Unicode to Kruti Dev Converter

When you need to go back to Kruti Dev

The direction that matters most to readers is Kruti Dev to Unicode, but the opposite direction is what print work actually needs. A DTP operator setting a Hindi book in PageMaker or InDesign needs Kruti Dev because the layout was built with that font. A newspaper or press office often asks contributors for "Kruti Dev copy" because that is the only font installed on its composing machines. Exam and typing-test templates are frequently distributed in Kruti Dev, so a Unicode answer sheet has to be converted back before it can be filled or matched to the template.

All three cases share the same constraint: the text must end up in the legacy font's code order, not merely look like Hindi. Copying Devanagari into a document that uses Kruti Dev 010 produces empty boxes or Latin-looking characters, because the font does not know Unicode. Converting here first fixes that.

What is different in this direction

Reversing the mapping is not a mirror image of the forward direction. Four things change, and they explain most of the "it looks wrong" reports:

The reph moves behind the syllable

In Unicode, a reph is a visible sequence: र् sits before the cluster it belongs to. In Kruti Dev 010 the same sound is encoded as a marker after the cluster, and the font draws it above the letter. So कर्म converts to deZ — the characters read "क + म + reph marker", and the font renders the reph in the right place. Seeing a trailing marker is correct, not a defect.

The short-i vowel moves in front of its consonant

Unicode stores ि after the consonant; Kruti Dev stores it before. The converter rewrites the order and uses the legacy key for the pre-base form. That is why किताब becomes fdrkc: the f at the very start is the i-matra, not a letter. Any editor that colours characters by position may look scrambled — trust the rendered glyph, not the order.

Digits, danda and punctuation are remapped

Devanagari digits ०–९ become the legacy digit positions, which in plain text can look like symbols or accented Latin letters. The danda (।) becomes the A position. This is normal: once Kruti Dev 010 is applied in Word, the digits and the danda appear correctly. If you are checking the raw text in a browser, expect it to look strange.

Nukta letters may not match the key you would type by hand

क़, ख़, ग़, ज़, ड़, ढ़, फ़ are built from a base letter plus the nukta mark. In Kruti Dev these are combination sequences, and a typist would produce them from memory rather than from a rule. The converter uses the sequences present in its table, so the glyph is right, but the keystrokes in the raw output may differ from a human typist's habit. That does not affect printing.

How to check the output

1. Round-trip it. Paste the Kruti Dev result into the converter on the home page running the opposite direction, and compare the round-tripped Unicode with your original. Identical text means the conversion is clean; a changed word shows you exactly where to look.
2. Apply the real font. Paste the result into Word, select the text, and set the font to Kruti Dev 010. If the preview shows proper Devanagari, the file is ready for print work. If you see boxes, the font is not installed — see the font page.
3. Check the awkward spots. Look at a word with a reph (कर्म, धर्म), a word with a conjunct (क्षेत्र, श्रद्धा), a number, and a sentence ending in a danda. These four cases catch almost every mistake.

Reverse conversion questions

Why do I see boxes or odd Latin-looking characters after converting?

Because Kruti Dev is a font, not an encoding. The converted text uses the legacy code positions, and only a Kruti Dev font can turn those positions into Devanagari. On a device without the font, the same positions fall back to Latin letters and symbols. Install the font or view the final document in Word with Kruti Dev 010 selected.

Why does the reph appear after the syllable instead of above it?

That is how Kruti Dev 010 encodes it. The reph is stored as a trailing marker and the font draws it over the preceding cluster. The character order looks wrong in a plain text editor; the rendered result is correct.

Can the output be used with Kruti Dev 011 or 016?

Usually yes, with small exceptions. The table here is the 010 table, and 011/016 place a few glyphs differently, so occasional characters may render incorrectly. Check a sample in the target font before sending a whole book or answer sheet. The version page explains how to identify which version you have.

Does this work for Chanakya, DevLys or Preeti text?

No. Those fonts use their own legacy tables, and applying the Kruti Dev 010 table to them produces wrong output. Only Kruti Dev 010 is mapped here.

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