A native macOS keyboard layout that puts every IAST (International Alphabet of
Sanskrit Transliteration)
diacritic and Vedic accent mark behind a single ⌥ Option combination — no input
method, no font hacks, no copying from a chart. Built with
SIL Ukelele.
📖 View the full interactive reference →
- Every IAST diacritic and Vedic accent mark reachable with
⌥(or⌥ + ⇧for the capital/alternate form) - Installs like any standard macOS keyboard layout — no background process, no app to keep open
- Nothing to configure after setup: type as usual, hold
⌥when you need a diacritic - Designed for scholars, students, and enthusiasts of Sanskrit and Indic studies
| ⌥ Option | ⌥ Option + ⇧ Shift |
|---|---|
 |
 |
Brass keys carry a mapping. Everything else behaves exactly like a standard US keyboard. The live reference page lets you toggle between the two states interactively.
Go to the Releases
page and grab the latest IAST.bundle. In Finder it looks like a single file,
but it's actually a folder.
Copy IAST.bundle to one of the following locations:
| Scope | Location |
|---|---|
| Current user only | ~/Library/Keyboard Layouts/ |
| All users | /Library/Keyboard Layouts/ |
Or, if you're comfortable with the terminal:
git clone https://github.com/oleandrum/macos-iast-keyboard.git \
&& cp -r ./macos-iast-keyboard/IAST.bundle \
~/Library/Keyboard\ Layouts/ && rm -rf ./macos-iast-keyboard/Then log out and back in (or restart your Mac) for macOS to pick up the new layout.
- Open System Settings → Keyboard → Input Sources
- Click Add Input Source
- Select IAST Keyboard and add it
Switch to it from the macOS input menu whenever you need to type transliterated
Sanskrit — the flag/globe icon in the menu bar, or Ctrl + Space if you've
enabled that shortcut.
IAST characters
| Symbol | Key combination | Unicode |
|---|---|---|
| ā | ⌥ + a |
U+0101 |
| Ā | ⌥ + ⇧ + a |
U+0100 |
| ḍ | ⌥ + d |
U+1E0D |
| Ḍ | ⌥ + ⇧ + d |
U+1E0C |
| ē | ⌥ + e |
U+0113 |
| Ē | ⌥ + ⇧ + e |
U+0112 |
| ḥ | ⌥ + h |
U+1E25 |
| Ḥ | ⌥ + ⇧ + h |
U+1E24 |
| ī | ⌥ + i |
U+012B |
| Ī | ⌥ + ⇧ + i |
U+012A |
| ñ | ⌥ + j |
U+00F1 |
| Ñ | ⌥ + ⇧ + j |
U+00D1 |
| ḹ | ⌥ + k |
U+1E39 |
| Ḹ | ⌥ + ⇧ + k |
U+1E38 |
| ḷ | ⌥ + l |
U+1E37 |
| Ḷ | ⌥ + ⇧ + l |
U+1E36 |
| l̤ | ⌥ + v |
U+006C + U+0324 |
| L̤ | ⌥ + ⇧ + v |
U+004C + U+0324 |
| ṃ | ⌥ + m |
U+1E43 |
| Ṃ | ⌥ + ⇧ + m |
U+1E42 |
| ṅ | ⌥ + g |
U+1E45 |
| Ṅ | ⌥ + ⇧ + g |
U+1E44 |
| ṇ | ⌥ + n |
U+1E47 |
| Ṇ | ⌥ + ⇧ + n |
U+1E46 |
| ō | ⌥ + o |
U+014D |
| Ō | ⌥ + ⇧ + o |
U+014C |
| ṛ | ⌥ + r |
U+1E5B |
| Ṛ | ⌥ + ⇧ + r |
U+1E5A |
| ṝ | ⌥ + f |
U+1E5D |
| Ṝ | ⌥ + ⇧ + f |
U+1E5C |
| ś | ⌥ + s |
U+015B |
| Ś | ⌥ + ⇧ + s |
U+015A |
| ṣ | ⌥ + x |
U+1E63 |
| Ṣ | ⌥ + ⇧ + x |
U+1E62 |
| ṭ | ⌥ + t |
U+1E6D |
| Ṭ | ⌥ + ⇧ + t |
U+1E6C |
| ū | ⌥ + u |
U+016B |
| Ū | ⌥ + ⇧ + u |
U+016A |
Vedic signs
| Symbol | Key combination | Unicode |
|---|---|---|
| ̐ | ⌥ + c |
U+0310 |
| ̐ | ⌥ + ⇧ + c |
U+0310 |
| ̍ | ⌥ + 1 |
U+030D |
| ̎ | ⌥ + 2 |
U+030E |
| ̱ | ⌥ + 3 |
U+0331 |
| ḫ | ⌥ + 4 |
U+1E2B |
| ẖ | ⌥ + 5 |
U+1E96 |
| gͫ | ⌥ + 6 |
U+0067 + U+036B |
| gͫ̄ | ⌥ + 7 |
U+0067 + U+036B + U+0304 |
Punctuation
| Symbol | Key combination | Unicode |
|---|---|---|
| … | ⌥ + . |
U+2026 |
| " | ⌥ + ' |
U+201C |
| " | ⌥ + ⇧ + ' |
U+201D |
| — | ⌥ + - |
U+2014 |
| — | ⌥ + ⇧ + - |
U+2014 |
| · | ⌥ + ⇧ + . |
U+00B7 |
If you use this keyboard layout in academic or research work, please cite it.
GitHub's "Cite this repository" button (in the sidebar) generates APA and
BibTeX entries from CITATION.cff, or cite directly via DOI:
Markovich, I. (2026). IAST Keyboard Layout for macOS (v1.0.1) [Software]. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.21197035
Contributions, suggestions, and bug reports are welcome — please open an issue and I'll do my best to respond quickly.
Licensed under the MIT License. Free to use, modify, and distribute, including commercially, provided the original license and copyright notice are included.
- SIL Ukelele for the keyboard layout creation tool
- The academic community for standardizing IAST