation, a distinctive horizontal top line (shirorekha) that connects consonants, and an inherent sound attached to each base form. It consists of typically 13 independent vowels and 33 basic consonants (with variations depending on the language), and additional diacritics for modifying vowels or forming conjuncts, enabling the representation of complex syllabic structures in languages like and . As one of the most widely adopted scripts in the world, it serves over 600 million speakers and plays a central role in preserving ancient religious and literary texts. The script's origins trace back to the ancient of the 3rd century BCE, evolving through intermediate forms like the (4th–6th centuries CE) into its recognizable Devanagari shape by the 7th century CE, with the modern standardized form solidifying around the 12th century. Scholarly perspectives on its precise development vary, but there is consensus that it emerged in northern as a descendant of regional scripts like Śāradā and Nāgarī, adapting to the phonetic needs of and vernaculars. By the medieval period, Devanagari had become integral to Hindu philosophical and epic literature, such as the and Vedic hymns, underscoring its cultural and spiritual significance in South Asian traditions. Today, Devanagari is the for —the most spoken language in with approximately 345 million native speakers and over 600 million total speakers (as of 2025)—and is also employed for Marathi (approximately 95 million speakers as of 2025), Nepali (approximately 17 million native speakers as of 2025), and several others including Konkani, Bodo, and Maithili. In , it holds constitutional status under Article 343 for official Union communications, while in , it supports the national language alongside other scripts. The script's adaptability is evident in its regional variants, such as differing letter forms preferred in versus Marathi , which influence contemporary font design and digital encoding under . Despite challenges in modernization, like conjunct complexity and vowel positioning, Devanagari remains a vital medium for , media, and governance in the region.

Etymology and Names

Etymology

The term Devanagari derives from the Sanskrit compound deva-nāgarī, consisting of deva (देव), meaning "divine," "heavenly," or "deity," and nāgarī (नागरी), the feminine adjectival form of nāgara (नागर), referring to "of the city" or "urban." This etymology suggests a script associated with refined, city-based usage or sacred contexts, distinguishing it from more regional or vernacular writing systems prevalent in rural areas. The root name Nāgarī for the script is first attested by the CE, reflecting its establishment as a standard in northern , evolved from earlier forms. Early references to the script appear in medieval , including 12th-century works like Hemachandra's Yogaśāstra, where miniaturized forms of the script were employed for and texts, highlighting its role in scholarly and religious documentation. The prefixed form Devanagari first appeared in English around 1781 and gained prominence in European scholarship by the late , emphasizing the script's association with —the "language of the gods"—and solidifying its identity beyond the simpler Nāgarī designation used in earlier Indian contexts.

Alternative Names

Devanagari is commonly referred to by the alternative name Nāgarī, a term derived from its historical association with urban or northern Indian scribal traditions and used interchangeably to denote the same script in medieval manuscripts and inscriptions from the onward. This name emphasizes its evolution from Gupta-era precursors and its role in writing and . In colonial-era English-language scholarship and typography, the script was widely anglicized as Nagari, appearing in key works such as ' 1786 A of the Sanskrita Language and the publications of the Nagari Pracharini Sabha founded in to promote its standardization. This designation persisted in European orientalist texts through the 19th century, often without the "Deva-" prefix, to distinguish it from regional variants. In contemporary international standards, the script is officially recognized as Devanagari (Nagari) under code Deva (numeric 315), facilitating its encoding in digital systems for over 120 languages across . The name Devanagari itself evokes etymological roots as the "divine script," underscoring its sacred connotations in Hindu and Buddhist textual traditions.

History

Origins and Early Development

The Devanagari script traces its origins to the ancient , which first appeared in inscriptions dating to the 3rd century BCE during the Mauryan Empire. This system evolved through regional variations, with the of the 4th to 6th centuries CE serving as a crucial intermediary, introducing more fluid and angular letter forms that distinguished northern Indian writing traditions. The Gupta period marked a shift toward greater ornamental complexity, particularly in royal and religious inscriptions, setting the stage for the script's phonetic precision and visual uniformity. By the 7th century CE, transitional forms emerged as the Nagari script, a direct precursor to Devanagari, began to crystallize in northern , featuring the characteristic horizontal top line (shirorekha) and improved conjunct formations for complex syllables. Key examples of these early developments include the Udayagiri cave inscriptions and the Allahabad pillar inscription from the , which demonstrate evolving Brahmi-derived characters approaching Nagari aesthetics, though dated to the 5th century CE as foundational influences. Sanskrit grammarians, notably (c. 4th century BCE), played an indirect but foundational role in standardizing the phonetic basis for early letter shapes, as their systematic classification of sounds in works like the influenced the varṇamālā (alphabetical order) and syllabic structure adopted in Brahmi-derived scripts. This phonological framework ensured that evolving forms in the and Nagari periods aligned closely with Sanskrit's acoustic properties, promoting consistency in vowel diacritics and consonant clusters during the script's initial phases up to the medieval period.

Evolution in South Asia

During the 10th to 12th centuries, Devanagari underwent significant maturation in northern , evolving from earlier into a more uniform system through the efforts of Hindu and Jain scholars. These scholars, focused on preserving and texts central to religious and philosophical traditions, refined the script's phonetic structure, standardizing the arrangement of vowels before consonants and establishing consistent forms for matras (vowel diacritics) and basic aksharas (syllabic units). By the , the script had developed its characteristic shirorekha (horizontal top line) and vertical stems, achieving a stable modern appearance around the that facilitated precise representation of sounds in Vedic recitation and canonical works. The advent of printing technology transformed Devanagari's dissemination, beginning with early European prints and extending to India in the 18th and 19th centuries. The earliest extant printed Devanagari appeared in 1667 in Athanasius Kircher's China Illustrata, followed by examples in 1678 and later works. In India, Charles Wilkins cast the first metal Devanagari type in Calcutta in 1786, enabling the printing of Sanskrit and Urdu verses in 1789 at the Chronicle Press with assistance from local artisan Panchanan Karmakar. This innovation expanded rapidly; the Sanskrit Press, established around 1807 by Babu Ram near Fort William College, produced early typeset books in Devanagari, including Wilkins' 1808 A Grammar of the Sanskrita Language. The Serampore Mission Press, under Karmakar's influence, became a major center. In Bombay, Thomas Graham designed a new Devanagari font for Marathi in 1836, emphasizing legibility and rounded forms that influenced regional typography. These efforts not only standardized typographic representations but also increased the script's accessibility for educational and literary dissemination across . British colonial policies further shaped Devanagari's role in , particularly through administrative reforms that promoted its use for . In 1837, under Act XXIX, the replaced Persian as the court and with local vernaculars, including Hindustani written in Devanagari script in Hindu-majority regions like parts of and the , marking the beginning of Hindi's institutional adoption. This shift, aimed at facilitating and among the populace, elevated Devanagari from a primarily religious and literary medium to a tool of colonial administration, though it initially coexisted with Perso-Arabic scripts for . Over time, these policies spurred the production of official documents and school materials in Devanagari, solidifying its pan-Indian prominence. In the 20th century, Devanagari became closely associated with Indian nationalism and standardization efforts. Nationalist leaders such as Bal Gangadhar Tilak advocated for its use as a unifying script; in a 1905 speech at the Nagari Pracharini Sabha, Tilak promoted Devanagari as a pan-Indian script linked to national identity. Mahatma Gandhi similarly supported its role in the 1910s–1930s, including a 1936 declaration that Hindi would serve as India's national language. The Constitution of India (1950) designated Hindi in Devanagari script as the official language of the Union. Typographic standardization progressed with the 1953 Lucknow Conference, which recommended adopting Bombay-style letter forms for uniformity and typewriter compatibility, and the 1966 publication of the Mānak Devanāgari Varṇmālā by the Ministry of Education, which codified letter forms, conjunct rules, punctuation, and numerals. Regional differences persisted, particularly between Hindi and Marathi conventions, influencing later typographic practices.

Adoption in East Asia

The Devanagari script, along with its precursors like Nagari, spread to East Asia primarily through Buddhist missionaries who transmitted Sanskrit texts and religious practices starting in the 7th and 8th centuries CE. In Tibet, the script's influence is evident in the creation of the Tibetan script by Thonmi Sambhota around 630–650 CE, during the reign of King Songtsen Gampo, who sought to translate Buddhist scriptures from Sanskrit. Sambhota, sent to India to study writing systems, adapted elements of the Devanagari script—such as its abugida structure with consonants and vowel diacritics—to suit the Tibetan language, resulting in a script that retained visual similarities like stacked consonants and inherent vowels. This adaptation facilitated the massive translation projects from the 8th century onward, under figures like Padmasambhava, preserving thousands of Sanskrit Buddhist works in Tibetan monasteries. In , Buddhist missionaries from introduced Devanagari and related Nagari forms by the , influencing local scripts and inscriptions. Early evidence includes the Kalasan inscription from , dated 778 CE, which uses early Nagari script to record Sanskrit verses praising the Buddhist deity Tara and detailing the construction of a temple. This script appeared in Buddhist contexts across regions like and , where it blended with indigenous writing traditions derived from southern , aiding the spread of tantric and . Such transmissions occurred via maritime routes, with Indian monks establishing centers that adapted the script for and religious texts, though it largely gave way to localized variants like Kawi by the . By the 13th century, Devanagari's indirect influence reached through the Mongol Empire's adoption of , particularly in manuscripts blending elements with new scripts. The Phagspa script, invented in 1269 CE by the Tibetan monk Phagspa at the request of , was derived from the and thus incorporated Devanagari-inspired features like vertical stacking and vowel notations; it was used officially for Mongolian, Chinese, and in imperial documents and until the . Surviving Mongolian manuscripts from this era, such as those in collections, occasionally feature mantras in Devanagari alongside Phagspa, reflecting the empire's role in disseminating tantric from and . In , the Siddham script—a direct ancestor of Devanagari from the 6th–8th centuries—arrived via Chinese and Indian esoteric Buddhist missionaries in the 9th century and became integral to Shingon and traditions. Known as bonji ( characters), Siddham was used for writing mantras, seed syllables (bija), and ritual diagrams (mandalas), preserving its Devanagari-like forms in temple art and texts without significant alteration. Although its everyday use declined after the medieval period, modern revivals persist in academic studies and esoteric practices, with scholars and practitioners in Japan maintaining Siddham workshops and publications to decode ancient sutras.

Script Structure

Vowels

Devanagari features a set of independent vowel letters that encode the core vowel phonemes essential for writing and contemporary languages like , Marathi, and Nepali. These letters appear at the start of words, after another vowel, or in isolation, contrasting with dependent diacritics used in consonant-vowel combinations. The standard inventory comprises 11 primary vowels, with additional vocalic and extended forms bringing the total to 14, reflecting the script's phonetic precision for both classical and modern usage. The phonetic values of these vowels maintain distinctions between short and long pairs in Sanskrit, where length influences prosody and morphology; for instance, short vowels like /ɐ/ (a) and /i/ (i) contrast with their long counterparts /aː/ (ā) and /iː/ (ī), as articulated in classical grammars. In Hindi, these correspond to similar oppositions but with regional variations, such as the short a often reducing to a schwa /ə/ in non-initial positions and omitted in word-final contexts, aligning the script with spoken vernaculars. Vocalic vowels like ṛ (/r̩/ in Sanskrit, approximating /ɾɪ/ in Hindi) represent syllabic liquids, crucial for Vedic and classical texts. The forms of Devanagari's independent vowels exhibit significant stability, traceable to the era (c. 320–550 CE), during which they transitioned from angular Brahmi prototypes into curved, horizontal-barred shapes that prefigure modern Nagari. This evolution, documented in epigraphic records, saw minimal alterations by the , solidifying the vowel repertoire amid broader script standardization across northern .
Devanagari LetterTransliterationSanskrit IPAHindi Approximate English Equivalent
अa/ɐ/uh (as in about)
आā/aː/ah (as in father)
इi/i/i (as in sit)
ईī/iː/ee (as in see)
उu/u/u (as in put)
ऊū/uː/oo (as in boot)
ऋṛ/r̩/ri (as in rhythm)
ॠṝ/r̩ː/ree (lengthened vocalic r)
ऌḷ/l̩/li (as in million, syllabic)
ॡḹ/l̩ː/lee (lengthened vocalic l)
एe/eː/ay (as in they)
ऐai/ai/eye (as in aisle)
ओo/oː/oh (as in go)
औau/au/ow (as in house)
These independent vowels combine with consonants through dependent matra forms, which are abbreviated versions attached to the right, left, above, or below the consonant.

Consonants

The Devanagari script employs 33 basic consonants, organized systematically to reflect phonetic principles of articulation. These letters represent stops, nasals, , fricatives, and an aspirate, with distinctions in voicing and aspiration that allow for precise differentiation in languages like and . The core structure consists of five vargas (groups), each comprising five consonants articulated at a specific place in the vocal tract: an unvoiced unaspirated , unvoiced aspirated , voiced unaspirated , voiced aspirated , and a corresponding nasal. This classification underscores the script's phonetic sophistication, grouping sounds by point of articulation from the to the lips. The vargas are as follows:
Varga (Group)Unvoiced UnaspiratedUnvoiced AspiratedVoiced UnaspiratedVoiced AspiratedNasal
(Ka-varga)क (ka)ख (kha)ग (ga)घ (gha)ङ (ṅa)
Palatal (Ca-varga)च (ca)छ (cha)ज (ja)झ (jha)ञ (ña)
Retroflex (Ṭa-varga)ट (ṭa)ठ (ṭha)ड (ḍa)ढ (ḍha)ण (ṇa)
Dental (Ta-varga)त (ta)थ (tha)द (da)ध (dha)न (na)
Labial (Pa-varga)प (pa)फ (pha)ब (ba)भ (bha)म (ma)
These 25 consonants from the vargas are supplemented by four semivowels (य ya, र ra, ल la, व va), three (श śa, ष ṣa, स sa), and the glottal aspirate ह (ha), completing the set of 33. A distinctive phonetic feature of Devanagari consonants is the retroflex series in the ṭa-varga (ट, ठ, ड, ढ, ण), produced by curling the toward the —a articulation pattern characteristic of and absent in many other Indo-European branches. In isolation or default form, each carries an inherent short 'a' (schwa-like /ə/ or open /a/), so that क denotes "ka" rather than a pure /k/ ; this inherent can be modified or suppressed using diacritics for other vocalic qualities.

Vowel Diacritics

In Devanagari, dependent signs, known as matras, are diacritical marks that attach to letters to indicate s other than the inherent /a/ , forming syllabic units. These matras replace the default and are essential for accurate pronunciation, appearing in positions relative to the base or conjunct cluster. Unlike independent letters, which stand alone, matras are always combined with s. The forms of matras vary by vowel phoneme and include both short and long variants, with positions typically to the left, right, above, or below the consonant. For instance, the short /i/ is represented by ि (U+093F), placed to the left of the consonant, as in कि (ka + i = ki). The long /ī/ uses ी (U+0940), which logically follows the consonant but renders to the right after visual reordering, as in की (ka + ī = kī). Similarly, /u/ is marked below with ु (U+0941), forming कु (ka + u = ku), while its long counterpart ū employs ू (U+0942), as in कू. The /ā/ sound attaches to the right via ा (U+093E), yielding का (ka + ā = kā). For /e/, े (U+0947) positions primarily to the right with an above component, as in के; /ai/ uses ै (U+0948), combining right and above elements in कै; /o/ is ो (U+094B) to the right and above in को; and /au/ is ौ (U+094C) similarly in कौ. Vocalic /ṛ/ appears below as ृ (U+0943) in कृ, with long ॄ (U+0944) in कॄ. These positions ensure compact syllable formation, with left-side matras like those for /i/ and /ī/ requiring rendering engines to reorder them visually for proper display. Placement rules dictate that matras are encoded in phonetic order following the consonant but may visually precede it, particularly for left-positioned forms, to maintain readability in clusters. In consonant clusters, a matra applies to the entire unit, with left-side signs shifting before the whole group, as in मुश्किल (muśkil), where the /i/ matra precedes the cluster. Special orthographic traditions, such as Prishthamatra, use additional left-side forms like ऎ (U+094E) combined with others for /e/ and /ai/ sounds. Variations in are distinguished by distinct shapes: short s use simpler forms (e.g., ि for /i/, ु for /u/), while long ones add extensions (e.g., ी for /ī/, ू for /ū/). modifies these further, typically via ं (U+0902), a dot above the or , indicating a or , as in कं (kaṃ) or अंग्रेज़ (aṅgrez). Alternatively, candrabindu ँ (U+0901), a with dot above, denotes pure , seen in नहीँ (nahī̃). These diacritics integrate seamlessly, with often positioned after above-extending matras to avoid overlap.
Vowel SoundShort Matra (Code Point)ExampleLong Matra (Code Point)Example
/i/ - /ī/ि (U+093F, left)किी (U+0940, right)की
/u/ - /ū/ु (U+0941, below)कुू (U+0942, below)कू
/ā/ा (U+093E, right)का(N/A, as /ā/ is long)का
/e/े (U+0947, right/above)के(N/A)के
/ai/ै (U+0948, right/above)कै(N/A)कै
/o/ो (U+094B, right/above)को(N/A)को
/au/ौ (U+094C, right/above)कौ(N/A)कौ
/ṛ/ - /ṝ/ृ (U+0943, below)कृॄ (U+0944, below)कॄ

Conjunct Consonants

In Devanagari script, conjunct consonants, also known as consonant clusters or ligatures, are formed by combining two or more consonants without intervening vowels, allowing for the representation of complex phonetic sequences common in languages like Sanskrit. The key mechanism for this is the halant (virama) mark, denoted as U+094D (्), which suppresses the inherent vowel sound (typically /a/) associated with each consonant, transforming it into a "dead consonant" that can stack or ligate with subsequent consonants. For instance, the sequence क (ka) + ् (halant) + त (ta) yields क्त (kta), where the halant enables the vertical or horizontal stacking of the consonants. The formation of conjuncts follows specific rendering rules outlined in the Unicode standard, primarily through glyph substitution in fonts. A basic rule (R1) states that a consonant followed by the halant creates a dead consonant, which then interacts with a following "live" consonant (one with its inherent vowel or a diacritic) to form a conjunct. If a predefined ligature glyph exists, it replaces the sequence (Rule R11); otherwise, the dead consonant appears as a "half-form" (a modified shape of the consonant, often the upper half), with the subsequent consonant rendered as a subscript below or to the side. Common ligatures include क्ष (kṣa), formed from क (ka) + ् + ष (ṣa), which visually fuses into a single compact glyph resembling a conjoined k and retroflex ṣ. Other frequent examples are त्र (tra) from त (ta) + ् + र (ra), and ज्ञ (jña) from ज (ja) + ् + ञ (ña), each adhering to these substitution rules for efficient typesetting. Visual representation of conjuncts varies by typographic style and font , influencing and across printed and . In traditional styles, such as those used in classical texts, ligatures are highly stylized and compact, often reducing multiple consonants into intricate, fused shapes to maintain horizontal space efficiency. Modern fonts, particularly for digital interfaces, may simplify these by using half-forms more prominently or inserting a visible halant (via , U+200C) to prevent unwanted ligation, ensuring clarity in languages with simpler . For example, the ligature क्ष might appear as a seamless blend in serif fonts like those for scholarly works, but as distinct half and full forms in designs for contemporary publications. Usage of conjunct consonants differs significantly by language, reflecting phonetic and grammatical needs. In Sanskrit, where consonant clusters are phonemically rich and frequent due to its morphological complexity, Devanagari employs a wide array of ligatures—up to three or more consonants stacked—to accurately transcribe intricate sounds, as seen in Vedic hymns and philosophical texts. In contrast, Hindi relies on fewer and simpler conjuncts, often limited to two consonants, as its phonology favors vowel harmony and avoids the dense clustering of Sanskrit loanwords unless borrowed directly, resulting in more straightforward rendering in everyday writing. This variation underscores Devanagari's adaptability, with Sanskrit demanding robust ligature support while Hindi prioritizes legibility in modern contexts.

Additional Elements

Numerals

The Devanagari numeral system consists of ten basic digits, denoted as ०, १, २, ३, ४, ५, ६, ७, ८, and ९, which represent the numbers zero through nine in a (base-10) . These numerals evolved from the ancient Brahmi numeral system, which originated in the around the 3rd century BCE and developed through intermediate forms such as the numerals during the 4th to 6th centuries CE. By the 7th to 8th centuries, proto-Devanagari forms began appearing in inscriptions, marking the transition to the more standardized shapes used today. Visually distinct from the Western Arabic numerals (0–9) that dominate global usage, Devanagari digits feature unique curvatures and strokes adapted to the script's overall aesthetic. For instance, the digit for one (१) appears as a vertical line topped with a horizontal , differing from the plain vertical of 1, while four (४) resembles three stacked horizontal lines crossed by a vertical one, unlike the enclosed triangle of 4. The (०) is characteristically a simple circle, symbolizing emptiness in line with its Sanskrit etymology from śūnya ("void"). These forms ensure compatibility with the structure of Devanagari, where numerals can integrate seamlessly with alphabetic characters in compound words or dates within texts.
Devanagari DigitWestern Arabic EquivalentDescription
०Circle representing
१1Vertical stroke with top
२2Curved hook with base line
३3Two stacked curves
४4Three horizontal lines crossed vertically
५5Vertical with rightward curve
६6Inverted hook
७7Horizontal with right slash
८8Two stacked circles
९9Curved top with vertical base
Historically, Devanagari numerals appeared in dates on inscriptions as early as the CE, such as in temple records and royal charters across northern , where they recorded years in the Śaka or Vikrama calendars. This usage facilitated precise chronological documentation in and texts, predating their widespread adoption in printed materials from the onward. Today, they remain standard in , Marathi, Nepali, and other languages, though Western are increasingly common in digital and international contexts. Although the forms illustrated follow widely used standardized shapes codified in the 1966 Mānak Devanāgari Varṇmālā, regional variations in preferences for alternative numeral shapes persist, particularly for digits १ (1), ५ (5), ८ (8), and ९ (9). A survey of 387 participants from India and Nepal revealed a north-south divide: northern users (including Hindi and Nepali writers) often preferred specific variants for 5 and 8, while Marathi speakers in Maharashtra favored different variants for 1, 5, and 8. Nepali participants showed strong preferences for certain forms of 1 and 8, and overall modern forms tended to achieve higher recognition. These findings recommend that font designers prioritize broadly accepted variants for general use while accommodating regional preferences for targeted audiences.

Punctuation and Diacritics

In Devanagari, the (ं, U+0902 DEVANAGARI SIGN ANUSVARA) functions as a to indicate of the preceding or a homorganic at the end of a syllable, commonly used in both and . This mark, also known as bindu, appears above the baseline and adapts phonetically based on the following sound in classical rules. The candrabindu (ँ, U+0901 DEVANAGARI SIGN CANDRABINDU) is another for nasalizing s, often used interchangeably with in modern but distinct in form as a crescent-shaped mark above the character, particularly for independent s. The (ः, U+0903 DEVANAGARI SIGN VISARGA) denotes a or breathy release following a , transcribed as 'ḥ' in IAST and essential for pronunciation, though less frequent in modern . In Vedic texts, it may combine with tone marks for recitation purposes. The avagraha (ऽ, U+093D DEVANAGARI SIGN AVAGRAHA) serves as a diacritic primarily in Sanskrit to represent the elision of a final short 'a' (as in sandhi) or to elongate vowels, functioning similarly to an apostrophe in elisions like devaḥ for devaḥ agniḥ. It is a spacing mark and appears less commonly in contemporary non-Sanskrit Devanagari usage. The nukta (् below a consonant, U+093C DEVANAGARI SIGN NUKTA) is a subjoined dot used to modify base to represent sounds borrowed from Persian and , such as in for letters like ज़ (z), फ़ (f), and क़ (q). It is essential for writing Urdu-influenced words in Devanagari script. Traditional Devanagari punctuation includes the single (।, U+0964 DEVANAGARI DANDA), which marks the end of a sentence or , akin to a , and the double (॥, U+0965 DEVANAGARI DOUBLE DANDA), used to conclude verses or sections in poetic or scriptural texts. These vertical bars derive from ancient Indic conventions and are integral to classical . In modern printed materials, especially for and other vernaculars, Western such as periods (.), commas (,), and question marks (?) is frequently adopted for readability, while dandas persist in religious or formal contexts.

Fonts and Typography

Devanagari typography encompasses a range of styles that balance legibility, aesthetic tradition, and functional demands of print and . Major typographic styles include the Bombay style, characterized by rounded letterforms with bold curves and smooth terminals, which enhances readability in dense text settings such as newspapers. In contrast, the Calcutta style features stiffer, more angular forms with higher stroke contrast, reflecting influences from early metal type production and steel-nib . These regional variations originated in the 19th century: Calcutta-style fonts emerged from early efforts in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, including those by Charles Wilkins in 1786 and the Serampore Mission Press, while Bombay-style fonts developed from Thomas Graham's 1836 design at the American Mission Press, emphasizing rounded forms and legibility suited to lithography. Further influential contributions came from Javaji Dadaji's Nirnay Sagar Press, established in 1869 in Bombay, which produced around 20 highly legible fonts for Sanskrit religious texts and Marathi publications, continuing the degree system for efficient typesetting and shaping Devanagari typography into the 20th century. The Bombay style's moderate modulation and condensed structure support efficient for body text and display in publications like Marathi and dailies. Rendering Devanagari text presents challenges due to its complex script structure, particularly the formation of conjunct consonants through substitutions. features, such as the Glyph Composition/Decomposition (ccmp) and Below-Base Substitutions (blws), enable precise handling of these combinations by replacing sequences of base and marks with precomposed forms or repositioned elements. These features ensure proper visual ligation and stacking for below-base marks, maintaining typographic harmony across weights from light to black. Modern font families like Noto Sans Devanagari exemplify contemporary design approaches, offering an unmodulated style with 954 glyphs to support comprehensive Devanagari coverage for digital interfaces and print. This family prioritizes humanist proportions and open counters for improved legibility in user interfaces. Historical type design for Devanagari traces back to 19th-century efforts, notably at the , where punchcutter refined fonts starting in 1803, producing durable metal types for biblical translations and vernacular texts despite initial quality limitations. Later innovations, such as Thomas Graham's 1836 Bombay-style font at the American Mission Press, introduced degree-based sorting for efficient composition, influencing enduring print standards. In contemporary digital typography, designers benefit from empirical research on regional form preferences. A survey of Devanagari users indicates variations in recognition and preference for certain letterforms and numerals across regions and languages, recommending the prioritization of widely recognized modern forms for broad accessibility while allowing targeted adaptations for specific linguistic communities such as Hindi, Marathi, or Nepali speakers. The standardized forms codified in the 1966 Mānak Devanāgari Varṇmālā have significantly influenced digital encodings and remain foundational for many contemporary fonts.

Variations

Archaic Forms

The archaic forms of the Devanagari script trace their origins to the Gupta period (circa 4th–6th century CE), where letter shapes exhibited more pronounced rounded and cursive characteristics compared to the angular strokes of earlier Brahmi scripts, reflecting adaptations for inscription on diverse materials like stone and metal. For instance, the ka (क) in Gupta-era examples often appeared with elongated loops and softer curves, contrasting with the more linear and standardized angular of modern Devanagari forms, which prioritize uniformity in print and digital . These rounded features contributed to the fluid aesthetic of early glyphs before the introduction of the vertical aakara line and horizontal shirorekha (headstroke) rigidified shapes. In the 8th–10th centuries, the Śāradā script, a northwestern descendant of the , developed in parallel to proto-Devanagari (Nagari) through shared manuscript traditions in and northern , where elongated and ornate letter forms were employed for religious texts. Manuscripts from this era, such as those preserving Vedic and Tantric literature, showcase transitional glyphs with fuller curves and variant conjuncts that prefigure Devanagari's (vowel ) placements, though Śāradā's distinct slanted baseline and loop-heavy vowels highlight its independent development. These shared scribal practices blended rounded legacies with emerging linearity that would define later Nagari variants. Archaic Devanagari forms are primarily preserved through paleographic studies of rare inscriptions and birch-bark manuscripts, which document evolution across media like plates and temple epigraphs from the and post-Gupta periods. Scholars analyze these artifacts to reconstruct phonetic and stylistic shifts, such as the simplification of loops in consonants, ensuring historical continuity amid the script's broader from Brahmi derivatives.

Regional Adaptations

Devanagari exhibits regional adaptations tailored to the phonological needs and orthographic preferences of specific languages, resulting in additional characters, variant forms, and distinct representations while maintaining the core structure of consonants, vowels, and diacritics. Devanagari numeral glyphs within the range U+0966–U+096F feature variant forms in some regional typographies, such as for digit 5 (५, sometimes cursive-like), 8 (८, with an upper in some fonts), and 9 (९, mirrored '3' style in certain traditions), reflecting stylistic adaptations for clarity in printing and digital rendering. Marathi Devanagari employs the style, a regional variant originating from 17th-century adaptations that features thicker strokes, rounded curves, and distinct proportions for letters like ड (ḍa) and श (śa) compared to Hindi's more angular Kaithi-influenced typefaces. These stylistic differences enhance Marathi's visual identity in and signage, accommodating its phonological features without altering the script's fundamental syllable formation. For other languages, Bodo uses additional vowel signs like ॠ (ṝ) and ॡ (ḷ), while Maithili incorporates variant conjunct forms and occasional use of distinct glyphs for sounds influenced by its eastern Indo-Aryan , such as emphasized retroflexes. Since the , modern reforms in education have promoted simplified Devanagari forms to facilitate literacy, including streamlined glyphs and reduced complexity in school primers, as endorsed by the Indian Constitution's adoption of in Devanagari under Article 343 and subsequent standardization efforts by the . These changes, implemented through government resolutions in the post-independence era, prioritize phonetic consistency and ease of learning, such as optional halant (्) suppression in certain educational texts to avoid intricate ligatures, thereby broadening access to in primary schooling across northern . A 2022 Typotheque survey of 387 participants, primarily Hindi, Marathi, and Nepali users, examined preferences for 14 Devanagari characters and numerals. Overall, modern standardized forms (often termed Form 1) were generally preferred across most characters, reflecting the influence of post-1966 standardization. Regional and age-based variations persist, however: Marathi speakers, particularly older ones (45+), showed higher preference for traditional forms such as la2 (ल variant) compared to Hindi users; Nepali users strongly favored variants like cha2 (च) and jha2 (झ); and numeral preferences differed, with northern (Hindi) users often preferring certain forms for digits 5 and 8, while Marathi users favored others. Younger participants generally leaned toward modern forms. These findings highlight the continued relevance of regional traditions in contemporary typography and font design, guiding efforts to balance standardization with local user preferences.

Transliteration and Romanization

IAST

The (IAST) is a diacritic-based scheme designed for the precise representation of texts written in Devanagari script, enabling scholars to reconstruct the original without loss of . Developed in the amid growing European interest in Indian linguistics, IAST emerged from proposals by orientalists such as Charles Trevelyan, William Jones, and , and was formalized as a standard at the Tenth International Congress of Orientalists in in 1894, where scholars like Émile Senart and G.T. Plunkett contributed to its adoption for consistent scholarly of Indic scripts. This system prioritizes academic utility, allowing for the faithful rendering of Devanagari's phonetic nuances in Latin characters, and has remained the in Indological publications for over a century. IAST maps Devanagari characters to the Roman alphabet using diacritical marks to distinguish phonemes that lack direct equivalents in English, such as retroflex sounds and vocalic liquids. The scheme covers all s (distinguishing short and long forms), consonants (grouped by articulatory class), and additional marks like and . Below is a representative mapping:
CategoryDevanagariIASTDescription/Example
Vowels (Short)अaNeutral vowel, as in "cut"
इiShort "i", as in "bit"
उuShort "u", as in "put"
ऋṛVocalic "r", syllabic liquid
ऌḷVocalic "l", rare syllabic liquid
Vowels (Long)आāLong "a", as in ""
ईī", as in "machine"
ऊūLong "u", as in "rule"
ॠṝLong vocalic "r"
ॡḹLong vocalic "l", very rare
DiphthongsएeAs in "say" (monophthongal)
ऐaiAs in ""
ओoAs in "go" (monophthongal)
औauAs in "out"
Consonants (Gutturals)कkUnaspirated "k"
खkhAspirated "kh"
गgUnaspirated "g"
घghAspirated "gh"
ङṅNasal "ng"
Consonants (Palatals)चcUnaspirated "ch" (as in "church")
छchAspirated "ch"
जjUnaspirated "j"
झjhAspirated "jh"
ञñPalatal nasal "ny"
Consonants (Retroflex)टṭRetroflex "t" (tongue curled back)
ठṭhAspirated retroflex "ṭh"
डḍRetroflex "d"
ढḍhAspirated retroflex "ḍh"
णṇRetroflex nasal "ṇ"
Consonants (Dentals)तtDental "t"
थthAspirated dental "th"
दdDental "d"
धdhAspirated dental "dh"
नnDental nasal "n"
Consonants (Labials)पpUnaspirated "p"
फphAspirated "ph" (as "f")
बbUnaspirated "b"
भbhAspirated "bh"
मmBilabial nasal "m"
SemivowelsयyPalatal "y"
रrFlap "r"
लlDental "l"
वvLabiodental "v" or "w"
SibilantsशśPalatal sibilant "sh"
षṣRetroflex sibilant "sh"
सsDental "s"
AspirateहhGlottal "h"
Marksंṃ (nasalization)
ःḥ (aspiration, "ḥ")
This mapping ensures one-to-one correspondence, with diacritics like the dot under ṭ, ḍ, ṇ, ṣ (for retroflexion), the ñ, ṅ (for nasals), and the macron ā, ī (for length). For instance, श is rendered as ś using a , and ऋ as ṛ with an underdot and stroke. IAST's primary advantages lie in its precision for , where (e.g., a vs. ā) affects meaning and meter, and consonant distinctions (e.g., aspirated vs. unaspirated) are phonemic—features critical for accurate recitation, grammatical analysis, and in scholarly contexts. By employing diacritics sparingly yet systematically, it facilitates unambiguous reading of Devanagari texts in non-native scripts, supporting research across , , and without altering pronunciation cues. This fidelity to Sanskrit's phonological structure distinguishes IAST as an essential tool for academics, enabling consistent citation and cross-referencing in global scholarship.

ISO 15919

is an international standard published by the (ISO) in 2001, providing a systematic scheme for transliterating Devanagari and related Indic scripts into Latin characters using diacritics. This standard applies to a range of languages written in Devanagari, including , , Marathi, and Nepali, as well as scripts such as Bengali, Gujarati, , , , Oriya, Sinhala, Tamil, and Telugu, independent of the historical period or specific linguistic context. It builds on earlier systems like the (IAST) by maintaining compatibility for while extending applicability to modern non-Sanskrit languages across . The scheme employs diacritical marks to represent phonetic distinctions in Devanagari, ensuring a one-to-one mapping between script characters and Latin equivalents. For instance, the sibilant श is transliterated as ś, combining the base 's' with an acute accent to denote the palatal sound, while the short vocalic ऌ is rendered as l̥, using a combining dot below to indicate the syllabic l. Aspirated consonants, crucial in languages like Hindi, are handled by appending 'h' to the base letter, such as kh for ख (voiceless aspirated velar stop) and gh for घ (voiced aspirated velar stop), preserving distinctions that may vary in pronunciation across dialects or from classical Sanskrit norms. Although Hindi lacks lexical tones, the standard accommodates potential suprasegmental features in other Indic languages through its flexible diacritic framework, prioritizing phonetic accuracy over simplified romanization. Since its adoption in the early 2000s, has been integrated into various digital tools and libraries to facilitate cross-script processing and accessibility. The Consortium's Common Locale Data Repository (CLDR) incorporates ISO 15919-based transformation rules for Indic scripts, enabling software to convert Devanagari text to Latin transliterations programmatically. Python libraries such as iso15919 provide implementations specifically for Devanagari-to-Latin conversion, supporting applications in and projects. These tools have enhanced the standard's utility in multilingual computing environments, ensuring consistent across operating systems and platforms.

Other Schemes

The Hunterian system, developed during British colonial rule in the and officially adopted as India's national standard by the , provides a phonetic without diacritics, using digraphs such as "sh" for श to approximate sounds in English. This approach prioritizes simplicity and readability in English contexts, making it suitable for official documents and geographical names, though it conflates distinctions like श and ष both as "sh," reducing precision compared to diacritic-based benchmarks like IAST. Harvard-Kyoto is an ASCII-compatible scheme originating from a collaboration between and , designed for efficient input of and Devanagari texts on standard keyboards; it maps characters using uppercase for long vowels and unique letters like "z" for ś. This system facilitates digital processing without special fonts but sacrifices visual clarity due to its unconventional assignments, such as "f" for pha (फ). ITRANS extends into a versatile preprocessor for converting romanized input to Devanagari and other Indic scripts, incorporating the Velthuis subset—an ASCII method using tildes for diacritics, such as ".s" for ś—to support output and multiple languages like and . Developed by Avinash Chopde since 1991, it enables user-friendly typing with features like automatic vowel insertion, though its complexity in installation and encoding options (7-bit ITRANS or 8-bit CSX) can pose challenges for non-experts. The Velthuis subset specifically enhances -based typesetting by avoiding font dependencies. ALA-LC romanization, standardized by the and the , applies a diacritic-heavy system akin to scholarly conventions for cataloging and materials, rendering श as ś and incorporating rules for anusvāra (e.g., ṅ before gutturals) to preserve phonetic accuracy. It supports implicit 'a' after consonants and context-specific nasalization, ensuring consistency in bibliographic records but requiring support for proper display. WX notation serves by providing a ASCII encoding for Indian languages, where matras are denoted with underscores (e.g., k_a for का) and consonants use symbols like "S" for श, enabling seamless across scripts without diacritics. Its advantages include efficiency, prefix-code structure for unambiguous , and improved in tasks like —boosting scores by up to 10 points for related language pairs—due to phonological alignment; however, it compromises human readability and is less intuitive for non-technical users compared to phonetic schemes.

Digital Representation

Encodings

Devanagari characters are encoded in the Unicode Standard within the Devanagari block, spanning code points U+0900 to U+097F, which was introduced in version 1.1 released in June 1993. This block includes 128 code points for consonants, vowels, digits, and other symbols used in languages such as Hindi, Marathi, Nepali, and Sanskrit. Additional characters are provided in the Devanagari Extended block (U+A8E0–U+A8FF, added in Unicode 14.0, September 2021) and Devanagari Extended-A block (U+A9E0–U+A9FF, added in Unicode 15.0, September 2023), supporting extended forms for scripts like Santali and historical notations. As of Unicode 16.0 (September 2024), no further additions to these blocks have been made, though proposals for new characters such as DEVANAGARI LETTER ALTERNATE DDDA are under consideration for future versions. Vowel signs, known as matras, are represented as combining characters (e.g., U+093F DEVANAGARI VOWEL SIGN I), which attach to preceding base consonants to form syllables, enabling flexible composition in digital text. Prior to Unicode's widespread adoption, the Indian Script Code for Information Interchange (ISCII) served as a key precursor for encoding Devanagari and other Indic scripts, with its initial version developed in 1988 by India's Department of Electronics. ISCII uses a 7-bit code structure compatible with ASCII environments, allowing representation of Indian languages in a single through a shared phonetic layout across scripts, where, for instance, the code for "ka" renders as क in Devanagari. This standard was later formalized as IS 13194 in 1991, influencing Unicode's Indic blocks by aligning code positions for common phonemes. Rendering Devanagari in involves challenges related to normalization forms, particularly Canonical Composition (NFC) and Canonical Decomposition (NFD), which affect how combining marks and (U+094D DEVANAGARI SIGN VIRAMA) form conjunct consonants. In NFD, precomposed characters into base letters and separate matras or viramas, potentially reordering sequences and complicating glyph shaping for conjuncts like क्ष (kṣa), where improper decomposition can lead to visual fragmentation or incorrect ligature formation. NFC recomposes where possible but excludes certain Devanagari-specific forms, requiring applications to handle long combining sequences (up to 30 non-starters) via stream-safe processing to ensure consistent rendering across systems.

Keyboard Layouts

The layout serves as the official standard for inputting Devanagari and other Indian scripts on computers, established by the through the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (CDAC) in the 1990s to promote uniformity across languages. This layout maps Devanagari characters to a standard keyboard in a phonetic and logical manner, where consonants like क (ka) are accessed via the 'k' key, vowels such as आ (ā) via 'a' with modifiers, and matras (vowel signs) using adjacent keys for efficiency; for instance, typing 'k' followed by 'i' produces कि (ki). It supports over 20 Indian languages and is integrated into operating systems like Windows and , facilitating direct character input without . Phonetic keyboard layouts, popularized by tools like Input Tools, enable users to type Devanagari by entering Romanized approximations that are automatically transliterated into the script, making it accessible for non-native typists familiar with English keyboards. For example, typing "ka" yields का, while "" produces नमस्ते, with the system handling conjuncts and vowel signs contextually; this method supports real-time prediction and correction for , , and other Devanagari-based languages. Windows also offers built-in Indic Phonetic keyboards that function similarly, allowing seamless switching between English and Devanagari input on desktops and mobiles via apps like . Legacy typewriter layouts, such as the Remington style introduced in the 1920s by the company, were among the first mechanical input methods for Devanagari and remain influential in modern software emulations for typing. This layout assigns characters to keys based on typewriter ergonomics, with keys like 'd' for ड (ḍa) and 'f' for फ (pha), requiring shift combinations for matras and conjuncts; it was widely adopted in for official documents until the digital era. Today, adaptations like the Remington-GAIL variant in tools such as Keyman preserve this for users preferring traditional mappings on Unicode-compliant systems, including mobile keyboards that replicate the layout for touch input.

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