Virama

Virama (in Devanagari: ्) is a special symbol used in many Indian scripts. Normally, each consonant has a built-in "a" sound. For example, the letter क is read as "ka".^[1]

In writing systems like Devanagari, Bengali, Tamil, and others, the virama is also essential for forming consonant clusters or ligatures. For instance, in the Hindi word "स्कूल" (school), the "स्" is formed by applying a virama to "स" so it can combine with "क".^[2]

In digital writing, the virama has its own special code in Unicode. When it's used after a consonant, it tells the computer not to show the usual "a" sound. It can also make two or more consonants join together into one shape, called a ligature, depending on the script and the font. So, the virama is important both in traditional writing and in how Indian languages are shown on computers and phones today.

1. halanta, hasanta or explicit virāma, a diacritic in many Brahmic scripts, including the Devanagari and Bengali scripts, or
2. saṃyuktākṣara (Sanskrit: संयुक्ताक्षर) or implicit virama, a conjunct consonant or ligature.

Unicode schemes of scripts writing Mainland Southeast Asia languages, such as that of Burmese script and of Tibetan script, generally do not group the two functions together.

1. ↑ "Hindi Punctuation Marks | विराम चिह्न | Devanagari Punctuation Sign". indiatyping.com. Retrieved 2025-04-24.
2. ↑ Tanwar, Rahul Singh (2022-09-28). "विराम चिन्ह (परिभाषा, प्रकार, उदाहरण और प्रयोग) | Viram Chinh". The SimpleHelp (in Hindi). Retrieved 2025-04-24.