VEDIC ACCENTS

Unicode and the Devanagari Script:

The Devanagari script is used for writing classical Sanskrit as well as Vedic Sanskrit. The Unicode Standard provides codes for Devanagari characters in the range 0900-097F, which are used for representing classical Sanskrit, Hindi and Marathi. However, it does not contain the additional characters needed for representing Vedic Sanskrit texts. Many of these characters combine with Devanagari characters and therefore constitute a part of the Devanagari script.

Proposal to Unicode:

To get these additional Vedic characters included in the Unicode standard, it is necessary to submit a formal proposal to the Unicode Consortium. Among other requirements, such a proposal has to be accompanied by references to dictionaries and other descriptive texts establishing authoritative information. Scanned pages showing the use of the proposed character are very useful.

It is therefore important that everybody interested in Vedic Sanskrit should join hands to support an effort to get Vedic Accents included in the Unicode Standard.

Request:

We request visitors to this site to go through the List of Vedic Accents given below and give their comments, corrections, additions, etc. Especially we request users to provide us the following:

Please note that all materials you send may be used for display on this website or in a formal proposal to Unicode. The list below will be continuously updated to reflect the latest contributions.

Contributions may be sent to: info@omkarananda-ashram.org.

Purpose:

The immediate aim is to make a draft proposal which can be submitted for discussion to the mailing lists of Unicode, Indology, etc. so that there may be broad agreement among Sanskrit experts on which characters to include in a formal proposal.

List of Vedic Accents
(Grey characters are shown for reference only)

Accents in Rg-Veda:

Sample: 1 2 3	Short Kampa (Svarita)	Kampa is vibration in the voice while reciting. It is indicated by the number 1 or 3 marked with Svarita as well as Anudatta. The number 1 indicates Short Kampa, while number 3 indicates Long Kampa. (Also used in Atharvaveda) Svarita and Anudatta are already in UCS but are not allowed after digits. Therefore the Kampas need separate code points.
Sample: 1 2 3	Long Kampa (Svarita)
	Svarita	Already in UCS 0951 (Also used in Yajurveda and Atharvaveda)
	Anudatta	Already in UCS 0952 (Also used in Yajurveda and Atharvaveda)

Accents in Yajurveda:

Sample: 1 2 3	Visarga 1	Occurs after Svarita (long)
Sample: 1	Visarga 2	Occurs after Udatta (short) Hand moves up
Sample: 1 2 3	Visarga 3	Occurs after Anudatta & Svarita (short) Hand moves down
Sample: 1 2	Visarga 4	Occurs after Udatta (long) Hand moves to the left
	Visarga 5	Occurs after Anudatta (long) Hand moves to the right
Sample: 1 2	Anusvara 1	Variants:
		Sample		Sample
		Occurs before ligatures (short) Thumb and index finger touch briefly
Sample: 1	Anusvara 2	Used in place of Anusvara 1, where ॥ Anusvara follows short matras and is followed by श ष स ह ऋ
	Anusvara 3
Sample: 1	Anusvara 4
	Anusvara 5
	Anusvara 6
Sample: 1 2 3	Anusvara 7
	Anusvara (Krishna Yajurveda)	Also used in Shukla Yajurveda and Samaveda.		Variant: Sample: 1 2
	Long Anusvara (Krishna Yajurveda)
Note: The above Yajurvedic Anusvaras occur when Anusvara is followed by a non-Varga character. This is also known as 'Gunkara' (गुंकार).
Sample: 1 2 3	Jatya Svarita (Shukla Yajurveda)
Sample: 1 2 3	Jatya Svarita (Maitrayani-Samhita)	Also used in Kathaka-Samhita.
Sample: 1	Svarita (Maitrayani Samhita)	This Svarita is sometimes also indicated by a horizontal line crossing the middle of the syllable.		Variant:
	Svarita (Kathaka)
Sample: 1	Long Svarita (Taittiriya Samhita)
Sample: 1 2 3	Jatya Svarita (Non-Taittiriya Yajurveda)	Antargami Anudatta
	Anudatta  (Kathaka-Samhita)
	Sentence-ending Udatta

Accents in Atharvaveda:

Accents in Samaveda:

Sample: 1	Samvedic Udatta
Sample: 1	Samvedic Svarita
Sample: 1	Samvedic Anudatta
Sample: 1	Samvedic Svarita U
Sample: 1	Samvedic Svarita Ra
Sample: 1	Samvedic Anudatta ka
	Samvedic U
Sample: 1 2	Anshumans Vedic Anusvara	Also used in Yajurvediya Maitrayani Samhita

Other Signs:

Sample: 1	Pushpika or Purnakalash (Filler)	If a the last line of a text ends short of the right margin, Pushpika is used to fill the line up to the right margin.
Sample: 1	Ardhavisarga	Ardhavisarga is called Jihvamuliya when pronounced before Ka or Kha and Upadhmaniya before Pa or Pha.
	Jihvamuliya
		These are the Variants of Jihvamuliya.
	Upadhmaniya
		These are the Variants of Upadhmaniya.
Note: Jihvamuliya and Upadhmaniya are used to indicate different pronounciation of Ardhavisarga before ka/kha and pa/pha.

  Other sources: