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Writing methods for conjuncts 

Identifying conjuncts in written text is important for several reasons. Traditionally, Sanskrit verses were composed to conform to specific metre comprising a fixed number of aksharas. Hence the writing systems also provided some mechanism to form conjuncts from the consonants. The use of the "half form" introduced earlier is a practice allowed for many conjuncts particularly those which include a vertical stroke in their shapes. Since the half form is not clearly defined for all the consonants, special shapes were introduced for some of the conjuncts. Thus the actual shapes for many conjuncts were altered but in a way allowing enough clues to identify the individual consonants. 

In many cases, the individual consonants were written one below the other vertically but with reduced sizes to accommodate writing the conjunct within a vertical span. In some cases, a combination of "half form" and writing one below the other was adopted. It must be pointed out that considerable flexibility exists in writing the conjuncts, though by convention, some shapes have become the standard. Let s look at some examples. 

Samyuktakshar and vowel combinations

The rules for writing syllables with samyuktakshar and vowels are the same as the ones for writing consonant-vowel combinations. The matras are used exactly the same way as before and will apply to the last consonant in the syllable except for "i" where the matra will appear before all the half-forms when half-forms are used. When the shape of the conjunct is very different, its shape may be viewed as that of a consonant itself and the matras added appropriately. 

Rarely used Aksharas and notes on similar looking Aksharas

Sanskrit manuscripts may include some special consonant vowel combinations with the vowel "li", especially the long one. Such aksharas are not found in common literature but have been used in treatises on scientific concepts and medicine. For the beginner, these may not be of much interest but the student must nevertheless remember that such aksharas are used. Also, it is quite likely that the beginner will see quite a bit of similarity between some of the consonants and vowels. Given below are clues to the similar looking aksharas. 


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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

Exercise
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

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