Characters

Devanagari with its IAST romanisation, grouped by how each sound is made.

Devanagari with its IAST (International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration) romanisation, the same scheme the chant pages use. Vowels and consonants are grouped by where in the mouth you make them. The traditional Sanskrit alphabet (varṇamālā) is ordered the same way.

Vowels: monophthongs

अ

आ

इ

ई

उ

ऊ

Short and long pairs (a/ā, i/ī, u/ū). The macron marks the long vowel, which you hold about twice as long as the short one.

Vowels: syllabic liquids

ऋ

ṛ

ॠ

ṝ

ऌ

ḷ

ॡ

ḹ

र and ल can act as vowels. No separate vowel sound is added; the consonant itself is the core of the syllable, as in ṛṣi, "seer". ॡ is extremely rare and is here only to complete the grid.

Vowels: diphthongs

ए

ऐ

ओ

औ

ē and ō are always long in Sanskrit, so some IAST references write them without a macron (plain e, o). This site writes the macron, to match the transliteration on every chant page.

Vowel & coda marks

ं

ṃ

anusvāra

ँ

ṃ

chandrabindu

ः

ḥ

visarga

ऽ

avagraha

These are not full vowels but signs that sit on one. Anusvāra nasalises the vowel toward the consonant that follows. Chandrabindu is a lighter, more open nasalisation (as in हँस, "swan"); this site transliterates both as ṃ, as the chant pages do. Visarga is a light, voiceless breath after the vowel. Avagraha marks an अ that has been dropped in sandhi.

Two very rare Vedic-only marks, jihvāmūlīya and upadhmānīya (a breath before क/ख and प/फ), are left out for now. They don't occur in any chant here, and the fonts on this site don't draw them cleanly. They can be added when a chant needs them.

Consonants

Five places of articulation (columns) by five manners (rows). Every Sanskrit primer begins with this grid.

	Velar	Palatal	Retroflex	Dental	Labial
Unaspirated voiceless	क ka	च cha	ट ṭa	त ta	प pa
Aspirated voiceless	ख kha	छ chha	ठ ṭha	थ tha	फ pha
Unaspirated voiced	ग ga	ज ja	ड ḍa	द da	ब ba
Aspirated voiced	घ gha	झ jha	ढ ḍha	ध dha	भ bha
Nasal	ङ ṅa	ञ ña	ण ṇa	न na	म ma

Semivowels & H

ह

glottal

य

palatal

र

retroflex

ल

dental

व

labial

Sibilants

श

śa

palatal

ष

ṣa

retroflex

स

dental

Vedic-only

ळ

ḻa

retroflex

A variant of ड that Vedic recitation uses between vowels. It appears in some Rudram and Chamakam lines.

Building a syllable: mātrā signs

Every consonant carries an inherent /a/: क is ka, not a bare k. To change that /a/ to another vowel, add a mātrā sign. The result is one glyph for the whole syllable. The Tamil Characters page covers the same "consonant + vowel = one shape" idea for Tamil. Below, every consonant on this page is combined with the ten vowels most syllables use, plus ऋ/ṛ, which is common enough in ordinary words (kṛṣṇa, vṛkṣa) to get its own column. ॠ, ऌ and ॡ combine the same way but are too rare to include.

Velar & Palatal: कवर्ग, चवर्ग

	a	ā	i	ī	u	ū	ṛ	e	ai	o	au
k	क	का	कि	की	कु	कू	कृ	के	कै	को	कौ
kh	ख	खा	खि	खी	खु	खू	खृ	खे	खै	खो	खौ
g	ग	गा	गि	गी	गु	गू	गृ	गे	गै	गो	गौ
gh	घ	घा	घि	घी	घु	घू	घृ	घे	घै	घो	घौ
ṅ	ङ	ङा	ङि	ङी	ङु	ङू	ङृ	ङे	ङै	ङो	ङौ
ch	च	चा	चि	ची	चु	चू	चृ	चे	चै	चो	चौ
chh	छ	छा	छि	छी	छु	छू	छृ	छे	छै	छो	छौ
j	ज	जा	जि	जी	जु	जू	जृ	जे	जै	जो	जौ
jh	झ	झा	झि	झी	झु	झू	झृ	झे	झै	झो	झौ
ñ	ञ	ञा	ञि	ञी	ञु	ञू	ञृ	ञे	ञै	ञो	ञौ

Retroflex & Dental: टवर्ग, तवर्ग

	a	ā	i	ī	u	ū	ṛ	e	ai	o	au
ṭ	ट	टा	टि	टी	टु	टू	टृ	टे	टै	टो	टौ
ṭh	ठ	ठा	ठि	ठी	ठु	ठू	ठृ	ठे	ठै	ठो	ठौ
ḍ	ड	डा	डि	डी	डु	डू	डृ	डे	डै	डो	डौ
ḍh	ढ	ढा	ढि	ढी	ढु	ढू	ढृ	ढे	ढै	ढो	ढौ
ṇ	ण	णा	णि	णी	णु	णू	णृ	णे	णै	णो	णौ
t	त	ता	ति	ती	तु	तू	तृ	ते	तै	तो	तौ
th	थ	था	थि	थी	थु	थू	थृ	थे	थै	थो	थौ
d	द	दा	दि	दी	दु	दू	दृ	दे	दै	दो	दौ
dh	ध	धा	धि	धी	धु	धू	धृ	धे	धै	धो	धौ
n	न	ना	नि	नी	नु	नू	नृ	ने	नै	नो	नौ

Labial: पवर्ग

	a	ā	i	ī	u	ū	ṛ	e	ai	o	au
p	प	पा	पि	पी	पु	पू	पृ	पे	पै	पो	पौ
ph	फ	फा	फि	फी	फु	फू	फृ	फे	फै	फो	फौ
b	ब	बा	बि	बी	बु	बू	बृ	बे	बै	बो	बौ
bh	भ	भा	भि	भी	भु	भू	भृ	भे	भै	भो	भौ
m	म	मा	मि	मी	मु	मू	मृ	मे	मै	मो	मौ

Semivowels, H, & Sibilants

	a	ā	i	ī	u	ū	ṛ	e	ai	o	au
h	ह	हा	हि	ही	हु	हू	हृ	हे	है	हो	हौ
y	य	या	यि	यी	यु	यू	यृ	ये	यै	यो	यौ
r	र	रा	रि	री	रु	रू	रृ	रे	रै	रो	रौ
l	ल	ला	लि	ली	लु	लू	लृ	ले	लै	लो	लौ
v	व	वा	वि	वी	वु	वू	वृ	वे	वै	वो	वौ
ś	श	शा	शि	शी	शु	शू	शृ	शे	शै	शो	शौ
ṣ	ष	षा	षि	षी	षु	षू	षृ	षे	षै	षो	षौ
s	स	सा	सि	सी	सु	सू	सृ	से	सै	सो	सौ

Complex characters: conjunct consonants (saṃyuktākṣara)

When one consonant is followed directly by another with no vowel between them, Devanagari fuses the two into a single glyph. It does not write the first with a visible virama (्) and leave it next to the second. This is the biggest structural difference from Tamil: the Tamil Characters page notes that Tamil "almost never fuses two consonants into a single conjunct glyph", while Devanagari does it all the time. Every conjunct below comes from words that occur in this site's chants.

The regular pattern: a reduced "half form" plus a full letter

Most consonants lose their own final vertical stroke and join directly onto whatever follows. For example, क् before त becomes क्त, not क् त side by side.

क्	त	क्त kta
स्	त	स्त sta
न्	त	न्त nta
त्	व	त्व tva
न्	द	न्द nda
द्	य	द्य dya
स्	य	स्य sya
स्	व	स्व sva
न्	न	न्न nna
त्	त	त्त tta
स्	थ	स्थ stha
द्	ध	द्ध ddha
ङ्	ग	ङ्ग ṅga
स्	म	स्म sma

त्त (identical consonants, doubled) and न्न read as they look: a lengthened, held consonant. It is not a typo or a font error.

The "र" exception: repha above, reduced stroke below

र behaves differently from every other consonant. As the first member of a cluster it doesn't fuse left to right. It shrinks to a small hook called repha that sits above the next full syllable, not above the letter right after it:

र्	व	र्व rva
र्	य	र्य rya
र्	म	र्म rma

As the second member, र becomes a diagonal stroke tucked under the consonant before it:

प्	र	प्र pra
त्	र	त्र tra
द्	र	द्र dra

True irregulars: glyphs you can't predict from their parts

A few conjuncts are drawn as one shape that looks nothing like either component letter. You have to memorise these one by one, since no rule predicts them:

क्	ष	क्ष kṣa
ज्	ञ	ज्ञ jña
श्	र	श्र śra

क्ष (kṣa) is common in this site's chants (141 occurrences across just four of them). ज्ञ (jña) doesn't occur in any chant here yet, but it is the standard textbook example of an unpredictable conjunct, so it is included.

The chant pages already draw the Vedic pitch-accent marks (udātta, anudātta, svarita) as small strokes above and below each syllable. Open any Rudram section to see them in context.