"da ṇḍa", "halanta", "vir āma", "pūrṇa-virāma" and "ardha-virāma"

[Mrinal Kaul]

Dear Colleagues,

Can someone make the distinction among the following terms clear with some more historical elucidations in the context of Sanskrit language? What has been the practice as far as Sanskrit (and not Hindi) is concerned and how it it different from Hindi construction? Is "virāma" also used in Hindi language as synonymous to "daṇḍa" ? And as far as Sanskrit language is concerned if "virāma" or "daṇḍa" (?) is synonymous to "halanta" then why do we use "daṇḍa" after putting the "halanta" to the last consonant of the word in a sentence? I think I am in a real confusion. I would really appreciate if someone could make a distinction amongst the following terms;

 "daṇḍa", "halanta", "virāma", "pūrṇa-virāma" and "ardha-virāma" 


Thank you very much in advance.

Yours sincerely,

Mrinal Kaul