Sanskrit in Tamil Script
The same Chamakam, letter for letter, in the script Tamil readers use to recite it.
vignanam.org's Tamil-script Chamakam is the same Krishna Yajurveda text as the Devanagari version on the Chants page. It is a transliteration, not a translation, for reciters who read Tamil fluently but not Devanagari. Tamil's own eighteen consonants (see Characters) are fewer than Sanskrit's: there are no native letters for voiced or aspirated stops, and no palatal sibilant distinctions at all. Two devices fill the gap, and which one is used depends entirely on where the gap is.
Where a Tamil or Grantha letter already exists: use it directly
Grantha ஜ/ஶ/ஷ/ஸ/ஹ (see Characters) needs no change. Tamil has no native letter near these sounds, so the borrowed Grantha letter stands in on its own.
விஷ்ணூ viṣṇū |
विष्णू viṣṇū |
ஶ்ரோத்ரம் śrōtraṃ |
श्रोत्रम् śrōtraṃ |
Where Tamil doesn't: a superscript digit on the plain letter
Tamil's stop letters (க ட த ப) each cover both the voiceless and the voiced sound in native Tamil (see Characters). But writing Sanskrit precisely means keeping all four variants of a Devanagari row distinct. vignanam.org does this with a superscript ², ³ or ⁴ on the base letter: ² is voiceless aspirated, ³ voiced, ⁴ voiced aspirated. This is a documented convention, not something particular to this site.
| Plain | + ² | + ³ | + ⁴ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Velar | க ka |
க² kha |
க³ ga |
க⁴ gha |
All four appear in this one chant, in mudgāḥ, khalvāḥ, agnā and drāghuyā:
மு॒த்³கா³ஶ்ச॑ மே க॒²ல்வா᳚ஶ்ச மே mudgāścha mē khalvāścha mē |
मु॒द्गाश्च॑ मे ख॒ल्वा᳚श्च मे mudgāścha mē khalvāścha mē |
ஓம் அக்³னா॑விஷ்ணூ ōm agnāviṣṇū |
ॐ अग्ना॑विष्णू ōm agnāviṣṇū |
த்³ராகு॒⁴யா ச॑ மே drāghuyā cha mē |
द्राघु॒या च॑ मे drāghuyā cha mē |
The same pattern carries over to the other three stop columns: ட²/ட³/ட⁴ (retroflex), த³/த⁴ (dental) and ப³/பி⁴ (labial). Each is attested at least once: பஷ்ட²வாட் (paṣṭhavāṭ), த்³யு (dyu, dyumnair), கோ॒³தூ⁴மா (gōdhūmā), வாஜேபி॒⁴ர் (vājebhir).
Accent marks work in either script
The udātta, anudātta and svarita pitch-accent strokes (॑ ॒ ᳚, listed on the Sanskrit Characters page) are a layer of sound on top of the letters and belong to neither script. The same combining marks sit over Tamil consonants as over Devanagari ones. அக்³னா॑விஷ்ணூ has its udātta stroke in the same place as अग्ना॑विष्णू.
"Cha mē" is spelled three ways, and the two scripts don't always agree
The Chamakam's "cha mē" isn't always spelled the same way. In two of the three cases, the sound just before it decides which form appears, in both scripts:
| After a vowel | அஶ்மா॑ ச மே aśmā cha mē — stays separate |
|---|---|
| After visarga (-aḥ) | த³க்ஷ॑ஶ்ச மே dakṣaśca mē — fuses to -śca |
| After anusvara (-aṃ) | ப³லம்॑ ச ம॒ / बल-ञ्च म॒ Tamil: balaṃ cha ma (separate) — Devanagari: bala-ñca ma (fused) |
The third row is a real disagreement between the two source pages, not a rendering choice on this site's part. vignanam.org's Devanagari page fuses -m + cha into -ñca (the regular nasal-assimilation sandhi), but its Tamil page for the same line keeps them separate: ப³லம் ச, not a fused form. Both are valid ways to write the same spoken sandhi. Tamil orthography is generally more conservative about writing consonant fusions than Devanagari (see Characters: conjuncts are rare in native Tamil). The result is that the Tamil and Devanagari pages of the same chant aren't always parallel underneath the transliteration.