How to read the Roman letters

The Roman letters on this site follow IAST, the standard scholars' system. A few signs need explaining.

• ā ī ū are long vowels, held about twice as long as a, i, u.
• ṛ is the vowel in "rishi", close to "ri".
• ṃ (anusvara) is a nasal sound, like the "m" or "n" before the next consonant; ḥ (visarga) is a soft breath after the vowel, like a light echo of the vowel before it.
• ś and ṣ are both "sh" sounds (ś at the front of the mouth, ṣ with the tongue curled back); s is a plain "s".
• ṭ ḍ ṇ are made with the tongue curled back; t d n with the tongue against the teeth.
• An h after a consonant (kh, gh, ch, jh, th, dh, ph, bh) means a puff of air with the consonant: "dh" in "dharma" is a d with a breath, not "th".
• The apostrophe (') is the avagraha, a dropped "a" after a vowel: śoko 'sti.
• The sign | marks the end of a half-verse and || the end of a verse.

Rhythm

Most verses are in anushtubh metre: two lines, each with two quarters of eight syllables. Reading the half-lines out loud, a pause at the end of each quarter, gives the correct rhythm. Where a word has a long vowel or a double consonant, the syllable is held longer.

A short practice

Take verse 2.47. Read the Roman letters slowly, syllable by syllable, then once at a steady pace. Next, read it with the Devanagari in front of you. Chanting with a teacher is the way to learn the correct tune, which differs between regions and traditions.

Meanings and explanations are our own wording, not an authorised translation. Readers of the Gita follow different traditions and teachers; please ask yours about what you read here.