REPORT ON THE CURRENT STATUS OF
UNITED NATIONS ROMANIZATION SYSTEMS FOR GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES
Compiled by the UNGEGN Working Group on Romanization Systems
Version 4.0, March 2016

Hindi

The United Nations recommended system was approved in 1972 (II/11) and amended in 1977 (III/12), based on a report prepared by D. N. Sharma. The tables and their corrections were published in volume II of the conference reports^1,2.

There is no evidence of the use of the system either in India or in international cartographic products. It was stated in 1987 that the appropriate resolution had not been implemented in India and the Hunterian system was still in use in large-scale mapping³.

Hindi uses the alphasyllabic script Devanāgarī whereby each character represents a syllable rather than one sound. Vowels and diphthongs are marked in two ways: as independent characters (used syllable-initially) and in an abbreviated form, to denote vowels after consonants. The romanization table is unambiguous but the user would have to recognize many ligatures not given in the original table (only three are given). The system is mostly reversible but there may exist some ambiguities in the romanization of vowels (independent vs. abbreviated characters) and consonants (ligatures vs. character sequences).

Romanization

In the romanization system below the table of ligatures has been added.

I. Independent vowel characters

1 अ a

2 आ ā

3 इ i

4 ई ī

5 उ u

6 ऊ ū

7 ॠ ṛ

8 ॠृ ṝ

9 ऌ l̤

10 ए e

11 ऐ ai

12 ओ o

13 औ au

II. Abbreviated vowel characters (क stands for any consonant character)

1 क a

2 का ā^A

3 कि i

4 की ī

5 कु u^B

6 कू ū^B

7 कृ ṛ^B

8 के e

9 कै ai

10 को o

11 कौ au

^A With an additional mark: कॉ kā̆.
^B Exceptions: रु ru; रू rū; हृ hṛ.

III. Other symbols (अ stands for any vowel character in lines 1–3, क stands for any consonant character in line 4)

1 अं ṁ

2 अँ m̐

3 अः ḥ

4 क् ^(A)

^A Pronunciation without a vowel: क् k.

IV. Consonant characters

1 क ka^A

2 ख kha^A

3 ग ga^A

4 घ gha

5 ङ ṅa

6 च cha

7 छ chha

8 ज ja^A

9 झ jha

10 ञ ña

11 ट ṭa

12 ठ ṭha

13 ड ḍa^A

14 ढ ḍha^A

15 ण ṇa

16 त ta

17 थ tha

18 द da

19 ध dha

20 न na

21 प pa

22 फ pha^A

23 ब ba

24 भ bha

25 म ma

26 य ya

27 र ra

28 ल la

29 व va

30 श sha

31 ष ṣha

32 स sa

33 ह ha

^A Dotted variants of the characters: क़ qa; ख़ ḳha; ग़ g̣a; ज़ za; ड़ ṙa; ढ़ ṙha; फ़ fa.

V. Ligatures

Adscript form:

Examples

र्त r- र्त rta, र्द्व rdva

Other ligatures (the list is not complete)

क्क क्ख क्त क्त्व क्य क्र क्ल क्व क्ष क्ष्ण क्ष्म क्ष्य क्ष्व

kka kkha kta ktva kya kra kla kva kṣha kṣhṇa kṣhma kṣhya kṣhva

क्स ख्य ख़श ग्द ग्ध ग्न ग्भ ग्म ग्य ग्र ग्ल घ्न घ्य

ksa khya ḳhsha gda gdha gna gbha gma gya gra gla ghna ghya

घ्र ङ्क ङ्ख ङ्ग ङ्घ च्च च्छ च्छ्र च्य च्र ज्ज ज्झ ज्ञ

ghra ṅka ṅkha ṅga ṅgha chcha chchha chchhra chya chra jja jjha jña

ज्य ज्र ज्व ञ्च ञ्छ ञ्ज ट्ट ट्ठ ठ्ठ ड्ड ड्ढ ढ्ढ ण्ट

jya jra jva ñcha ñchha ñja ṭṭa ṭṭha ṭhṭha ḍḍa ḍḍha ḍhḍha ṇṭa

ण्ठ ण्ड ण्य त्क त्त त्त्य त्त्व त्थ त्न त्प त्म त्म्य त्य

ṇṭha ṇḍa ṇya tka tta ttya ttva ttha tna tpa tma tmya tya

त्र त्र्य त्व त्स त्स्न त्स्य थ्य थ्र द्ग द्द द्ध द्भ द्म

tra trya tva tsa tsna tsya thya thra dga dda ddha dbha dma

द्य द्र द्व ध्न ध्म ध्य ध्र ध्व न्त न्त्य न्त्र न्थ न्द

dya dra dva dhna dhma dhya dhra dhva nta ntya ntra ntha nda

न्द्र न्ध न्ध्य न्ध्र न्न न्म न्य न्र न्व न्स न्ह प्त प्त्य

ndra ndha ndhya ndhra nna nma nya nra nva nsa nha pta ptya

प्न प्य प्र प्ल प्स फ्य फ्ल ब्द ब्न ब्य ब्र भ्य भ्र

pna pya pra pla psa phya phla bda bna bya bra bhya bhra

म्न म्ब म्भ म्म म्य म्र म्ल म्व म्ह य्य य्र ल्क ल्प

mna mba mbha mma mya mra mla mva mha yya yra lka lpa

ल्म ल्य ल्ल ल्व ल्स व्य व्र श्च श्च्य श्छ श्न श्य श्र

lma lya lla lva lsa vya vra shcha shchya shchha shna shya shra

श्ल श्व ष्क ष्क्र ष्ट ष्ट्र ष्ठ ष्ण ष्प ष्प्र ष्म ष्य ष्व

shla shva ṣhka ṣhkra ṣhṭa ṣhṭra ṣhṭha ṣhṇa ṣhpa ṣhpra ṣhma ṣhya ṣhva

स्क स्ख स्त स्त्र स्थ स्न स्प स्फ स्म स्म्य स्य स्र स्व

ska skha sta stra stha sna spa spha sma smya sya sra sva

ह्न ह्म ह्य ह्र ह्ल ह्व

hna hma hya hra hla hva

Notes

It is recommended that the vowel अ (a) should always be romanized except when it ends a name. If a name ends with a consonant, the consonant should carry a sub-macron. Such cases, however, will be very rare. For example, कानपुर Kānapur (not Kānapura), जगत् Jagaṯ.
If each letter of a digraph or any two parts of a trigraph has a distinct independent sound then it should be indicated by a hyphen, thus d-h.

Other systems of romanization

The Hunterian system is the actually used national system of romanization in India.

UN Hunterian

ā = ā, a^A

ḍ = d

ḍh = dh

ī = ī, i^A

ṁ = n, m

ṅ = ng

ṇ = n

ñ = ny

sh = s, sh

ṣh = sh

ṭ = t

ṭh = th

v = w, v^B

^A Word-finally.
^B Exceptionally, e.g. before i.

The transliteration standard for Indian languages ISO 15919: 2001 provides different transliteration equivalents to the characters of the Indian languages. These are:

UN ISO

ă = ĕ

ā̆ = ŏ

ch = c

chh = ch

e = ē, e^A

ĕ = e

g̣ = ġ

ḥ = ḥ, ḵ^B

j̠ = y^C

ḳh = ḵẖ

l̤ = l̥

l̤̄ = l̥̄

l̮ = ḻ ^B

m̐ = m̐, ˜, n̆^E

o = ō, o^A

ŏ = o

ṙ = ṛ

ṛ = r̥

ṝ = r̥̄

sh = ś

ṣh = ṣ

ṭ̈ = ṯ ^D

y = ẏ ^CF

ỵ = y^F

^A Non-uniform vowels option: if the only scripts in view are without short e, o, then long e, o may be transliterated e, o, respectively.
^B Used in Tamil.
^C Used in Bengali.
^D Used in Malayalam.
^E Used in Telugu.
^F Used in Oriya.

References

Second United Nations Conference on the Standardization of Geographical Names. London, 10–31 May 1972. Vol. II. Technical papers. United Nations. New York 1974, pp. 119–131.
Third United Nations Conference on the Standardization of Geographical Names. Athens, 17 August – 7 September 1977. Vol. II, Technical papers, pp. 393 etc.
Fifth United Nations Conference on the Standardization of Geographical Names. Montreal, 18–31 August 1987. Vol. I. Report of the Conference, p. 30.

1	अ	a
2	आ	ā
3	इ	i
4	ई	ī
5	उ	u
6	ऊ	ū
7	ॠ	ṛ
8	ॠृ	ṝ
9	ऌ	l̤
10	ए	e
11	ऐ	ai
12	ओ	o
13	औ	au

1	क	a
2	का	ā^A
3	कि	i
4	की	ī
5	कु	u^B
6	कू	ū^B
7	कृ	ṛ^B
8	के	e
9	कै	ai
10	को	o
11	कौ	au

1	क	ka^A
2	ख	kha^A
3	ग	ga^A
4	घ	gha
5	ङ	ṅa
6	च	cha
7	छ	chha
8	ज	ja^A
9	झ	jha
10	ञ	ña
11	ट	ṭa
12	ठ	ṭha
13	ड	ḍa^A
14	ढ	ḍha^A
15	ण	ṇa
16	त	ta
17	थ	tha
18	द	da
19	ध	dha
20	न	na
21	प	pa
22	फ	pha^A
23	ब	ba
24	भ	bha
25	म	ma
26	य	ya
27	र	ra
28	ल	la
29	व	va
30	श	sha
31	ष	ṣha
32	स	sa
33	ह	ha

UN	Hunterian
ā	= ā, a^A
ḍ	= d
ḍh	= dh
ī	= ī, i^A
ṁ	= n, m
ṅ	= ng
ṇ	= n
ñ	= ny
sh	= s, sh
ṣh	= sh
ṭ	= t
ṭh	= th
v	= w, v^B

UN	ISO
ă	= ĕ
ā̆	= ŏ
ch	= c
chh	= ch
e	= ē, e^A
ĕ	= e
g̣	= ġ
ḥ	= ḥ, ḵ^B
j̠	= y^C
ḳh	= ḵẖ
l̤	= l̥
l̤̄	= l̥̄
l̮	= ḻ ^B
m̐	= m̐, ˜, n̆^E
o	= ō, o^A
ŏ	= o
ṙ	= ṛ
ṛ	= r̥
ṝ	= r̥̄
sh	= ś
ṣh	= ṣ
ṭ̈	= ṯ ^D
y	= ẏ ^CF
ỵ	= y^F