Avagraha

Avagraha (Dev: अवग्रह avagraha) ऽ is a Devanāgarī symbol used to indicate prodelision of an अ a. It is usually transliterated with an apostrophe, as in the Sanskrit philosophical expression शिवो ऽहम् Śivo ’ham (Śivaḥ aham without sandhi) ‘I am Shiva’. The avagraha is also used for prolonging vowel sounds in modern languages, for example Hindi माँऽऽऽ! for ‘Mãããã!’ when calling to one’s mother. Sometimes it is also used to signify long or heavy syllables in metrical poetry, for example can the syllables in the word छंदः chandaḥ ‘metre’ (in nominative) be expressed as ऽ ऽ, as two long syllables.