Grantha Letter Oo

It writes long o as its own letter.

Use 𑌓 at the start of a syllable when no consonant comes before the vowel. After a consonant, Grantha uses the dependent sign ◌𑍋, which attaches to that consonant; the two forms are not interchangeable.

Why was Grantha used for Sanskrit?

Grantha helped Tamil-region writers spell Sanskrit sounds Tamil letters could not show.

Intermediate Grantha forms are attested in early Pallava inscriptions from the fourth century CE. The modern forms represented here belong to a later stage, after the thirteenth century. Grantha descends from Brahmi and developed alongside Tamil writing.

Grantha was used especially in Tamil Nadu, Sri Lanka, and elsewhere in South Asia for Sanskrit, including Vedic Sanskrit. Some Tamil manuscripts mix Grantha and Tamil in Manipravalam, a Tamil–Sanskrit literary style, as well as in commentaries and marginal notes; a Grantha letter inside a Tamil text does not make the whole passage Grantha.

What does 𑌓 mean by itself?

Alone, it identifies the vowel and script, not a passage’s meaning.

Use the surrounding Grantha text to identify the language and meaning; one letter is too little to translate a passage.