Grantha Letter Ta

It writes the ta consonant in Grantha. Granthalipi is another name for the Grantha script, a writing system where each consonant carries an inherent “a” unless a vowel sign or virama (the mark that removes it) changes the syllable. Grantha was used to write Sanskrit and Tamil; it also gave writers separate letters for Sanskrit consonant contrasts Tamil script did not mark with its own letters, such as voicing and an extra puff of breath.

How did Grantha and Tamil share the page?

They could appear on the same page. Grantha could carry Sanskrit passages, marginal blessings, or end notes called colophons in Tamil material; some Tamil works were written wholly in Grantha. Nationalist policies and early printing later narrowed this mixed-script practice in published Tamil. Grantha grew from Brahmi, an ancient family of South Asian scripts. The earliest Grantha forms cited date from the 5th–6th centuries, under the Pallavas, a southern Indian dynasty.

Grantha still appears in ritual writing. As of 2026, examples include religious almanacs, naming ceremonies, wedding invitations, and notices of last rites.