Learn Sanskrit through
self-study
Interactive on-line lessons
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The Devanagari Script
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Introduction
This prelude begins with an
introduction to the Sanskrit letters. The writing system used for Sanskrit
is known as Devanagari. Indian languages are phonetic in nature and hence
the letters represent unique sounds. In Sanskrit as well as in other Indian
languages, proper pronounciation of the words is quite important. Hence
it is necessary to learn the sounds associated with the letters of the
language.
The word "alphabet" is not
usually applied to Sanskrit or other Indian languages. There is a subtle
difference between the notion of "alphabet" and the "aksharas" as the letters
of Sanskrit are called. When we think of the word "alphabet" we normally
think of the letters of the language and a name given to each letter to
identify it. In most languages the letters of the alphabet have names which
may give a clue to the sound associated with the letter. In Sanskrit and
other Indian languages, there is no specific name given to the letters.
The sound the letter stands for is actually the name for the letter. In
a phonetic language reading becomes easy since the reader will be reading
out the letters by uttering the sound associated with the akshara. More
information on this is given in a separate section on Sanskrit and Phonetics.
For many years now, people
of the world have learnt the letters of Sanskrit through equivalent Roman
transliteration characters which employ special marks (known as diacritics).
The diacritics are based on a standardized representation for sounds followed
in dictionaries. In India, the National Library at Calcutta has recommended
that a single transliteration scheme be used to represent the letters across
all the Indian languages. This scheme will be used in the lessons covered
in these pages. Students can take advantage of this when it comes to pronouncing
the letters and words. A reference to this Transliteration scheme is also
available in these pages. The scheme is similar to the International Phonetic
Alphabet representation but has some minor differences.
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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
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