Previous: Singing Practice
Next: Useful References

traditional symbol	on these pages	meaning	example (based on these pages)
one line over swaras	(indicated by taaLa notation)	double speed from normal	a line over pdpmgrsn will make it last only 4 aksharakalas instead of 8
double line over swaras	(indicated by taaLa notation)	4 times speed of normal	two lines over pdpmgrsn will make it last only 2 aksharakalas
lower case swara	lower case swara	madhya staayi swara	srgmpdn
upper case swara	comma after swara	extend note to an extra aksharakala	s,rg
dot over swara	upper case swara	taara staayi swara	srgmpdnS
dot below swara	dot to right of swara	mandra staayi swara	ndpmgrsn.d.n.s
two dots over swara	apostrophe next to uppercase swara	ati taara staayi swara	SRGMPDNS'NDPMGRSn
two dots below swara	two dots to right of swara	anu mandra staayi swara	sn.d.p.m.g.r.s.n..d..n..s.
string of dots	string of dots	aakaaram	kaa...maa...kshee....
vertical line	vertical line	end of a section of a taaLa or phrase	srgm pdns | sndp mgrs
double vertical line	double vertical line	end of a taaLa cycle, aavartanam	srgm pdns sndp mgrs ||
comma	comma	1/4 eDuppu, one aksharakaala	,srg mpdn s,,, ,,,,
semicolon	semicolon or 2 commas	1/2 eDuppu, 2 aksharakaalas	;rg m,,p
semicolon plus comma	semicolon plus comma or 3 commas	3/4 eDuppu, 3 aksharakaalas	;,r g,,, mpdn s,,,
wavy line over swaras	wave below swaras	kampita gamaka	srgmpdns ~~~~~~~~
asterisk	asterisk	anya swara	s r2 g3 m1 p m2* d2 n3 S
dash	dash	splitting of phrases by pattern	srg - rgm - gmp

The transliteration scheme is below. The letter we use is given first (lowercase or uppercase IS important in most cases), then the sound it makes, an example English word for the sound, an example lyric word (in Hindi, Tamil, Sanskrit) or term, and finally (if any) an explanation.

letter	sound	English	lyric	explanation
a	uh	bus	mandra	short a
A, aa	aaa	far	maataa	extended a
i	ih	pin	nin	short i
I, ee	eee	flee	shree	long e
u	oogh	put	muDi	short u
U, oo	oooh	moon	cooDa	long u
e	eh	pet	neeve, telisi	short e
E	ay	nay, hay	sutE	long a
ay, ey	ayee	weigh	sey	long a + y
ai, y	aii	kite	vairi	long i
o	oh	rock, for	mrokka	in between short o
O	ohh	road, home	mODi	long o
ow, ou	oww	found, south	sowkiyam	ow sound
k	ka	kick	vikrama	hard k, c
kh	k-ha	book-hop	khaNDa	aspirated k
g	ga	good, egg	suragaNa	hard g sound
gh	g-ha	dog-house	ghana	aspirated g
c	cha	charm	calamEla	ch sound
ch	ch-ha	beach-house	chaaya	aspirated ch
j	ja	jay, reg	jagan, vajra	hard j sound
jh	j-ha	hedgehog	jhaala	aspirated j
T	ta	top	venkaTa	t sound
Th	t-ha	anthill	viTThala	aspirated t
D	da	dog	viDu	d sound
Dh	d-ha	mad-hop	viDhala	aspirated d
t	th	thing	tiru	hard th sound
th	th-h	bath-house	mathuraa	aspirated th
d	dh	there	madana	soft th
dh	dh-ha	bathe-hee	dharma	aspirated soft th
n	n	now	manam	n sound
N	ln	darnit (no equivalent)	vaNNa	N, tongue back
ng	nga	stringy	mangaLa	ng, back of throat
ny, gn	nya	banyan	gnaana	ny, back of throat
p	p	pot	pin	p sound
ph	p-ha	uphill	phal	aspirated p
b	b	bin	baala	b sound
bh	b-ha	clubhouse	bhoota	aspirated b
m	m	mom	manam	m sound
y	ya	yes	yaar	short y sound
r	r	rrip	para	hard r
R	trrr	rrruffles	paTRa	harder r
zha	rlya	furry (no equivalent)	pazham	ry, back of throat
l	l	lollipop	lankaa	l (el) sound
L	rla	(no equivalent)	mangaLa	l, back of throat
v	v	every, very	veera	v sound
w	w, wo	wish, swing	swaagatam	w sound
s	s	hiss, see	saraseeruha	s sound
sh	sh	hush	shilangi	soft sh, front of mouth
shh, S	shh	shut	shhanmuga	hard sh, back of mouth
h	h	hard	hameer	h sound
Tca, tca	tcha	match, itch	matca	tcha sound
ksha	ksha	rikshaw	vraksha	ksha sound
f	f	feel, if	ferOz	f sound
z	z	zoo, fizz	zindagi	z sound

Next: Useful References