Further combinations, of three, four, or even five consonant-signs, are made according to the same rules. Examples are:

of three consonants, त्त्व ttva, द्ध्य ddhya, द्व्य dvya, द्र्य drya, ध्र्य dhrya, प्स्व psva, श्च्य çcya, ष्ठ्य ṣṭhya, ह्व्य hvya;

of four consonants, क्त्र्य ktrya, ङ्क्ष्य n̄kṣya, ष्ट्र्य ṣṭrya, त्स्म्य tsmya;

of five consonants, र्त्स्न्या rtsnya.

a. The manuscripts, and the type-fonts as well, differ from one another more in their management of consonant combinations than in any other respect, often having peculiarities which one needs a little practice to understand. It is quite useless to give in a grammar the whole series of possible combinations (some of them excessively rare) which are provided for in any given type-font, or even in all. There is nothing which due familiarity with the simple signs and with the above rules of combination will not enable the student readily to analyse and explain.