R̥ (Indic)

R̥
Example glyphs
Bengali–AssameseR̥
Tibetan
ཨྲྀ
Malayalam
Sinhala
Ashoka BrahmiR̥
DevanagariR̥
Cognates
Hebrewר
GreekΡ
LatinR
CyrillicР
Properties
Phonemic representation/ɻ̩/
IAST transliterationṛ Ṛ
ISCII code pointDF (223)

is a vowel symbol, or vocalic consonant, of Indic abugidas. In modern Indic scripts, R̥ is derived from the early "Ashoka" Brahmi letter Ṛ after having gone through the Gupta letter . As an Indic vowel, R̥ comes in two normally distinct forms: 1) as an independent letter, and 2) as a vowel sign for modifying a base consonant. Bare consonants without a modifying vowel sign have the inherent "A" vowel.

Āryabhaṭa numeration

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Aryabhata used Devanagari letters for numbers, very similar to the Greek numerals, even after the invention of Indian numerals. The sign ृ was used to modify a consonant's value ×106, but the vowel letter ऋ did not have an inherent value by itself.[1]

Historic R̥

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There are three different general early historic scripts - Brahmi and its variants, Kharoṣṭhī, and Tocharian, the so-called slanting Brahmi. Ṛ was not found in early Brahmi, and only appears in some of the less geometric styles of later Brahmi writing, such as the Gupta Ri. Like all Brahmic scripts, Tocharian Ṛ Ri has an accompanying vowel mark for modifying a base consonant. In Kharoṣṭhī, the only independent vowel letter is for the inherent A. All other independent vowels, including Ṛ are indicated with vowel marks added to the letter A.

Brahmi R̥

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The Brahmi letter Ṛ is probably derived from the Aramaic Resh , and is thus related to the modern Latin R and Greek Rho.[2] Several identifiable styles of writing the Brahmi Ṛ can be found, most associated with a specific set of inscriptions from an artifact or diverse records from an historic period.[3] As the earliest and most geometric style of Brahmi, the letters found on the Edicts of Ashoka and other records from around that time are normally the reference form for Brahmi letters, but Ṛ is not found in those texts, so it is usually cited with a back-formed geometric style character similar to "X".

Brahmi Ṛ historic forms
Ashoka
(3rd-1st c. BCE)
Girnar
(~150 BCE)
Kushana
(~150-250 CE)
Gujarat
(~250 CE)
Gupta
(~350 CE)
No examples

Tocharian R̥

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The Tocharian letter Ṛ is derived from the Brahmi Ṛ. Unlike some of the consonants, Tocharian vowels do not have a Fremdzeichen form.

Tocharian consonants with Ṛ vowel marks
Kr Khr Gr Ghr Cr Chr Jr Jhr Nyr Ṭr Ṭhr Ḍr Ḍhr Ṇr
Tr Thr Dr Dhr Nr Pr Phr Br Bhr Mr Yr Rr Lr Vr
Śr Ṣr Sr Hr

Kharoṣṭhī R̥

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The Kharoṣṭhī letter Ṛ is indicated with the vowel mark Ṛ. As an independent vowel, Ṛ is indicated by adding the vowel marks to the independent vowel letter A A.

Devanagari R̥

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R̥ vowel
Ṛ vowel sign
Devanagari independent R̥ and R̥ vowel sign.

() is a vowel of the Devanagari abugida. It arose from the Brahmi letter R̥, after having gone through the Gupta letter R̥. Letters that derive from it are the Gujarati letter , and the Modi letter 𑘆.

Devanagari Using Languages

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The Devanagari script is used to write the Hindi language, Sanskrit and the majority of Indo-Aryan languages. In most of these languages, ऋ is pronounced as [ṛ][dubiousdiscuss]. Like all Indic scripts, Devanagari vowels come in two forms: an independent vowel form for syllables that begin with a vowel sound, and a vowel sign attached to base consonant to override the inherent /ə/ vowel.

Bengali R̥

[edit]
R̥ vowel
R̥ vowel sign
Bengali independent Ṛ and Ṛ vowel sign.

() is a vowel of the Bengali abugida. It is derived from the Siddhaṃ letter Ṛ, and is marked by the lack of horizontal head line and less geometric shape than its Devanagari counterpart, ऋ.

Bengali Script Using Languages

[edit]

The Bengali script is used to write several languages of eastern India, notably the Bengali language and Assamese. In most languages, ঋ is pronounced as [ṛ]. Like all Indic scripts, Bengali vowels come in two forms: an independent vowel form for syllables that begin with a vowel sound, and a vowel sign attached to base consonant to override the inherent /ɔ/ vowel.

Gujarati Ṛ

[edit]
Ṛ vowel
Ṛ vowel sign
Gujarati independent Ṛ and Ṛ vowel sign.

() is a vowel of the Gujarati abugida. It is derived from the Devanagari Ṛ r, and the Brahmi letter r.

Gujarati-using Languages

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The Gujarati script is used to write the Gujarati and Kutchi languages. In both languages, ઋ is pronounced as [ṛ]. Like all Indic scripts, Gujarati vowels come in two forms: an independent vowel form for syllables that begin with a vowel sound, and a vowel sign attached to base consonant to override the inherent /ə/ vowel.

Telugu R̥

[edit]
Telugu independent vowel Ṛ
Telugu vowel sign Ṛ
Telugu independent vowel and vowel sign Ṛ.

() is a vowel of the Telugu abugida. It arose from the Brahmi letter Ṛ. It is closely related to the Kannada letter . Like in other Indic scripts, Telugu vowels have two forms: and independent letter for word and syllable-initial vowel sounds, and a vowel sign for changing the inherent "a" of Telugu consonant letters. Ṛ is a non-attaching vowel sign, and does not alter the underlying consonant or contextually shape itself in any way.

Telugu Ṛ vowel sign on క, ఖ, గ, ఘ & ఙ: Kṛ, Khṛ, Gṛ, Ghṛ and Ngṛ.

Malayalam R̥

[edit]
Malayalam independent vowel Ṛ
Malayalam vowel sign Ṛ
Malayalam independent vowel and vowel sign Ṛ.

() is a vowel of the Malayalam abugida. It arose from the Brahmi letter Ṛ, via the Grantha letter Ṛ r. Like in other Indic scripts, Malayalam vowels have two forms: an independent letter for word and syllable-initial vowel sounds, and a vowel sign for changing the inherent "a" of consonant letters. Vowel signs in Malayalam usually sit adjacent to its base consonant - below, to the left, right, or both left and right, but are always pronounced after the consonant sound. Some vowel signs, such as Ṛ, can also form a ligature with some consonants, although this is much more common in old-style paḻaya lipi texts than in the modern reformed paḻaya lipi orthography.

Malayalam Ṛ vowel sign on ക, ഖ, ഗ, ഘ, & ങ: Kṛ, Khṛ, Gṛ, Ghṛ and Ngṛ in paḻaya lipi.

Odia R̥

[edit]
Odia independent and vowel sign Ṛ

() is a vowel of the Odia abugida. It arose from the Brahmi letter Ṛ, via the Siddhaṃ letter Ṛ r. Like in other Indic scripts, Odia vowels have two forms: an independent letter for word and syllable-initial vowel sounds, and a vowel sign for changing the inherent "a" of consonant letters. Vowel signs in Odia usually sit adjacent to its base consonant - below, to the left, right, or both left and right, but are always pronounced after the consonant sound. No base consonants are altered in form when adding a vowel sign, and there are no consonant+vowel ligatures in Odia.

Comparison of R̥

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The various Indic scripts are generally related to each other through adaptation and borrowing, and as such the glyphs for cognate letters, including Ṛ, are related as well.

Comparison of Ṛ in different scripts
Aramaic
Ṛ
Kharoṣṭhī
𐨃
Ashoka Brahmi
Ṛ
Kushana Brahmi[a]
Ṛ
Tocharian[b]
-
Gupta Brahmi
Ṛ
Pallava
-
Kadamba
-
Bhaiksuki
𑰆
Siddhaṃ
Ṛ
Grantha
𑌋
Cham
-
Sinhala
Pyu /
Old Mon[c]
-
Tibetan
ཨྲྀ
Newa
𑐆
Ahom
-
Malayalam
Telugu
Burmese
Lepcha
-
Ranjana
Ṛ
Saurashtra
Dives Akuru
-
Kannada
Kayah Li
-
Limbu
-
Soyombo[d]
-
Khmer
Tamil
-
Chakma
-
Tai Tham
-
Meitei Mayek
-
Gaudi
-
Thai
-
Lao
-
Tai Le
-
Marchen
-
Tirhuta
𑒇
New Tai Lue
-
Tai Viet
-
Aksara Kawi
-
'Phags-pa
-
Odia
Sharada
𑆉
Rejang
-
Batak
-
Buginese
-
Zanabazar Square
-
Bengali-Assamese
Ṛ
Takri
-
Javanese
Balinese
Makasar
-
Hangul[e]
-
Northern Nagari
-
Dogri
𑠱
Laṇḍā
-
Sundanese
Baybayin
-
Modi
𑘆
Gujarati
Khojki
-
Khudabadi
-
Mahajani
-
Tagbanwa
-
Devanagari
Ṛ
Nandinagari
𑦦
Kaithi
-
Gurmukhi
-
Multani
-
Buhid
-
Canadian Syllabics[f]
-
Soyombo[g]
-
Sylheti Nagari
-
Gunjala Gondi
-
Masaram Gondi[h]
𑴶
Hanuno'o
-
Notes
  1. ^ The middle "Kushana" form of Brahmi is a later style that emerged as Brahmi scripts were beginning to proliferate. Gupta Brahmi was definitely a stylistic descendant from Kushana, but other Brahmi-derived scripts may have descended from earlier forms.
  2. ^ Tocharian is probably derived from the middle period "Kushana" form of Brahmi, although artifacts from that time are not plentiful enough to establish a definite succession.
  3. ^ Pyu and Old Mon are probably the precursors of the Burmese script, and may be derived from either the Pallava or Kadamba script
  4. ^ May also be derived from Devangari (see bottom left of table)
  5. ^ The Origin of Hangul from 'Phags-pa is one of limited influence, inspiring at most a few basic letter shapes. Hangul does not function as an Indic abugida.
  6. ^ Although the basic letter forms of the Canadian Aboriginal Syllabics were derived from handwritten Devanagari letters, this abugida indicates vowel sounds by rotations of the letter form, rather than the use of vowel diacritics as is standard in Indic abugidas.
  7. ^ May also be derived from Ranjana (see above)
  8. ^ Masaram Gondi acts as an Indic abugida, but its letterforms were not derived from any single precursor script.


Character encodings of Ṛ

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Most Indic scripts are encoded in the Unicode Standard, and as such the letter Ṛ in those scripts can be represented in plain text with unique codepoint. Ṛ from several modern-use scripts can also be found in legacy encodings, such as ISCII.

Character information
Preview
Unicode name DEVANAGARI LETTER VOCALIC R BENGALI LETTER VOCALIC R TELUGU LETTER VOCALIC R ORIYA LETTER VOCALIC R KANNADA LETTER VOCALIC R MALAYALAM LETTER VOCALIC R GUJARATI LETTER VOCALIC R
Encodings decimal hex dec hex dec hex dec hex dec hex dec hex dec hex
Unicode 2315 U+090B 2443 U+098B 3083 U+0C0B 2827 U+0B0B 3211 U+0C8B 3339 U+0D0B 2699 U+0A8B
UTF-8 224 164 139 E0 A4 8B 224 166 139 E0 A6 8B 224 176 139 E0 B0 8B 224 172 139 E0 AC 8B 224 178 139 E0 B2 8B 224 180 139 E0 B4 8B 224 170 139 E0 AA 8B
Numeric character reference ऋ ऋ ঋ ঋ ఋ ఋ ଋ ଋ ಋ ಋ ഋ ഋ ઋ ઋ
ISCII 223 DF 223 DF 223 DF 223 DF 223 DF 223 DF 223 DF


Character information
Preview
Ashoka
Kushana
Gupta
𑌋
Unicode name BRAHMI LETTER VOCALIC R SIDDHAM LETTER VOCALIC R GRANTHA LETTER VOCALIC R
Encodings decimal hex dec hex dec hex
Unicode 69643 U+1100B 71046 U+11586 70411 U+1130B
UTF-8 240 145 128 139 F0 91 80 8B 240 145 150 134 F0 91 96 86 240 145 140 139 F0 91 8C 8B
UTF-16 55300 56331 D804 DC0B 55301 56710 D805 DD86 55300 57099 D804 DF0B
Numeric character reference 𑀋 𑀋 𑖆 𑖆 𑌋 𑌋


Character information
Preview 𑐆 𑰆 𑆉
Unicode name NEWA LETTER VOCALIC R BHAIKSUKI LETTER VOCALIC R SHARADA LETTER VOCALIC R
Encodings decimal hex dec hex dec hex
Unicode 70662 U+11406 72710 U+11C06 70025 U+11189
UTF-8 240 145 144 134 F0 91 90 86 240 145 176 134 F0 91 B0 86 240 145 134 137 F0 91 86 89
UTF-16 55301 56326 D805 DC06 55303 56326 D807 DC06 55300 56713 D804 DD89
Numeric character reference 𑐆 𑐆 𑰆 𑰆 𑆉 𑆉


Character information
Preview
Unicode name MYANMAR LETTER VOCALIC R
Encodings decimal hex
Unicode 4178 U+1052
UTF-8 225 129 146 E1 81 92
Numeric character reference ၒ ၒ


Character information
Preview
Unicode name KHMER INDEPENDENT VOWEL RY
Encodings decimal hex
Unicode 6059 U+17AB
UTF-8 225 158 171 E1 9E AB
Numeric character reference ឫ ឫ


Character information
Preview
Unicode name SINHALA LETTER IRUYANNA SAURASHTRA LETTER VOCALIC R
Encodings decimal hex dec hex
Unicode 3469 U+0D8D 43144 U+A888
UTF-8 224 182 141 E0 B6 8D 234 162 136 EA A2 88
Numeric character reference ඍ ඍ ꢈ ꢈ


Character information
Preview 𑘆 𑦦
Unicode name MODI LETTER VOCALIC R NANDINAGARI LETTER VOCALIC R
Encodings decimal hex dec hex
Unicode 71174 U+11606 72102 U+119A6
UTF-8 240 145 152 134 F0 91 98 86 240 145 166 166 F0 91 A6 A6
UTF-16 55301 56838 D805 DE06 55302 56742 D806 DDA6
Numeric character reference 𑘆 𑘆 𑦦 𑦦


Character information
Preview 𑒇
Unicode name TIRHUTA LETTER VOCALIC R
Encodings decimal hex
Unicode 70791 U+11487
UTF-8 240 145 146 135 F0 91 92 87
UTF-16 55301 56455 D805 DC87
Numeric character reference 𑒇 𑒇


Character information
Preview 𑠱
Unicode name DOGRA VOWEL SIGN VOCALIC R
Encodings decimal hex
Unicode 71729 U+11831
UTF-8 240 145 160 177 F0 91 A0 B1
UTF-16 55302 56369 D806 DC31
Numeric character reference 𑠱 𑠱


Character information
Preview
Unicode name BALINESE LETTER RA REPA SUNDANESE LETTER REU
Encodings decimal hex dec hex
Unicode 6923 U+1B0B 7099 U+1BBB
UTF-8 225 172 139 E1 AC 8B 225 174 187 E1 AE BB
Numeric character reference ᬋ ᬋ ᮻ ᮻ




References

[edit]
  1. ^ Ifrah, Georges (2000). The Universal History of Numbers. From Prehistory to the Invention of the Computer. New York: John Wiley & Sons. pp. 447–450. ISBN 0-471-39340-1.
  2. ^ Bühler, Georg (1898). "On the Origin of the Indian Brahmi Alphabet". archive.org. Karl J. Trübner. Retrieved 10 June 2020.
  3. ^ Evolutionary chart, Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal Vol 7, 1838. [1]