Learn Sanskrit through self-study
Interactive on-line lessons
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Devanagari Script ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Exercise

Learning a script, that too Devanagari, may appear to be a formidable task. Scripts of Indian languages are not easy to master quickly but once the underlying principle of the aksharas is understood, reading becomes very easy. Unlike the letters of the Roman alphabet where there is no clustering of the letters in the alphabetic sequence such as labials etc., the aksharas of Sanskrit are extremely well organized into clearly discernible groups. The student is advised to remember the sequence of aksharas in each group.

Some of the students may be interested in finding out if a web page could support data entry in Davanagari so that some interaction is provided. This is indeed possible on account of the excellent Multilingual software developed by students of the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras. The link provided below is meant for this purpose.

Data entry in Devanagari

Given below are some exercises at identifying the basic aksharas of Sanskrit. You should be able to read the same after you have completed this lesson.

Contents

Introduction

Short Vowels

Long Vowels

Support Vowels

Generic form of a Consonant

Gutterals

Palatals

Cerebrals

Dentals

Labials

Semi Vowels, Sibilants etc.

Consonant Vowel combinations

Conjunct characters

Writing methods for Conjuncts

Conjuncts with "ra"

Summary

Exercise
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

 | Home | Scripts of India | Multilingual Applications | On-line DemosFAQ on IITM Software | Indian Language Fonts |
    | Multilingual Archives | Software Download | Learn SanskritComputing With Tamil | Gita On-line | Kural On-line |


  Best Viewed at 800x600               Last Updated on July 28, 2000