Grantha letter ra

It reads “ra”: an r sound followed by the short vowel a.

Grantha consonants carry an inherent vowel, a built-in “a.” A vowel sign changes it; the Grantha virama 𑍍 removes it, leaving a bare r.

On its own, 𑌰 marks a syllable sound or a fragment of Grantha text; it does not encode a whole message.

Why was Grantha used with Tamil?

Grantha supplied dedicated letters for Sanskrit distinctions.

Grantha descends from Brahmi, an early South Asian writing system. Forms leading to Grantha appear in inscriptions of early Pallava rulers from the fourth century CE; the modern form represented here belongs to a period after the thirteenth century CE.

Grantha was used chiefly for Sanskrit in South India, often alongside Tamil to spell Sanskrit words. It also wrote the Sanskrit portions of Manipravalam, a literary tradition mixing Tamil and Sanskrit; that use has become rare. Grantha forms were also used for Malayalam writing as Arya Ezhuthu.

Why does Grantha ra change in consonant clusters?

Its place in a cluster can change how ra is written.

When ra is not the top member of a consonant stack, it can take a reduced form called ra-vattu. When ra begins a cluster, it can appear as reph, shifted to the end of the written cluster; its sound still comes first.

A Grantha-supporting font and Indic text shaper are needed to form the joins. Without them, a cluster may stay unjoined or show as boxes; that is a display problem, not a different letter.