Ga is the third consonant of Indic abugidas. In modern Indic scripts, ga is derived from the early "Ashoka" Brahmi letter , which is probably derived from the Aramaic letter (gimel, /g/) 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 ग are: ग = 3 (३) ग = 300 (३००) गु = 30,000 (३० ०००) गृ = 3,000,000 (३० ०० ०००) गॣ = 3 (३ × १०८) गे = 3 (३ × १०१०) गै = 3 (३ × १०१२) गो = 3 (३ × १०१४) गौ = 3 (३ × १०१६)
Historic Ga There are three different general early historic scripts - Brahmi and its variants, Kharoshthi, and Tocharian, the so-called slanting Brahmi. Ga as found in standard Brahmi, was a simple geometric shape, with slight variations toward the Gupta . The Tocharian Ga did not have an alternate Fremdzeichen form. The third form of ga, in Kharoshthi () was probably derived from Aramaic separately from the Brahmi letter.
Brahmi Ga The Brahmi letter , Ga, is probably derived from the Aramaic Gimel , and is thus related to the modern Latin G and C, and the Greek Gamma. Several identifiable styles of writing the Brahmi Ga can be found, most associated with a specific set of inscriptions from an artifact or diverse records from an historic period. 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 Ga historic formsAshoka(3rd-1st c. BCE) Girnar(~150 BCE) Kushana(~150-250 CE) Gujarat(~250 CE) Gupta(~350 CE)
Tocharian Ga The Tocharian letter is derived from the Brahmi , but does not have an alternate Fremdzeichen form. +Tocharian Ga with vowel marks Ga Gā Gi Gī Gu Gū Gr Gr̄ Ge Gai Go Gau Gä
Kharoshthi Ga The Kharoshthi letter is generally accepted as being derived from the Aramaic Gimel , and is thus related to G and C, and Gamma, in addition to the Brahmi Ga.
Devanagari script
Ga (ग) is the third 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 ગ and the Modi letter 𑘐.
Devanagari Gga Gga (ॻ) is the character ग with an underbar to represent the voiced velar implosive that occurs in Sindhi. This underbar is distinct from the Devanagari stress sign anudātta. The underbar is fused to the stem of the letter while the anudātta is a stress accent applied to the entire syllable. This underbar used for Sindhi implosives does not exist as a separate character in Unicode. When the ु or ू vowel sign is applied to jja (ॻ), the ु and ू vowel signs are drawn beneath jja. When the उ ( ु) vowel sign or ऊ ( ू) vowel sign is applied to ja with an anudātta (ग॒), the उ ( ु) vowel sign or ऊ ( ू) vowel sign is first placed under ja (ग) and then the anudātta is placed underneath the उ ( ु) vowel sign or ऊ ( ू) vowel sign. Character Nameउ ( ु) vowel signऊ ( ू) vowel signॻ (Implosive ga)ॻुॻूग॒ (Ga with anudātta)ग॒ुग॒ू An example of a Sindhi word that uses gga (ॻ) is ॻुड़ु (ڳُڙُ), which is of the masculine grammatical gender and means jaggery.Lekhwani, Kanhaiyalal. 1987 (1909). An intensive course in Sindhi. Mysore: Central Institute of Indian Languages; [New York]: Hippocrene Books.
Devanagari Ġa Ġa (ग़) is the character ग with a single dot underneath, corresponding with the Urdu (غ). It is used in Hindi words of Persian and Arabic origin to denote the voiced velar fricative .
Devanagari-using Languages In all languages, ग is pronounced as or when appropriate. Like all Indic scripts, Devanagari uses vowel marks attached to the base consonant to override the inherent /ə/ vowel: + Devanagari ग with vowel marks Ga Gā Gi Gī Gu Gū Gr Gr̄ Gl Gl̄ Ge Gai Go Gau Gगगागिगीगुगूगृगॄगॢगॣगेगैगोगौग्
Conjuncts with ग
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.
Ligature conjuncts of ग 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) + ग (ga) gives the ligature rga:
Eyelash र্ (r) + ग (ga) gives the ligature rga:
ग্ (g) + rakar र (ra) gives the ligature gra:
ग্ (g) + र্ (r) + य (ya) gives the ligature grya:
ग্ (g) + न (na) gives the ligature gna:
ग্ (g) + न্ (n) + य (ya) gives the ligature gnya:
द্ (d) + ग (ga) gives the ligature dga:
द্ (d) + ग্ (g) + rakar र (ra) gives the ligature dgra:
Stacked conjuncts of ग 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. ब্ (b) + ग (ga) gives the ligature bga:
छ্ (cʰ) + ग (ga) gives the ligature cʰga:
ड্ (ḍ) + ग (ga) gives the ligature ḍga:
ढ্ (ḍʱ) + ग (ga) gives the ligature ḍʱga:
ग্ (g) + ज (ja) gives the ligature gja:
ग্ (g) + ज্ (j) + ञ (ña) gives the ligature gjña:
ग্ (g) + ल (la) gives the ligature gla:
ङ্ (ŋ) + ग (ga) gives the ligature ŋga:
Repha र্ (r) + ङ্ (ŋ) + ग (ga) gives the ligature rŋga:
ट্ (ṭ) + ग (ga) gives the ligature ṭga:
ठ্ (ṭʰ) + ग (ga) gives the ligature ṭʰga:
व্ (v) + ग (ga) gives the ligature vga:
Bengali script The Bengali script গ is derived from Siddhaṃ , and is marked by the lack of horizontal head line, and less geometric shape than its Devanagari counterpart, ग. The inherent vowel of Bengali consonant letters is /ɔ/, so the bare letter গ will sometimes be transliterated as "go" instead of "ga". Adding okar, the "o" vowel mark, gives a reading of /go/. Like all Indic consonants, গ can be modified by marks to indicate another (or no) vowel than its inherent "a". + Bengali গ with vowel marks ga gā gi gī gu gū gr gr̄ ge gai go gau gগগাগিগীগুগূগৃগৄগেগৈগোগৌগ্
গ in Bengali-using languages গ is used as a basic consonant character in all of the major Bengali script orthographies, including Bengali and Assamese.
Conjuncts with গ Bengali গ exhibits conjunct ligatures, as is common in Indic scripts, with a tendency towards stacked ligatures. দ্ (d) + গ (ga) gives the ligature dga:
গ্ (g) + ধ (dʱa) gives the ligature gdʱa:
গ্ (g) + ধ্ (dʱ) + র (ra) gives the ligature gdʱra, with the ra phala suffix:
গ্ (g) + ধ্ (dʱ) + য (ya) gives the ligature gdʱya, with the ya phala suffix:
গ্ (g) + ল (la) gives the ligature gla:
গ্ (g) + ম (ma) gives the ligature gma:
গ্ (g) + ন (na) gives the ligature gna:
গ্ (g) + ণ (ṇa) gives the ligature gṇa:
গ্ (g) + ন্ (n) + য (ya) gives the ligature gnya, with the ya phala suffix:
গ্ (g) + র (ra) gives the ligature gra, with the ra phala suffix:
গ্ (g) + র্ (r) + য (ya) gives the ligature grya, with the ra phala and ya phala suffixes
গ্ (g) + ব (va) gives the ligature gva, with the va phala suffix:
গ্ (g) + য (ya) gives the ligature gya, with the ya phala suffix:
ল্ (l) + গ (ga) gives the ligature lga:
ঙ্ (ŋ) + গ (ga) gives the ligature ŋga:
ঙ্ (ŋ) + গ্ (g) + য (ya) gives the ligature ŋgya, with the ya phala suffix:
র্ (r) + গ (ga) gives the ligature rga, with the repha prefix:
র্ (r) + গ্ (g) + য (ya) gives the ligature rgya, with repha and ya phala affixes:
Gurmukhi script Gagaa (ਗ) is the eighth letter of the Gurmukhi alphabet. Its name is [gəgːɑ] and is pronounced as /g/ when used in words. It is derived from the Laṇḍā letter ga, and ultimately from Brahmi ga. Gurmukhi gagaa does not have a special pairin or addha (reduced) form for making conjuncts, and in modern Punjabi texts do not take a half form or halant to indicate the bare consonant /g/, although Gurmukhi Sanskrit texts may use an explicit halant.
Gujarati Ga
Ga (ગ) is the third consonant of the Gujarati abugida. It is derived from Devanagari Ga , and ultimately the Brahmi letter .
Gujarati-using Languages The Gujarati script is used to write the Gujarati and Kutchi languages. In both languages, ગ is pronounced as or when appropriate. Like all Indic scripts, Gujarati uses vowel marks attached to the base consonant to override the inherent /ə/ vowel: Ga Gā Gi Gī Gu Gū Gr Gl Gr̄ Gl̄ Gĕ Ge Gai Gŏ Go Gau GGujarati Ga syllables, with vowel marks in red.
Conjuncts with ગ
Gujarati ગ 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) + ગ (ga) gives the ligature RGa:
ગ્ (g) + ર (ra) gives the ligature GRa:
ગ્ (g) + ન (na) gives the ligature GNa:
દ્ (d) + ગ (ga) gives the ligature DGa:
Telugu Ga
Ga (గ) is a consonant of the Telugu abugida. It ultimately arose from the Brahmi letter . It is closely related to the Kannada letter ಗ. 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 Ga
Ga (ഗ) is a consonant of the Malayalam abugida. It ultimately arose from the Brahmi letter , via the Grantha letter Ga. 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.
Conjuncts of ഗ