Unicode characters in LaTeX, getting errors

Question

I am trying to include Unicode charters in LaTeX but I am getting error. These are the characters ,മല + ആയിരുന്നു = മലയായിരുന്നു . I need to include

\documentclass[12pt]{ociamthesis} 
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}

I am getting following error:

Type H <return> for immediate help.
...
l.27 മ
ല + ആയിരുന്നു : മലയായിരുന...
Your command was ignored.
Type I <command> <return> to replace it with another command,
or <return> to continue without it.
! Package inputenc Error: Unicode char \u8:ല not set up for use with LaTeX.

I use this font

Editor:

Texmaker 3.2

Any Clues?

Answer 1

For this type of document, I would recommend to use XeTeX which has builtin Unicode support. You will also need to load a font that has support for the needed characters. For example, try this with 'FreeSans':

\documentclass[12pt]{article} 

\usepackage{fontspec}

\setmainfont{FreeSans}

\begin{document}
മല + ആയിരുന്നു = മലയായിരുന്നു
\end{document}

Compile this with xelatex unicode-test.tex to get the result: