Modern Hindi text into old Kruti Dev keystrokes. Useful when the copy is written in Unicode but the layout, the press or the exam software still expects the legacy font.
The workflow is split, and one half has not moved
Writing moved to Unicode years ago. Phones type it, email carries it, websites display it. Production did not move, and often cannot. A newspaper page laid out in PageMaker has Kruti Dev bound to every paragraph style. A wedding card template in CorelDRAW is the same. Rebuilding those files costs real money; converting the text costs nothing.
So a reporter writes in Unicode, hands it to the desk, and somebody has to turn it back. That is what this page is for.
The other big use is typing practice. Candidates preparing for SSC, CPCT, UPSSSC or High Court clerical tests need practice passages in the exact encoding the exam software uses. Nearly all Hindi content online is Unicode, so it has to be converted first.
Two things go backwards
The i-matra returns to the front
Unicode keeps ि after its consonant. Kruti Dev keeps it before, because that is where it appears on the page. In स्थिति the matra has to travel back past the entire स्थ cluster, not just past the nearest letter. Converters that move it one step produce something that types wrong.
The reph goes back behind
Unicode puts र् at the head of its cluster. Kruti Dev puts it after the cluster and after any matras hanging off it. Converting धार्मिक means producing the keystrokes for धा, then मि, then reph, then क — in that order.
The reverse mapping here is written by hand rather than generated by flipping the forward table. Auto-inversion sounds clever and quietly loses characters: run संस्कृति through an auto-inverted map and the क disappears.
Getting it into Word or your layout
| 1 | Copy the output, or use the Download Word button. The Word file already has Kruti Dev 010 set as the font, so it opens looking like Hindi. |
|---|---|
| 2 | If you pasted into an existing document, select the pasted text. |
| 3 | Set the font to Kruti Dev 010. Not in the list? The font is not installed yet. |
| 4 | Read it through before printing. Rare conjuncts are where mistakes hide. |
One thing that catches people out constantly: the output looks like English letters in the text box above, and that is correct. It is supposed to. Kruti Dev is ASCII underneath, and the Hindi only appears once the font is applied.
About reverse conversion
The output is English letters. Is it broken?
No, that is exactly what Kruti Dev is. The font stores Hindi as ASCII characters and only draws Devanagari when it is applied to the text. Paste it into Word, select it, and set the font to Kruti Dev 010.
Is this the same as a Mangal to Kruti Dev converter?
Yes. Mangal is a Unicode font, so Mangal text is ordinary Unicode text. Paste it here and the result is identical to what a dedicated Mangal tool would give you. Same goes for Nirmala UI, Noto Sans Devanagari, Aparajita and Kokila.
Do half letters and conjuncts survive?
They do. Half forms, reph, nukta characters and the common conjuncts are all mapped explicitly, and the reverse table is maintained separately rather than being flipped from the forward one.
Can I download the result as a Word file?
Yes, and the Kruti Dev font is already specified inside it, so it opens as readable Hindi rather than a page of Latin characters.
Which version does the output target?
Kruti Dev 010. Its key positions match 011, 10, 012, 016, 020, 040 and 055 for standard Hindi, so the same output works across the family.