Sanskrit in Tibetan Letters
The method traditionally used by Tibetans to represent Sanskrit in Tibetan letters is effective, but can initially be rather difficult to read when transliterated into roman letters. Wherever we are rendering such a case—for example, when in a Tibetan translation of a Sanskrit classic the original Sanskrit title has been given in-situ by the translator in Tibetan letters—we simply retain the Tibetan conventions of the normal ACIP Tibetan input code. (For a complete explanation of this code, please see the section entitled "ACIP Tibetan Input Code Standards", given just above).
Most important, we make no attempt to correct any spellings or phrasing: the Tibetanized Sanskrit in the database is a massive tumbleweed that will have to be sorted out by scholars of later generations; we simply type what's there.
ACIP input code for the Tibetan rendering of our example word would thus be given as {PRA M'A nA}. In ACIP's experience, the only standard conventions here that scholars may find difficult are two:
1. The representation of the sub-joined 'a-chung ("small ah") used for indicating long Sanskrit vowels is rendered as an apostrophe (') immediately preceding the roman letter for the Tibetan vowel, as in the case of {PRA M'A nA} above: since in this position it can never be confused with, 'a, the 23rd Tibetan letter, in suffix position (which is typed as an apostrophe following the roman letter for the vowel).
2. The representation of Tibetan transliterations of, for instance, the Sanskrit vocalic r through a combination of a sub-joined Tibetan ra and a reversed giku vowel: thus the word for Sanskrit itself is rendered: {SAm SKRi TA}.
Search and Download Texts | Input Code & Transcription Standards
Download Tibetan Fonts | Standards for Tibetan and Sanskrit Pronunciation
File Nomenclature and Number | Conventions for the St. Petersburg Catalog
Structure of the ACIP Database | The ACIP Master Catalog
Text Verification Procedures | Download the ACIP Release IV User Manual
