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SYSTEM OF TRANSLITERATION. The system of transliteration followed in this Journal for Sanskrit and Kanarese, (and, for tho sake of uniformity, submitted for adoption, as far as possible, in the case of other languages),- except in respect of modern Hindu personal names, in which absolute purism is undesirable, and in respect of a few Anglicised corruptions of names of places, sanctioned by long usage, - is this :Sansksit. Kanarese. Transliteration. | Sanskrit.
Kanarese. Transliteration,
ja
jha
ña
24 # # 4 aut opp en
3 S B
4 4 4 4 4 4 4 al al 44444
Da
da
9
12.32 8 3 63
dha
ng
$
औ
8L 21ste & CC && a&tuua ada 3 aad & 3.
% 4
ра pha ba bha ma
Visarga
Visarga Jihdimiltya, or old)
Visarga before an
and ख् Upadhmaniya, or old Visarga bo
fore and Anusvára
Anusodra Anundsiku
4
& 34A
I
kla
ED HO
1 8 KR 8 3 13
gla
ila
44.4
la
cha
sa chha
ha A single hyphen is used to separate words in composition, as far as it is desirable to divide them. It will readily be seen where the single hyphen is only used in the ordinary way, at the end of a line, as divided in the original Text, to indicate that the word runs on into the next line; intermediate divisions, rendered unavoidable here and there by printing neceesities, are made only where absolutely necessary for neatness in the arrangement of the Texts.
A double hyphen is used to separate words in a sentence, which in the original are written as one word, being joined together by the euphonic rules of samdhi. Where this double hyphen is used. it is to be understood that a final consonant, and the following initial vowel or consonant-and-vowel, are in the original expressed by one complex sign. Where it is not used, it is to be understood of the orthography of the original, that, according to the stage of the alphabet, the final consonant either has the modified broken form, which, in the oldest stages of the alphabet. was used to indicate & consonant with no vowel attached to it, or has the distinct sign of the viráma attached to it; and that the following initial vowel or consonant has its full initial form. In the transcription of ordinary texts, the double hyphen is probably unnecessary; except where there is the saindhi of final und initial vowels. But, in the transcription of epigraphical records, the use of this sign is unavoidable, for the purpose of indicating exactly the palæographical standard of the original texts.
The avagraha, or sign which indicates the elision of an initial a, is but rarely to be met with in inscriptions. Where it does occnr, it is most conveniently represented by its own Devanagari sign.
So also practice has shewn that it is more convenient to use the ordinary Devanagari marks of punctuation than to substitute the English signs for them.
Ordinary brackets are used for corrections and doubtful points; and square brackets, for letters which are much damaged and nearly illegible in the original, or which, being wholly illegible, can be supplied with certainty. An asterisk attached to letters or marks of punctuation in square brackets, indicates that those letters or marks of punctuation were omitted altogether in the original. As a rule, it is more convenient to use the brackets than to have recourse to footnotes; as the points to which attention is to be drawn attract notice far more readily. But notes are given instead, when there would be so many brnckets, close together, as to encumber the text and render it inconvenient to read. When any letters in the original are wholly illegible and cannot be supplied, they are represented, in metrical passages, by the sign for a long or a short syllable, as the case may be ; and in prose passages, by points, at the rate, usually, of two for each akshara or syllable.
