Chandrabindu: The Mark Above the Line
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चन्द्रबिन्दु (chandrabindu), literally moon dot, is a small curved mark with a dot above it, placed over a vowel to add a light nasal sound, similar in effect to anusvara but reserved mainly for vowels that already carry a matra above the line. Words like हँसना, hansna, to laugh.
Use chandrabindu to nasalise the vowel gently, giving the word its familiar soft, nasal ending in spoken Hindi. Without the mark, the word would be read quite differently. Chandrabindu and anusvara can look similar in casual handwriting, and many modern texts simplify by using anusvara for both purposes.
Learners should recognise chandrabindu's distinct shape, even if they encounter this simplification often in everyday printed Hindi. A useful comparison pair is हँसना, hansna, to laugh, against a version written without the mark, a spelling that would actually be considered incorrect, showing how chandrabindu is not merely decorative but genuinely changes correct spelling.