Da (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.

Da is a consonant of Indic abugidas. In modern Indic scripts, Da 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 द are:^[1]

द [də] = 18 (१८)
दि [dɪ] = 1,800 (१ ८००)
दु [dʊ] = 180,000 (१ ८० ०००)
दृ [dri] = 18,000,000 (१ ८० ०० ०००)
दॢ [dlə] = 18×10⁸ (१८×१०^८)
दे [de] = 18×10¹⁰ (१८×१०^१०)
दै [dɛː] = 18×10¹² (१८×१०^१२)
दो [doː] = 18×10¹⁴ (१८×१०^१४)
दौ [dɔː] = 18×10¹⁶ (१८×१०^१६)

Historic Da

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

Brahmi Da

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

Tocharian Da

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

Tocharian Da with vowel marks
Da	Dā	Di	Dī	Du	Dū	Dr	Dr̄	De	Dai	Do	Dau	Dä

Kharoṣṭhī Da

The Kharoṣṭhī letter is generally accepted as being derived from the altered Aramaic Dalet , and is thus related to D and Delta, in addition to the Brahmi Da.^[2]

Devanagari Da

Da (द) 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 દ, and the Modi letter 𑘟.

Devanagari-using Languages

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

Devanagari द with vowel marks
Da	Dā	Di	Dī	Du	Dū	Dr	Dr̄	Dl	Dl̄	De	Dai	Do	Dau	D
द	दा	दि	दी	दु	दू	दृ	दॄ	दॢ	दॣ	दे	दै	दो	दौ	द्

Conjuncts with द

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, Da 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 द

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) + द (da) gives us the ligature rda: ^note

Eyelash र্ (r) + द (da) gives us the ligature rda:

द্ (d) + न (na) gives us the ligature dna:

द্ (d) + rakar र (ra) gives us the ligature dra:

द্ (d) + द (da) gives us the ligature dda:

द্ (d) + द্ (d) + rakar र (ra) gives us the ligature ddra:

द্ (d) + द্ (d) + य (ya) gives us the ligature ddya:

द্ (d) + ध (dʱa) gives us the ligature ddʱa:

द্ (d) + ध্ (dʱ) + म (ma) gives us the ligature ddʱma:

द্ (d) + ध্ (dʱ) + व (va) gives us the ligature ddʱva:

न্ (n) + द্ (d) + ध (dʱa) gives us the ligature nddʱa:

Repha र্ (r) + द্ (d) + ध (dʱa) gives us the ligature rddʱa:

द্ (d) + य (ya) gives us the ligature dya:

Stacked conjuncts of द

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) + द (da) gives us the ligature cʰda:

द্ (d) + ब (ba) gives us the ligature dba:

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

द্ (d) + ब্ (b) + rakar र (ra) gives us the ligature dbra:

द্ (d) + च (ca) gives us the ligature dca:

द্ (d) + छ (cʰa) gives us the ligature dcʰa:

ड্ (ḍ) + द (da) gives us the ligature ḍda:

द্ (d) + ड (ḍa) gives us the ligature dḍa:

द্ (d) + ढ (ḍʱa) gives us the ligature dḍʱa:

ढ্ (ḍʱ) + द (da) gives us the ligature ḍʱda:

द্ (d) + ग (ga) gives us the ligature dga:

द্ (d) + घ (ɡʱa) gives us the ligature dɡʱa:

द্ (d) + ग্ (g) + rakar र (ra) gives us the ligature dgra:

द্ (d) + ह (ha) gives us the ligature dha:

द্ (d) + ज (ja) gives us the ligature dja:

द্ (d) + झ (jʰa) gives us the ligature djʰa:

द্ (d) + ज্ (j) + ञ (ña) gives us the ligature djña:

द্ (d) + क (ka) gives us the ligature dka:

द্ (d) + ख (kʰa) gives us the ligature dkʰa:

द্ (d) + क্ (k) + ष (ṣa) gives us the ligature dkṣa:

द্ (d) + ल (la) gives us the ligature dla:

द্ (d) + ळ (ḷa) gives us the ligature dḷa:

द্ (d) + म (ma) gives us the ligature dma:

द্ (d) + ङ (ŋa) gives us the ligature dŋa:

द্ (d) + ण (ṇa) gives us the ligature dṇa:

द্ (d) + ञ (ña) gives us the ligature dña:

द্ (d) + प (pa) gives us the ligature dpa:

द্ (d) + फ (pʰa) gives us the ligature dpʰa:

द্ (d) + स (sa) gives us the ligature dsa:

द্ (d) + श (ʃa) gives us the ligature dʃa:

द্ (d) + ष (ṣa) gives us the ligature dṣa:

द্ (d) + त (ta) gives us the ligature dta:

द্ (d) + थ (tʰa) gives us the ligature dtʰa:

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

द্ (d) + ठ (ṭʰa) gives us the ligature dṭʰa:

द্ (d) + व (va) gives us the ligature dva:

द্ (d) + व্ (v) + य (ya) gives us the ligature dvya:

ङ্ (ŋ) + द (da) gives us the ligature ŋda:

Repha र্ (r) + द্ (d) + व (va) gives us the ligature rdva:

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

ठ্ (ṭʰ) + द (da) gives us the ligature ṭʰda:

Bengali Da

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

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

Bengali দ with vowel marks
da	dā	di	dī	du	dū	dr	dr̄	de	dai	do	dau	d
দ	দা	দি	দী	দু	দূ	দৃ	দৄ	দে	দৈ	দো	দৌ	দ্

দ in Bengali-using languages

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

Conjuncts with দ

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

ব্ (b) + দ (da) gives us the ligature bda:

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:

দ্ (d) + দ (da) gives us the ligature dda:

দ্ (d) + ধ (dʱa) gives us the ligature ddʱa:

দ্ (d) + দ্ (d) + ব (va) gives us the ligature ddva, with the va phala suffix:

দ্ (d) + গ (ga) gives us the ligature dga:

দ্ (d) + ঘ (ɡʱa) gives us the ligature dɡʱa:

দ্ (d) + ম (ma) gives us the ligature dma:

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

দ্ (d) + র্ (r) + য (ya) gives us the ligature drya, with the ra phala and ya phala suffixes

দ্ (d) + ব (va) gives us the ligature dva, with the va phala suffix:

দ্ (d) + য (ya) gives us the ligature dya, with the ya phala suffix:

ন্ (n) + দ (da) gives us the ligature nda:

ন্ (n) + দ্ (d) + র (ra) gives us the ligature ndra, with the ra phala suffix:

ন্ (n) + দ্ (d) + ব (va) gives us the ligature ndva, with the va phala suffix:

ন্ (n) + দ্ (d) + য (ya) gives us the ligature ndya, with the ya phala suffix:

র্ (r) + দ (da) gives us the ligature rda, with the repha prefix:

র্ (r) + দ্ (d) + র (ra) gives us the ligature rdra, with the repha prefix and ra phala suffix:

র্ (r) + দ্ (d) + ব (va) gives us the ligature rdva, with the repha prefix and va phala suffix:

Gujarati Da

Da (દ) is the eighteenth consonant of the Gujarati abugida. It is derived from the Devanagari Da 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, દ is pronounced as [də] or [d] when appropriate. Like all Indic scripts, Gujarati uses vowel marks attached to the base consonant to override the inherent /ə/ vowel:

Da	Dā	Di	Dī	Du	Dū	Dr	Dl	Dr̄	Dl̄	Dĕ	De	Dai	Dŏ	Do	Dau	D

Gujarati Da syllables, with vowel marks in red.

Conjuncts with દ

Gujarati દ 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, Da 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, Da 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) + દ (da) gives us the ligature RDa:

દ્ (d) + ર (ra) gives us the ligature DRa:

દ્ (d) + ગ (ga) gives us the ligature DGa:

દ્ (d) + ઘ (ɡʱa) gives us the ligature DGha:

દ્ (d) + ધ (dʱa) gives us the ligature DDha:

દ્ (d) + ન (na) gives us the ligature DNa:

દ્ (d) + બ (ba) gives us the ligature DBa:

દ્ (d) + મ (ma) gives us the ligature DMa:

દ્ (d) + વ (va) gives us the ligature DVa:

Javanese Da

Telugu Da

Telugu independent and subjoined Da.

Da (ద) is a consonant of the Telugu abugida. It ultimately arose from the Brahmi letter . It is closely related to the Kannada letter ದ. 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 Da

Da (ദ) is a consonant of the Malayalam abugida. It ultimately arose from the Brahmi letter , via the Grantha letter Da. 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 Da matras: Da, Dā, Di, Dī, Du, Dū, Dr̥, Dr̥̄, Dl̥, Dl̥̄, De, Dē, Dai, Do, Dō, Dau, and D.

Conjuncts of ദ

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.

ഗ് (g) + ദ (da) gives us the ligature gda:

ദ് (d) + ദ (da) gives us the ligature dda:

ന് (n) + ദ (da) gives us the ligature nda:

ബ് (b) + ദ (da) gives us the ligature bda:

ദ് (d) + ധ (dʱa) gives us the ligature ddʱa:

Odia Da

Odia independent and subjoined letter Da.

Da (ଦ) is a consonant of the Odia abugida. It ultimately arose from the Brahmi letter , via the Siddhaṃ letter Da. 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 Da with vowel matras
Da	Dā	Di	Dī	Du	Dū	Dr̥	Dr̥̄	Dl̥	Dl̥̄	De	Dai	Do	Dau	D
ଦ	ଦା	ଦି	ଦୀ	ଦୁ	ଦୂ	ଦୃ	ଦୄ	ଦୢ	ଦୣ	ଦେ	ଦୈ	ଦୋ	ଦୌ	ଦ୍

Conjuncts of ଦ

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) + ଦ (da) gives us the ligature dda:

ଦ୍ (d) + ଧ (dʱa) gives us the ligature ddʱa:

ନ୍ (n) + ଦ (da) gives us the ligature nda:

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]