Sanskrit Alphabet
Sanskrit has a perfectly logical phonetic system. Learn the vowels first — they carry the sound. Then learn consonant groups.
Vowels (Svara)
Each vowel has a short (one beat) and long (two beat) version. Long vowels are marked with a line above: ā, ī, ū.
अ
a
short a — like 'u' in 'cup'
आ
ā
long a — like 'a' in 'father'
इ
i
short i — like 'i' in 'pin'
ई
ī
long i — like 'ee' in 'feet'
उ
u
short u — like 'u' in 'put'
ऊ
ū
long u — like 'oo' in 'food'
ए
e
like 'e' in 'they'
ऐ
ai
like 'ai' in 'aisle'
ओ
o
like 'o' in 'go'
औ
au
like 'ou' in 'loud'
ं
ṃ
anusvara — nasal 'm' at syllable end
ः
ḥ
visarga — soft 'h' breath
Consonant Groups (Vyanjana)
Sanskrit organizes consonants by where in the mouth they're formed. Each group has 5 consonants: unaspirated, aspirated, voiced, voiced aspirated, nasal.
Gutturals (throat) — ka group
k, kh, g, gh, ṅ
क, ख, ग, घ, ङ
Formed at the back of the throat
Palatals (palate) — ca group
c, ch, j, jh, ñ
च, छ, ज, झ, ञ
Tongue touches the hard palate
Retroflexes (curled back) — ṭa group
ṭ, ṭh, ḍ, ḍh, ṇ
ट, ठ, ड, ढ, ण
Tongue curled back — unique to Sanskrit
Dentals (teeth) — ta group
t, th, d, dh, n
त, थ, द, ध, न
Tongue touches upper teeth
Labials (lips) — pa group
p, ph, b, bh, m
प, फ, ब, भ, म
Lips come together
PRACTICE TIP
You don't need to memorize Devanagari immediately. Start with transliteration (Roman letters with diacritics). Many serious Gita students never need full Devanagari — the transliteration carries all the phonetic information.