Sanskrit

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( In all the posts I use the ITRANS scheme of translieration for writing sanskrit using roman script. )

Re: anusvAra (the dot above the letters)

If a nasal sound precedes a regular consonant from any of the 5-vargas (ka-varga, cha-varga, Ta-varga, ta-varga, pa-varga), then anusVara is not supposed to be used. Instead of anusvAra one is rather supposed to use the actual nasal sound (5th anunAsika) of the corresponding varga.

e.g. in the word "kampana" the actual anunAsika "m" from pa-varga is used, not the anusvAra as in "kaMpana".

Similarly instead of "raMga" use "ra~Nga", instead of "kaMchana" use "ka~nchana", instead of "daMDa" use "daNDa". If you pay close attention to how the nasal sounds in above cases, you will notice that the anunAsika rule very accurately describes the actual sound. And one anusvAra "M" should not be used to descibe these different sounds.

Only if the following consonant is not from the 5 main vargas, e.g. ya, ra, la, va, sha, Sha, sa, ha, only then anusvAra as a dot is supposed to be used. Since these consonants don't fall sharply within any varga.

But in normal Hindi, the anusvAra is used as replacement for any anunAsika.

One common misuse of the anusvAra is in speaking the word "saMskR^itam". Here the anusvAra must be used since the following consonant is "sa", which doesn't fall sharply within the 5-vargas. But the consonant "sa" is still called "dantya" just like the "ta-varga". So instead of "m" sound as many people tend to use which will be pa-varga, a ta-varga "n" sound is more justifiable. So when spoken, the version "sanskritam" is more accurate than "samskritam".