Devanāgarī (देवनागरी) is a script used to writeNepali and several Indian languages, including Sanskrit, Hindi, Marathi, Kashmiri, Sindhi. Devanagari is a form of alphabet called an abugida, as each consonant has an inherent vowel (a), that can be changed with the different vowel signs. It is a close descendant of the Brāhmī script that has been traced back to 500 BC. The Brahmi script is believed by the majority of scholars to have evolved from a Semitic script such as the Eastern Aramaic alphabet. There is, however, a generally unaccepted theory according to which the Brahmi script is derived from the Indus script that goes back to at least 2600 BC. Many other Indian languages are written using other scripts in the Brahmic family.
The name Devanagari comes from the Sanskrit words Deva (god), and Nagari (city); together they mean, literally, the script of the "City of the Gods", where this city is the body of the individual. The philosophy behind it is that when one meditates on the specific sounds of the Devanagari alphabet, the written forms appear spontaneously in the mind. The compound really functions as a bahuvrihi. "Devanagari" is the most common transliteration of the name of script. Others are "Devnagri" and "Devanagri".
Devanagari is written from left to right. In Sanskrit, words were written together without spaces, so that the top bar is unbroken, although there were some exceptions to this rule. The break of the top line primarily marks breath groups. In modern languages, word breaks are used. Devanagari has no case distinction, i.e. no majuscule and minuscule letters.
Sanskrit spelling was phonetic but with historical changes, the spelling of modern languages written in Devanagari may only be partly phonetic in the sense that a word written in it can only be pronounced in one way, but not all possible pronunciations can be written perfectly. Devanagari has 34 consonants (vyanjana), and 12 vowels (svara). A syllable (akshara) is formed by the combination of zero or one consonants and one vowel.
The transliterations in the following tables follow the popular National Library at Calcutta romanization. The ITRANS notation [1] is a lossless transliteration scheme of Devanagari into English that is widely used on Usenet. In ITRANS, the word Devanagari is written as "devanaagarii".
Note: Unicode support and fonts containing Devanagari characters are required to display the Devanagari on this page, which may be found here.
All the vowels in Devanagari are attached to the top or bottom of the consonant or to an AA vowel sign attached to the right of the consonant, with the exception of the I vowel sign, which is attached on the left. In the Devanagari vowel table below, the "Letter" column contains the symbol used when a vowel occurs without a consonant, the "Vowel sign" column contains the symbol used when a vowel is attached to a consonant, and the "Vowel with [p]" column show an example of the vowel symbol, attached to the "p" consonant. The "Unicode name" column contains the name given in the Unicode specification for the vowel, and the "IPA" column contains the International Phonetic Alphabet character(s) corresponding to the Hindi pronunciation of the Devanagari character.
Devanagari vowels
Letter
Vowel sign
Vowel with [p]
Unicode name
IPA
अ
प
(pa)
A
ə
आ
ा
पा
(pā)
AA
ɑ
इ
ि
पि
(pi)
I
ɪ
ई
ी
पी
(pī)
II
i
उ
ु
पु
(pu)
U
ʊ
ऊ
ू
पू
(pū)
UU
u
ऋ
ृ
पृ
(pṛ)
VOCALIC R
ri
ॠ
ॄ
पॄ
VOCALIC RR
ऌ
ॢ
पॢ
VOCALIC L
ॡ
ॣ
पॣ
VOCALIC LL
ऍ
ॅ
पॅ
CANDRA E
ऎ
ॆ
पॆ
SHORT E
ए
े
पे
(pe)
E
e
ऐ
ै
पै
(pai)
AI
ɛ
ऑ
ॉ
पॉ
CANDRA O
ऒ
ॊ
पॊ
SHORT O
ओ
ो
पो
(po)
O
o
औ
ौ
पौ
(pau)
AU
ɔ
Other modifier symbols
Symbol
Symbol with [p]
Unicode name
Function
्
प्
VIRAMA
Called halant; suppresses the inherent vowel.
ँ
पँ
CANDRABINDU
Nasalizes vowel
ं
पं
ANUSVARA
Nasalizes vowel
ः
पः
VISARGA
Adds voiceless breath after vowel
़
प़
NUKTA
Used to indicate sounds borrowed from Persian (e.g., ph + nukta = f)
ऽ
पऽ
AVAGRAHA
When no vowel is written, 'a' is assumed. To specifically denote the absence of a vowel, a halant (also called virama) is used.
Devanagari consonants
Letter
Unicode name
Transliteration
IPA
क
KA
k
k
ख
KHA
kh
kh
ग
GA
g
g
घ
GHA
gh
gɦ
ङ
NGA
ṅ
ŋ
च
CA
c
tʃ
छ
CHA
ch
tʃh
ज
JA
j
dʒ
झ
JHA
jh
dʒɦ
ञ
NYA
ñ
ɲ
ट
TTA
ṭ
ʈ
ठ
TTHA
ṭh
ʈh
ड
DDA
ḍ
ɖ / ɽ
ढ
DDHA
ḍh
ɖɦ / ɽɦ
ण
NNA
ṇ
ɳ
त
TA
t
t̪
थ
THA
th
t̪h
द
DA
d
d̪
ध
DHA
dh
d̪ɦ
न
NA
n
n̪
प
PA
p
p
फ
PHA
ph
ph
ब
BA
b
b
भ
BHA
bh
bɦ
म
MA
m
m
य
YA
y
j
र
RA
r
ɾ
ल
LA
l
l
ळ
LLA
ḷ
ɭ
व
VA
v
v
श
SHA
ś
ɕ
ष
SSA
ṣ
ʂ
स
SA
s
s
ह
HA
h
h
Among these, ळ is not used in Hindi. The entire set is used in Marathi.
