with the simple signs and with the above rules of combination will not enable the student readily to analyse and explain.
16. a. A sign called the avagraha (separator) — namely ऽ — is occasionally used in the manuscripts, sometimes in the manner of a hyphen, sometimes as a mark of hiatus, sometimes to mark the elision of initial अ a after final ए e or ओ o (135). In printed texts, especially European, it is ordinarily applied to the use last mentioned, and to that alone: thus, ते ऽब्रुवन् te ‘bruvan, सो ऽब्रवीत् so ‘bravīt, for te abruvan, so abravīt.
b. If the elided initial-vowel is nasal, and has the anusvāra-sign (70, 71) written above, this is usually and more properly transferred to the eliding vowel; but sometimes it is written instead over the avagraha-sign: thus, for so ‘ṅçumān, from so aṅçumān, either सों ऽशुमान् or सो ऽंशुमान्.
c. The sign ॰ is used in place of something that is omitted, and to be understood from the connection: thus, वीरसेनसुतस् ॰तम् ॰तेन vīrasenasutas -tam -tena.
d. Signs of punctuation are । and ॥.
At the end of a verse, a paragraph, or the like, the latter of them is ordinarily written twice, with the figure of enumeration between: thus, ॥२०॥.
17. The numeral figures are
- १ 1, २ 2, ३ 3, ४ 4, ५ 5, ६ 6, ७ 7, ८ 8, ९ 9, ० 0.
In combination, to express larger numbers, they are used in precisely the same way as European digits: thus, २५ 25, ६३० 630, ७००० 7000, १८९४ 1894.
18. The Hindu grammarians call the different sounds, and the characters representing them, by a kāra (maker) added to the sound of the letter, if a vowel, or to the letter followed by a, if a consonant. Thus, the sound or character a is called akāra; k is kakāra; and so on. But the kāra is also omitted, and a, ka, etc. are used alone. The r, however, is not called rakāra, but only ra, or repha snarl: the sole example of a specific name for an alphabetic element of its class. The anusvāra and visarga are also known by these names alone.
