Alphabet (English - variant)
A better variant arrangement of the Sanskrit alphabet
This is a better form to present the Sanskrit Alphabet. Although the previous form (see Alphabet) is a traditional one, this is much more professional.
| GROUPS | THE FIVE MAIN CLASSES OF CONSONANTS | SEMIVOWELS | SIBILANTS | SIMPLE VOWELS | DIPHTHONGS | |||||||
 | Hard | Soft | Soft | "Va" is Den.-Lab. | Hard | Short | Long | Gutt.-Pal. | Gutt.-Lab. | |||
| Unasp. | Asp. | Unasp. | Asp. | Nasal | ||||||||
| Gutturals | क | ख | ग | घ | ङ | ह 1 | अः 3 | अ | आ | ए (e) ऐ (ai) | ओ (o) औ (au) | |
| ka | kha | ga | gha | ṅa | ha | ḥ | a | ā | ||||
| Palatals | च | छ | ज | झ | ञ | य | श | इ | ई | |||
| ca | cha | ja | jha | ña | ya | śa | i | ī | ||||
| Cerebrals | ट | ठ | ड | ढ | ण | र | ष | ऋ | ॠ | - | ||
| ṭa | ṭha | ḍa | ḍha | ṇa | ra | ṣa | ṛ | ṝ | - | |||
| Dentals | त | थ | द | ध | न | ल | व (va) | स | ऌ | - | - | |
| ta | tha | da | dha | na | la | sa | ḷ | - | - | |||
| Labials | प | फ | ब | भ | म | - | - | उ | ऊ | - | ||
| pa | pha | ba | bha | ma | - | - | u | ū | - | |||
| अं 2 | ||||||||||||
| ṁ | ||||||||||||
1 "Ha" is not a semivowel but it is put in the Semivowel column as it is a guttural consonant.
2 The Anusvāra (ṁ) is not a consonant belonging to the five main classes of consonants, but it is put here as it is a nasal vowel. Besides, "a" vowel (अ) is added to give support to it.
3 Visarga, even though it is a vowel, is placed in the Sibilants column and in the Gutturals row because it is a sound that emerges from the root of the tongue. Besides, "a" vowel (अ) is added to give support to it.
"Simple vowels", "Diphthongs" and "Anusvāra" are all "soft" vowels, while Visarga (: - ḥ) is a hard vowel. In short, all vowels are soft except Visarga.
"Va" is a dental-labial semivowel. "e" and "ai" are guttural-palatal vowels. "o" and "au" are guttural-labial vowels.