Ṭa (Indic)

Ancient scripts
Bangla and Tibetan scripts
	Note: Korean Hangul is an alphabet, not an Indic abugida, but; appears to ultimately have some derivation from 'Phags-pa.
Sharada-based scripts
Nagaris and other Gupta-based scripts
Kawi scripts
Tai and Khmer scripts
Other Grantha-based scripts
Other Brahmic scripts
Canadian Syllabics
Devanagari	Canadian Aboriginal Syllabics
	Other Canadian Syllabic codepoints: U+144c..U+146a, U+150d, U+156b..U+156e, U+18b7, U+18d5, U+18e5..U+18e7
Phonemic representation:	/ʈ/ /t̳/
IAST transliteration:	ṭa Ṭa
ISCII code point:	BD (189)

Ṭa is a consonant of Indic abugidas. It is derived from the early "Ashoka" Brahmi letter after having gone through the Gupta letter . As with the other cerebral consonants, ṭa is not found in most scripts for Tai, Sino-Tibetan, and other non-Indic languages, except for a few scripts, which retain these letters for transcribing Sanskrit religious terms.

Āryabhaṭa numeration

Aryabhata used Devanagari letters for numbers, very similar to the Greek numerals, even after the invention of Indian numerals. The values of the different forms of ट are:[1]

ट [ʈə] = 11 (११)
टि [ʈɪ] = 1,100 (१ १००)
टु [ʈʊ] = 110,000 (१ १० ०००)
टृ [ʈri] = 11,000,000 (१ १० ०० ०००)
टॢ [ʈlə] = 1,100,000,000 (१ १० ०० ०० ०००)
टे [ʈe] = 11×10¹⁰ (११×१०^१०)
टै [ʈɛː] = 11×10¹² (११×१०^१२)
टो [ʈoː] = 11×10¹⁴ (११×१०^१४)
टौ [ʈɔː] = 11×10¹⁶ (११×१०^१६)

Historic Tta

There are three different general early historic scripts - Brahmi and its variants, Kharoṣṭhī, and Tocharian, the so-called slanting Brahmi. Tta as found in standard Brahmi, was a simple geometric shape, with variations toward more flowing forms by the Gupta . The Tocharian Tta did not have an alterante Fremdzeichen form. The third form of tta, in Kharoshthi () was probably derived from Aramaic separately from the Brahmi letter.

Brahmi Tta

The Brahmi letter , Tta, is probably derived from the altered Aramaic Teth , and is thus related to the modern Greek Theta. Several identifiable styles of writing the Brahmi Tta can be found, most associated with a specific set of inscriptions from an artifact or diverse records from an historic period.[2] 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, with vowel marks not attested until later forms of Brahmi back-formed to match the geometric writing style.

Brahmi Tta historic forms
Ashoka (3rd-1st c. BCE)	Girnar (~150 BCE)	Kushana (~150-250 CE)	Gujarat (~250 CE)	Gupta (~350 CE)

Tocharian Tta

The Tocharian letter is derived from the Brahmi , but does not have an alternate Fremdzeichen form.

Tocharian Tta with vowel marks
Tta	Ttā	Tti	Ttī	Ttu	Ttū	Ttr	Ttr̄	Tte	Ttai	Tto	Ttau	Ttä

Kharoṣṭhī Tta

The Kharoṣṭhī letter is generally accepted as being derived from the altered Aramaic Teth , and is thus related to Theta, in addition to the Brahmi Tta.

Devanagari script

Ṭa (ट) is the eleventh consonant of the Devanagari abugida. [3] It ultimately arose from the Brahmi letter , after having gone through the Gupta letter . Letters that derive from it are the Gujarati letter ટ, and the Modi letter 𑘘.

Devanagari-using Languages

In many languages, ट is pronounced as [ʈə] or [ʈ] when appropriate. In Marathi, ट is sometimes pronounced as [tə] or [t] in addition to [ʈə] or [ʈ]. Like all Indic scripts, Devanagari uses vowel marks attached to the base consonant to override the inherent /ə/ vowel:

Devanagari ट with vowel marks
Ṭa	Ṭā	Ṭi	Ṭī	Ṭu	Ṭū	Ṭr	Ṭr̄	Ṭl	Ṭl̄	Ṭe	Ṭai	Ṭo	Ṭau	Ṭ
ट	टा	टि	टी	टु	टू	टृ	टॄ	टॢ	टॣ	टे	टै	टो	टौ	ट्

Conjuncts with ट

Devanagari exhibits conjunct ligatures, as is common in Indic scripts. In modern Devanagari texts, most conjuncts are formed by reducing the letter shape to fit tightly to the following letter, usually by dropping a character's vertical stem, sometimes referred to as a "half form". Some conjunct clusters are always represented by a true ligature, instead of a shape that can be broken into constituent independent letters. Vertically stacked conjuncts are ubiquitous in older texts, while only a few are still used routinely in modern Devanagari texts. Lacking a vertical stem to drop for making a half form, Ṭa either forms a stacked conjunct/ligature, or uses its full form with Virama. The use of ligatures and vertical conjuncts may vary across languages using the Devanagari script, with Marathi in particular avoiding their use where other languages would use them.[4]

Ligature conjuncts of ट

True ligatures are quite rare in Indic scripts. The most common ligated conjuncts in Devanagari are in the form of a slight mutation to fit in context or as a consistent variant form appended to the adjacent characters. Those variants include Na and the Repha and Rakar forms of Ra. Nepali and Marathi texts use the "eyelash" Ra half form for an initial "R" instead of repha.

Repha र্ (r) + ट (ṭa) gives us the ligature rṭa: ^note

Eyelash र্ (r) + ट (ṭa) gives us the ligature rṭa:

ट্ (ṭ) + rakar र (ra) gives us the ligature ṭra:

प্ (p) + ट (ṭa) gives us the ligature pṭa:

ष্ (ṣ) + ट (ṭa) gives us the ligature ṣṭa:

Repha र্ (r) + ष্ (ṣ) + ट্ (ṭ) + rakar र (ra) gives us the ligature rṣṭra:

ष্ (ṣ) + ट্ (ṭ) + व (va) gives us the ligature ṣṭva:

Stacked conjuncts of ट

Vertically stacked ligatures are the most common conjunct forms found in Devanagari text. Although the constituent characters may need to be stretched and moved slightly in order to stack neatly, stacked conjuncts can be broken down into recognizable base letters, or a letter and an otherwise standard ligature.

छ্ (cʰ) + ट (ṭa) gives us the ligature cʰṭa:

ढ্ (ḍʱ) + ट (ṭa) gives us the ligature ḍʱṭa:

ड্ (ḍ) + ट (ṭa) gives us the ligature ḍṭa:

द্ (d) + ट (ṭa) gives us the ligature dṭa:

ङ্ (ŋ) + ट (ṭa) gives us the ligature ŋṭa:

ट্ (ṭ) + ब (ba) gives us the ligature ṭba:

ट্ (ṭ) + भ (bʰa) gives us the ligature ṭbʰa:

ट্ (ṭ) + च (ca) gives us the ligature ṭca:

ट্ (ṭ) + छ (cʰa) gives us the ligature ṭcʰa:

ट্ (ṭ) + द (da) gives us the ligature ṭda:

ट্ (ṭ) + ड (ḍa) gives us the ligature ṭḍa:

ट্ (ṭ) + ढ (ḍʱa) gives us the ligature ṭḍʱa:

ट্ (ṭ) + ध (dʱa) gives us the ligature ṭdʱa:

ट্ (ṭ) + ग (ga) gives us the ligature ṭga:

ट্ (ṭ) + घ (ɡʱa) gives us the ligature ṭɡʱa:

ट্ (ṭ) + ह (ha) gives us the ligature ṭha:

ठ্ (ṭʰ) + ट (ṭa) gives us the ligature ṭʰṭa:

ट্ (ṭ) + ज (ja) gives us the ligature ṭja:

ट্ (ṭ) + झ (jʰa) gives us the ligature ṭjʰa:

ट্ (ṭ) + ज্ (j) + ञ (ña) gives us the ligature ṭjña:

ट্ (ṭ) + क (ka) gives us the ligature ṭka:

ट্ (ṭ) + ख (kʰa) gives us the ligature ṭkʰa:

ट্ (ṭ) + क্ (k) + ष (ṣa) gives us the ligature ṭkṣa:

ट্ (ṭ) + ल (la) gives us the ligature ṭla:

ट্ (ṭ) + ळ (ḷa) gives us the ligature ṭḷa:

ट্ (ṭ) + म (ma) gives us the ligature ṭma:

ट্ (ṭ) + न (na) gives us the ligature ṭna:

ट্ (ṭ) + ङ (ŋa) gives us the ligature ṭŋa:

ट্ (ṭ) + ण (ṇa) gives us the ligature ṭṇa:

ट্ (ṭ) + ञ (ña) gives us the ligature ṭña:

ट্ (ṭ) + प (pa) gives us the ligature ṭpa:

ट্ (ṭ) + फ (pʰa) gives us the ligature ṭpʰa:

ट্ (ṭ) + स (sa) gives us the ligature ṭsa:

ट্ (ṭ) + श (ʃa) gives us the ligature ṭʃa:

ट্ (ṭ) + ष (ṣa) gives us the ligature ṭṣa:

ट্ (ṭ) + त (ta) gives us the ligature ṭta:

ट্ (ṭ) + थ (tʰa) gives us the ligature ṭtʰa:

ट্ (ṭ) + ट (ṭa) gives us the ligature ṭṭa:

ट্ (ṭ) + ठ (ṭʰa) gives us the ligature ṭṭʰa:

ट্ (ṭ) + व (va) gives us the ligature ṭva:

ट্ (ṭ) + य (ya) gives us the ligature ṭya:

Bengali script

The Bengali script ট is derived from the Siddhaṃ , and is marked by a similar horizontal head line, but less geometric shape, than its Devanagari counterpart, ट. The inherent vowel of Bengali consonant letters is /ɔ/, so the bare letter ট will sometimes be transliterated as "tto" instead of "tta". Adding okar, the "o" vowel mark, gives a reading of /t̳o/.

Like all Indic consonants, ট can be modified by marks to indicate another (or no) vowel than its inherent "a".

Bengali ট with vowel marks
tta	ttā	tti	ttī	ttu	ttū	ttr	ttr̄	tte	ttai	tto	ttau	tt
ট	টা	টি	টী	টু	টূ	টৃ	টৄ	টে	টৈ	টো	টৌ	ট্

ট in Bengali-using languages

ট is used as a basic consonant character in all of the major Bengali script orthographies, including Bengali and Assamese.

Conjuncts with ট

Bengali ট exhibits conjunct ligatures, as is common in Indic scripts, and commonly shows both stacked and linear (horizontal) ligatures.[5]

ক্ (k) + ট (ṭa) gives us the ligature kṭa:

ক্ (k) + ট্ (ṭ) + র (ra) gives us the ligature kṭra, with the ra phala suffix:

ল্ (l) + ট (ṭa) gives us the ligature lṭa:

ণ্ (ṇ) + ট (ṭa) gives us the ligature ṇṭa:

ন্ (n) + ট (ṭa) gives us the ligature nṭa:

ন্ (n) + ট্ (ṭ) + র (ra) gives us the ligature nṭra, with the ra phala suffix:

প্ (p) + ট (ṭa) gives us the ligature pṭa:

র্ (r) + ট (ṭa) gives us the ligature rṭa, with the repha prefix:

ষ্ (ṣ) + ট (ṭa) gives us the ligature ṣṭa:

ষ্ (ṣ) + ট্ (ṭ) + র (ra) gives us the ligature ṣṭra, with the ra phala suffix:

ষ্ (ṣ) + ট্ (ṭ) + য (ya) gives us the ligature ṣṭya, with the ya phala suffix:

স্ (s) + ট (ṭa) gives us the ligature sṭa:

স্ (s) + ট্ (ṭ) + র (ra) gives us the ligature sṭra, with the ra phala suffix:

ট্ (ṭ) + ম (ma) gives us the ligature ṭma:

ট্ (ṭ) + র (ra) gives us the ligature ṭra, with the ra phala suffix:

ট্ (ṭ) + ট (ṭa) gives us the ligature ṭṭa:

ট্ (ṭ) + ব (va) gives us the ligature ṭva, with the va phala suffix:

ট্ (ṭ) + য (ya) gives us the ligature ṭya, with the ya phala suffix:

Gujarati Ṭa

Gujarati Ṭa.

Ṭa (ટ) is the eleventh consonant of the Gujarati abugida. It is derived from the Devanagari Ṭa with the top bar (shiro rekha) removed, and ultimately the Brahmi letter .

Gujarati-using Languages

The Gujarati script is used to write the Gujarati and Kutchi languages. In both languages, ટ is pronounced as [ʈə] or [ʈ] when appropriate. Like all Indic scripts, Gujarati uses vowel marks attached to the base consonant to override the inherent /ə/ vowel:

Ṭa	Ṭā	Ṭi	Ṭī	Ṭu	Ṭū	Ṭr	Ṭl	Ṭr̄	Ṭl̄	Ṭĕ	Ṭe	Ṭai	Ṭŏ	Ṭo	Ṭau	Ṭ

Gujarati Ṭa syllables, with vowel marks in red.

Conjuncts with ટ

Gujarati ટ exhibits conjunct ligatures, much like its parent Devanagari Script. While most Gujarati conjuncts can only be formed by reducing the letter shape to create a "half form" that fits tightly to following letter, Ṭa does not have a half form. A few conjunct clusters can be represented by a true ligature, instead of a shape that can be broken into constituent independent letters, and vertically stacked conjuncts can also be found in Gujarati, although much less commonly than in Devanagari. Lacking a half form, Ṭa will normally use an explicit virama when forming conjuncts without a true ligature.

True ligatures are quite rare in Indic scripts. The most common ligated conjuncts in Gujarati are in the form of a slight mutation to fit in context or as a consistent variant form appended to the adjacent characters. Those variants include Na and the Repha and Rakar forms of Ra.

ર્ (r) + ટ (ʈa) gives us the ligature RṬa:

ટ્ (ʈ) + ર (ra) gives us the ligature ṬRa:

ટ્ (ʈ) + ટ (ʈa) gives us the ligature ṬṬa:

ટ્ (ʈ) + ઠ (ʈʰa) gives us the ligature ṬṬha:

ટ્ (ʈ) + વ (va) gives us the ligature ṬVa:

Burmese script

Ta T'lin Cheik (ဋ) is the eleventh letter of the Burmese script.

Thai script

To Patak (ฏ) is the fifteenth letter of the Thai script. It falls under the low class of Thai consonants. In IPA, to patak is pronounced as [t] at the beginning of a syllable and may not be used to close a syllable. The 21st letter of the alphabet, to tao (ต), is also named to and falls under the middle class of Thai consonants. Thai consonants do not form conjunct ligatures, and use the pinthu—an explicit virama with a dot shape—to indicate bare consonants. In the acrophony of the Thai script, patak (ปฏัก) means ‘skewers’. To Patak corresponds to the Sanskrit character ‘ट’.

Javanese script

Telugu Ṭa

Telugu independent and subjoined Ṭa.

Ṭa (ట) is a consonant of the Telugu abugida. It ultimately arose from the Brahmi letter . It is closely related to the Kannada letter ಟ. Since it lacks the v-shaped headstroke common to most Telugu letters, X remains unaltered by most vowel matras, and its subjoined form is simply a smaller version of the normal letter shape.

Telugu conjuncts are created by reducing trailing letters to a subjoined form that appears below the initial consonant of the conjunct. Many subjoined forms are created by dropping their headline, with many extending the end of the stroke of the main letter body to form an extended tail reaching up to the right of the preceding consonant. This subjoining of trailing letters to create conjuncts is in contrast to the leading half forms of Devanagari and Bengali letters. Ligature conjuncts are not a feature in Telugu, with the only non-standard construction being an alternate subjoined form of Ṣa (borrowed from Kannada) in the KṢa conjunct.

Malayalam Ṭa

Malayalam letter Ṭa

Ṭa (ട) is a consonant of the Malayalam abugida. It ultimately arose from the Brahmi letter , via the Grantha letter Tta. Like in other Indic scripts, Malayalam consonants have the inherent vowel "a", and take one of several modifying vowel signs to represent syllables with another vowel or no vowel at all.

Malayalam Tta matras: Tta, Ttā, Tti, Ttī, Ttu, Ttū, Ttr̥, Ttr̥̄, Ttl̥, Ttl̥̄, Tte, Ttē, Ttai, Tto, Ttō, Ttau, and Tt.

Conjuncts of ട

As is common in Indic scripts, Malayalam joins letters together to form conjunct consonant clusters. There are several ways in which conjuncts are formed in Malayalam texts: using a post-base form of a trailing consonant placed under the initial consonant of a conjunct, a combined ligature of two or more consonants joined together, a conjoining form that appears as a combining mark on the rest of the conjunct, the use of an explicit candrakkala mark to suppress the inherent "a" vowel, or a special consonant form called a "chillu" letter, representing a bare consonant without the inherent "a" vowel. Texts written with the modern reformed Malayalam orthography, put̪iya lipi, may favor more regular conjunct forms than older texts in paḻaya lipi, due to changes undertaken in the 1970s by the Government of Kerala.

ക് (k) + ട (ṭa) gives us the ligature kṭa:

ട് (ṭ) + ട (ṭa) gives us the ligature ṭṭa:

ണ് (ṇ) + ട (ṭa) gives us the ligature ṇṭa:

ഷ് (ṣ) + ട (ṭa) gives us the ligature ṣṭa:

Canadian Aboriginal Syllabics Te

ᑌ, ᑎ, ᑐ and ᑕ are the base characters "Te", "Ti", "To" and "Ta" in the Canadian Aboriginal Syllabics. The bare consonant ᑦ (T) is a small version of the A-series letter ᑕ, although the Western Cree letter ᐟ, derived from Pitman shorthand was the original bare consonant symbol for T. The character ᑌ is derived from a handwritten form of the Devanagari letter ट, without the headline or vertical stem, and the forms for different vowels are derived by rotation.[6][7]

Unlike most writing systems without legacy computer encodings, complex Canadian syllabic letters are represented in Unicode with pre-composed characters, rather than with base characters and diacritical marks.

Variant	E-series		I-series		O-series		A-series			Other
T + vowel	ᑌ		ᑎ		ᑐ		ᑕ			ᢷ
T + vowel	Te		Ti		To		Ta			Tay
Small	-		ᣕ		-		ᑦ			ᐟ
Small	-		Ojibway T		-		T			Cree T
T with long vowels	-		ᑏ		ᑑ	ᑒ	ᑖ			ᑍ
T with long vowels	-		Tī		Tō	Cree Tō	Tā			Tāi
T + W-vowels	ᑗ	ᑘ	ᑙ	ᑚ	ᑝ	ᑞ	ᑡ		ᑢ	-
T + W-vowels	Twe	Cree Twe	Twi	Cree Twi	Two	Cree Two	Twa		Cree Twa	-
T + long W-vowels	-		ᑛ	ᑜ	ᑟ	ᑠ	ᑣ	ᑥ	ᑤ	-
T + long W-vowels	-		Twī	Cree Twī	Twō	Cree Twō	Twā	Naskapi Twā	Cree Twā	-
Tt + vowel	ᑧ		ᑨ		ᑩ		ᑪ			-
Tt + vowel	Tte		Tti		Tto		Tta
Ty + vowel	ᕰ		ᕱ		ᕲ		ᕳ			-
Ty + vowel	Tye		Tyi		Tyo		Tya
Tth + vowel	ᕫ		ᕬ		ᕭ		ᕮ			-
Tth + vowel	Tthe		Tthi		Ttho		Ttha
Tth other	ᣥ		-		ᣦ		ᣧ			-
Tth other	Tthwe		-		Tthoo		Tthaa

Odia Ṭa

Odia independent and subjoined letter Ṭa.

Ṭa (ଟ) is a consonant of the Odia abugida. It ultimately arose from the Brahmi letter , via the Siddhaṃ letter Tta. Like in other Indic scripts, Odia consonants have the inherent vowel "a", and take one of several modifying vowel signs to represent syllables with another vowel or no vowel at all.

Odia Tta with vowel matras
Tta	Ttā	Tti	Ttī	Ttu	Ttū	Ttr̥	Ttr̥̄	Ttl̥	Ttl̥̄	Tte	Ttai	Tto	Ttau	Tt
ଟ	ଟା	ଟି	ଟୀ	ଟୁ	ଟୂ	ଟୃ	ଟୄ	ଟୢ	ଟୣ	ଟେ	ଟୈ	ଟୋ	ଟୌ	ଟ୍

Conjuncts of ଟ

As is common in Indic scripts, Odia joins letters together to form conjunct consonant clusters. The most common conjunct formation is achieved by using a small subjoined form of trailing consonants. Most consonants' subjoined forms are identical to the full form, just reduced in size, although a few drop the curved headline or have a subjoined form not directly related to the full form of the consonant. The second type of conjunct formation is through pure ligatures, where the constituent consonants are written together in a single graphic form. This ligature may be recognizable as being a combination of two characters or it can have a conjunct ligature unrelated to its constituent characters.

ଟ୍ (ṭ) + ଟ (ṭa) gives us the ligature ṭṭa:

References

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.
Evolutionary chart, Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal Vol 7, 1838
(Bahri 2004, p. (xiii))
Pall, Peeter. "Microsoft Word - kblhi2" (PDF). Eesti Keele Instituudi kohanimeandmed. Eesti Keele Instituudi kohanimeandmed. Retrieved 19 June 2020.
"The Bengali Alphabet" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-09-28.
Andrew Dalby (2004:139) Dictionary of Languages
Some General Aspects of the Syllabics Orthography, Chris Harvey 2003

^note Conjuncts are identified by IAST transliteration, except aspirated consonants are indicated with a superscript "h" to distinguish from an unaspirated cononant + Ha, and the use of the IPA "ŋ" and "ʃ" instead of the less dinstinctive "ṅ" and "ś".