Known to be the most frequently utilized of the Northern Indic scripts, Devanagari is used to write Hindi, Marathi, Nepali, Kashmiri, Bihari, Rajasthani, as well as some minority languages. Nowadays, it is also the script most commonly used for writing Sanskrit which is the ancient predecessor of Modern Hindi. All modern-day Indic scripts are descendants of Brahmi, an extinct script which flourished more than two thousand years ago. Over the centuries, the offshoots of Brahmi branched into two broad groups: one for writing the northern Indic, mainly Indo-Aryan languages, the other for the southern Indic, Dravidian languages.

As an exemplary descendant of Brahmi script, Devanagari embodies all the features which typify the 'Brahmi model':

1. Syllabic Alphabet
The basic component of the script is the syllable or aksara, which is typically a consonant-vowel unit. Inherent to each consonant-based syllable is a vowel, usually [a]. For example, the 'k'-based syllable is by default pronounced [ka]. In order to write a [ki] syllable, the inherent [a] vowel must be overridden by an [i] vowel. While the consonant-based syllable is the mainstay of the alphabet, a syllable can also consist of a sole vowel.

2. Canonical Order
All symbols of the syllabic alphabet (or, syllabary) are arranged in an order based on the phonetics of Sanskrit. First come the vowels, then the consonants. The vowels are arranged as primary vowels followed by secondary vowels. Vowels can appear in independent form (usually, in word-initial position) or in diacritic form to replace the inherent vowel of a syllable.

3. Special Symbols
a. Vowel suppressor: called virama, this symbol is used to suppress the inherent vowel of a syllable.
b. Nasalization marker: there is usually at least one symbol which indicates nasalization of vowels or other sounds. In Devanagari, the anusvara and the candrabindu play that role.
c. Breath marker: the visarga indicates that a sound has a breathy quality.

The use of the special symbols varies widely from one language to another.

Devanagari is written from left to right along a horizontal line and its basic set of symbols consists of 34 consonants and 18 vowels.¹ The joining of the horizontal bar, characteristic of many of its symbols, makes Devanagari text appear suspended from an imaginary line. Called danda, a single or double vertical line were traditionally used to indicate end of phrase or end of sentence. Also, there were no spaces between words. In modern practice, interword space and European punctuation prevail. Likewise, although Devanagari has a native set of symbols for numerals, nowadays Arabic numbers are typically used.

In Devanagari, the virama takes the form of a small diagonal stroke placed as a subscript on a syllable. Known natively as matra, diacritic (or satellite) vowels can appear before, after, above, below or surrounding a syllable. Very often, particular combinations of matra and syllable use special ligature forms. Also, the order of consonants and vowels may not necessarily correspond to the phonetic order. In word-initial position, vowels can appear in independent form. Usually called a 'consonant cluster', a group of consonants without intervening vowels may use special forms for its components. It is assumed that a vowel follows only the last consonant. Sometimes such clusters are formed by horizontally concatenating abbreviated forms (or half-forms) of the component consonants. Alternatively, some conjuncts consist of vertically stacked parts. Often, particular consonant clusters can appear as special forms, also known as 'conjuncts'. In part, Devanagari owes its complexity to its rich set of conjuncts.

¹ The exact number of symbols needed for any particular language can vary.

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