Writing Malayalam words using Baraha transliteration scheme is as easy as writing our names in English. For example, ¥Kkn kxRõI i¥dxtkixY§ can be written as kEraLa rAjyaM manOharamAN. The transliteration rules are shown below with examples.
Vowel:
A=a, B=A,aa, C=i, C¦=I,ee, D=u, D¦=U,oo, E=Ru, u=RU, F=e, G=E, ¤F=ai, H=o, Hx=O, H¦=au,ou
I = M
J = H
Consonant:
K§=k, L§=K,kh, M§=g, N§=G,gh, O§=~g
P§=c,ch, Q§=C,Ch, R§=j, S§=J,jh, T§=~j
U§=T, V§=Th, W§=D, X§=Dh, Y§=N
Z§=t, a§=th, b§=d, c§=dh, d§=n
e§=p, f§=P,ph, g§=b, h§=B,bh, i§=m
j§=y,Y, k§=r, l§=rx, m§=l, p§=v,w, q§=S,sh, r§=Sh, s§=s, t§=h,~h, n§=L, o§=zh,Lx
Others:
„ (avagraha) = &
Zero Width Joiner = ^
Zero Width Non Joiner = ^^
Punctuation Marks:
The English symbols [ ] { } ( ) - + * / = | ; : . , " ? ! % \ ~ _ will translate into the same symbols in Malayalam also.
Quotation Marks:
` ' characters are converted to single smart quotes (` ') characters. We can get double smart quotes (`` '') by using them twice.
~ Usage:
'~' character when used with other characters form a different character as shown below.
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Example: ~~ = ~ ~@ = @ ~# = # ~$ = $ ~& = & ~^ = ^ ~g = O§ ~j = T§ ~h = t§ |
When a consonant character is used alone, it results in a dead consonant (mula vyanjana).
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Example k, c, T, t, p - K§, P§, U§, Z§, e§ N, n, r, l, L - Y§, d§, k§, m§, n§ |
When a consonant character is followed by a vowel character, it results in a live consonant.
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ka kA ki kI ku kU kRu kRU ke kE kai ko kO kau kaM kaH K Kx Ky Kz K¡ K¢ K£ K§u ¤K ¥K ¤¤K ¤Kx ¥Kx K¦ KI KJ pashu pAl tarunnu. eq¡ exm§ Zk¡Ë¡. sahAyaM ceytavare marxakkarutu^. stxjI ¤Pjëp¤k il¯k¡Z¡§. |
`t' consonant can be written in two ways; 'h' and '~h'. If you want to apply a `t' half consonant to consonants such as 'k', 'g', 't', 'd', etc, you have to use '~h' instead of of 'h'.
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Example: bakkiMghAm = g¯yINxi§ bakkiMg~hAm = g¯yIM§txi§ |
ZWJ, ZWNJ characters:
^ = ZWJ (zero width joiner)
^^ = ZWNJ (zero width non joiner)
If ZWJ comes after N,n,r,l,L consonants, we get the chillu forms.
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Example: N, n, r, l, L - Y§, d§, k§, m§, n§ N^, n^, r^, l^, L^ - ¨, ©, ª, «, ¬
janma - RÍ jan^ma - R©i jan^^ma - Rd§i |
When ZWJ comes after the 'u' vowel sign, a chandrakkala symbol is added on the top of the 'u' vowel sign. [Note: Malayalam linguists deny the use of chandrakkala symbol with vowel signs. But, such usage can be found even today.]
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Example: nUr - d¢k§ nUru - d¢k¡ nUru^ - d¢k¡§
vIT - pzU§ vITu - pzU¡ vITu^ - pzU¡§ |
If a dead consonant is required in the middle of a word, the ZWNJ character should be used after the consonant.
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Example: satsaMgaM - sÄIMI sat^^saMgaM - sZ§sIMI
sAPTwEr - sx¥fæûk§ sAPT^^wEr - sxf槥pk§ |
If two English characters are making one Malayalam vowel (ex: ai, ou), then, ZWNJ character can be used to separate them into different vowels.
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Example: iMDiyainPo = CIWy¤¤jd§¤fx iMDiya^^inPo = CIWyjCd§¤fx |
Vedic Symbols:
@, #, and $ symbols are transliterated into anudatta, udatta and swarita respectively. Vedic symbols are available in "BRH Malayalam Extra" font.
@ = … (anudatta)
# = † (udatta)
$ = ‡ (swarita)
#83; = ƒ (ardha caMdra)
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Example: <lang=mal|font="BRH Malayalam Extra"> sa@hasra# SIrShA@ puru#ShaH | sa@ha@srA@kShaH sahasra#pAt | sa bhUmi#M vi@SvatO# vRu@tvA | atya@tiShThaddaSAMgu@lam | puru#Sha E@vEdagM sarvam$ |
…st†ös qzk§…rx e¡†k¡rJ | …s…t…ösx±J st†ösexZ§ | s h¢†iyI …pyqû†¥Zx …p£Zûx | A…ZõZyrçÅqxI…M¡mi§ | e¡†k¡r …G¥pbM§I skû‡i§ | |
Laghu, Guru symbols:
'q' and 'Q' characters represent the laghu, guru symbols respectively, used in Malayalam prosody. These symbols are available in "BRH Malayalam Extra" font.
q = ‰ (laghu)
Q = Š (guru)
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Example: yaq mAQ tAQ rAQ jaq bhAQ naq saq laq gaQM
‰j Šix ŠZx Škx ‰R Šhx ‰d ‰s ‰m ŠMI |
Music Symbols:
'V' and 'W' characters can be used to get the dots below & above the characters which is required for writing music notes in Malayalam. These symbols are available in "BRH Malayalam Extra" font.
V = Π(dot below)
W = ‹ (dot above)
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Example: saV riW gaV maW paV daW niV saW Œs ‹ky ŒM ‹i Œe ‹b Œdy ‹s |
Note:
"BRH Malayalam Extra" font consists of the same characters that are in the "BRH Malayalam" font. The "BRH Devanagari Extra" font has more vertical space between the characters in order to accommodate the vedic, laghu, guru and music symbols.
Other Letters:
„ (avagraha) = &
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Example: prathamO&dhyAyaH = öea¥ix„cõxjJ |
Independent Glyphs:
In some special cases, it may be required to show specific glyphs in the fonts. They can be obtained by specifying the hex value of the glyph code. This value should be in the range 0x0000 - 0xFFFF (0 - 65536). If the value is between 0x00 - 0xFF (0 - 255), then it represents the glyph code of a font. If the value is 0x100 - 0xFFFF (256 - 65536), then it represents a unicode character. In Baraha editor, the UNICODE characters are not supported and hence shown as '?' symbol. But, when the document is exported to UNICODE format, these UNICODE characters will be retained.
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Example: #46; = F #5a; = Z #c85; = ? #0905; = ? |
Roman Numerals:
All Baraha fonts have Indian language numerals in the place of roman numerals. For example, the "BRH Malayalam" font has Malayalam numerals. If roman numerals are required, you have to use either "BRH Malayalam RN" font or <lang=eng> switch as shown below.
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Example: <font="BRH Malayalam RN">12345678901234567890 <lang=eng>1234567890 1234567890 |