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.

{| class=wikitable style="text-align:center;"

|-

!rowspan="2"|Modern<br>Devanagari||rowspan="2"|Western<br>Arabic

! colspan="4" | Words for the cardinal number

|-

! Sanskrit<br>(wordstem)

! Hindi

! Marathi

! Nepali

|-

|style="font-size:200%"|० || 0 ||शून्य () || शून्य ()|| शून्य ()|| () — colloq.सुन्ना ()

|-

|style="font-size:200%"|१ || 1 || () ||एक () || एक ()|| एक ()

|-

|style="font-size:200%"|२ || 2 ||द्वि () ||दो () || दोन ()|| दुई ()

|-

|style="font-size:200%"|३ || 3 ||त्रि () ||तीन () || तीन ()|| तिन ()

|-

|style="font-size:200%"|४ || 4 ||चतुर् () ||चार () || चार ()|| चार ()

|-

|style="font-size:200%"|५ || 5 ||पञ्च () ||पाँच () || पाच ()|| पाँच ()

|-

|style="font-size:200%"|६ || 6 ||षष् ()||छह () || सहा ()|| छ ()

|-

|style="font-size:200%"|७ || 7 ||सप्त () ||सात () || सात ()|| सात ()

|-

|style="font-size:200%"|८ || 8 ||अष्ट () ||आठ () || आठ ()|| आठ ()

|-

|style="font-size:200%"|९ || 9 ||नव () ||नौ () || नऊ ()|| नौ ()

|}

The word for zero was calqued into Arabic as , meaning 'nothing', which became the term "zero" in many European languages via Medieval Latin . In Hindustani language, it was borrowed from Arabic (via Persian) as ().

Variants

thumb|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.

{| class=wikitable style="text-align:center;padding:8px"

|-

! १

| x27px <br /> Common

| x26px <br /> Nepali

| 1

|-

! ५

| x26px <br /> "Bombay" Variant

| x24px <br /> "Calcutta" Variant

| 5

|-

! ८

| x22px <br /> "Bombay" Variant

| x18px <br /> "Calcutta" Variant

| 8

|-

! ९

| x26px <br /> Common

| x24px <br /> Nepali Variant

| 9

|}

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

See also

  • Indian numbering system
  • Numbers in Nepali language

References

;Notes

;Sources

  • Sanskrit Siddham (Bonji) Numbers
  • Devanagari Numbers in Nepali language