Vedic Devanagari

In this lesson, we have a few small notes on writing Vedic Sanskrit with Devanagari.

ḻa and ḻha

In some styles of Vedic recitation, the consonants ḍa and ḍha become ḻa and ḻha respectively. Here is how to write these two sounds in Devanagari:

• ळ
  ḻa
• ळ्ह
  ḻha

Accent

When we write Vedic Sanskrit in Devanagari, we often use many accent marks to show how a vowel should be pronounced. Most commonly, we see just three accents: anudātta, udātta, and svarita.

In modern recitation, the anudātta is usually a low tone and the svarita is usually a high tone. The udātta is usually a middle tone that exists between these two. Here is how the anudātta, udātta, and svarita are usually written:

• अ॒
  a॒
• अ
  a
• अ॑
  a॑

Note that udātta has no explicit mark and is assumed by default.