Sanskrit is written in a very precise manner. For every sound, there is one sign, and each sign always represents the same sound. In a way, Sanskrit is thus easier to read and write than English, where, for example, there are several different ways of pronouncing the same letters (think of thorough vs. through vs. tough), and several different ways of writing the same sound (as in meal, thief, see, receive). The script Sanskrit is now commonly written in is known as the devanāgarī.
The meaning of this name is not quite clear. nāgarī lipiḥ means ‘urban script’. (The macrons (the lines over ā and ī) indicate long vowels. The word lipiḥ is regularly omitted.) Several related scripts were known under the name nāgarī. The name devanāgarī (deva- = ‘deity; divine’) is used for this particular script, perhaps because of its role in writing down texts of religious importance. The name of the language itself is based on the Sanskrit word saṃskṛta- ‘composed, perfected’; the name contrasts this language, used for religious and learned purposes, with the Prakrits, the everyday spoken languages (prakṛta- ‘natural, normal’).
Take a look at Table 1 on p. 11. It introduces you to four kinds of information: the individual devanāgarī characters; how they are transliterated, i.e. written with the alphabet used by, among other languages, English; how they are pronounced; and the order in which they are conventionally listed. (Note that that order diverges from that of the English alphabet; the system behind it is explained in Chapter 2.) This rather large amount of information is best approached in steps.
– Look over the table to get a first impression.
– Look at the pronunciation hints for each sound. Say them out loud.
– The list goes from left to right, top to bottom. A systematic explanation of labels such as ‘aspirated’ will be given in Chapter 2. A macron over a vowel (as in ā rather than a) indicates a long vowel.
– Note that, unless indicated otherwise (see p. 12), the presence of the vowel a is assumed after any consonant.
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