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

Modern Devanagari	Western Arabic	Words for the cardinal number
		Sanskrit (wordstem)	Hindi	Marathi	Nepali
०	0	शून्य (śūnya)	शून्य (śūny)	शून्य (śūnya)	शून्य (śūnya)
१	1	एक eka	एक (ek)	एक (ek)	एक (ek)
२	2	द्वि dvi	दो (do)	दोन (don)	दुइ (dui)
३	3	त्रि tri	तीन (tīn)	तीन (tīn)	तिन (tīn)
४	4	चतुर् catur	चार (cār)	चार (cār)	चारि (cāri)
५	5	पञ्च pañca	पाँच (pāñc)	पाच (pāch)	पाँच (pānch)
६	6	षट् ṣaṭ	छह (chah)	सहा (sahā)	छअ (chaā)
७	7	सप्त sapta	सात (sāt)	सात (sāt)	सात (sāt)
८	8	अष्ट aṣṭa	आठ (āṭh)	आठ (āṭh)	आठ (āṭha)
९	9	नव nava	नौ (nau)	नऊ (naū)	नअ (nā)

The word śūnya for zero was calqued into Arabic as صفرsifr, meaning 'nothing', which became the term "zero" in many European languages via Medieval Latin zephirum. ^[1]

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. ^{[2] [3]}

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 ५, ८, ९

See also

• Indian numbering system
• Numbers in Nepali language

References

Notes

1. "zero - Origin and meaning of zero by Online Etymology Dictionary". www.etymonline.com.
2. Devanagari for TEX version 2.17, page 22
3. "Alternate digits in Devanagari". Scriptsource.org. Retrieved 13 September 2017.

Sources

• Sanskrit Siddham (Bonji) Numbers Archived 2009-02-07 at the Wayback Machine
• Devanagari Numbers in Nepali language