Koshur Leekhiv

Creating Kashmiri/Hindi documents in Devnagari Script using "Lalded" font
lala(d maud/ilaipa sae k!SmaIrI YvaM ihndI ilaKanae k!I ivaiVa
If you don't see Hindi in the above line, you need to install "Lalded" font. Click here. To download font package click here.

Getting Started

Guide to keyboard map

Keyboard Map

Kashmiri-Devnagari Primer

Getting Started

Open your word-processor. Change font to Lalded (by selecting it from the fonts pull-down menu) and change size to 18.

Typing in Devnagari is easy. The key-mapping is shown in file Keymap.xls.

Let us start typing. Once the Lalded font is selected, write m. You will see m. Add an a and the vertical bar is added, making it ma. Adding e r a will give you maera. Go ahead and complete the sentence:

maera naama rmaeSa hE.
maera naama rmaeSa hE.

You can use Word, Wordpad or any other wordprocessor or even spreadsheet application to type in Devnagari.

Turn AutoCorrect, Spelling and Grammar off. While using Word, its Autocorrect and Spellcheck features may play spoilsport. When you begin a sentence with m, it may change it to M. Moreover as Word can't make anything of your spellings, it will show each word as a spelling error. So, it is best to turn AutoCorrect and Spelling-Grammar off. Click Tools, Options, Spelling and Grammar, and put check-marks against Hide Spelling errors for this document and Hide Grammar errors for this document. Click Tools, AutoCorrect, AutoCorrect and put check marks against Correct TWo INitial Capitals and Capitalise first letter of sentence.

Try formats like Bold ( maaeTa ) and/or italic ( Te?,a ) to change the look of your typing.

So, what are you waiting for? Go ahead and start using Lalded as your font for Devnagari/Kashmiri and Hindi.

Guide to keyboard mapping for "Lalded" font

Click here to see detailed keyboard map.
Some tips about key-board mapping:

1. An attempt has been made to keep the keyboard mapping as close as possible to their phonetic equivalents, but since the number of Devnagari glyphs is much more than Roman script, it may be required to refer to the keyboard map now and then.
2. Most Devanagari letters have a vertical bar on right side, e.g. Ka, ga, ja, na etc. Such letters need an need an a to complete the letter. For example typing K, g, j, n gives you K, g, j, n and adding an a to each of them gives you Ka, ga, ja, na . Other letters which do not have a vertical bar have an exclusive Roman equivalent. For example k is k and q is q. Refer to keyboard layout for more details.
3. If you need words or symbols from Roman script in conjunction with the Devnagari text, change font to, say, Ariel or Times New Roman. For this text you will have to change size to approx. 2/3 of the font for Devnagari, e.g. choose size 12 for Roman, if size for accompanying Devnagari text is 18.
4. Sometimes you may find two letters in Devanagari too closely spaced. In such cases, insert an ! in between to separate the two.

A Kashmiri-Devnagari Primer

For consonants and vowels typical to Kashmiri language, a number of variations of Devnagari have been used by various Kashmiri writers over the years. Some of these variations have been differing from publication to publication and from writer to writer. To standardize these variations, a meeting was held among some prominent KP writers last year, and a standard was agreed upon (for details, please refer to Koshur Samachar, Delhi of July 2000). It is this agreed standard that has been followed here. All the vowels and consonants that are typical to Kashmiri and not used in Hindi are shown in the following table alongwith their usage.

consonant/ vowel	Key-map	Usage	Meaning
za	za	zaamana , zaUr , zand/ma , Czabala	Cheese, thief, moon, Chattabal
C,	C,	C,aNDana , C,la	Searching, deceit
~	~	ga~r , ma~za , A~C	watch, mad woman, eye
a~	a~	Aa~r , baa~garavauna , Aa~sa , maa~ja	plum, share, mouth, mother
o	o	Zao , saozana , Aa~Kaor	two, needle, ultimately
O	O	taOr , kO!mawa , kO!tya	cold, cost, how many
ae'	ae'	Saae'gaula , baae'C , maae'ku!r	hobby, hungry, dirty (masc.)

Some more Kashmiri text representing other vowels and consonants is as follows:

Koshur Text	Key map
(d iC )d cyavaana	(d iC )d cyavaana
Aisa iC pa~C,\ya Aamaotya\	Aisa iC pa~C,\ya Aamaotya\
Zao zaaer hf{ he'C	Zao zaaer hf{ he'C
Aisa Cu ta;!na k!SmaIr Aisa Cu ta;!na k!SmaIr Aisa Cu ta;!na k!SmaIr saairnaoya AZa pagaah sauila zaIya{ AZa pagaah sauila zaIya{ AZa pagaah sauila zaIya{ saairnaoya pampaaeSana hund yaar baaenyana hund Saehjaar saaenta hvaah gaulaZaar saairnaoya Aisa Cu k!;!na taa'maIr Aisa Cu ta;!na k!SmaIr saairnaoya taulamaula k!aeMsarnaaga gaMgaobala vaerInaaga AmarISvar saoMZa raga saairnaoya Aisa la~ja saaZana ZaIr Aisa Cu ta;!na k!SmaIr saairnaoya vanya\ Asya\ vaayaa{h maU( pawa ku!na k!ah garo :!( Aisa za~laora~ivawa :! ( saairnaoya Aisa Cu k!;!na tadbaIr Aisa Cu ta;!na k!SmaIr saairnaoya Armaanava k!ae'D vaaSa saMgarna pyava pa/agaaSa naae'va navareh Cu AaSa saairnaoya dvahna hund taa'saIr Aisa Cu ta;!na k!SmaIr saairnaoya	Aisa Cu ta;!na k!SmaIr Aisa Cu ta;!na k!SmaIr Aisa Cu ta;!na k!SmaIr saairnaoya AZa pagaah sauila zaIya{ AZa pagaah sauila zaIya{ AZa pagaah sauila zaIya{ saairnaoya pampaaeSana hund yaar baaenyana hund Saehjaar saaenta hvaah gaulaZaar saairnaoya Aisa Cu k!;!na taa'maIr Aisa Cu ta;!na k!SmaIr saairnaoya taulamaula k!aeMsarnaaga gaMgaobala vaerInaaga AmarISvar saoMZa raga saairnaoya Aisa la~ja saaZana ZaIr Aisa Cu ta;!na k!SmaIr saairnaoya vanya\ Asya\ vaayaa{h maU( pawa ku!na k!ah garo :!( Aisa za~laora~ivawa :! ( saairnaoya Aisa Cu k!;!na tadbaIr Aisa Cu ta;!na k!SmaIr saairnaoya Armaanava k!ae'D vaaSa saMgarna pyava pa/agaaSa naae'va navareh Cu AaSa saairnaoya dvahna hund taa'saIr Aisa Cu ta;!na k!SmaIr saairnaoya

Getting Started

Guide to keyboard map

Keyboard Map

Kashmiri-Devnagari Primer

Send bug reports to rk_kaul@hotmail.com