Devanagari to IAST: A Practical Sanskrit Transliteration Guide
If you want to type or cite a Sanskrit word in Roman letters, IAST gives you a consistent spelling. For example, संस्कृतम् becomes saṃskṛtam. Both forms represent the same word; neither is an English translation.
Use the GoSanskrit IAST converter to try the examples below in either direction.
Devanagari to IAST Examples
| Devanagari | IAST | Note |
|---|---|---|
| नमस्ते | namaste | A familiar greeting |
| धन्यवाद | dhanyavāda | The long ā is marked twice |
| संस्कृतम् | saṃskṛtam | ṃ and ṛ are not plain m and r |
| योग | yoga | No diacritic is needed here |
These outputs were checked against the converter. Paste one entry into the left-hand box, choose Devanagari → IAST, and select Convert. You can also switch direction and enter the IAST spelling to produce Devanagari.
Why the Marks Matter
IAST distinguishes sounds that are easily blurred when diacritics are omitted. Compare a with long ā, n with ṇ, and s with ś or ṣ. Those marks make a scholarly spelling more precise and help a reader recover the intended Sanskrit letters.
Devanagari is not a simple one-character-per-letter alphabet. A consonant normally carries an inherent vowel; a vowel sign can change it, and a virama can suppress it. The Unicode Standard's Devanagari chapter explains this writing-system behavior in detail.
Transliteration Is Not Translation
Converting धन्यवाद to dhanyavāda answers “How is this written in IAST?” It does not answer “What does it mean?” For meaning and context, read the dhanyavāda vocabulary article or use the Sanskrit to English translator.
If the input comes from a scan or photograph, check the Devanagari text first. A wrong letter in the source produces a wrong transliteration, however accurately the converter maps the characters. For a first overview of the script, see Sanskrit basics.