---

RULES FOR INDIAN WORDS

1. Pan Indian Transliteration Scripts should be adopted invariably. (see section 16).

2. Transliteration of Assamese ড় and ঢ় may be ignored. They may be spelled as ḍ and ḍh as it is done for Assamese ড and ঢ. (Use of ḏ, and ḏh for Assamese ড় and ঢ় is also found).

3. Assamese ৱ and Sanskrit व should always be v. (Except in Suggestion 14).

4. Assamese ব should be v if the letter originates from Sanskrit व. It may be b if it is of a word from a language other than Sanskrit or if the original Sanskrit word has ब in its spelling.

5. Transliteration of Assamese character for suprasegmental sound ঁ (used to mark the nasalization in a vowel) is to be avoided.

6. Assamese য and য় should be y and Assamese জ should be j.

7. ṁ is to be used for Assamese ং and ṅ for Assamese consonant clusters with Assamese ঙ.

8. Diacritic marks should be invariably used in old Indian words and they are to be written in italics except in few cases mentioned in sections 9 and10.

9. The Indian words which are already accepted in the English vocabulary and Indian words where English prefixes and suffixes are used are to be considered as English. For example, Veda, Vedic, Vaiṣṇava, Vaiṣṇavism, Vaiṣṇavite etc. are written in diacritic marks without italicizing them.

10. Pan Indian proper nouns (person names and place names) are to be written in diacritic marks but they are not italicized.

11. Names of books are always to be written in italics with initial capital letter of each head-word (except suggestion 12). They may be either Indian or English, old or modern.

12. Names of articles (research paper etc.) are not italicized. They are put within inverted commas and with each headword capitalized.

13. Pan Indian proper nouns other than person names and place names are to be written in italics and with initial capital letter. But when such proper nouns are used as common nouns, they are not spelled with initial capital letter, they are italicized.

14. It is observed that many Indian writers have a tendency to capitalize the initial letter of any Indian words. We should not forget that Indian words also should follow the rules of English punctuation as they are used in English sentences, that is, common nouns should never be capitalized.

15. These suggestions are not considered applicable for modern Assamese words.

16. Transliteration Scheme:



Vowels and semi vowels

Assamese	Devanāgarī	Roman		Assamese	Devanāgarī	Roman
অ	अ	a		ঋ	ऋ	ṛ
আ	आ	ā		এ	ए	e
ই	इ	i		ঐ	ऐ	ai
ঈ	ई	ī		ও	ओ	o
উ	उ	u		ঔ	औ	au
ঊ	ऊ	ū

Consonants

Assamese	Devanāgarī	Roman		Assamese	Devanāgarī	Roman
ক	क	k		প	प	p
খ	ख	kh		ফ	फ	ph
গ	ग	g		ব	ब	b
ঘ	घ	gh		ভ	भ	bh
ঙ	ङ	ṅ		ম	म	m
চ	च	c		য, য়	य	y
ছ	छ	ch		ৰ	र	r
জ	ज	j		ল	ल	l
ঝ	झ	jh		ৱ	व	v
ঞ	ञ	ñ		শ	श	ś
ট	ट	ṭ		ষ	ष	ṣ
ঠ	ठ	ṭh		স	स	s
ড	ड	ḍ		হ	ह	h
ঢ	ढ	ḍh		ক্ষ	-	kṣ
ণ	ण	ṇ		ড়	-	ḍ
ত	त	t		ঢ়	-	ḍh
থ	थ	th		ৎ	-	t
দ	द	d		ং	.	ṅ, ṁ
ধ	ध	dh		ঃ	ঃ	ḥ
ন	न	n		ঁ	-	-

---