principal Indian alphabets. The writing runs from left to right, and the letters are hung from a line, not written on a line. In this script the basic characters represent syllables, each character representing a consonant followed by the vowel a. By adding a sign above, below, or to left or right, this a is changed to another vowel. There are three signs that stand for vowelless h, ng, and -r at the end of a syllable. Otherwise, if it is necessary to indicate that a consonant has no vowel it is ‘killed’ (matyang) by putting a sign after it (tengenan or hadeghadeg).
When a consonant is followed immediately by another consonant, the second is written in its conjunct form, usually differing in shape, sometimes very considerably. These conjunct consonants are called haksara wrehastra, and are usually written below the preceding one, but sometimes to its right. Since Balinese is written without separating words, these conjunct consonants occur very much more frequently than one would expect from the structure of single words. If a consonant-group would be very awkward to write the first (at the end of a word) is written with tengenan. Three consonants can be written together if the third is r, w, or y, or if the second is s, ş, or p (and ph), since these last are written beside the first, not below it; e.g. ntr, mpr, ngky, ksm. These grouped signs are treated as if they were single letters, the vowel-signs being written quite normally with them, the vowel being pronounced with the last consonant. (This can be disconcerting, since é will occur apparently within the preceding word.)
Since the sound-system of Balinese is very simple, it can be written with 18 consonants. These are listed in the alphabet (hanäcaraka), which retains 18 signs of the Kawi alphabet, which had the 47 characters of Sanskrit. In common use, but not included in the hanäcaraka, are the syllables re and le; le only occurs as a syllable, but re has a conjunct form (used at the beginning of a word after a final consonant) and a form as a vowel-sign, used within words (e.g. tresna). These twenty characters are known to all Balinese. The literary language retains and uses the remaining 27 Kawi letters, known only to the learned. These are called haksara wayah (‘old letters’) and are also used by them in ordinary Balinese as we use capital letters, to indicate words which are proper names or titles of important persons: e.g. hanak haghung, senaphati (‘general’), Bhadhung (a place).
The vowel-signs, some of the conjunct consonants, and all the haksara wayah (including the initial vowels) have names. To indicate the presence of vowel-signs, etc., the name is made into a ma- verb; ha alone is called halalung (‘naked ha’) or ha polos (‘simple ha’); hi is ha mahulu, he is ha mahulu pepet, and so forth. A consonant having one or more conjunct consonants is described as magantungan, and one with a following conjunct as magampélan; a consonant followed by r is called maguhungan, and so forth.
Balinese punctuation is erratic and rather rudimentary. A single oblique stroke (carik) may indicate a comma, semicolon, or full stop. A carik is put on either side of a word or letter with the effect of quotation marks, or to separate numerals from letters. A double carik (hadeghadeg) marks the end of what is felt to be a complete statement. A more elaborate sign marks a major division in a prose work (matan titiran hapit carik). The sign papanten is put at the beginning of a piece of prose and is put before and after the title of a prose work. An intricate sign (haksara modré or haksara hanceng) marks the end of every stanza of a poem, and the same (more or less elaborated) before and after the heading of a literary work, especially a poem.
The following lists the hanäcaraka, the conjunct consonants, the consonantal haksara wayah; then the initial vowels (including the long vowels, used only in the literary language), the vowel-signs used with consonants, with their names, and then the punctuation marks.
Hanäcaraka
| Conjunct | name of haksara | ||
| ha |
 |
 |
|
| na |
 |
 |
na kojong na nilit |
| ca |
 |
 |
|
| ra |
 |
 |
guhung cakra |
| ka |
 |
 |
|
| da |
 |
 |
da lindung |
| ta |
 |
 |
|
| sa |
 |
 |
|
| wa |
 |
 |
suku kembung |
| la |
 |
 |
|
| ma |
 |
 |
|
| ga |
 |
 |
