Kannada letter II

This is Kannada’s independent long-i vowel. It can begin a syllable without a consonant before it and can also point to something as “this.” Short-i ಇ is a different vowel, and changing the length can change the word. After a consonant, the long-i sound is written with the attached sign ೀ.

How old is the Kannada letter ii?

The dates trace Kannada writing, not this exact glyph. Early forms of the Telugu-Kannada script, an older South Indian writing tradition, appear in inscriptions from the 4th–7th century CE; Kannada-language inscriptions appear from about the 5th century CE.

This writing tradition descends from Brahmi, an older South Asian script. Inscriptions preserve records of donations, temple administration, land grants, and royal charters (official documents issued by rulers).