nāgarī corner

hariḥ oṁ
~~~~~~

namasté

ॐ गणेश्वराय हमः
oṁ gaṇeśvarāya namaḥ


nāgarī corner

Purpose
The intent of this folder is to understand via discussion, the various rules, sounds, letters, etc. of grammar that are applied to saṃskṛtam (some write saṃskṛtā, or sanskrit) and written (lipi) in nāgarī or devanāgarī and its transliteration (conversion to Roman text or ~English~) thereof.

A few definitions

• nagāri - of a man
• nāgarī (feminine gender) - relating or belonging to a town or city ; spoken in a town; a written character ( in our case saṃskṛtā)
• nāgara (masculine gender) - same definition as above
• nagara - a city
• (fyi only) nāgāri - serpent-foe

Nāgarī is the feminine gender of nāgara . There is a variety of nāgarī. Yet by adding deva to nāgarī (devanāgarī, a grammatical tatpuruṣa) we focus the definition to mean that language\script of the divine, of the deva's. Yet due to the flexibility of this word nāgarī, one could also say without getting in too much trouble, that language\script of the divine (deva-s) utilized by man (nagāri).
Some just say it is deva-nāgarī - that collection (the city of, or collection, town) of sounds of deva's or immortals.

At times you may see the words 'nagāri lipi' - meaning written , manuscript , inscription of nagāri . This lipi also infers citrāṃ lipiṃ , to decorate 'beautifully' as the script of nagāri is considered quite pleasing to the eye.

A friendly note
I am here as a śiṣya (student) only and claim no expertise. I will share what I think is correct, but look forward to being guided properly by others of greater ability.


praṇām