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Siddham Alphabet
Siddham Alphabet
Siddham Alphabet
Karoṣṭhī, Gupta, Tibetan, and with some modifications Roman (the one we use to write English).
Letters that use diacritics (the various dots, dashes and squiggles) when Sanskrit is transliterated
are not as similar as their Roman equivalents might suggest - ta and ṭa are not the same! This is
partly why diacritics are important. The Sanskrit 'alphabet' is not strickly speaking either an
alphabet or a syllabary, but is what is known as an abugida or alpha-syllabary. It is made up of a
mixture of single letter (eg the vowels) and the single consonants combined with the short a. A
full syllabary would include all possible combinations of consonants and vowels, including
conjunct consonants and would includes thousands of items.
Siddhaṃ was the script used to write the Buddhist scriptures that were transmitted to China. The
practice of writing in the Siddhāṃ script was preserved in Japan by the Shingon school founded
by Kūkai.
aअ āआ iइ īई uउ ūऊ eए
ai ऐ oओ au औ aṃ अं aḥ अः ṛऋ
anusvāra visarga
(nasalised) (aspirated)
Extra Vowels
ṝॠ ḷऌ ḹॡ
Each consonant is assumed to be combined with the short a vowel. To indicate other vowels
modifying 'diacritic' marks are added. In the table below the vowels are combined with k. The set
of marks includes the virama which indicates no vowel. This is typically used at the end of
words in Sanskrit, for example the word samyak, meaning 'perfect'.
Vowels combined with k
Main consonant-vowel combinations
kक kā का ki िक kī की ku कु kū कू ke के
virama
(no vowel)
u used with ra
Kāli - the consonants
* indicates there is an alternative way to write the syllable - see below
ka क kha ख ga ग gha घ ṅa ङ
palatal
ca च cha छ * ja ज jha झ ña ञ
retroflex
ṭa ट ṭha ठ ḍa ड ḍha ढ * ṇa ण
dental
ta त tha थ da द dha ध na न
labial
pa प pha फ ba ब bha भ ma म
semivowels
ya य ra र la ल va व
spirants
śa श ṣa ष sa स ha ह
conjuncts
kṣa क्ष
Alternative
forms
ja ज ṇa ण
Mastering the basic alphabet is not enough to be able to read and write Siddhaṃ, because there
is a special way of writing two adjacent consonants - such as rma, ttva, or jra. In the case of rma
(image left) you write the top half of r with the bottom half of m. Vowels are indicated as for
individual consonants. It's important to get the order correct - tna and nta are easy to mix up for
instance. It is possible to stack more than two consonants: ttva for instance (see below).
The table below, is based on one in John Stevens' "Sacred Calligraphy of the East". It shows how
the top and bottom half of the consonants look. There are a few irregular items, such as the
bottom of ra or ṇa.
Note that some consonants are only shown with a top or bottom. This is as they appear in Sacred
Calligraphy of the East.
Combining Consonants
unvoiced voiced nasal
plain aspirated plain aspirated
Velar
ka kha ga gha ṅa
palatal
ca cha ja jha ña
retroflex
ṭa ṭha ḍa ḍha * ṇa
dental
ta tha da dha na
labial
pa pha ba bha ma
semivowels
ya ra la va
spirants
śa ṣa sa ha
Examples of Common Conjuncts