Ṝ (Indic)

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 ॠ did not have an inherent value by itself.[1]

There are three different general early historic scripts - Brahmi and its variants, Kharoṣṭhī, and Tocharian, the so-called slanting Brahmi. Ṝ was not found as an independent vowel in Brahmi, only as a vowel mark for modifying a base consonant. Like all Brahmic scripts, Tocharian Ṝ 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 Ṝ are indicated with vowel marks added to the letter A.

Tocharian Rii

The Tocharian letter is derived from the short Brahmi Ṛ . The Tocharian Ṝ was very infrequently used, and only appears in the corpus in combination with a few base consonants.

Tocharian consonants with Ṝ vowel marks

Kr̄	Khr̄	Gr̄	Ghr̄	Cr̄	Chr̄	Jr̄	Jhr̄	Nyr̄	Ṭr̄	Ṭhr̄	Ḍr̄	Ḍhr̄	Ṇr̄
Tr̄	Thr̄	Dr̄	Dhr̄	Nr̄	Pr̄	Phr̄	Br̄	Bhr̄	Mr̄	Yr̄	r̄r	Lr̄	Vr̄
Śr̄	Ṣr̄	Sr̄	Hr̄

Devanagari independent Ṝ and Ṝ vowel sign.

Ṝ (ॠ) is a vowel of the Devanagari abugida. It ultimately arose from the Brahmi letter . Letters that derive from it are the Gujarati letter ૠ, and the Modi letter 𑘇.

Bengali independent Ṝ and Ṝ vowel sign.

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

Gujarati independent Ṝ and Ṝ vowel sign.

Ṝ (ૠ) is a vowel of the Gujarati abugida. It is derived from the Devanagari Ṝ , and ultimately the Brahmi letter .

Telugu independent vowel and vowel sign Ṝ.

Ṝ (ౠ) is a vowel of the Telugu abugida. It ultimately arose from the Brahmi letter Ṝ. It is closely related to the Kannada letter ೠ. 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. Ṝ is a non-attaching vowel sign, and does not alter the underlying consonant or contextually shape itself in any way.

Telugu Ṝ vowel sign on క, ఖ, గ, ఘ & ఙ: Kṝ, Khṝ, Gṝ, Ghṝ and Ngṝ.

Malayalam independent vowel and vowel sign Ṝ.

Ṝ (ൠ) is a vowel of the Malayalam abugida. It ultimately arose from the Brahmi letter , via the Grantha letter rr. 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 Ṝ, 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 Ṝ vowel sign on ക, ഖ, ഗ, ഘ, & ങ: Kṝ, Khṝ, Gṝ, Ghṝ and Ngṝ in paḻaya lipi.

Odia independent vowel and vowel sign Ṝ.

Ṝ (ୠ) is a vowel of the Odia abugida. It ultimately arose from the Brahmi letter , via the Siddhaṃ letter rr. 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.