Arsha Drishti Keyboard Map for MacOS

ArshaDrishti Sanskrit keyboard layout allows you to easily and directly enter both Devanāgarī and transliteration with diacritical marks.  It is a modification of the DevUni (Devanāgarī Unicode) keyboard layout. FYI – Installation requires a reboot of your computer.

  1. Download the file ArshaDrishti Sanskrit V2.2.bundle.zip from Arsha Drishti HERE
  2. Unzip the file
  3. Copy the unzipped file ArshaDrishti Sanskrit V2.2.bundle into /Library/Keyboard Layouts.  This may require administrator authentication
  4.  In System Settings / Preferences -> Keyboard -> Keyboard tab check the box: “Show keyboard & emoji viewers in menu bar”
  5. Reboot your computer.
  6. In System Settings / Preferences-> Keyboard -> Input Sources click the “+” icon on the lower left.  Then select “Sanskrit” in the left column.  Select “ArshaDrishti Sanskrit” in the right column and click Add
  7. In the same tab System Settings / Preferences -> Keyboard -> Input Sources check the box “Show input menu in menu bar”
  8. Quit System Settings / Preferences
  9. From the input menu pull-down in the menu bar select “ArshaDrishti Sanskrit”.  You should see the  icon next to it
  10. Also select “Show Keyboard Viewer” from the same dropdown menu to show the keyboard viewer.
  11. Press the shift key and the option key individually and also together with the caps lock off to see the  various transliteration characters in the keyboard viewer,
  12. Press the shift key and the option key individually and also together with the caps lock on to see the  devanāgarī characters in the keyboard viewer.

If you would like to remove the annoying persistent Caps Lock indicator introduced in Sonoma OS, please use the terminal command instructions in THIS video.

To use:

Important Keys:

  • Caps Lock – shifts you in and out of Devanāgarī mode
  • Shift
  • Option
  • Option-Shift
  • “f” key gives you the virāma allowing creation of conjunct consonants
  • To type in Devanāgarī, turn the Caps Lock on.  Look at the Keyboard Viewer to understand the keyboard layout.  See the additional characters made available by the Shift, Option, and Shift-Option keys.
  • To use transliterated characters ensure Caps Lock is off.  Look at the Keyboard Viewer to understand the keyboard layout.  See the additional characters made available by the Option and Shift-Option keys.  Without the option key, the standard keyboard is available.

Known bugs: 

1) Rarely used Devanāgarī non-initial long ॠ / ṝ, long ॡ / Ḷ and short ऌ / ḷ characters do not properly appear under the consonant;
Workaround: Using “Show Emojis and Symbols” find the following Devanāgarī characters and add to your “Favorites” in the character viewer:
DEVANAGARI VOWEL SIGN VOCALIC RR
DEVANAGARI VOWEL SIGN VOCALIC LL
DEVANAGARI VOWEL SIGN VOCALIC L
You can now insert these non-initial vowels after a consonant by clicking on them in your Character Viewer Favorites – e.g. कॄ  कॣ  कॢ

2) Insertion of an extra space after a virāma e.g. सूत््रर instead of सूत्र
Scope: Some chrome input fields
Workaround: Backspace one space after entering a virāma, and conjunct consonants will form properly

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