Grantha Sign Anusvara

In Jain Prakrit, it marks gemination. The next consonant is doubled: 𑌂 sits to the right of its base, while the separate Grantha sign 𑌁 above the base marks anusvara, a nasal sign.

In Sanskrit passages written in Grantha, the same right-side mark can instead be anusvara. Check the language and placement before reading or transliterating it.

Grantha script history reaches beyond South India

Grantha is a South Indian script used for Sanskrit and related literary work. Its recorded forms include early Pallava, middle Chola, and later varieties; Pallava and Chola were South Indian ruling dynasties. It appears in royal inscriptions and Sanskrit religious or literary books. Some of the earliest surviving inscriptions are on Pallava copper plates from the 5th–6th centuries CE. Palm-leaf manuscripts survive poorly; the oldest Grantha manuscript reported by scholar Burnell was about 1600.

Through South Indian contacts, Grantha forms also appear in Sanskrit inscriptions across Southeast Asia. In Kerala, a region in southwest India, Arya-eḻuttu, a regional writing tradition, is described as a western Grantha variety. Tamil–Grantha commentaries and notes around a text can mix scripts, so script alone may not identify its language.