A (Indic)

Aryabhata used Devanagari letters for numbers, very similar to the Greek numerals, even after the invention of Indian numerals. The letter अ was not used in the Aryabhata number system, and consonants with the inherent "a" vowel retained their base value.[1]

There are three different general early historic scripts - Brahmi and its variants, Kharoṣṭhī, and Tocharian, the so-called slanting Brahmi. A as found in standard Brahmi, was a simple geometric shape, with variations toward more flowing forms by the Gupta . Like all Brahmic scripts, the Tocharian A is the inherent vowel for all consonant characters, apart from the alternate Fremdzeichen forms, which have the inherent vowel "Ä". In Kharoṣṭhī, the only independent vowel letter is for the inherent A, with all other independent vowels built from vowel marks added to A.

Brahmi A

The Brahmi letter , A, is probably derived from the Aramaic Alef , and is thus related to the modern Latin A and Greek Alpha.[2] Several identifiable styles of writing the Brahmi A 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, with vowel marks not attested until later forms of Brahmi back-formed to match the geometric writing style.

Brahmi A historic forms

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

Tocharian A

The Tocharian letter is derived from the Brahmi .

A is the inherent vowel of all non-Fremdzeichen consonants in Tocharian

Ka	Kha	Ga	Gha	Ca	Cha	Ja	Jha	Nya	Ṭa	Ṭha	Ḍa	Ḍha	Ṇa
Ta	Tha	Da	Dha	Na	Pa	Pha	Ba	Bha	Ma	Ya	Ra	La	Va
Śa	Ṣa	Sa	Ha

Devanagari A vowel

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

Bengali A vowel

A (অ) is a vowel of the Bengali abugida. It is derived from the Siddhaṃ letter , and is marked by a similar horizontal head line, but less geometric shape, than its Devanagari counterpart, अ.

Guajarati independent A vowel.

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

Telugu independent vowel A

A (అ) is a vowel of the Telugu abugida. It ultimately arose from the Brahmi letter . It is closely related to the Kannada letter ಅ. Like in other Indic scripts, "A" in Telugu is inherent in all consonants, and there is no vowel sign for the "A" vowel.

Malayalam independent vowel A

A (അ) is a vowel of the Malayalam abugida. It ultimately arose from the Brahmi letter , via the Grantha letter a. Like in other Indic scripts, "A" is the inherent vowel of Malayalam consonants, so there is no modifying vowel sign for A. As in most Indic scripts, independent Malayalam vowels do not decompose into A with a vowel sign attached, but rather are unique characters themselves. Independent vowel letters in Malayalam are used when a word begins with a vowel, rather than a consonant sound.

Odia A vowel

A (ଅ) is a vowel of the Odia abugida. It ultimately arose from the Brahmi letter , via the Siddhaṃ letter a. Like in other Indic scripts, Odia consonants inherently contain the "a" vowel, so there is no modifying sign for indicating that vowel.