Page:Sanskrit Grammar by Whitney p1.djvu/34

 The -vowels, short and long, are written by a subjoined hook, single or double, opening toward the right: thus, कृ  कॄ  दृ  दॄ. In the -sign, the hooks are usually attached to the middle: thus, हृ, हॄ.

As to the combination of with preceding, see below, 14d.

The -vowel is written with a reduced form of its full initial character: thus, कॢ ; the corresponding long has no real occurrence (23a), but would be written with a similar reduced sign.

The diphthongs are written by strokes, single or double, above the upper line, combined, for ओ and औ, with the -sign after the consonant: thus, के , कै ; को , कौ.

In some manuscripts (as the Bengālī alphabet), the single stroke above, or one of the double ones, is replaced by a sign like the -sign before the consonant: thus, कॎ, कॎे ; कॎा, कॎो.

A consonant-sign, however, is capable of being made to signify the consonant-sound alone, without an added vowel, by having written beneath it a stroke called the (rest, stop): thus, क्, द् , ह्.

a. Since, as was pointed out above, the Hindus write the words of a sentence continuously like one word (9a, b), the is in general called for only when a final consonant occurs before a pause. But it is also occasionally resorted to by scribes, or in print, in order to avoid an awkward or difficult combination of consonant-signs: thus,

लिड्‌भिः, लिट्‌सु , अङ्‌क्ष्व ;

and it is used to make a separation of words in texts prepared for beginners (9d).

Under B, it is to be noticed that the consonant combinations are for the most part not at all difficult to make or to recognize for one who is familiar with the simple signs. The characteristic part of a consonant-sign that is to be added to another is taken (to the exclusion of the horizontal or of the perpendicular framing-line, or of both), and they are put together according to convenience,