Anusvara

Anusvara (/ˌænʊˈsvɑːrə/ AN-uu-SVAR-ə; Sanskrit: अनुस्वार, IAST: anusvāra, IPA: [ɐn̪usʋaːrɐ]), also known as Bindu (/ˈbɪndu/ BIN-doo; Hindi: बिंदु [bɪn̪d̪uː]), is a symbol used in many Indic scripts to mark a type of nasal sound, typically transliterated ⟨ṃ⟩ or ⟨ṁ⟩ in standards like ISO 15919 and IAST. Depending on its location in a word and the language for which it is used, its exact pronunciation can vary. In the context of ancient Sanskrit, anusvara is the name of the particular nasal sound itself, regardless of written representation.