Akshara Animation- DevanagariWelcome to the Akshara Animation Page. Here you will see how the aksharas of the script indicated above are stroked, i.e., drawn much the same way a person would write them by hand. The stroking order shown generally conforms to what is taught for children when they learn to write. It is possible that the order followed for some aksharas may differ from what may be in vogue or what might have been a convention at one time.
Instructions for using the applet are given below the applet. Please read them first. It is likely that the applet fails on some earlier versions of web browsers. An alternate version is also available and may work with netscape 4.7, IE4.0 etc.
When the applet completes loading, a grid displaying the aksharas will be seen (similar to the smaller one shown on the right). Select the akshara to be stroked by clicking on it and then click on the Animate button inside the applet. Animation rate may be controlled by increasing or decreasing the stroking rate using the buttons provided. The vowels and consonants are shown in independent grids. Some of the cells in the grids may be empty signifying the absence of an akshara in that position. The grid has been prepared to accept a global set of aksharas across all the Indian languages.
The stroking of the medial vowel representations are only a general indication of the positioning of the ligature. The location of the akshara with respect to the ligature is indicated by a rectangle.
You can hear the akshara spoken by clicking on the Hear button within the applet. The spoken akshara is sent to the browser as a wave file. Most browsers will play the wave file using appropriate media player software. Within the applet, the Hear option will play only the sound associated with the akshara. Use the smaller grid at right to hear examples of words which include the selected akshara.
Information given below will help readers understand the basis of the writing system followed in the script. Since the writing systems of Indian languages are syllabic in nature, the approach to medial vowel representation as well as formation of conjuncts (syllables) will be of interest. It is possible that the text for this is still under preparation in which case nothing will be seen below.
The grid shown below may
be used to hear an audio clip with examples of words which include the
akshara. Just click on any akshara to hear the sound clip. Empty cells
do not have an associated audio clip. The audio clips are in the .wav format
and may take time to download. Most media players will be able to play
the clip.
The Acharya Logo in this page
The Taj Mahal
is one of the UNESCO world heritage sites situated in India.
The Akshara Animation page will display a heritage site in the region where the script animated in this page is in general use. You will see different heritage sites if you visit the animation pages for different scripts.