Conventions | Transliteration of Devanagari | Transliteration of Classical Greek

Our New Transliteration Standard

At the time of this writing, we have not yet seen any completely satisfactory, or even acceptable, method of simulating standard, printed Roman transliteration of Devanagari with HTML-based internet browsers such as Netscape and Internet Explorer. The two most popular metods—the "alternating small/CAPS" system ("kRSNa", "rAm") and the "periods in-between letters" system ("kr.s.n.a", "raam")—are both too clumsy and unrefined for our taste.

And even though some versions of the most popular web-browsers may soon use Unicode, we are not willing to accept that standard right now. First of all because we feel that there is a huge number of persons that, for many years, will continue using older browsers; and secondly, because the new technology is not yet really proven.

In order to serve our well-versed Sanskrit readers better, we therefore found it necessary to develop a new system of how to simulate, as closely as possible, modern, printed transliteration of Devanagari. By using the capability of standard HTML to underline text, as well as using a certain subset of special characters that all HTML browsers can display, we have been able to define a better, more consistent transliteration typography than in any of the two above mentioned methods (see Table 1, below).

Our system is better for two reasons. First, because it does not add any extra characters to simulate the original transliteration characters. For example, Devanagari's long a is transliterated in modern printed works as an "a" with a horizontal line above it. But in the "periods in-between letters" system this sound is represented with the characters "aa", thus adding another "a" to denote that the sound should be long instead of short. In our solution, however, we avoid adding extra characters, and instead use an "a" with a circumflex, an "â". This is not only closer to modern standards, but is also how older transliterations of Sanskrit material sometimes were done.

Another reason why our solution is better is that we are consistently using small letters for transliteration. Thus, instead of the curious "kRSNa" (as in the "alternating small/CAPS" system), we use "krsna". This is much closer to how modern transliterations are done, and also typographically less clumsy.

Transliteration Example

With our new transliteration standard, verse 66 in Chapter 18 of the Bhagavad-gita will be rendered as:

sarva-dharmân parityajya
        mâm ekam šaranam vraja
aham tvâm sarva-pâpebhyo
        moksayisyâmi mâ šucah

Vowels:
Letter A	a	as in cup
Letter AA	â	twice as long as in car
Letter I	i	as in sin
Letter II	î	twice as long as in pique
Letter U	u	as in bush
Letter UU	û	twice as long as in rule
Letter Vocalic R	r	as in river
Letter Vocalic RR	ree	twice as long as in reel
Letter Vocalic L	l	as lree
Letter E	e	as in they
Letter AI	ai	as in aisle
Letter O	o	as in no
Letter AU	au	as in cow

Cerebrals:
Letter TTA + virama	t	as in stop
Letter TTHA + virama	th	as in boathouse
Letter DDA + virama	d	as in bird
Letter DDHA + virama	dh	as in cardhouse
Letter NNA + virama	n	as in long

Table 1. Eyes of Scripture's new Roman transliteration method of Devanagari.

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