IAST: Devanāgarī (lang: देवनागरी, in English), or Nāgarī, is an abugida alphabet of India and Nepal. It is written from left to right, lacks distinct letter cases, and is recognizable by a distinctive horizontal line running along the tops of the letters that links them together. Devanāgarī is the main script used to write Hindi, Marathi, and Nepali. Since the 19th century, it has been the most commonly-used script for Sanskrit and Pali. Devanāgarī is also employed for Bhili, Bhojpuri, Konkani, Magahi, Maithili, Marwari, Newari, Pahari (Garhwali and Kumaoni), Santhali, Tharu, and sometimes Sindhi, Panjabi, and Kashmiri. It was formerly used to write Gujarati. There are now some efforts underway to promote the Devanāgarī script for Romany as well.

Origins

Devanāgarī is part of the Brahmic family of alphabets of Nepal, India, Tibet, and South-East Asia. It is a descendant of the Gupta script, along with Siddham and Sharada. Eastern variants of Gupta called Nāgarī are first attested from the 8th century; from c. 1200 these gradually replaced Siddham, which survived as a vehicle for Tantric Buddhism in East Asia, and Sharada, which remained in parallel use in Kashmir.

Sanskrit IAST: nāgarī is the feminine of IAST: nāgara "urban(e)", a vrddhi adjectival form of nagara "city". It is feminine from its original phrasing with lipi "script" as IAST: nāgarī lipi "urban(e) script", that is, the script of the cultured. There are several varieties of Nāgarī in use, one of which was distinguished by affixing Deva "god" or "deity" to form a tatpurusha compound meaning the "urban(e) 1 of the gods", or "divine urban(e) 2".

The use of the name IAST: Devanāgarī is relatively recent, and the older term IAST: Nāgarī is still common. The rapid spread of the term IAST: Devanāgarī may be related to the almost exclusive use of this script to publish sacred Sanskrit texts in colonial times. This has led to such a close connection between Devanāgarī and Sanskrit that Devanāgarī is now widely thought to be the Sanskrit script; however, before the colonial period there was no standard script for Sanskrit, which was written in whichever script was familiar to the local populace.

Principles

As a Brahmic abugida, the fundamental principle of Devanāgarī is that each letter represents a consonant, which carries an inherent vowel a 3. For example, the letter क is read ka, the two letters कन are kana, the three कनय are kanaya, etc. Other vowels, or the absence of vowels, require modification of these consonants or their own letters: