Virāma, anusvāra, visarga, candrabindu, avagraha
Five marks that sit on or beside the letters. Each one stands for one IAST letter or sign, so each comes with a few words that use it.
Virāma
A consonant with no vowel after it at the end of a word takes the virāma, the small stroke under it: क् k. Inside a word two consonants join as a conjunct instead (see Conjuncts).
Anusvāra (ṃ)
A dot above the letter. Before a stop, many editions write the nasal of the stop's row instead, so the same word can be संगीत saṃgīta in one text and सङ्गीत saṅgīta in another.
Visarga (ḥ)
Two dots after the letter, like a colon.
Candrabindu (m̐)
The moon and dot mark a nasalized vowel. Sanskrit uses it mainly in one sandhi, where n meets l: tān lokān is written ताँल्लोकान् tām̐l lokān. Hindi uses it all the time.
Avagraha
The mark for a short a dropped after e or o: te api becomes te 'pi, तेऽपि te 'pi. IAST writes it as an apostrophe.
Drill
All 19 items, both ways: Devanāgarī to IAST, then IAST to Devanāgarī. A miss comes back later in the round; the lesson is drilled when every one has been right both ways. Progress is kept in this browser.
Comments
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