Accuracy in words...

[yajvan]

hariḥ oṁ
~~~~~~
namast�

Namaste, Yajvan.
After what happened on the Meditation thread, with two Sanskrit words being written the same in English, but pronounced differently in Sanskrit, it would help me if I knew how you guys actually put diacritics and dashes above letters and such.

There are multiple ways to type-in diacritical markings used for transliteration of saṃskṛtam (devanāgarī) words i.e. Devanāgarī is the name of the original script to write saṃskṛtam.

Let me offer the 3 methods I am aware of in writing devanāgarī properly:

1. There is harvard-kyoto method (created at Harvard University and University of Kyoto )
2. IAST (International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration )
3. ITRANS ( Indian languages TRANSliteration)

I will show you an example... but first let me inform you of how I do it.
I build my words. This is for my learning purposes and not so much for
ease-of-typing which is fine ( but I learn little via 'ease').

Here is my inventory of letters: ( I can add more upon request)
ā ś ṇ ṃ ḥ ṁ m̐ ṅ ś ṭ ṛ ṝ ṣ ī � ū ṇ ḍ ḷ Ā Ś Ā Ī Į İ Ĩ Ņ Ń Ū

Take the word devanāgarī - देवनागरी

• in IAST this is shown as devanāgarī
• in ITRANS it is shown as devanAgarI
• in harvard-kyoto it is shown as devanAgarI

So, when I write various devanāgarī word-forms I am using the IAST format. If one is interested, they then can look on line to see the full array of IAST letters (transliteration) for each devanāgarī / saṃskṛt phoneme and use it accordingly. As I mentioned I keep an inventory and use the letters as I build my communication on HDF. I do this because I see myself as the student (शिष्य, śiṣya, shiShya, ziSya).

Note the last term ziSya ; this is in harvard-kyoto transliteration format. The 'z' is just their 'code' for the sound of ś or sh found in the other transliteration formats.
Note too then that this 'z' does not equal the sound ṣ ( ष् ) which will look like 'Sh' in ITRANS , ṣ in IAST and S in harvard-kyoto .

The letter 's' in english has 3 forms in saṃskṛt and therefore looks different in devanāgarī, hence the subtleties of sounds. So, if one studies these 3 types of transliteration forms, you can settle in on one or the other. I 'settled' in on IAST.

May sarasvatī� accompany you in your learning.

iti śivaṁ

1. sarasvatī - speech or the power of speech , eloquence , learning wisdom ; in the brāhmaṇa-s she (sarasvatī) is identified with vāc
Yet as we look at her name we can go deeper :

• sara + svatī
  • sara is rooted in sṛ which means to begin to flow, to set in motion, and is rooted in sal - to go, move.
  • saras- is speech ; 'anything flowing or fluid' - as in speech one's voice flows.
• sa+ra + sva+tī