The Sanskrit Alphabet in the Siddhaṃ Script

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Art and text
© 2007-11 Jayarava
except where noted

Sanskrit, and related languages, can be written in a wide variety of scripts - including Brāhmī, 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. On the right is an example of a Chinese brush Siddham alphabet by Kūkai. click for a larger image.

The Siddhaṃ Alphabet

Siddhaṃ With Roman and Devanāgarī equivalents

āli - the vowels

a अ	ā आ	i इ	ī ई
u उ	ū ऊ	ṛ ऋ	ṝ ॠ
ḷ ऌ	ḹ ॡ	e ए	ai ऐ
o ओ	au औ	aṃ अं anusvāra (nasalised)	aḥ अः visarga (aspirated)

See also Combining vowels

 

Kāli - the consonants

* indicates there is an alternative way to write the syllable - see below

	unvoiced		voiced		nasal
	plain	aspirated	plain	aspirated
Velar
	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	jña ज्ञ

See also how to write double and conjunct consonants

Alternative forms
	ja ज	ṇa ण

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Reading and writing Siddhaṃ requires learning the basic vowels and consonants, but learning also how to combine vowels with consonants, and how to cope with double and conjunct consonants (eg tta, mma, and rma, kya etc).

a ā i ī u ū ṛ ṝ ḷ ḹ e ai o au ṃ ḥ ka kha ga gha ṅa ca cha ja jha ña ṭa ṭha ḍa ḍha ṇa ta tha da dha na pa pha ba bha ma ya ra la va śa ṣa sa ha kṣa jña

अ आ इ ई उ ऊ ऋ ॠ ऌ ॡ ए ऐ ओ औ ं ः क ख ग घ ङ च छ ज झ ञ ट ठ ड ढ ण त थ द ध न प फ ब भ म य र ल व श ष स ह क्ष ज्ञ

Asian calligraphers often leave out ṝ ḷ and ḹ, probably because they are seldom used in practice.

For another letter chart with soft brush style letters see the Modern Siddham website.

Akara : The Quest for Perfect Form is an interesting essay on the forms that letters have taken over time.