LUSB 502 – SANSKRIT

Ā ā Ī ī Ū ū Ṛ ṛ Ṃ ṃ Ḥ ḥ Ṝ ṝ ḷ ḹ Ś ś Ṣ ṣ Ṅ ṅ Ñ ñ Ṇ ṇ Ṭ ṭ Ḍ ḍ

DESCRIPTION

Vowels

A a - as in  in cut

Ā ā - as in father

I i - as in bit

Ī ī - as in beet

U u - as in put or foot

Ū ū - as in brute

E e - as in bay (e.g. deva). In Pāli before a double consonant as in bed (e.g. metta)

Ai, ai - as in sigh

O o - as in hope

Au au - as in sound

Ṛ ṛ - as in cur

Ṃ ṃ - as in bomb,

Ḥ ḥ - softly echoes the preceding vowel

Ṝ ṝ - Like ṛ but longer

ḷ and ḹ - like the Japanese l/r and ḹ is longer

Consonants

V v - close to w

Ś ś - (palatal) as in shame

Ṣ ṣ - (retroflex) similar to dish

C c - always soft as in church

Ṅ ṅ - (velar) like sung

Ñ ñ - (palatal) as in canyon

Ṇ ṇ - (retroflex) like renown

Ṭ ṭ - the tongue is curled back to touch the aveolar

Ḍ ḍ - the tongue is curled back to touch the aveolar

Sanskrit Alphabet in Devanāgarī

The Devanāgari script is composed of 48 primary characters, including 14 vowels and 34 consonants

Time