Bha (Indic)

^ 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.
^ 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.
^ Pyu and Old Mon are probably the precursors of the Burmese script, and may be derived from either the Pallava or Kadamba script
^ May also be derived from Devangari (see bottom left of table)
^ 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.
^ 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.
^ May also be derived from Ranjana (see above)
^ Masaram Gondi acts as an Indic abugida, but its letterforms were not derived from any single precursor script.

Bha is a consonant of Indic abugidas. In modern Indic scripts, Bha is derived from the early "Ashoka" Brahmi letter after having gone through the Gupta letter .

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 भ are:^[1]

भ [bʰə] = 24 (२४)
भि [bʰɪ] = 2,400 (२ ४००)
भु [bʰʊ] = 240,000 (२ ४० ०००)
भृ [bʰri] = 24,000,000 (२ ४० ०० ०००)
भॢ [bʰlə] = 24×10⁸ (२४×१०^८)
भे [bʰe] = 24×10¹⁰ (२४×१०^१०)
भै [bʰɛː] = 24×10¹² (२४×१०^१२)
भो [bʰoː] = 24×10¹⁴ (२४×१०^१४)
भौ [bʰɔː] = 24×10¹⁶ (२४×१०^१६)

Historic Bha

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

Brahmi Bha

The Brahmi letter , Bha, is probably derived from the altered Aramaic Bet , and is thus related to the modern Latin B and Greek Beta.^[2] Several identifiable styles of writing the Brahmi Bha 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 Bha historic forms
Ashoka (3rd-1st c. BCE)	Girnar (~150 BCE)	Kushana (~150-250 CE)	Gujarat (~250 CE)	Gupta (~350 CE)

Tocharian Bha

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

Tocharian Bha with vowel marks
Bha	Bhā	Bhi	Bhī	Bhu	Bhū	Bhr	Bhr̄	Bhe	Bhai	Bho	Bhau	Bhä

Kharoṣṭhī Bha

The Kharoṣṭhī letter is generally accepted as being derived from the altered Aramaic Bet , and is thus related to B and Beta, in addition to the Brahmi Bha.^[2]

Devanagari Bha

Bha (भ) is a consonant 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 ભ, and the Modi letter 𑘥.

Devanagari-using Languages

In all languages, भ is pronounced as [bʰə] or [bʰ] when appropriate. Like all Indic scripts, Devanagari uses vowel marks attached to the base consonant to override the inherent /ə/ vowel:

Devanagari भ with vowel marks
Bha	Bhā	Bhi	Bhī	Bhu	Bhū	Bhr	Bhr̄	Bhl	Bhl̄	Bhe	Bhai	Bho	Bhau	Bh
भ	भा	भि	भी	भु	भू	भृ	भॄ	भॢ	भॣ	भे	भै	भो	भौ	भ्

Conjuncts with भ

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. The use of ligatures and vertical conjuncts may vary across languages using the Devanagari script, with Marathi in particular preferring the use of half forms where texts in other languages would show ligatures and vertical stacks.^[4]

Ligature conjuncts of भ

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) + भ (bʰa) gives us the ligature rbʰa: ^note

Eyelash र্ (r) + भ (bʰa) gives us the ligature rbʰa:

भ্ (bʰ) + न (na) gives us the ligature bʰna:

भ্ (bʰ) + rakar र (ra) gives us the ligature bʰra:

द্ (d) + भ (bʰa) gives us the ligature dbʰa:

Stacked conjuncts of भ

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.

भ্ (bʰ) + च (ca) gives us the ligature bʰca:

भ্ (bʰ) + ड (ḍa) gives us the ligature bʰḍa:

भ্ (bʰ) + ज (ja) gives us the ligature bʰja:

भ্ (bʰ) + ज্ (j) + ञ (ña) gives us the ligature bʰjña:

भ্ (bʰ) + ल (la) gives us the ligature bʰla:

भ্ (bʰ) + ङ (ŋa) gives us the ligature bʰŋa:

भ্ (bʰ) + ञ (ña) gives us the ligature bʰña:

छ্ (cʰ) + भ (bʰa) gives us the ligature cʰbʰa:

ड্ (ḍ) + भ (bʰa) gives us the ligature ḍbʰa:

ढ্ (ḍʱ) + भ (bʰa) gives us the ligature ḍʱbʰa:

ङ্ (ŋ) + भ (bʰa) gives us the ligature ŋbʰa:

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

ठ্ (ṭʰ) + भ (bʰa) gives us the ligature ṭʰbʰa:

Bengali Bha

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

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

Bengali ভ with vowel marks
bha	bhā	bhi	bhī	bhu	bhū	bhr	bhr̄	bhe	bhai	bho	bhau	bh
ভ	ভা	ভি	ভী	ভু	ভূ	ভৃ	ভৄ	ভে	ভৈ	ভো	ভৌ	ভ্

ভ in Bengali-using languages

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

Conjuncts with ভ

Bengali ভ exhibits conjunct ligatures, as is common in Indic scripts, with a tendency towards stacked ligatures.^[5]

ভ্ (bʰ) + র (ra) gives us the ligature bʰra, with the ra phala suffix:

ভ্ (bʰ) + ব (va) gives us the ligature bʰva, with the va phala suffix:

ভ্ (bʰ) + য (ya) gives us the ligature bʰya, with the ya phala suffix:

দ্ (d) + ভ (bʰa) gives us the ligature dbʰa:

দ্ (d) + ভ্ (bʰ) + র (ra) gives us the ligature dbʰra, with the ra phala suffix:

ল্ (l) + ভ (bʰa) gives us the ligature lbʰa:

ম্ (m) + ভ (bʰa) gives us the ligature mbʰa:

ম্ (m) + ভ্ (bʰ) + র (ra) gives us the ligature mbʰra, with the ra phala suffix:

র্ (r) + ভ (bʰa) gives us the ligature rbʰa, with the repha prefix:

Gujarati Bha

Bha (ભ) is the twenty-fourth consonant of the Gujarati abugida. It is derived from the Devanagari Bha 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, ભ is pronounced as [bʰə] or [bʰ] when appropriate. Like all Indic scripts, Gujarati uses vowel marks attached to the base consonant to override the inherent /ə/ vowel:

Bha	Bhā	Bhi	Bhī	Bhu	Bhū	Bhr	Bhl	Bhr̄	Bhl̄	Bhĕ	Bhe	Bhai	Bhŏ	Bho	Bhau	Bh

Gujarati Bha syllables, with vowel marks in red.

Conjuncts with ભ

Gujarati ભ exhibits conjunct ligatures, much like its parent Devanagari Script. Most Gujarati conjuncts can only be 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". 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.

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) + ભ (bʰa) gives us the ligature RBha:

ભ્ (bʰ) + ર (ra) gives us the ligature BhRa:

ભ્ (bʰ) + ન (na) gives us the ligature BhNa:

Javanese Bha

Telugu Bha

Telugu independent and subjoined Bha.

Bha (భ) is a consonant of the Telugu abugida. It ultimately arose from the Brahmi letter . It is closely related to the Kannada letter ಭ. Most Telugu consonants contain a v-shaped headstroke that is related to the horizontal headline found in other Indic scripts, although headstrokes do not connect adjacent letters in Telugu. The headstroke is normally lost when adding vowel matras.

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 Bha

Bha (ഭ) is a consonant of the Malayalam abugida. It ultimately arose from the Brahmi letter , via the Grantha letter Bha. 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 Bha matras: Bha, Bhā, Bhi, Bhī, Bhu, Bhū, Bhr̥, Bhr̥̄, Bhl̥, Bhl̥̄, Bhe, Bhē, Bhai, Bho, Bhō, Bhau, and Bh.

Conjuncts of ഭ

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.

ത് (t) + ഭ (bʰa) gives us the ligature tbʰa:

Odia Bha

Odia independent and subjoined letter Bha.

Bha (ଭ) is a consonant of the Odia abugida. It ultimately arose from the Brahmi letter , via the Siddhaṃ letter Bha. 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 Bha with vowel matras
Bha	Bhā	Bhi	Bhī	Bhu	Bhū	Bhr̥	Bhr̥̄	Bhl̥	Bhl̥̄	Bhe	Bhai	Bho	Bhau	Bh
ଭ	ଭା	ଭି	ଭୀ	ଭୁ	ଭୂ	ଭୃ	ଭୄ	ଭୢ	ଭୣ	ଭେ	ଭୈ	ଭୋ	ଭୌ	ଭ୍

Conjuncts of ଭ

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.

ଦ୍ (d) + ଭ (bʰa) gives us the ligature dbʰa:

ମ୍ (m) + ଭ (bʰa) gives us the ligature mbʰa:

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.
^ ^a ^b Bühler, Georg. "On the Origin of the Indian Brahmi Alphabet". archive.org. Karl J. Trübner. Retrieved 10 June 2020.
^ Evolutionary chart, Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal Vol 7, 1838 [1]
^ 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.

^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".

[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.

[Ifrah-9] 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.

[Buhler-10] Bühler, Georg. "On the Origin of the Indian Brahmi Alphabet". archive.org. Karl J. Trübner. Retrieved 10 June 2020.

[11] Evolutionary chart, Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal Vol 7, 1838 [1]

[KNAB-12] Pall, Peeter. "Microsoft Word - kblhi2" (PDF). Eesti Keele Instituudi kohanimeandmed. Eesti Keele Instituudi kohanimeandmed. Retrieved 19 June 2020.

[13] "The Bengali Alphabet" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-09-28.

[a]

[b]

[c]

[d]

[e]

[f]

[g]

[h]

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]