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Devanāgarī (देवनागरी) is an abugida script. It is the main script used to write the Hindi, Marathi, and Nepali languages. Since the 19th century, it has become the most common script used to represent Sanskrit. Other languages using Devanagari (although not always as their only or principal script) include Sindhi, Bihari, Bhili, Marwari, Konkani, Bhojpuri, Pahari (Garhwali and Kumaoni), Santhali, Newari, Tharu, and Kashmiri. It is written and read from left to right.
| Devanāgarī | ||
|---|---|---|
| Type | Abugida | |
| Spoken languages | Several Indo-Aryan languages, including Sanskrit, Hindi, Marathi, Nepali, Bihari, Bhili, Konkani, Bhojpuri, Newari and sometimes Sindhi and Kashmiri | |
| Time period | c. 1200–present | |
| Parent systems | Proto-Canaanite alphabet [a] → Phoenician alphabet [a] → Aramaic alphabet [a] → Brāhmī → Gupta → Nāgarī → Devanāgarī | |
| Child systems | Gujarati Moḍī Ranjana | |
| Sister systems | Eastern Nāgarī | |
| Unicode range | U+0900–U+097F | |
| ISO 15924 | Deva | |
| Rigveda manuscript in Devanāgarī (early 19th century) | ||
| [a] The Semitic origin of the Brahmic scripts is not universally agreed upon. | ||
| Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. | ||
| The Brahmic script and its descendants |
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Contents |
Devanāgarī emerged around CE 1200 out of the Siddham script, gradually replacing the earlier, closely related Sharada script (which remained in parallel use in Kashmir). Both are immediate descendants of the Gupta script, ultimately deriving from the Brāhmī script attested from the 3rd century BCE; Nāgarī appeared in approx. the 8th century as an eastern variant of the Gupta script, contemporary to Sharada, its western variant. The descendants of Brahmi form the Brahmic family, including the alphabets employed for many other South and South-East Asian languages.
Sanskrit nāgarī is the feminine of nāgara "urban(e)", an adjectival vrddhi derivative from nagara "city"; the feminine form is used because of its original application to qualify the feminine noun lipi "script" ("urban(e) script", i.e. the script of the cultured). There were several varieties in use, one of which was distinguished by affixing deva "deity" to form a tatpurusha compound meaning the "urban(e) [script] of the deities (= gods)", i.e. "divine urban(e) [script]".
The widespread use of the name Devanāgarī is relatively recent; well into the twentieth century, and even today, simply Nāgarī was also in use for this same script. The rapid spread of the usage of Devanāgarī seems also to be connected with the almost exclusive use of this script in colonial times to publish works in Sanskrit, even though traditionally nearly all indigenous scripts had been employed for this language. This has led to the establishment of such a close connection between the script and Sanskrit that it is, erroneously, widely regarded as "the Sanskrit script" today.
As a Brahmic abugida, the fundamental principle of the Devanagari writing system is that each base consonantal character carries within it an inherent vowel a [ə]. That is, an unmarked consonant sign is assumed to represent that consonant plus the inherent vowel;Salomon (2003:70) e.g. क ka, कन kana, कनय kanaya, etc. Flowing from this core feature are a number of other features.
Thus the basic unit is the graphic symbol or akṣara, with phonetic structures V or (C)(C)(C)(C)C(V). Finally, Devanagari is written from left to right, lacks distinct cases, and possesses a horizontal line running above the characters, linking them together.
Note: This page or section contains IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. See Help:IPA for a pronunciation key.
Devanagari, like nearly all Brahmi scripts, is ordered based on phonetic principles, considering both manner and place of articulation, as per Sanskrit and its grammatical tradition (cf. Vyakarana). Indeed, Devanagari as used for Sanskrit serves as the prototype for its application, with minor variations or additions, to other languages.Salomon (2003:75) The below two tables derive from Wikner (1996:13, 14, 73). This arrangement is usually referred to as the varṇamālā "garland of letters".Salomon (2003:71)
| Independent form | Romanized | As diacritic with प | Independent form | Romanized | As diacritic with प | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| kaṇṭhya (Guttural) | अ | a | प | आ | ā | पा | |
| tālavya (Palatal) | इ | i | पि | ई | ī | पी | |
| oṣṭhya (Labial) | उ | u | पु | ऊ | ū | पू | |
| mūrdhanya (Cerebral) | ऋ | ṛ | पृ | ॠ | ṝ | पॄ | |
| dantya (Dental) | ऌ | ḷ | पॢ | ॡ | ḹ | पॣ | |
| kaṇṭhatālavya (Palato-Guttural) | ए | ē | पे | ऐ | ai | पै | |
| kaṇṭhoṣṭhya (Labio-Guttural) | ओ | ō | पो | औ | au | पौ |
| sparśa (Stop) | anunāsika (Nasal) | antaḥstha (Semivowel) | ūṣman (Fricative) | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Voicing → | aghoṣa | ghoṣa | aghoṣa | ghoṣa | ||||||||||||
| Aspiration → | alpaprāṇa | mahāprāṇa | alpaprāṇa | mahāprāṇa | alpaprāṇa | mahāprāṇa | ||||||||||
| kaṇṭhya (Guttural) | क | ka | ख | kha | ग | ga | घ | gha | ङ | ṅa | ह | ha | ||||
| tālavya (Palatal) | च | ca | छ | cha | ज | ja | झ | jha | ञ | ña | य | ya | श | śa | ||
| mūrdhanya (Cerebral) | ट | ṭa | ठ | ṭha | ड | ḍa | ढ | ḍha | ण | ṇa | र | ra | ष | ṣa | ||
| dantya (Dental) | त | ta | थ | tha | द | da | ध | dha | न | na | ल | la | स | sa | ||
| oṣṭhya (Labial) | प | pa | फ | pha | ब | ba | भ | bha | म | ma | व | va | ||||
The ddhrya-ligature (द्ध्र्य) of JanaSanskritSans.
As mentioned, successive consonants lacking a vowel in between them may physically join together as a \'conjunct\' or ligature. The government of these clusters ranges from widely to narrowly applicable rules, with special exceptions within. While standardized 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 —
Displayed then in the following table are all the viable symbols for the biconsonantal clusters of Sanskrit as listed in Masica (1991:161-162). Scroll your cursor over the conjuncts to reveal their romanizations.
| क | ख | ग | घ | 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 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| क | क्क | क्ण | क्त | क्थ | क्न | क्म | क्य | क्र | क्ल | क्व | क्ष | |||||||||||||||||||||
| ख | ख्य | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ग | ग्ग | ग्ज | ग्ध | ग्न | ग्म | ग्र | ग्ल | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| घ | घ्न | घ्म | घ्र | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| च | च्च | च्छ | च्ञ | च्य | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ज | ज्ज | ज्झ | ज्ञ | ज्म | ज्य | ज्र | ज्व | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ड | ड्र | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ण | ण्ट | ण्ठ | ण्ड | ण्ढ | ण्ण | ण्म | ण्य | ण्व | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| त | त्क | त्ख | त्त | त्थ | त्न | त्प | त्फ | त्म | त्य | त्र | त्व | त्स | ||||||||||||||||||||
| थ | थ्न | थ्य | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| द | द्ग | द्घ | द्द | द्ध | द्न | द्ब | द्भ | द्म | द्य | द्र | द्व | |||||||||||||||||||||
| ध | ध्न | ध्म | ध्य | ध्र | ध्व | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| न | न्त | न्थ | न्द | न्ध | न्न | न्म | न्य | न्व | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| प | प्त | प्न | प्प | प्फ | प्य | प्र | प्ल | प्स | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ब | ब्ज | ब्द | ब्ध | ब्ब | ब्र | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| भ | भ्र | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| म | म्न | म्प | म्फ | म्ब | म्भ | म्म | म्य | म्र | म्ल | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| य | य्य | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| र | र्क | र्ख | र्ग | र्घ | र्च | र्छ | र्ज | र्झ | र्ण | र्त | र्थ | र्द | र्ध | र्न | र्प | र्ब | र्भ | र्म | र्य | र्ल | र्व | र्श | र्ष | र्स | र्ह | |||||||
| ल | ल्क | ल्ग | ल्द | ल्प | ल्फ | ल्ब | ल्म | ल्य | ल्ल | ल्व | ल्ह | |||||||||||||||||||||
| व | व्य | व्र | व्व | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| श | श्च | श्न | श्म | श्य | श्र | श्ल | श्व | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ष | ष्क | ष्ट | ष्ठ | ष्ण | ष्प | ष्फ | ष्म | ष्य | ष्व | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| स | स्क | स्ख | स्त | स्थ | स्न | स्प | स्फ | स्म | स्य | स्र | स्व | |||||||||||||||||||||
| ह | ह्ण | ह्न | ह्म | ह्य | ह्र | ह्व |
New Indo-Aryan languages may use the above forms for their Sanskrit loanwords (or otherwise).
The pitch accent of Vedic Sanskrit is written with various symbols depending on shakha. In the Rigveda, anudatta is written with a bar below the line (॒), svarita with a stroke above the line (॑) while udatta is unmarked.
| ० | १ | २ | ३ | ४ | ५ | ६ | ७ | ८ | ९ |
| 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 |
There are several methods of transliteration from Devanāgarī into Roman scripts. The most widely used transliteration method is IAST. However, there are other transliteration options.
The following are the major transliteration methods for Devanāgarī:
A standard transliteration convention was codified in the ISO 15919 standard of 2001. It uses diacritics to map the much larger set of Brahmic graphemes to the Latin script. See also Transliteration of Indic scripts: how to use ISO 15919. The Devanagari-specific portion is nearly identical to the academic standard for Sanskrit, IAST.
The International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration (IAST) is the academic standard for the romanization of Sanskrit. IAST is the de-facto standard used in printed publications, like books and magazines, and with the wider availability of Unicode fonts, it is also increasingly used for electronic texts. It is based on a standard established by the Congress of Orientalists at Athens in 1912.
The National Library at Kolkata romanization, intended for the romanization of all Indic scripts, is an extension of IAST.
Compared to IAST, Harvard-Kyoto looks much simpler. It does not contain all the diacritic marks that IAST contains. 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 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 as "devanaagarii". 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 displays the Roman letters into Devanāgarī (or other Indic languages). The latest version of ITRANS is version 5.30 released in July, 2001.
ALA-LC romanization 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, one for Sanskrit and Prakrit, etc.
ISCII is a fixed-length 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.
The Unicode range for Devanāgarī is U+0900 .. U+097F. Grey areas indicate non-assigned code points.
| Devanagari Unicode.org 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 | ॰ | ॻ | ॼ | ॽ | ॾ | ॿ | ||||||||||
The Mac OS X operating system supports convenient editing for the Devanāgarī script by insertion of appropriate Unicode characters with two different keyboard layouts available for use. To input Devanāgarī text, one goes to System Preferences → International → Input Menu and enables the keyboard layout that is to be used. The layout is the same as for INSCRIPT/KDE Linux:
This is the India keyboard layout for Linux (variant \'deva\')
![]()
Bolnagri phonetic keyboard layout for Linux
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