001 ORTHOGRAPHY

1. Malayalim orthography treats of the nature and powers of letters: also of the various changes which they undergo in composition.
2. The Malayalim, like its sister dialects, is written from left to right.
3. For the convenience of the Student, who will require native assistance, the common method of arranging the Malayalim letters, is here adhered to, in preference to others that may be more strictly correct.
4. With the exception of three characters, the whole Malayalim Alphabet is taken from the Sanscrit; it is, in fact, the Sanscrit Alphabet, written in the Malayalim character but retaining the same order, power, and nearly the same sound as the Dēva-nāgari as used by the Brahmins of the present time. THE ALPHABET

5. The Malayalim letters are 53 in number: of these 16 are vowels, distinguished thus,

6. The number of consonants are 37; of these follow the order of the Sanscrit ; thus :

7. The three remaining characters derived from an ancient Alphabet are ള la, റ ra, and ഴ ra.
8. The above are the forms of the letters when they occur as initials; when used as medials or finals, some of them assume a different shape as will be hereafter explained.