Grantha vowel sign U

It marks short u on a consonant.

In Grantha, each consonant carries a default short a; 𑍁 changes it to short u when it follows. In 𑌕𑍁, the consonant’s short a becomes short u. For a word beginning with u, use independent letter 𑌉 instead.

How did Grantha develop?

It developed gradually from the Pallava writing tradition.

Intermediate forms of Grantha appear in fourth-century CE Pallava inscriptions. In the Tamil region, writers used the script for Sanskrit sounds that Tamil writing did not distinguish. Grantha later appeared alongside Tamil in inscriptions and in Manipravalam, a literary style that mixes Tamil with Sanskrit.

A late-ninth-century inscription uses the u sign’s shape to identify a grapheme as Grantha; a record from c. 1048 distinguishes Grantha and Tamil partly through how the sign attaches. Some Grantha manuscripts join the u sign to its consonant as one written shape; modern print usually leaves it separate.