This results in a large number of conjunct forms expressed using stacked consonants, conjoined consonants, and ligated glyphs. ❯ consonantsĬonsonant clusters at any location are normally indicated using a virama ( hasant) between consonants. The 33 consonant letters used for Bangla are supplemented by repertoire extensions for 3 more sounds by applying the nukta diacritic to characters. lack of simple vowels for the sounds ɛ and æ, letters for only 2 of many diphthongs, long and short letters where pronunciation no longer distinguishes those sounds, etc.)īengali runs left to right in horizontal lines. The orthographic letters of the Bengali script are derived from Sanskrit, and in some cases don't quite fit the needs of modern Bangla (eg.

See the table to the right for a brief overview of features for Bangla. Consonants carry an inherent vowel which can be modified by appending vowel signs to the consonant. The script is descended from Brahmi, but there is some dispute about its derivation, since it shares shapes with both Dravidian and Aryan scripts.

It ranks 5th in the world for writing system usage. It has historically been used to write Sanskrit within Bengal. The Bengali or Bangla script is used by over 180 million people in Bangladesh and India to write the Bengali language, and a number of other Indian languages including Sylheti, Meithei, Bishnupriya Manipuri, and, with one or two modifications, Assamese.

Sanskrit alphabet with bengali alphabet