Bharati Braille Explained

Bharati braille, or Bharatiya Braille (hi|भारती ब्रेल pronounced as /hi/ "Indian braille"), is a largely unified braille script for writing the languages of India. When India gained independence, eleven braille scripts were in use, in different parts of the country and for different languages. By 1951, a single national standard had been settled on, Bharati braille, which has since been adopted by Sri Lanka,^[1] Nepal, and Bangladesh.^[2] There are slight differences in the orthographies for Nepali in India and Nepal, and for Tamil in India and Sri Lanka. There are significant differences in Bengali Braille between India and Bangladesh, with several letters differing. Pakistan has not adopted Bharati braille, so the Urdu Braille of Pakistan is an entirely different alphabet than the Urdu Braille of India, with their commonalities largely due to their common inheritance from English or International Braille. Sinhala Braille largely conforms to other Bharati, but differs significantly toward the end of the alphabet, and is covered in its own article.

Bharati braille alphabets use a 6-dot cell with values based largely on English Braille. Letters are assigned as consistently as possible across the various regional scripts of India as they are transliterated in the Latin script, so that, for example, Hindi, Urdu, Bengali, and English are rendered largely the same in braille.

System

Although basically alphabetic, Bharati braille retains one aspect of Indian abugidas, in that the default vowel a is not written unless it occurs at the beginning of a syllable or before a vowel. This has been called a "linearized alphasyllabary abugida".^[3] For example, and taking Devanagari as a representative printed script, the braille letter (the consonant K) renders print Hindi: क ka, and braille (TH) renders print Hindi: थ tha. To indicate that a consonant occurs without a following vowel (as when followed by another consonant, or at the end of a syllable), a virama (vowel-canceling) prefix is used: (virama-K) is Hindi: क k, and (virama-TH) is Hindi: थ th. However, unlike in print, there are no vowel diacritics in Bharati braille; vowels are written as full letters following the consonant, regardless of their order in print. For example, in print the vowel i is prefixed to a consonant in a reduced diacritic form, Hindi: कि ki, but in braille it follows the consonant in its full form: (K-I), equivalent to writing for ki in print. Thus print Hindi: क्लिक klika is written in braille as (virama-K-L-I-K). The one time a non-initial short a is written in braille is when it is followed by another vowel. In this environment the a must be written, because otherwise the subsequent vowel will be read as following the consonant immediately. Thus print kai is rendered in braille as (K–A–I), to disambiguate it from for Hindi: कि ki.

Apart from the kṣ and jñ, Bharati braille does not handle conjuncts. Consonant clusters written as conjuncts in print are handled with the virama in braille, just as they are with computer fonts that lack the conjuncts. Bharati braille is thus equivalent to Grade-1 English braille, though there are plans to extend all the Bharati alphabets to include conjuncts.

Alphabet

Following are the charts of the braille correspondences of the main Indian scripts.^[4] Irregularities, where a letter does not match the romanized heading, are placed in parentheses.

	a	ā	i	ī	u	ū	e	ē	ai	o	ō	au
Braille
Gurmukhi	Panjabi; Punjabi: ਅ	Panjabi; Punjabi: ਆ	Panjabi; Punjabi: ਇ	Panjabi; Punjabi: ਈ	Panjabi; Punjabi: ਉ	Panjabi; Punjabi: ਊ		Panjabi; Punjabi: ਏ	Panjabi; Punjabi: ਐ	(Panjabi; Punjabi: ਖ਼ x)[5]	Panjabi; Punjabi: ਓ	Panjabi; Punjabi: ਔ
Urdu		آ		ی		و		ے	ے	(خ‎ x)	و	و
Devanagari[6]	Hindi: अ	Hindi: आ	Hindi: इ	Hindi: ई	Hindi: उ	Hindi: ऊ	Hindi: ऎ	Hindi: ए	Hindi: ऐ	Hindi: ऒ	Hindi: ओ	Hindi: औ
		ा	ि	ी	ु	ू	ॆ	े	ै	ॊ	ो	ौ
Gujarati	Gujarati: અ	Gujarati: આ	Gujarati: ઇ	Gujarati: ઈ	Gujarati: ઉ	Gujarati: ઊ		Gujarati: એ	Gujarati: ઐ		Gujarati: ઓ	Gujarati: ઔ
Bengali	Bengali: অ	Bengali: আ	Bengali: ই	Bengali: ঈ	Bengali: উ	Bengali: ঊ	(Bengali: য় y)[7]	Bengali: এ	Bengali: ঐ		Bengali: ও	Bengali: ঔ
Oriya	Oriya: ଅ	Oriya: ଆ	Oriya: ଇ	Oriya: ଈ	Oriya: ଉ	Oriya: ଊ	(Oriya: ୟ ẏ)	Oriya: ଏ	Oriya: ଐ		Oriya: ଓ	Oriya: ଔ
Telugu	Telugu: అ	Telugu: ఆ	Telugu: ఇ	Telugu: ఈ	Telugu: ఉ	Telugu: ఊ	Telugu: ఎ	Telugu: ఏ	Telugu: ఐ	Telugu: ఒ	Telugu: ఓ	Telugu: ఔ
Kannada	Kannada: ಅ	Kannada: ಆ	Kannada: ಇ	Kannada: ಈ	Kannada: ಉ	Kannada: ಊ	Kannada: ಎ	Kannada: ಏ	Kannada: ಐ	Kannada: ಒ	Kannada: ಓ	Kannada: ಔ
Malayalam	Malayalam: അ	Malayalam: ആ	Malayalam: ഇ	Malayalam: ഈ	Malayalam: ഉ	Malayalam: ഊ	Malayalam: എ	Malayalam: ഏ	Malayalam: ഐ	Malayalam: ഒ	Malayalam: ഓ	Malayalam: ഔ
Tamil	Tamil: அ	Tamil: ஆ	Tamil: இ	Tamil: ஈ	Tamil: உ	Tamil: ஊ	Tamil: எ	Tamil: ஏ	Tamil: ஐ	Tamil: ஒ	Tamil: ஓ	Tamil: ஔ

ISO	r̥		r̥̄		l̥		l̥̄
Braille
Devanagari	Hindi: ऋ		Hindi: ॠ		Hindi: ऌ		Hindi: ॡ
	ृ		ॄ		ॢ		ॣ
Gujarati	Gujarati: ઋ		Gujarati: ૠ
Bengali	Bengali: ঋ				Bengali: ঌ
Oriya	Oriya: ଋ		Oriya: ୠ		Oriya: ଌ		Oriya: ୡ
Telugu	Telugu: ఋ		Telugu: ౠ		Telugu: ఌ		Telugu: ౡ
Kannada	Kannada: ಋ		Kannada: ೠ
Malayalam	Malayalam: ഋ		Malayalam: ൠ		Malayalam: ഌ		Malayalam: ൡ

ISO	k	kh	g	gh	ṅ
Braille
Gurmukhi	Panjabi; Punjabi: ਕ	Panjabi; Punjabi: ਖ	Panjabi; Punjabi: ਗ	Panjabi; Punjabi: ਘ	Panjabi; Punjabi: ਙ
Urdu	ک	کھ	گ	گھ
Devanagari	Hindi: क	Hindi: ख	Hindi: ग	Hindi: घ	Hindi: ङ
Gujarati	Gujarati: ક	Gujarati: ખ	Gujarati: ગ	Gujarati: ઘ	Gujarati: ઙ
Bengali	Bengali: ক	Bengali: খ	Bengali: গ	Bengali: ঘ	Bengali: ঙ
Oriya	Oriya: କ	Oriya: ଖ	Oriya: ଗ	Oriya: ଘ	Oriya: ଙ
Telugu	Telugu: క	Telugu: ఖ	Telugu: గ	Telugu: ఘ	Telugu: ఙ
Kannada	Kannada: ಕ	Kannada: ಖ	Kannada: ಗ	Kannada: ಘ	Kannada: ಙ
Malayalam	Malayalam: ക	Malayalam: ഖ	Malayalam: ഗ	Malayalam: ഘ	Malayalam: ങ
Tamil	Tamil: க				Tamil: ங

ISO	c	ch	j	jh	ñ
Braille
Gurmukhi	Panjabi; Punjabi: ਚ	Panjabi; Punjabi: ਛ	Panjabi; Punjabi: ਜ	Panjabi; Punjabi: ਝ	Panjabi; Punjabi: ਞ
Urdu	چ	چھ	ج	جھ
Devanagari	Hindi: च	Hindi: छ	Hindi: ज	Hindi: झ	Hindi: ञ
Gujarati	Gujarati: ચ	Gujarati: છ	Gujarati: જ	Gujarati: ઝ	Gujarati: ઞ
Bengali	Bengali: চ	Bengali: ছ	Bengali: জ	Bengali: ঝ	Bengali: ঞ
Oriya	Oriya: ଚ	Oriya: ଛ	Oriya: ଜ	Oriya: ଝ	Oriya: ଞ
Telugu	Telugu: చ	Telugu: ఛ	Telugu: జ	Telugu: ఝ	Telugu: ఞ
Kannada	Kannada: ಚ	Kannada: ಛ	Kannada: ಜ	Kannada: ಝ	Kannada: ಞ
Malayalam	Malayalam: ച	Malayalam: ഛ	Malayalam: ജ	Malayalam: ഝ	Malayalam: ഞ
Tamil	Tamil: ச		Tamil: ஜ		Tamil: ஞ

ISO	ṭ	ṭh	ḍ	ḍh	ṇ
Braille
Gurmukhi	Panjabi; Punjabi: ਟ	Panjabi; Punjabi: ਠ	Panjabi; Punjabi: ਡ	Panjabi; Punjabi: ਢ	Panjabi; Punjabi: ਣ
Urdu	ٹ	ٹھ	ڈ	ڈھ
Devanagari	Hindi: ट	Hindi: ठ	Hindi: ड	Hindi: ढ	Hindi: ण
Gujarati	Gujarati: ટ	Gujarati: ઠ	Gujarati: ડ	Gujarati: ઢ	Gujarati: ણ
Bengali	Bengali: ট	Bengali: ঠ	Bengali: ড	Bengali: ঢ	Bengali: ণ
Oriya	Oriya: ଟ	Oriya: ଠ	Oriya: ଡ	Oriya: ଢ	Oriya: ଣ
Telugu	Telugu: ట	Telugu: ఠ	Telugu: డ	Telugu: ఢ	Telugu: ణ
Kannada	Kannada: ಟ	Kannada: ಠ	Kannada: ಡ	Kannada: ಢ	Kannada: ಣ
Malayalam	Malayalam: ട	Malayalam: ഠ	Malayalam: ഡ	Malayalam: ഢ	Malayalam: ണ
Tamil	Tamil: ட				Tamil: ண

ISO	t	th	d	dh	n
Braille
Gurmukhi	Panjabi; Punjabi: ਤ	Panjabi; Punjabi: ਥ	Panjabi; Punjabi: ਦ	Panjabi; Punjabi: ਧ	Panjabi; Punjabi: ਨ
Urdu	ت	تھ	د	دھ	ن
Devanagari	Hindi: त	Hindi: थ	Hindi: द	Hindi: ध	Hindi: न
Gujarati	Gujarati: ત	Gujarati: થ	Gujarati: દ	Gujarati: ધ	Gujarati: ન
Bengali	Bengali: ত	Bengali: থ	Bengali: দ	Bengali: ধ	Bengali: ন
Oriya	Oriya: ତ	Oriya: ଥ	Oriya: ଦ	Oriya: ଧ	Oriya: ନ
Telugu	Telugu: త	Telugu: థ	Telugu: ద	Telugu: ధ	Telugu: న
Kannada	Kannada: ತ	Kannada: ಥ	Kannada: ದ	Kannada: ಧ	Kannada: ನ
Malayalam	Malayalam: ത	Malayalam: ഥ	Malayalam: ദ	Malayalam: ധ	Malayalam: ന
Tamil	Tamil: த				Tamil: ந

ISO	p	ph	b	bh	m
Braille
Gurmukhi	Panjabi; Punjabi: ਪ	Panjabi; Punjabi: ਫ	Panjabi; Punjabi: ਬ	Panjabi; Punjabi: ਭ	Panjabi; Punjabi: ਮ
Urdu	پ	پھ	ب	بھ	م
Devanagari	Hindi: प	Hindi: फ	Hindi: ब	Hindi: भ	Hindi: म
Gujarati	Gujarati: પ	Gujarati: ફ	Gujarati: બ	Gujarati: ભ	Gujarati: મ
Bengali	Bengali: প	Bengali: ফ	Bengali: ব	Bengali: ভ	Bengali: ম
Oriya	Oriya: ପ	Oriya: ଫ	Oriya: ବ	Oriya: ଭ	Oriya: ମ
Telugu	Telugu: ప	Telugu: ఫ	Telugu: బ	Telugu: భ	Telugu: మ
Kannada	Kannada: ಪ	Kannada: ಫ	Kannada: ಬ	Kannada: ಭ	Kannada: ಮ
Malayalam	Malayalam: പ	Malayalam: ഫ	Malayalam: ബ	Malayalam: ഭ	Malayalam: മ
Tamil	Tamil: ப				Tamil: ம

ISO	y	r	l	ḷ	v
Braille
Gurmukhi	Panjabi; Punjabi: ਯ	Panjabi; Punjabi: ਰ	Panjabi; Punjabi: ਲ	Panjabi; Punjabi: ਲ਼	Panjabi; Punjabi: ਵ
Urdu	ی	ر	ل		و
Devanagari	Hindi: य	Hindi: र	Hindi: ल	Hindi: ळ	Hindi: व
Gujarati	Gujarati: ય	Gujarati: ર	Gujarati: લ	Gujarati: ળ	Gujarati: વ
Bengali	Bengali: য	Bengali: র/Assamese: ৰ[8]	Bengali: ল		Assamese: ৱ
Oriya	Oriya: ଯ	Oriya: ର	Oriya: ଳ	Oriya: ଲ	Oriya: ୱ/Oriya: ଵ[9]
Telugu	Telugu: య	Telugu: ర	Telugu: ల	Telugu: ళ	Telugu: వ
Kannada	Kannada: ಯ	Kannada: ರ	Kannada: ಲ	Kannada: ಳ	Kannada: ವ
Malayalam	Malayalam: യ	Malayalam: ര	Malayalam: ല	Malayalam: ള	Malayalam: വ
Tamil	Tamil: ய	Tamil: ர	Tamil: ல	Tamil: ள	Tamil: வ

ISO	ś	ṣ	s	h
Braille
Gurmukhi	Panjabi; Punjabi: ਸ਼		Panjabi; Punjabi: ਸ	Panjabi; Punjabi: ਹ
Urdu	ش	ص	س	ہ
Devanagari	Hindi: श	Hindi: ष	Hindi: स	Hindi: ह
Gujarati	Gujarati: શ	Gujarati: ષ	Gujarati: સ	Gujarati: હ
Bengali	Bengali: শ	Bengali: ষ	Bengali: স	Bengali: হ
Oriya	Oriya: ଶ	Oriya: ଷ	Oriya: ସ	Oriya: ହ
Telugu	Telugu: శ	Telugu: ష	Telugu: స	Telugu: హ
Kannada	Kannada: ಶ	Kannada: ಷ	Kannada: ಸ	Kannada: ಹ
Malayalam	Malayalam: ശ	Malayalam: ഷ	Malayalam: സ	Malayalam: ഹ
Tamil	Tamil: ஶ	Tamil: ஷ	Tamil: ஸ	Tamil: ஹ

ISO	kṣ	jñ	ṛ/ṟ	ṛh		ḻ	ṉ	f !	z
Braille
Gurmukhi			Panjabi; Punjabi: ੜ[10]					Panjabi; Punjabi: ਫ਼	Panjabi; Punjabi: ਜ਼
Urdu	(ق‎ q)[11]	(ح‎ ḥ)	ڑ	ڑھ		(ع‎ ʿ)		ف	ز
Devanagari	Hindi: क्ष	Hindi: ज्ञ	Hindi: ड़	Hindi: ढ़[12]				Hindi: फ़	Hindi: ज़
Gujarati	Gujarati: ક્ષ	Gujarati: જ્ઞ
Bengali	Bengali: ক্ষ	Bengali: জ্ঞ	Bengali: ড়	Bengali: ঢ়
Oriya	Oriya: କ୍ଷ	Oriya: ଜ୍ଞ	Oriya: ଡ଼	Oriya: ଢ଼<		--both sources got this backwards. They're derived from ḍ and ḍh.-->
Telugu	Telugu: క్ష		Telugu: ఱ
Kannada	Kannada: ಕ್ಷ		Kannada: ಱ			Kannada: ೞ
Malayalam	Malayalam: ക്ഷ	Malayalam: ജ്ഞ	Malayalam: റ			Malayalam: ഴ	Malayalam: ഩ
Tamil	Tamil: க்ஷ		Tamil: ற			Tamil: ழ	Tamil: ன

Codas

Diacritics shown on the letter ka

ISO									Avagraha
Braille
Gurmukhi	Panjabi; Punjabi: ਕ੍		Panjabi; Punjabi: ਕਂ		Panjabi; Punjabi: ਕਃ		Panjabi; Punjabi: ਕਁ
Urdu			ں
Devanagari	Hindi: क्		Hindi: कं		Hindi: कः		Hindi: कँ		Hindi: कऽ
Gujarati	Gujarati: ક્		Gujarati: કં		Gujarati: કઃ		Gujarati: કઁ		Gujarati: કઽ
Bengali	Bengali: ক্		Bengali: কং		Bengali: কঃ		Bengali: কঁ		Bengali: কঽ
Oriya	Oriya: କ୍		Oriya: କଂ		Oriya: କଃ		Oriya: କଁ		Oriya: କଽ
Telugu	Telugu: క్		Telugu: కం		Telugu: కః		Telugu: కఁ		Telugu: కఽ
Kannada	Kannada: ಕ್		Kannada: ಕಂ		Kannada: ಕಃ
Malayalam	Malayalam: ക്		Malayalam: കം		Malayalam: കഃ
Tamil	Tamil: க்				Tamil: ஃ

In Hindi (written in Devanagari), halanta is not used with the last letter when a word ends in a consonant.

Punctuation

Some of the punctuation marks (comma, close quote) duplicate letters. The caps mark is only used when transcribing English.

Punctuation					। (danda)	॥ (double danda)			? / Open quote	Close quote
Braille
Punctuation	Accent								(      )
Braille									...

The 'accent',, transcribes Urdu ّ shaddah (tashdeed), and the colon,, is also used for Urdu ة ta marbuta.

In Bangladesh and Nepal, several additional punctuation marks are noted, but they do not agree with each other. It is not clear which are used in India. (See Bengali Braille and Nepali Braille.)

Pointing and Urdu

See main article: Urdu Braille and Hindi Braille. The pointing symbol,, is used for consonant letters that in print are derived by adding a dot to another consonant. For Urdu, the base letter in Devanagari is used: the pointing of the Arabic/Persian script is not reflected. For example, Gurmukhi Panjabi; Punjabi: ਗ਼ / Urdu غ / Devanagari Hindi: ग़ ġa pronounced as /[ɣ]/, formed by adding a dot to g in Gurmukhi and Devanagari, is written point-G in all three. With Urdu, this is only done in India.

Other languages

Ethnologue 17 reports braille usage for Mizo, Garo, and Meitei. It is not clear if these are obsolete alphabets, or if they have been unified with Bharati Braille.

Digits

Digits follow international conventions and are marked by .

See also

• Moon type is a simplification of the Latin alphabet for embossing. An adaptation for "Hindustanee"-reading blind people as proposed.

Notes and References

1. With a few inconsistencies in non-native sounds in Sinhala
2. Web site: Braille Chapter VI . 2012-08-30 . https://web.archive.org/web/20131103051225/http://www.bpaindia.org/VIB%20Chapter-VI.pdf . 2013-11-03 . dead.
3. [Richard Sproat]
4. UNESCO (2013) World Braille Usage, 3rd edition.
5. In Urdu and Gurmukhi, is used for خ/Panjabi; Punjabi: ਖ਼ x, based on its value in unified international braille. For the equivalent letter in Devanagari, Hindi: ख़, the pointing diacritic can be used.
6. [Standard Hindi|Hindi]
7. In Bengali and Oriya, is a consonant y-sound. In the national scripts, the letters are derived from the original y, which had shifted to a j-sound. The Oriya letter, Oriya: ୟ, is transcribed ẏ.
8. Assamese: ৰ and Assamese: ৱ are Assamese.
9. These have the same sound value in Oriya.
10. Unesco (2013) also has for Gurmukhi Panjabi; Punjabi: ੜ੍ਹ ṛh, but this is an apparent error; Panjabi; Punjabi: ੜ੍ਹ is a sequence ṛ-h, not a letter of the Gurmukhi script.
11. In Urdu, (kṣ) is used for ق q, the value it has in Unified Braille; (jñ) is used for ح ḥ, and (ḻ) for ع ʿ. For Devanagari Hindi: क़ q, the pointing diacritic can be used.
12. According to Unesco (2013), this is the value in Indian Nepali, but in Nepalese Nepali it transcribes tr, and several of the other Sanskrit letters are not used. There is no indication of how r is written after other consonants.