^JDV_llWi>(

j5

The Devanagari

Script

William Bright

The

script called

logically based,

of South Asia,
pologically,

it

it is

Ndgari

and

is

(lit.

'of the city') or

written

derives

what I

from

Devanagari ('divine Nagari')

left to right. Historically, like

from the Brahmi alphabet of the Ashokan

call

an alphasyllabary: that is,

it

is

phono-

other native scripts

inscriptions. Ty-

writes each consonant- vowel

sequence as a unit, called an aksara, in which the vowel symbol functions as an obligatory diacritic to the consonant; in the terminology of Daniels (section i), it is an
abugida.

Devanagari

is

currently used for Hindi, Nepali, and Marathi, and sometimes for

local languages such as Bhojpuri.

in

modem

It is

the script generally used for printing Sanskrit

times (in earlier times, Sanskrit manuscripts were written in a variety of

local scripts).

For an overview, see Masica 1991: 133-53-

The symbols
The

traditional order of

symbols in the Indian

scripts is

tory phonetics, as originally developed for Sanskrit

the order

is

based primarily on

articula-

by the ancient pandits. Implicit in

a series of phonological tables, organized in terms of articulatory features.

come the primary vowels, i.e. those recognized as simple vowels in Sanskrit
grammar, table 3 i i shows the independent or initial form for each vowel, followed

First

by the

diacritic or postconsonantal form, illustrated

with the consonant

values used in Sanskrit in ancient times are indicated by

IPA symbols

'^

p.

Phonetic

in brackets.

canonical order proceeds from each short vowel to the corresponding long vowel.

names of
thus ST

[),

is

the letters consist of their sounds, sometimes followed

called a or a-kdra.

Symbols

but in Sanskrit the former

evant to the

is

exist for short

rare

and the

by kdra 'making';

and long syllabic

latter

The
The

laterals

(^ /

never occurs, and they are

[1],

irrel-

modem languages.

Next come the secondary vowels which,

in Sanskrit, represent historical (and de-

scriptively underlying) diphthongs, again in long

were originally

ai di

and au du came

Acknowledgments: Thanks
Masica, and M. K. Verma.

to

and short

pairs.

However, what

be pronounced in Sanskrit as e

are due for the valuable suggestions of

M.

B. Emeneau,

[e:]

ai [aii]

Yamuna Kachru, Colin

SECTION

TABLE 3 1

Long

Short

high front

Diacritic

Syllabic

vibrant

Initial

Diacritic

3(T

[a]

pa

3Tr

[ai]

-T

[i]

f-

f^

pi

[i:]

J"

m
^

u[u]

Pu

S[ui]

Rounded
high back

THE DEVANAGARI SCRIPT

Primary Vowels

Initial

Unrounded
low central

31:

pa
pi

pu

386

PART

VI:

TABLE

SOUTH ASIAN WRITING SYSTEMS

31.3: Occlusives

Voiced Plosives

Voiceless Plosives

Nasals

Unaspirated

Aspirated

Unaspirated

Aspirated

Velar

[k]

kh

[g]

gh

Palatal

[c]

'^

ch

[f]

jh

Retroflex

{\\

th

[cU

dh

^
^
^

Dental

cT

[t]

th

[d]

dh

'^

bh

k
c

Labial

The label

'^

[p]

ph

retroflex as applied to r has

phonology of Sanskrit; however,

that combinations of r with u u

it is

sr

[b]

[q]

fl

[rij

[n]

[m]

some justification in terms of the underlying

phonetically an alveolar or dental vibrant. Note

have special shapes:

"^

ru and

^ ru.

Finally comes a miscellaneous category of sounds not classified in terms of articulation. In all the languages, this category contains
glottal fricative
lateral, also

In the

ha^ a voiced or

In Vedic Sanskrit and in Marathi, the symbol ^ /a

[fi].

murmured

[jj,

retroflex

occurs here.

modem languages, especially in Hindi, a subscript dot is used beneath cer-

tain consonants to represent additional sounds. Thus, with the addition

ka becomes

^ qa, ^ kha becomes ^ xa,

da becomes

ra

[r],

^ ga becomes TT

and S dha becomes ?

rha.

The dot

ya^ "^ ja

is

of the dot,

becomes

za,

^
^

ignored in the traditional

ordering system.
In traditional writing, there

was

little

systematic use of

word space or of punctu-

respectively, were used in verse for minor and major pro-

The symbols and

Modern practice has adopted conventions of word space and
punctuation which are mainly based on European practice.
The numerals are shown in table 31.5.
ation.

H,

sodic boundaries.

TABLE

31.4: Sonorants

and Fricatives

SECTION

31:

THE DEVANAGARI SCRIPT

Specific features

A following short vowel a is considered inherent in each consonant symbol; thus, unmodified by other attached symbols,^

less these letters are

Each consonant
Consonants

^para.

is

pa, and

(Letters with a break in this stroke are "^jha,

writing on unlined paper, the headstroke

Vowels other than

Some

the left side,

diacritic for

is

a,

when

is

-T

^ tha, ^ dha,

-1",

its

but in rapid hand-

omitted altogether.

symbol; each one

side, as in

^ pa. That for

left-hand side, as in TM

in^ pu. That for e

after a

is

is

is

3T, initial

extending from
- written beneath

is f-,
is

written above the consonant, as

is -,

consonant

m^pe\

and

^ po.

either in initial position,

i.e.

after a

written not with a diacritic, but with an independent

considered an aksara in

written

That for m

/?/.

written to the right of the consonant, as in

vowel not occurring

initial

may be

and ^ hha.) When

line;

they follow a consonant, are written as obligatory di-

on the right-hand

space, or after another vowel

Thus

ra.

on top of the associated consonant, some on the bottom, some on

some on the right side, and some in a combination of positions. Thus the

the consonant, as

^ pa, J

are

the top of the consonant to

that for

is ra.

sequence share a continuous horizontal headstroke across the top, thus

in

people write on lined paper, they "hang" the symbols from the

acritics.

"^

represented by a basic consonantal symbol, e.g.

is

its

own right, and has its own headstroke.

is 3TT, initial

is ?,

and so on.

(In traditional San-

modmeans "at the beginning of a word," with conventionally

established word boundaries which reflect European practice.)
skrit usage, "initial"

em

usage,

it

meant

"at the beginning of a sentence or line of verse." In

usually

consonant not occurring before a vowel

before a space rather than before a vowel

which may be labeled zero vowel,

^ would

is

typically

is

one

in final position,

i.e.

written with a subscript diagonal stroke

in other words,

called virdma; a consonant so affected

a final symbol

it

"kills" the vowel.

The symbol is
Thus

called halanta (Lambert 1953: 15-16).

be interpreted as pa\ but with the added

diacritic, R, corre-

sponds to p.
Consonants

may also occur in clusters, especially in Sanskrit and in words which

modern languages have borrowed from Sanskrit; these may involve both initial
and medial sequences of two or three consonants, e.g. ty,pr, kv, st, ks, str, ksm. In such
cases, conjunct symbols are used to show that only the last consonant of the sequence
is followed by a vowel. In traditional usage, most such compounds are formed by rethe

ducing consonant symbols other than the

last

one

in the

sequence to an abbreviated

form, typically lacking the characteristic long vertical stroke on the right-hand side.

These reduced forms, sometimes called

final

/i^s;//

consonants, are written to the

symbol. For example, ^p(a) ^In^'^ya combine as

bine as

left

of the

^pya\ ^ t(a) plus ^ ka com-

tka.

Some compound letters are combined not horizontally, as above, but vertically.
This is especially common when the first symbol does not have a long vertical stroke,

PART

VI:

SOUTH ASIAN WRITING SYSTEMS

5 da and ^ ha.

such as

In such combinations, the second

symbol; thus

fied

form beneath the

plus

^yasisWl hya. Some symbols

ments,

first

first

e.g. jja as either

in

cluster, r is written

it;

which one element

is

attached in modi-

and

vertical arrange-

is

"^

r(a) are

handled in special ways. As the

with - (called rephd) above the consonant which

thus '^r-\-^pa gives H rpa.

at the foot

symbol

^ va combine as ^ dva, and ? h(a)

are found in both horizontal

element in a

with 7-

d(a) plus

^^ or ^.

Compounds
follows

"^

As the second element in a cluster, ra is written

it; thus ^p(a) + '^ra gives S^ pra.

of the consonant which precedes

few consonant sequences correspond

less analyzable; the

commonest

to special conjunct

are as fdllows.

symbols which are

SECTION
In Hindi, the anusvdra 3T
as in 3FT arig
3r(^

ams

'limb'.

[91] g]

[snj] 'portion'

ization of vowels, as in

many

fricatives,

related anundsika

^ ham

[fiai] 'yes'.

3fl"

speakers pronounce

[qdJ] 'portion' In still other positions,

.

it

as [n], as in

used consistently to write nasal-

is

In Marathi, the anusvdra

write homorganic nasals before stops; before fricatives,

ams

THE DEVANAGARI SCRIPT

used mainly to write homorganic nasals before stops,

Before

The

is

31:

again used to

is

pronounced as

it is

as in

[u],

has mainly historical significance and

it

is

not pronounced as such.

What were
7,

and

originally palatal stops are in general

pronounced as

affricates in

^ ^
^ jh are pronounced as palatal affricates when followed by front vowels, and

modem times;

e.g.,

^ c and ^7 become

also in loanwords; but they are

[tf]

and

pronounced as

[ts

[cfe]

dz

respectively. In Marathi,

dz'']

c,

before back vowels in native

words.
In Hindi, "^jh
is

pronounced
In Nepali,

The

modem

is

pronounced

[gj]

with a following nasalized vowel; in Marathi,

it

[jp].

^ v usually merges in pronunciation with ^ h

^ s and ^ ^ are not usually distinguished in the pronunciation of the

sibilants

languages; both are pronounced as an alveo-palatal sibilant

In Nepali,

[J].

^ s.

they are further merged with

Relations to other scripts

It

should be noted

that,

inasmuch as Hindi and Urdu are

virtually the

same language

on the colloquial level, much Hindi material which is written in Devanagari is interconvertible with Urdu material written in Perso- Arabic script (section 62). With the
adaptations to Devanagari letters which have been

sounds of Perso- Arabic origin,

script to

it is

correspond to the same spoken

Proposals have been

script, for

made

modem languages

made

to represent

in India to replace Devanagari script with

such as Hindi. At present there seems

with the spread of education, and

North India. Thus

efforts to

it

is

little

Roman

chance that

increasing contin-

has been adapted to tribal languages in

encourage literacy in Gondi, a Dravidian language spo-

ken in Maharashtra State, have used the Devanagari

athi is the

Urdu

text.

such a change will ever be implemented. The use of Devanagari

ually,

borrowed

possible for writing in Devanagari and in

dominant language of the

script

appropriately, since

area.

Sample of Sanskrit
/.

Devanagari:

%t

2.

Transliteration:

nainani chindanti

J.

Transcription:

nains

4.

Gloss:

not.this they.cut

fe^Prl
cHndsnti

^iwftr

%t

sastrani

nainani dahati

pavakah

gsstraii]!

nains

paiv)ok9h

weapons

not.this it.bums fire

^:?frT

dsfisti

^T^^:

Mar-

390

PART

^I"

SOUTH ASIAN WRITING SYSTEMS

2.

na cainam kledayantyapo

5.

ns cain5

4.

not and.this they.moisten.waters

1.

3f^##

2.

kleidsyontjaipoi

sosayati

marutah

no

qoi^sjsti

mairutsh

not

it.dries

wind

SXR^^#

S ^l-Kl^l

S-^m

TT^

"^

ca

'yam adahyo

'yam akledyo

'sosya

eva

JQm

pm akleidyo:

Qoi^p

e:u9 cs

acchedyo

3. acc'^eidyo:

na

adaifiyo:

unbumable

this

undryable just

unwettable

4.

uncuttable

/.

f^:

^{^[^:

^\m^<^

S^

^T^^TtR:

nityah

sarvagatah

sthanuracalo

'yani

sanatanah

J. nitjsh

S9ru3g9t9h

st'^aiiiur

4. eternal

all.pervading fixed

2.

this

scsloi

immovable

it

wind does not dry

It

cannot be

It is

it,

cut, or

[the soul], fire

and

II

j5

ssnaitsnsh

this

primeval

does not burn

'Weapons do not cut

Waters do not wet

it.

it.

burned, or wetted, and cannot be dried.

eternal, all-pervading, fixed,

immovable, primeval.'

Bhagavadgitd 2:23.

Bibliography
Kellogg, S. H. 1938.

A Grammar of the Hindi Language,

3rd ed. London: Routledge

& Kegan Paul.

Lambert, Hester M. 1953. Introduction to the Devanagari Script. London: Oxford University Press.
Masica, Colin P. 1991. The Indo-Aryan Languages. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Whitney, William Dwight. 1889. Sanskrit Grammar. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

THE WORLD'S
WRITING SYSTEMS

^^^^^^r'^>^
William Bright