| Consonant | अ (a) | आ (aa) | इ (i) | ई (ee) | उ (u) | ऊ (oo) | | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | | | क | का | कि | की | कु | कू | | ख (kha) | ख | खा | खि | खी | खु | खू | | ग (ga) | ग | गा | गि | गी | गु | गू | | घ (gha) | घ | घा | घि | घी | घु | घू | | ङ (ṅa) | ङ | ङा | ङि | ङी | ङु | ङू |
By the Gupta period (4th-6th century CE), the script evolved into Siddham, and subsequently into Devanagari (10th century CE). The pedagogical need to teach this complex system to novices led to the formalization of the Barakhadi table. Medieval grammarians, following the lead of Pāṇini (6th century BCE), recognized that the inherent vowel 'a' was the base, and other vowels were modifications or "strengthenings" ( guna and vriddhi ). A critical linguistic distinction: the Latin script is an alphabet (consonants and vowels have equal status). Devanagari is an abugida or alphasyllabary. In an abugida, the consonant is primary, and the vowel is secondary, indicated by diacritics. The Barakhadi is the explicit map of this relationship. It solves a problem that alphabets cannot easily represent: the systematic phonetic change of a consonant as the vowel shifts front to back, and close to open. 3. Structural Anatomy of the Barakhadi 3.1 The Core Grid (The Twelve Standings) In standard Hindi Devanagari, the Barakhadi consists of 13 vowel signs applied to 33 consonants (व्यंजन), though the "twelve" is a traditional count excluding the inherent 'a'. The columns are typically: barakhadi in english pdf
The term derives from Sanskrit origins: bārah (twelve) + khaṛā (standing or array). This "standing of twelve" refers to the twelve primary vowel signs (matras) that stand attached to a base consonant. In the Devanagari script, for example, the consonant क (ka) is not an isolated letter but a syllable. By applying different matras, one generates a family of syllables: का (kaa), कि (ki), की (kee), कु (ku), etc. The Barakhadi is the systematic tabulation of this process for all consonants. | Consonant | अ (a) | आ (aa)