Exercise 5

The fifth installment of characters (followed by the conjunct consonants for the fourth and fifth installments):

Consonants: ङ (ḍa), ट (ṭa), ड (ḍa), ढ (ḍha), झ (jha)
- ङ (ṅa) and ड (ḍa) — These two consonants are identical except for the dot in ङ (ṅa). They are also quite similar to इ (i), although the latter loops down into a tail at the bottom.
- ट (ṭa) — ट (ṭa) is similar to its aspirate (ठ ṭha) except that its loop doesn’t close.
- झ (jha) — झ (jha) is basically the इ (i) character connected to a vertical bar (the ā diacritic). It exists in only a few words.
- ढ (ḍha) — To get their proportions right, it’s useful to compare the 3 characters: द (da), ट (ṭa), and ढ (ḍha). ढ (ḍha) has a larger semicircle than ट (ṭa) and ends in a distinctive loop and no tail, unlike द (da).

Vowel: ऌ ḷ (ॢ e.g., कॢ):
- ऌ (ḷ) is just the ल consonant with a ृ (ṛ diacritic). It hardly exists outside of a single root (कॢप् kḷp) and its derivatives (कॢप्त kḷpta, etc.).

Study the (2 page) handout for our new characters and conjunct consonants under the Characters tab.
For the conjunct consonants in that handout, pay special attention to the ङ् (ṅ) conjuncts, which sometimes take some parsing in the beginning (e.g., ङ्क्ष्व (ṅkṣva), ङ्घ्य (ṅghya), etc., depending on how capable the font is).
Read through the various notes to our new characters under the Notes tab.
Using the script tutors above as models, practice writing the characters in the sheets attached below. Feel free to continue practicing these characters (with and without vowel diacritics) on lined paper for any that require more practice. It’s always a good idea to pronounce the sounds while you’re writing them—the more senses you engage in learning new material, the more quickly you’ll remember it.
Practice your recognition of the characters and conjuncts we’ve learned so far in the flashcards at the bottom of the page.