Introduction. pa ' . Thus the sentence kşetresu siktābhir meghānām adbhir dhānyam prarūdham — by the water which drops from the clouds upon the - tields the grain grows tall' – would be considered as consisting of the syllables kşe tre şu si ktā bhi rme ghā nā ma dbhi rdhā nyaň pra rū dham. Each of these syllables would be indicated by a single group of signs, without any reference whatever to the di- vision of the words composing the sentence; and the syllables are always written independently, with more or less closeness of approach; either like this: hag fa at fa *27 AT A TG UIT Z JE ZA — or tbus : 799- सिक्ताभिमेघानामद्भिर्घान्यंप्रढम. 6. In Sanskrit works printed in Europe, the common practice is to separate the words so far as this can be done without any alteration of the written form. Thus, a Ty qa: indrāya namah ; but nafaqafua tat savitur varenyam, because the final a 1 and Ir are not written with their full forms. But some few works have been printed, in which, by a free use of a sign called virāma (see below, $ 8), the individual words are separated. In translite- rated texts there is no good reason for printing otherwise than with all the words separated. 7. Under A. Vowels combined with preceding consonants are written as follows: 1. a: Short a has no written sign at all; the consonant-sign itself implies a following a, unless some other vowel-sign is attached to it (or else the virāma — see below, $ 8). Thus the consonant-signs given above are really the signs for ka, kl. co, cha, etc. (as far as 8 ha). 2. ā: oft ha cā. Et dhā etc. 3. i and i: fai ki. fu pi. fu dhi. — at kā. o pă. Et dhã. The hook above, turning to the left or to the right, is histori- cally the essential part of the character, baving been originally 1* Univ Calif - Digitized by Microsoft ®
