The Harvard-Kyoto system

Devanagari and romanized Sanskrit use symbols that we can't find on a standard computer keyboard. So it can be difficult to type either of these on a computer. This is a problem because if we can't type Sanskrit, we can't write Sanskrit content or use various Sanskrit tools.

One workaround to this problem is to define some way to map English letters to Sanskrit letters. In the examples below, the text on the left and the right is the same. But the text on the left uses the Harvard-Kyoto system, and the text on the right uses either Devanagari or romanized Sanskrit:

• saMskRtA bhASA → संस्कृता भाषा
• zrIbhagavAn uvAca → śrībhagavān uvāca

The Harvard-Kyoto system is one of the easiest mappings to learn, and it the mapping that most Sanskrit tools and software expect. Here is how the system is defined:

• a
  a
• ā
  A
• i
  i
• ī
  I
• u
  u
• ū
  U
• ṛ
  R
• ṝ
  RR

• ḷ
  lR
• ḹ
  lRR
• e
  e
• ai
  ai
• o
  o
• au
  au
• aṃ
  aM
• aḥ
  aH

• ka
  ka
• kha
  kha
• ga
  ga
• gha
  gha
• ṅa
  Ga
• ca
  ca
• cha
  cha
• ja
  ja
• jha
  jha
• ña
  Ja

• ṭa
  Ta
• ṭha
  Tha
• ḍa
  Da
• ḍha
  Dha
• ṇa
  Na
• ta
  ta
• tha
  tha
• da
  da
• dha
  dha
• na
  na

• pa
  pa
• pha
  pha
• ba
  ba
• bha
  bha
• ma
  ma

• ya
  ya
• ra
  ra
• la
  la
• va
  va
• śa
  za
• ṣa
  Sa
• sa
  sa
• ha
  ha