Kannada letter bha

It marks the Kannada bha consonant, with a short puff of breath.

For the Kannada ba and bha distinction, ಬ (ba) is pronounced without that extra puff. A vowel sign changes the vowel after the consonant; the virama mark removes its default vowel so it can join a consonant cluster.

How did Kannada writing develop?

It evolved from Brahmi through regional Telugu–Kannada forms. These forms led to the Kannada and Telugu scripts, which retain related letter shapes and ways of forming consonant clusters.

Stone inscriptions and copper-plate grants recorded royal administration, land grants, temple endowments, and donations. The Halmidi inscription is usually cited as the earliest Kannada-language inscription, from around the 5th century CE.