When Caps Lock is OFF, the alphabetic keys produce consonants and select vowel signs.
| QWERTY Key | MCL Mangai Output | Tamil Character | | :--- | :--- | :--- | | a | அ | Uyir (Short A) | | s | ஆ | Uyir (Long A) | | d | இ | Uyir (Short I) | | f | ஈ | Uyir (Long I) | | g | உ | Uyir (Short U) | | h | ஊ | Uyir (Long U) | | j | எ | Uyir (Short E) | | k | ஏ | Uyir (Long E) | | l | ஐ | Uyir (AI) | | ; (semicolon) | ஒ | Uyir (Short O) | | ' (apostrophe) | ஓ | Uyir (Long O) |
Consonants (Lowercase row): | QWERTY Key | Output | | :--- | :--- | | q | க் (K) | | w | ங் (Ng) | | e | ச் (Ch) | | r | ஞ் (Ny) | | t | ட் (T) | | y | ண் (Nn) | | u | த் (Th) | | i | ந் (N) | | o | ப் (P) | | p | ம் (M) | | [ | ய் (Y) | | ] | ர் (R) | | \ | ல் (L) | mcl mangai tamil font keyboard layout ttf
Letters are mapped to where they sit on a physical Tamil typewriter, not the English letter sound.
Here is a quick reference for the MCL Mangai layout (Top row, lowercase): When Caps Lock is OFF , the alphabetic
| Key | Output | Key | Output | | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | | q | க | w | ங | | e | ச | r | ஞ | | t | ட | y | ண | | u | த | i | ந | | o | ப | p | ம | | [ | ய | ] | ர |
MCL stands for Murasu Computer Language, a pioneering font foundry from the late 1990s and early 2000s in Tamil Nadu. Before Unicode became the universal standard, Tamil computing relied heavily on "non-standard" or "iconic" fonts. MCL Mangai is one such popular Tamil typewriter-based font. This means the letter you see on screen
Unlike Unicode (where one character equals one codepoint), MCL Mangai is a layout-specific font. This means the letter you see on screen depends entirely on which key you press on your physical keyboard, following a predefined mapping system.
MCL Mangai is a classic and widely recognized Tamil font (typeface). For many years, it was the standard typeface used by the Tamil magazine Ananda Vikatan and is often associated with the aesthetic of popular Tamil print media.
Unlike modern Unicode fonts that are universally compatible, MCL Mangai is a legacy font (TTF). This means it uses a specific character mapping that does not conform to the international Unicode standard. To type in MCL Mangai, you cannot simply switch your keyboard language to Tamil and start typing; you must use a specific keyboard layout or keyboard driver designed for that font.