Shakespear, John: A grammar of the Hindustani language (London, 1826)

HINDUSTxiNI LANGUAGE.

9

iiiark of elision subscribed, as at the end of f^T(dzY)

region. But, if two or more cousonants meet together,

without the intervention of any vowel in the pronuncia-

tion, they should coalesce and becorne one compound

character. Such compounds are formed in various ways;

either by placing the body of the subsequent consonant

under the first; by blending them together, in some par-

ticular instances; or, most commonly, by arranging them

in their usual order, yet so that their bodies as well as

heads may be in contact, the perpendicular stroke being

omitted in every letter, that when used alone requires it,

except in the last; so, kl, ^ clclh, tsny: some con-

sonants, however, retain the upright stroke thougli

another be subjoined, as kky: and, in a few of tlie

compounds, littleor no resemblance appears to the simple

letters; as in jny, ksh: and, the letter X when im-

mediately following a consonant takes a peculiar form

beneath it, as kr, ^ dr; but, when in the middle of a

word it is immediately followed by a consonant, it is

r r o

placed above in tbe shape as rk, rg; and this letter
is in grammars generally called (reph or repha).*

To denote such Arabic or Persian letters as have no

* The most usual compounds of the consonants, in the Devanagarl
characters, are given on the plates subjoined to the work.

C