very small image of the Siddham alphabet brushed by Kukai

Sanskrit, and related languages, can be written in a wide variety of scripts - including Brāhmī, Karoṣṭhī, Gupta, Tibetan, and with some modifications Roman (the one we use to write English). Letters that use diacritics (the various dots, dashes and squiggles) when Sanskrit is transliterated are not as similar as their Roman equivalents might suggest - ta and ṭa are not the same! This is partly why diacritics are important. The Sanskrit 'alphabet' is not strickly speaking either an alphabet or a syllabary, but is what is known as an abugida or alpha-syllabary. It is made up of a mixture of single letter (eg the vowels) and the single consonants combined with the short a. A full syllabary would include all possible combinations of consonants and vowels, including conjunct consonants and would includes thousands of items.

Siddhaṃ was the script used to write the Buddhist scriptures that were transmitted to China. The practice of writing in the Siddhāṃ script was preserved in Japan by the Shingon school founded by Kūkai. On the right is an example of a Chinese brush Siddham alphabet by Kūkai. click for a larger image.

The Siddhaṃ Alphabet

Siddhaṃ
With Roman and Devanāgarī equivalents

āli - the vowels

Siddham letter short a Siddham letter long a Siddham letter short i Siddham letter long i
a
ā
i
ī
Siddham letter short u Siddham letter long u Siddham letter short ṛ Siddham letter long ṝ
u
ū


Siddham letter ḷ Siddham letter ḹ Siddham letter short e Siddham letter ai


e
ai
Siddham letter short o Siddham letter au or long o Siddham letter anusvara ṃ Siddham letter visarga ḥ
o
au
aṃ
अं
anusvāra
(nasalised)
aḥ
अः
visarga
(aspirated)

See also Combining vowels

 

Kāli - the consonants

* indicates there is an alternative way to write the syllable - see below

unvoiced voiced nasal
plainaspirated plainaspirated
Velar Siddham letter ka Siddham letter kha Siddham letter ga Siddham letter gha Siddham letter ṅa
ka
kha
ga
gha
ṅa
palatal Siddham letter ca Siddham letter cha Siddham letter ja Siddham letter jha Siddham letter ña
ca
cha
*ja
jha
ña
retroflex Siddham letter ṭa Siddham letter ṭha Siddham letter ḍa Siddham letter ḍha Siddham letter ṇa
ṭa
ṭha
ḍa
ḍha
*ṇa
dental Siddham letter ta Siddham letter tha Siddham letter da Siddham letter dha Siddham letter na
ta
tha
da
dha
na
labial Siddham letter pa Siddham letter pha Siddham letter ba Siddham letter bha Siddham letter ma
pa
pha
ba
bha
ma

semivowels Siddham letter ya Siddham letter ra Siddham letter la Siddham letter va  
ya
ra
la
va
 
spirants Siddham letter śa Siddham letter ṣa Siddham letter sa Siddham letter ha
śa
ṣa
sa
ha
conjuncts Siddham letter kṣa Siddham letter jña
kṣa
क्ष
jña
ज्ञ

See also how to write double and conjunct consonants

Alternative forms Siddham letter ja Siddham letter .na      
ja
ṇa