Devanagari numerals

The Devanagari numerals are the symbols used to write numbers in the Devanagari script, predominantly used for northern Indian languages. They are used to write decimal numbers, instead of the Western Arabic numerals.

Table

In modern-era, languages like Hindi, Marathi and Nepali have adopted Devanagari as the standard script, before which they were respectively written using Kaithi, Modi and Newari scripts.

Modern Devanagari	Western Arabic	Words for the cardinal number
		Sanskrit (wordstem)	Hindi	Marathi	Nepali
०	0	शून्य (Template:IAST)	शून्य<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> (Template:IAST)	शून्य (Template:IAST)	Template:Lang (Template:Lang) — colloq.सुन्ना<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> (Template:IAST)
१	1	Template:Lang (Template:Lang)	एक (Template:IAST)	एक (Template:IAST)	एक (Template:IAST)
२	2	द्वि (Template:IAST)	दो (Template:IAST)	दोन (Template:IAST)	दुई (Template:IAST)
३	3	त्रि (Template:IAST)	तीन (Template:IAST)	तीन (Template:IAST)	तिन (Template:IAST)
४	4	चतुर् (Template:IAST)	चार (Template:IAST)	चार (Template:IAST)	चारि (Template:IAST)
५	5	पञ्च (Template:IAST)	पाँच (Template:IAST)	पाच (Template:IAST)	पाँच (Template:IAST)
६	6	षष् (Template:IAST)	छह (Template:IAST)	सहा (Template:IAST)	छ (Template:IAST)
७	7	सप्त (Template:IAST)	सात (Template:IAST)	सात (Template:IAST)	सात (Template:IAST)
८	8	अष्ट (Template:IAST)	आठ (Template:IAST)	आठ (Template:IAST)	आठ (Template:IAST)
९	9	नव (Template:IAST)	नौ (Template:IAST)	नऊ (Template:IAST)	नौ (Template:IAST)

The word Template:IAST for zero was calqued into Arabic as Template:Lang Template:Lang, meaning 'nothing', which became the term "zero" in many European languages via Medieval Latin Template:Lang.<ref name="Zero">Template:Cite web </ref> In Hindustani language, it was borrowed from Arabic (via Persian) as Template:Linktext (Template:IAST).

Variants

A comparison of Sanskrit and Eastern Arabic numerals

Devanagari digits shapes may vary depending on geographical area or epoch. Some of the variants are also seen in older Sanskrit literature.<ref>Devanagari for TEX version 2.17, page 22</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

१	Common	Nepali	1
५	"Bombay" Variant	"Calcutta" Variant	5
८	"Bombay" Variant	"Calcutta" Variant	8
९	Common	Nepali Variant	9

In Nepali language ५, ८, ९ (5, 8, 9) - these numbers are slightly different from modern Devanagari numbers. In Nepali language uses old Devanagari system for writing these numbers, like Template:Lang, Template:Lang, Template:Lang

See also

• Indian numbering system
• Numbers in Nepali language

References

Notes

Sources

• Sanskrit Siddham (Bonji) Numbers Template:Webarchive
• Devanagari Numbers in Nepali language