Grantha Letter Ya

It marks the “y” consonant, as in “yes.”

Grantha script took shape in South India to write Sanskrit sounds that Tamil writing did not distinguish clearly. Early Grantha forms appear in inscriptions from Pallava rulers in the fourth century CE; a surviving foundation inscription of Pallava king Mahendravarman I records Sanskrit in Grantha. The later Grantha form represented by this character belongs to a stage after the thirteenth century CE.

Like other Indic consonant letters, 𑌯 has an inherent “a,” so by itself it forms “ya.” A dependent vowel sign changes that vowel; a virama, the sign that removes it, lets the consonant join a cluster. Tamil and Grantha letters also appear together in inscriptions and manuscripts, including in Manipravalam, a literary tradition mixing Sanskrit with a regional language. This mixed-script practice became less visible in the early print era, when setting two scripts was difficult, and later nationalist policies added pressure. Grantha belongs to the Pallava script tradition, whose forms traveled into Southeast Asia; its history is also connected with the script traditions behind Malayalam.

Why does 𑌯 sometimes show as a box?

The font needs Grantha glyphs and Indic text shaping.

Without Grantha coverage, a font may show a missing-glyph box even though the text still contains 𑌯. Indic shaping arranges consonant clusters as joined forms, ligatures, or stacks; a virama may appear as a mark or form part of a joined conjunct.