Limbu Letter Ta

It starts with t; the open o comes by default. In Limbu spelling, the letter starts a syllable and its default reading includes that vowel. Add a Limbu vowel sign for another vowel. A syllable-final t uses a separate small final-letter form, so ᤋ marks the beginning.

Limbu tradition credits the script to Sirijanga. Sirijunga Singthebe is associated with its 18th-century revival, which supported Limbu reading and writing in religious and ceremonial texts, schoolbooks, newspapers, and literature. A British Library catalog dates an alphabet practice book to c. 1730 or earlier. Limbu manuscripts collected in Darjeeling in the 1850s are ancestors of the modern script; its modern form began developing in Kalimpong in 1925. Letter shapes changed across these stages, so an older manuscript's ᤋ can look different.

A 2002 Unicode proposal contrasts Sikkim's state-school teaching of Limbu with Nepal's greater reliance on private initiatives. A University of Vienna project documents Srijanga writing in songs, poetry, novels, histories, and teaching materials. Descriptions differ on the script's relation to other writing: one says it was modeled on Lepcha, while the Unicode proposal calls it only distantly related to Lepcha and Tibetan. This concerns the script as a whole, not a confirmed one-to-one match for this letter.

How do I type ᤋ?

Choose a Limbu keyboard or input method. A standard Latin or Nepali layout will not turn typed “ta” into ᤋ; the input method must support Limbu. For a syllable with another vowel, enter the corresponding Limbu vowel sign after the base letter.