The order of arrangement given above is that in which the sounds are catalogued and described by the native grammarians; and it has been adopted by the European scholars as the alphabetic order, for indexes, dictionaries, etc.: to the Hindus, the idea of an alphabetic arrangement for such practical uses is wanting.

a. In some works (as the Petersburg lexicon), a visarga which is regarded as equivalent to and exchangeable with a sibilant (172) is, though written as a visarga, given the alphabetic place of the sibilant.