Devanagari transliteration

Devanagari is an Indic script used for many Indo-Aryan languages of North India and Nepal, including Hindi, Marathi and Nepali, which was the script used to write Classical Sanskrit. There are several somewhat similar methods of transliteration from Devanagari to the Roman script (a process sometimes called romanization), including the influential and lossless IAST notation. Romanized Devanagari is also called Romanagari.

IAST

The International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration, or IAST, is a way to write Indian languages like Sanskrit, Prakrit, and Pāli using the English alphabet. It is part of a larger standard called ISO 15919. Many people use IAST because it makes it easy to show the correct sounds of the words by using small marks called diacritics. In IAST, some letters that look similar in Indian scripts but sound different are written differently. For example, the letter द (which is a dental sound) is written as d, while the letter ड (which is a retroflex sound) is written as ḍ with a dot underneath. This helps people read and pronounce the words more correctly. One of the best things about IAST is that it is reversible. This means if you write something in IAST, you can easily change it back into the original Devanagari script or other Indian scripts without making mistakes. Many computer fonts support IAST, so it works well on screens and in print. This makes it helpful for scholars, students, and anyone who wants to write Indian languages using the Roman alphabet.

Hunterian system

The Hunterian system is the "national system of romanization in India" and the one officially adopted by the Government of India.

The Hunterian system was created in the 1800s by William Wilson Hunter, who was the Surveyor General of India at the time. When he introduced it, many people disagreed with it. They preferred an older way of writing Indian names in English, even though that method was often confusing and incorrect—like turning “Siraj ud-Daulah” into “Sir Roger Dowler.” The debate peaked during a big meeting on 28 May 1872, where the Hunterian system was chosen. This new system became popular because it was more organized and easier to use with many Indian scripts. It focused on writing each letter (grapheme) from Indian languages into English, rather than trying to match sounds. Even though some people kept asking the government to go back to the old way, the Hunterian system eventually became the standard for both official and academic use.

Over time, the Hunterian system was expanded to cover more scripts, like Burmese and Tibetan. It also included rules for when to drop the "schwa" sound (the short 'a' often implied in Indian scripts), which is common in Indo-Aryan languages. For example, the Hindi word कानपुर is written as kānpur (not kānapura) because the final "a" sound is not pronounced. But in Sanskrit, क्रम is written as krama because all vowels are usually pronounced. The system has changed a bit since it was first made. Originally, long vowels were shown using an accent mark, like ján for जान (meaning "life"). But in 1954, the Indian government changed that to a macron (a horizontal line), so now it's written jān. Still, the Hunterian system has its critics. Some say it doesn’t show pronunciation clearly and is too focused on what’s easy for English speakers to read. One big problem is that it doesn't tell apart certain sounds. For example, both द (a dental 'd') and ड (a retroflex 'd') are just written as d, even though they sound different. People have suggested fixes, like adding little marks below retroflex letters (ड = ḍ) or using capital letters (ड = D), but these changes have their own issues—either they’re harder to print, or harder to read.

Transliteration comparison

The following is a comparison of the major transliteration methods used for Devanāgarī.

Vowels

Devanāgarī	IAST	ISO 15919	Monier-Williams72	Harvard-Kyoto	ITRANS	Velthuis	SLP1	WX	Hunterian
अ	a	a	a	a	a	a	a	a	a
आ	ā	ā	ā	A	A/aa	aa	A	A	a
इ	i	i	i	i	i	i	i	i	i
ई	ī	ī	ī	I	I/ii	ii	I	I	i
उ	u	u	u	u	u	u	u	u	u
ऊ	ū	ū	ū	U	U/uu	uu	U	U	u
ए	e	ē	e	e	e	e	e	e	e
ऐ	ai	ai	ai	ai	ai	ai	E	E	ai
ओ	o	ō	o	o	o	o	o	o	o
औ	au	au	au	au	au	au	O	O	au
ऋ	ṛ	r̥	ṛi	R	RRi/R^i	.r	f	q	ri
ॠ	ṝ	r̥̄	ṛī	RR	RRI/R^I	.rr	F	Q	ri
ऌ	ḷ	l̥	lṛi	lR	LLi/L^i	.l	x	L
ॡ	ḹ	l̥̄	lṛī	lRR	LLI/L^I	.ll	X	LY
अं	ṁ	ṁ	ṉ/ṃ	M	M/.n/.m	.m	M	M	n, m
अः	ḥ	ḥ	ḥ	h	H	H	.h	H	H
अँ	m̐	m̐			.N		~	az
ऽ	'	’		'	.a	.a	'	Z

Consonants

The Devanāgarī standalone consonant letters are followed by an implicit <i id="mwAic">shwa</i> (/Ə/). In all of the transliteration systems, that /Ə/ must be represented explicitly using an 'a' or any equivalent of shwa.

Devanāgarī	IAST	ISO 15919	Monier-Williams72	Harvard-Kyoto	ITRANS	Velthuis	SLP1	WX	Hunterian
क	ka	ka	ka	ka	ka	ka	ka	ka	k
ख	kha	kha	kha	kha	kha	kha	Ka	Ka	kh
ग	ga	ga	ga	ga	ga	ga	ga	ga	g
घ	gha	gha	gha	gha	gha	gha	Ga	Ga	gh
ङ	ṅa	ṅa	n·a	Ga	~Na	"na	Na	fa	n
च	ca	ca	ća	ca	cha	ca	ca	ca	ch
छ	cha	cha	ćha	cha	Cha	chha	Ca	Ca	chh
ज	ja	ja	ja	ja	ja	ja	ja	ja	j
झ	jha	jha	jha	jha	jha	jha	Ja	Ja	jh
ञ	ña	ña	ṅa	Ja	~na	~na	Ya	Fa	n
ट	ṭa	ṭa	ṭa	Ta	Ta	.ta	wa	ta	t
ठ	ṭha	ṭha	ṭha	Tha	Tha	.tha	Wa	Ta	th
ड	ḍa	ḍa	ḍa	Da	Da	.da	qa	da	d
ढ	ḍha	ḍha	ḍha	Dha	Dha	.dha	Qa	Da	dh
ण	ṇa	ṇa	ṇa	Na	Na	.na	Ra	Na	n
त	ta	ta	ta	ta	ta	ta	ta	wa	t
थ	tha	tha	tha	tha	tha	tha	Ta	Wa	th
द	da	da	da	da	da	da	da	xa	d
ध	dha	dha	dha	dha	dha	dha	Da	Xa	dh
न	na	na	na	na	na	na	na	na	n
प	pa	pa	pa	pa	pa	pa	pa	pa	p
फ	pha	pha	pha	pha	pha	pha	Pa	Pa	ph
ब	ba	ba	ba	ba	ba	ba	ba	ba	b
भ	bha	bha	bha	bha	bha	bha	Ba	Ba	bh
म	ma	ma	ma	ma	ma	ma	ma	ma	m
य	ya	ya	ya	ya	ya	ya	ya	ya	y
र	ra	ra	ra	ra	ra	ra	ra	ra	r
ल	la	la	la	la	la	la	la	la	l
व	va	va	va	va	va/wa	va	va	va	v, w
श	śa	śa	ṡa	za	sha	"sa	Sa	Sa	sh
ष	ṣa	ṣa	sha	Sa	Sha	.sa	za	Ra	sh
स	sa	sa	sa	sa	sa	sa	sa	sa	s
ह	ha	ha	ha	ha	ha	ha	ha	ha	h
ळ	ḻa	ḷa		La	La	.la	La	lY

Devanāgarī	ISO 15919	Harvard-Kyoto	ITRANS	Velthuis	SLP1	WX	Hunterian
क्ष	kṣa	kSa	kSa/kSha/xa	k.sa	kza	kRa	ksh
त्र	tra	tra	tra	tra	tra	wra	tr
ज्ञ	jña	jJa	GYa/j~na	j~na	jYa	jFa	gy, jñ
श्र	śra	zra	shra	"sra	Sra	Sra	shr

Other consonants

Devanāgarī	ISO 15919	ITRANS	WX	Hunterian
क़	qa	qa	kZa	q
ख़	k͟ha	Ka	KZa	kh
ग़	ġa	Ga	gZa	gh
ज़	za	za	jZa	z
फ़	fa	fa	PZa	f
ड़	ṛa	.Da/Ra	dZa	r
ढ़	ṛha	.Dha/Rha	DZa	rh