[XeTeX] Conjunct consonants in devanagari

[Jonathan Kew]

On 6 Sep 2009, at 03:40, Ravi Parimi wrote:

> Does anyone on this list have experience with typing conjunct
> consonants in devanagari on Mac OSX 10.5.6? I'm trying to print half  
> ङ
> and ग such that the ग merges with the ङ and appears below it  
> but I can
> only come up with  गङ्गा.

This is not a question of typing; in either case, the character  
sequence is the same: NGA HALANT GA.

I guess you're using the Devanagari MT font that is included with OS  
X? In that case, try:

   \setmainfont[RawFeature={Conjuncts=Additional Conjuncts}] 
{Devanagari MT}

for xelatex, or (for plain xetex):

   \font\mydevfont="Devanagari MT:Conjuncts=Additional Conjuncts" at  
12pt
   \x ङ्ग

...etc.

> Is it possible to print such a conjunct by a
> combination of the ALT key and a sequence of numbers?

No. It depends on having support in the font, and the Devanagari MT  
font on OS X does not provide this particular form by default, but  
does enable it via the Additional Conjuncts feature.

The particular conjunct forms that a font provides by default will  
depend on what the font designer decided to implement; you might get  
different results with other fonts (either AAT or OpenType).

JK