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NOTE ON TRANSLITERATION
Where Sanskrit and Hindi names and terms occur side by side there arise problems of maintaining consistency when attempting a compromise between Sanskrit spelling and modern Hindi pronunciation. Anglicised, Hindi and Sanskrit spellings have been used according to the following principles:
English
Accepted anglicised forms of some Hindi and Sanskrit terms have been employed in cases where exact transliteration (such as 'tg for 'tonga') might be less readily recognisable to the general reader.
Names of small towns and villages have been given an anglicised spelling on analogy with Vrindaban, Mathura, Delhi etc. The name of the river Yamuna is given without its long vowel accent when it appears in general contexts.
Diacritical marks have not been used for the names of contemporary persons where anglicised forms are in general used (such as 'Sharma' for 'arm'). Honorifics and titles such as Maharaja, Shri, Swami etc., are not given diacritical marks when used with the anglicised spelling of a name.
Accepted anglicised forms of some Hindi and Sanskrit terms have been employed in cases where exact transliteration (such as 'tg' for 'tonga') might be less readily recognisable to the general reader.
Hindi
Many terms have been transliterated according to the Hindi pronunciation since they refer to aspects of later developments in Hinduism where modern usage does not correspond exactly to that of classical Sanskrit.
Names of temples, sites, institutions and festivals have been given in their current Hindi form, which has led to the loss of final 'a' in 'ram', 'kuj', 'mandir' etc., whether such terms appear as part of a place name or not. A plural form ending in '-as' has been_adopted, however, and medial 'a' has been retained when the suffix '-j' has been added (e.g. 'rnth Mandir' but 'rnthaj'). Use of Hindi in such contexts avoids giving the Sanskrit 'Vavata' and 'Vihrapacami' for the more familiar 'Basi Ba' and 'Bihr Pacam'. Final and medial 'a' has been omitted in such epithets as 'Rma' and 'Govindadeva' when they occur in contexts such as 'Rm Ll' and 'Govind Dev Mandir'.
Sanskrit
Some terms appear in their Sanskrit form where it appears more appropriate to the context (e.g. upanyanasaskra, abhieka).
Names of the months of the year also appear in their Sanskrit form, as do titles of works and names of saints and authors, with the exception of the more familiar Sr Ds and Tuls Ds. Names of gods and mythological characters also appear in their Sanskrit form unless they appear in the name of a place or festival.
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