Grantha letter Kha

It writes kha: a k released with a puff of breath.

Unlike the Grantha letter 𑌕 for ka, kha adds a clear burst of air; that breath changes the consonant.

Grantha consonants carry an unwritten short a unless a vowel sign replaces it. A virama, the mark that cancels that built-in vowel, leaves the consonant ready to join a cluster.

Why does Grantha have a separate kha?

It let writers spell Sanskrit sounds Tamil writing did not fully distinguish.

Grantha developed from Brahmi around the 5th century CE; early recognizable forms appear in Pallava-period temple inscriptions. Later examples include Chola and Pandya records, copper plates (inscribed metal records), palm-leaf manuscripts, and print.

Grantha supplied spellings for Sanskrit consonant contrasts that Tamil writing did not mark fully, especially voiced and aspirated sounds. Tamil and Grantha also appear together in inscriptions and manuscripts, sometimes with Sanskrit words inside Tamil text. Malayalam script has a documented historical connection with Grantha.

After 1947, Devanagari gained wider publishing reach and Grantha receded in Tamil Nadu. As of 2024, descriptions document continued use in religious almanacs and Tamil-speaking Hindu naming, wedding, and last-rites materials.

Why does 𑌖 look different on different screens?

Fonts change its outline; missing support can replace it with a box.

𑌖 is a text character, and fonts draw its visible outline. Grantha-capable fonts can give it different outlines; a font without the character may show a box or fallback symbol without changing the underlying character.

The Devanagari character ख writes the same Sanskrit sound, but it is not a variant of 𑌖. Malayalam’s related character is ഖ. The Grantha and Malayalam scripts have a documented historical connection, but their glyphs remain distinct.