A Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology and Religion, Geography, History, and Literature c4.s3.3

c4.s3.3

Of the consonants, the cerebral letters ‘t,’ ‘th,’ ‘d,’ ‘dh,’ and ‘n,’ the palatal sibilant ‘s,’ and the visarga ‘h,’ are represented in italics. Practically these are the only distinctions necessary. The guttural nasal is used only in combination with a guttural letter (‘nk’ or ‘ng’); the palatal nasal is used only with palatals (‘nch’ and ‘nj’), and no other nasal can be combined with these letters. The anuswāra, and the anuswāra only, is used before the sibilants and ‘h,’ so in ‘ns,’ ‘nsh,’ ‘ns,’ and ‘nh,’ the nasal is the anuswāra. The letter m before a semi-vowel may be represented either by m or anuswāra. In all these instances the combinations distinctly indicate the proper nasal, and no discriminative sign is necessary.