Vidyut Sanskrit Keyboard

This page distributes the free Vidyut Sanskrit Keyboard software.

Download Vidyut Keyboard

To install Vidyut, download the zip file and the documentation. Unzip the zip file and run the setup.exe file. For configuration and usage, please read the documentation.

Vidyut ZIP file (Version 5, as of 29 August 2010)
Vidyut documentation (PDF)

vidyut_documentation_v5_20100917Vidyut Documentation as of September 17, 2010
vidyut5_asof_20100829Self-installer .exe file download

Background

The Vidyut keyboard enables direct typing of Unicode-compliant Devanāgarī and selected Sanskrit Vedic and metrical marks on Windows computers using a phonetic method. The keyboard generally is consistent with the ITRANS version 5.3 ASCII transliteration schema, with additional features to provide marks not mapped in ITRANS. Both Google and Microsoft have released 64-bit IMEs for Indic languages that include phonetic virtual keyboards, but to date none of the available alternatives provides a robust solution for Sanskrit text, including all marks needed to set the full range of classical and Vedic content. Vidyut provides a more complete alternative for users working with Sanskrit texts. The word vidyut (विद्युत्) means lightning in Sanskrit.

Key Features

  1. Runs on XP, Vista, and all versions of Windows from 7 through 11
  2. Runs on 32-bit and 64-bit operating systems. Many of the older input method editors (IMEs) for Sanskrit were developed on 32-bit computers and do not run on 64-bit systems. Vidyut was developed specifically to fill a need on 64-bit systems but also runs on older 32-bit systems.
  3. Includes all Devanāgarī characters normally used in classical Sanskrit. Characters included are a subset of Unicode Devanāgarī range (0900-097F) plus additional common punctuation and other marks.
  4. Includes all Vedic marks necessary to set Ṛgveda.
  5. Includes guru and laghu metrical marks for scansion of poetic meter [Chandas font only.]
  6. Uses only the unshifted and SHIFT states of the keyboard; no use of CONTROL or ALT keys improves compatibility with most hardware.
  7. Zero Width Joiner (U+200D) gives user the option to manually type joined forms, overriding automatic formation of ligatures if desired.
  8. Can be fully customized for individual needs using Microsoft Keyboard Layout Creator 1.4. All customized derivative keyboards are subject to the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License under which the Vidyut keyboard itself is distributed.

Keywords

How to type Sanskrit / How to type Devanagari on Windows / sanskrit keyboard / Vidyut / Unicode Sanskrit / Unicode Devanagari