Letters and Vowel Marks
Vowels
Also known as: svara ("tone")
- देवनागरी
- IAST
- अ
- a
- आ
- ā
- इ
- i
- ई
- ī
- उ
- u
- ऊ
- ū
- ऋ
- ṛ
- ॠ
- ṝ
- ऌ
- ḷ
- ॡ
- ḹ
- ए
- e
- ऐ
- ai
- ओ
- o
- औ
- au
Stops and Nasals (ka kha gha gha ṅa …)
Also known as: vyañjana ("manifestation")
To define a specific consonant, like kha, we need to know four things:
if it is voiced or unvoiced
if it is aspirated or unaspirated
its point of pronunciation
if it a stop or a nasal
The set of letters that share a point of pronunciation is called a varga. Traditionally, the unvoiced unaspirated consonant is used to identify the varga. For instance, the group {ta tha da dha na} is called "tavarga."
kavarga (ka kha ga gha ṅa)
- देवनागरी
- IAST
- क
- ka
- ख
- kha
- ग
- ga
- घ
- gha
- ङ
- ṅa
cavarga (ca cha ja jha ña)
- देवनागरी
- IAST
- च
- ca
- छ
- cha
- ज
- ja
- झ
- jha
- ञ
- ña
ṭavarga (ṭa ṭha ḍa ḍha ṇa)
- देवनागरी
- IAST
- ट
- ṭa
- ठ
- ṭha
- ड
- ḍa
- ढ
- ḍha
- ण
- ṇa
tavarga (ta tha da dha na)
- देवनागरी
- IAST
- त
- ta
- थ
- tha
- द
- da
- ध
- dha
- न
- na
pavarga (pa pha ba bha ma)
- देवनागरी
- IAST
- प
- pa
- फ
- pha
- ब
- ba
- भ
- bha
- म
- ma
Semivowels (ya ra la va)
Also known as: antaḥstha ("in-between")
- देवनागरी
- IAST
- य
- ya
- र
- ra
- ल
- la
- व
- va
Note that ru is रु and rū is रू.