Tamil letter la

On Tamil99, enter the consonant before its vowel.

A written syllable can show its vowel sign to the left of or around ல, even though the consonant comes first in the text. Tamil99 builds the syllable from those components.

The key depends on your layout. To write the consonant without its inherent vowel, add the pulli mark (்) after ல.

Which Tamil l is ல?

ல is the ordinary Tamil l; ள and ழ are different letters.

The difference in ல vs ள vs ழ changes pronunciation and spelling. ள is said with the tongue tip curled back; ழ has a distinct Tamil sound, also made with the tongue curled back and often called zha in English transliteration. At word endings, ல், ள், and ழ் may be released with a short u-like vowel, while final ல் and ள் can disappear in some speech. The spelling may not be recoverable from hearing alone.

Where did this letter come from?

It developed with Tamil writing, whose ancestry runs through Brahmi.

Tamil-Brahmi cave inscriptions and pottery are attested by the middle of the third century BCE at the earliest. Some cave inscriptions record donations to Jain monastics.

Tamil writing rounded toward early Vatteluttu by the 5th or 6th century. Pallava and later Chola-Pallava forms also led toward modern Tamil; Vatteluttu continued in southern regions until the 11th century. Grantha is a related script used in Tamil Nadu for Sanskrit, not another name for ல.