A little Devanagari history

Devanagari belongs to the Brahmi family of South Asian scripts. It developed through earlier northern Indian writing styles and Nagari forms over many centuries. It was not designed in a single year by a single known inventor.

Devanagari is used for Hindi, Marathi, Nepali, Sanskrit and other languages. A script is a writing system, not a language: the same shapes do not guarantee the same word or pronunciation in each language.

This course teaches contemporary Standard Hindi reading. It includes common Urdu-derived vocabulary and dotted consonants found in Hindi print. Sanskrit-style spelling is introduced for recognition where everyday Hindi words need it; you are not expected to pronounce every Sanskrit text.