A History of Sanskrit Literature c2.9

c2.9

In the transliteration of Sanskrit words I have been guided by the desire to avoid the use of letters which might mislead those who do not know Sanskrit. I have therefore departed in a few particulars from the system on which Sanskrit scholars are now almost unanimously agreed, and which I otherwise follow myself. Hence for *c* and *ch* I have written *ch* and *chh* respectively, though in the rare cases where these two appear in combination I have retained *cch* (instead of *chchh*). I further use *sh* for the lingual *ṣ*, and *ç* for the palatal *ś*, and *ṛi* for the vowel *ṛ*. I have not thought it necessary to distinguish the guttural *ṅ* and the palatal *ñ* by diacritical marks, simply printing, for instance, *anga* and *pancha*. The reader who is unacquainted with Sanskrit will thus pronounce all words correctly by simply treating all the consonants as in English; remembering only that the vowels should be sounded as in Italian, and that *e* and *o* are always long.