02 The देवनागरी Script
2.0
2.1
Learning the nāgari script is made somewhat simpler by the fact noted above (1.1) of each letter’s representing one, and only one, phonetic entity.
The script with its correct transliteration is as follows: FC (svara):
अ = a …
औ = au *This sound, vocalic !, is articulated as an 1 preceding the vowel s. It is almost non-existent in Sanskrit and you need not be too concerned with it.
USA (vyanjana):
स्पर्श
3thildas 31:281 3647 varga
sparsa anunāsika antaḥstha üşman
-V-A -VA V -A +V+A +V TV कण्ठ्य kanthya ka kha ga gha
[ha]
वर्ग
5
na
तालव्य tālavya
15.. noen
मूर्धन्य mūrdhanya
ta
da
dha
दन्त्य dantya
a ta
tha
da
dha
na
ओष्ठ्य osthya
palpha ba | bha 1 ma
‘-V non-voiced; -A non-aspirate; +V voiced; +A aspirate
& voiced, not considered a marker of sibilant varga, although it is an 3,647 (līşman) variants: for 31 (a)- 7
for (ha)—
for of (na) — 21 additional signs: i-m (anusvāra) e.g., 31-am
1:4ḥ (visarga) e.g., 31:-aḥ
(see 1.18.c) Notice that the script typically frames the distinctive portion of a given letter with a vertical and a horizontal line (1). In writing, the distinctive portion is written first, then the vertical line, and only last is the top line added; e.g., to write “ja” (51) In general, write left to right and top to bottom;
—.2.2
2.3
152 37 (ja) 11 12 9(pa) 1 a 12 a(va) 19 12 (bha) Note that in the list of nāgari symbols, each consonant has been transliterated with the vowel “a” (37) although this is not indicated in the script. Herein lies the basis and the central peculiarity of the devanāgari writing system; i.e., that the vowel “a” (31), by far the most frequently recurring vowel in Sanskrit, is considered, without any graphic representation, to follow every consonant symbol unless it is otherwise indicated. This fact explains in whole or in part, the use of the three most striking and initially confusing features of the script: (1) the use of vowel signs, (2) the non-vowel sign or virāma, and (3) conjunct consonants. Vowels and vowel signs. The symbols for the svara, or vowel sounds, are given in order at 2.1 above. A major peculiarity of the system is that these signs are used only in those cases in which a vowel begins a syllable (regard less of word boundary) and does not form a part of a syllable begun by a preceding consonant. (See below 2.23.)
2.4
In cases in which a vowel does not begin a syllable, and these form the greatest majority of instances, the vowels are each represented by a special post-consonantal ligature or symbol. Sanskrit’s most commonly occurring vowel, “31 (a)," has no post-consonantal symbol and is assumed after every conso nantal sign if not otherwise indicated (2.3). Thus the simple sign for any consonant is to be read as that consonant followed by a. So t = ka, 7 = ca, y = ya, 9 = gha, etc. The word oda is to be read as kavaca. The word Te is to be read as gagana. The post-consonantal forms for the other vowels replace “a.” They are as follows: (All are shown with the consonant “F” to indicate proper placement.)
310;pka
3111; kā 3*f; ki $ » ; ki 3+, i ku
Foto; kū #+ ; k;
→ ;*-kai 317 → ;ko 31 ; kau
*See note to 2.1 Note that in the case of the vowel symbols themselves, there is a general typological similarity between long and short vowel signs of the same point of articulation. Keeping this in mind will aid memorization. One or two points concerning the post-consonantal vowel signs require special attention. a. By far the greatest source of confusion, especially in the
writing of the script, is the fact that the post-consonantal sign for 3, f(“i”) is written “before,” i.e., to the left of the consonant it follows, despite the fact that the vowel sound follows the consonant.
D
2.10
2.11
16
2.12
2.13
b. The subscribed signs ( ),(,) and (.) are written in
special form or placed in special juxtaposition with a few consonants. i. Thus, the “u” signs (,) and ( ) are attached at the
right middle of the consonant ? (r), while the short
sign is inverted. Thus ru, rū. ii. The vowel "" sign is very closely combined with the
consonant & d; thus & dr. iii. It is also placed peculiarly in juxtaposition with <-h;
thus -hr. Thus far, the issue of writing post-consonantal vowels is clear. A consonant is written and read as being followed by a vowel “a” unless it is marked by the sign for another vowel.
The simplest way of indicating a consonant not followed by a vowel is to append to the consonant a short stroke, called virāma, which signals the elision of the inherent vowel “a.” Thus 2-t; pad; * rc; etc. This sign is sometimes used in printed texts to separate words when a word boundary falls within a conjunct, but is generally restricted in use to the elucidation of particularly complex conjuncts (e.g., 452 or 47 (pañktyā]) and to marking consonants that occur in absolute final position. (See below 3.25.) Consonant sequences. (Conjunct consonants) The zero form of the non-syllable-initial"a" vowel, which lends a certain elegance to the nāgari system of writing, creates, at the same time, a problem in the script-realization of sequences of consonants with no intervening vowel.
This problem is handled by the script in an ingenious but slightly clumsy manner. Only the final consonant of a sequence ap pears in its full form while only the distinctive portions of the earlier members of the sequence are prefixed to it.
2.14
2.15
17
2.16
2.17
2.18
2.19
Thus, if we wish to properly write the sequence “tva,” we can not write ala as this would yield “tava.” The proper method then is to take the distinctive portion of a, that is 5, and prefix it to the 7. Thus, the proper result is a “tva.” Most conjunct clusters are transparent and are evidently the lateral or vertical sequences of distinctive portions of conso nants prefixed to the final member of the cluster. Consonants, like 47,7,7, etc., which have their distinctive portion well to the left of the vertical line, tend to form hori zontal (i.e., left to right) conjuncts with similar following consonants. For example,
त्म-tma, क्व—kva, भ्य–bhya, स्थ—stha,
Fl-sya, Fa-sva, 24tya, -hya, etc. . When final members of a cluster have a chiefly vertical axis (distinctive portion on, on both sides of, or in place of the ver tical line) or have a horizontal axis, but occupy only a small vertical space compared to the height of the full vertical line (e.g., 9, , ,, etc.), the cluster may be written vertically. For example,
प्ति—pti, धो—ddho, ष्ट-sta, ट—tta. In general, read the clusters as they are written, i.e., left to right and top to bottom. A few consonants have special reduced or altered forms when they occur in conjunction with other consonants. These re quire special note. a. Hś, when followed by a consonant, with which it com
bines vertically (see 2.19) (and, irregularly, by a subscribed
vowel sign) is generally changed to 4. For example,
1śca, 8-śva, (and 4śu, L śr) but 4śya, 34–śma. b. 3-ra has two peculiar forms when in conjunction depend
ing upon whether it is first or non-first in a conjunct.
2.20
2.21
2.22
i. When first, it appears as a superscribed hook, which is
always written as far to the right as possible over the last member of the conjunct or the last member’s vowel sign, whichever is farthest right. If, however, the syl lable of which the “r” is the initial, ends in anusvāra, the sign for this will appear within the hook. So arthaḥ-370: ; arthi—3741; dharme—UH; svargam
Fol. ii. When other than first, it appears as a straight line be
low and to the left of the letter it follows, rising about 45° from the horizontal. So pra—; kri— . Note: under a few letters, like 7 and 7, this appears as
gra, țhra. c. t, when preceding another 7, is reduced to a simple
line 7 tta. It is similarly reduced when followed by 3.
Thus 7-tra. There are two common conjuncts that provide no apparent clue to their composition. These are 7-jña, and 8 kşa. These must simply be learned as special forms." Note that Sanskrit is written syllabically as well as by words, and so it is the common practice not to separate words written in a sentence or unit of verse unless the word boundary coin cides with a syllable boundary. A syllable (37872—akşara) is generally considered to be either a single vowel, or a conso nant (or consonant cluster) followed by a vowel. The vowel in either case may be nasalized (377car-anusvāra) or aspirated (fari-visarga). Thus, for example, the famous utterance of the Chāndogya Upanişad, tat tvam asi, “you are that,” would be syllabified as ta-, ttva-, ma-, -si. Since no word boundary corresponds to a syllabic boundary, it then would be written in ATRI (nāgari) as Taula. In the same way, if a word final consonant precedes a word initial vowel, the two will form a single syllable and the vowel will take its post-consonantal sign, if any.
2.232.24
Examples: agnir asmy aham 31f444641 (I am fire.) syllabically a-gni-ra-smya-ham gām ānaya 1464 (Bring a cow.) syllabically gā-mā-na-ya However, in the very common case in which a word ending in a vowel (with or without विसर्ग-visarga [h] or अनुस्वार anusvāra (ml) precedes a word beginning with a consonant or in certain cases (see 3.21) a vowel, word boundary is indi cated, since it coincides with a syllable boundary. Thus, matsyā iva jana nityam bhakşayanti parasparam would be written:
| 59 H FR 444 1 (Like fish, men always are devouring one another.) Here all the word boundaries happen to coincide with syllable boundaries. Words are separated in roman transliteration. Except where (for reasons discussed at 3.3-4) a single roman letter obscures the point of word boundary. For example, 114771 and 3264 would be transliterated as gām ānaya and agnir aham. But
TAPES (<14 + 371118) must be transliterated as rāmāgaccha since we cannot break up the roman symbol ā (see 3.3). The Gare (devanāgari) numerals, which are, in fact, the source of our “arabic” numerals, are:
१ २ ३ ४ ५ ६ ७ ८ ९ ०
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 They are used in exactly the same way as our numbers. Thus 280&5 24,068.
A sign (5), called 31946 (avagraha) or separation, is often used to separate words whose initial “a” or “ā” vowel has been lost or has combined with another vowel from words that precede them. It is represented in transliteration as apostrophe () in place of the missing letter. For example, act: + 3714 → pont 544 (3.35), is transliterated as, “kāko ‘yam.” (This is a crow.)
2.25
2.26
EXERCISES
A. B.
Transliterate Exercise ICinto देवनागरी (devanagari). Transliterate the following into roman transcription. (Do not worry about proper word division.) १. इक्ष्वाकूणामिहाद्यैव कश्चिद्राजा विधीयताम् ।
अराजकं हि नो राष्ट्रं विनाशं समवाप्नुयात् ॥१॥ नाराजके जनपदे बीजमुष्टिः प्रकीर्यते । नाराजके पितुः पुत्रो भार्या वा वर्तते वशे ॥२॥
Let a king of the Ikşvāku line be consecrated immediately; For without a king, our land would be destroyed; In a land without a king, not a handful of grain is sown; In a land without a king, sons do not obey their fathers nor wives their husbands.
२. कुलीनान्रूपसंपन्नान्गजान्परगजारुजान् ।
शिक्षितान्गजशिक्षायामैरावतसमान्युधि ॥
(Hanumān saw) elephants of noble lineage, of beautiful form, murderous to the elephants of the enemy; well instructed in elephant training, and the equal of Airāvata in battle.
३. योगो योगविदां नेता प्रधानपुरुषेश्वरः ।
नरसिंहवपुः श्रीमान्केशवः पुरुषोत्तमः ॥
He is yoga incarnate, foremost among those who know yoga, lord among great men, he takes on the form of a man-lion, he is the majestic Keśava, the supreme spirit.
Transliterate the following words. दृष्ट्या
शब्देन आच्छादिताः मार्गेण कामरूपिणः लक्ष्मणेन
राक्षसः
अश्वः बुद्धः
सख्यम् षष्ठयाम् प्रसन्नात् काञ्चनः धार्मिकाय रक्तस्य हेमपिङ्गले वाल्मीकिः
गौरवम्
Write the following words in देवनागरी (devanagari). tattvasya parvāṇi bhayankareņa ārtāya
trāhi
nilakanthaḥ damstrābhyām svāhā
patrarathaḥ jyāḥ
dịśyamānāḥ dūrgāt khadgāni labdhvā dāridryam gacchanti manasvinaḥ şşabhaḥ