The Vedic Astronomy Wiki:Transliteration

When writing ancient Vedic words and phrases using English letters, a transliteration must be chosen.

For example, a word written in Devanagari script, like नक्षत्र, can be understandable to an English reader if transliterated using English letters and an accent mark, like this: Nakṣatra.

The accent marks are an attempt to ensure that the original pronunciation is maintained.

The Vedic Astronomy Wiki attempts to use the same transliteration as is used in the following book:



The transliteration table is listed at the end of the Introduction section of the book.

Marks used
This transliteration uses several accents that require special methods of input on a typical computer, as follows:


 * Linux note: the 'compose key' must be set up in your system settings.

How to type
These can be typed by various means on most modern computer systems. For help, please see these pages:


 * Windows, Mac:


 * Typing a Macron, at Penn State University


 * Linux:
 * Transliteration of Sanskrit, openoffice.org
 * Linux 'Compose keys'