Brahmi Ṇa

The Brahmi letter , Ṇa, is probably derived from the altered Aramaic Nun , and is thus related to the modern Latin N and Greek Nu.^[2] Several identifiable styles of writing the Brahmi Ṇa 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 Ṇa historic forms

Ashoka (3rd-1st c. BCE)	Girnar (~150 BCE)	Kushana (~150-250 CE)	Gujarat (~250 CE)	Gupta (~350 CE)

Tocharian Ṇa

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

Tocharian Ṇa with vowel marks

Ṇa	Ṇā	Ṇi	Ṇī	Ṇu	Ṇū	Ṇr	Ṇr̄	Ṇe	Ṇai	Ṇo	Ṇau	Ṇä

Kharoṣṭhī Ṇa

The Kharoṣṭhī letter is generally accepted as being derived from the altered Aramaic Nun , and is thus related to N and Nu, in addition to the Brahmi Ṇa.^[2]

Devanagari-using Languages

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

Conjuncts with ण

Half form of Ṇa.

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]

ণ in Bengali-using languages

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

Conjuncts with ণ

Bengali ণ exhibits conjunct ligatures, as is common in Indic scripts, in the form of both stacked and linear (horizontal) ligatures.^[5]

• গ্ (g) + ণ (ṇa) gives the ligature gṇa:

• ণ্ (ṇ) + ড (ḍa) gives the ligature ṇḍa:

• ণ্ (ṇ) + ঢ (ḍʱa) gives the ligature ṇḍʱa:

• ণ্ (ṇ) + ড্ (ḍ) + র (ra) gives the ligature ṇḍra, with the ra phala suffix:

• ণ্ (ṇ) + ড্ (ḍ) + য (ya) gives the ligature ṇḍya, with the ya phala suffix:

• ণ্ (ṇ) + ম (ma) gives the ligature ṇma:

• ণ্ (ṇ) + ণ (ṇa) gives the ligature ṇṇa:

• ণ্ (ṇ) + ট (ṭa) gives the ligature ṇṭa:

• ণ্ (ṇ) + ঠ (ṭʰa) gives the ligature ṇṭʰa:

• ণ্ (ṇ) + ঠ্ (ṭʰ) + য (ya) gives the ligature ṇṭʰya, with the ya phala suffix:

• ণ্ (ṇ) + য (ya) gives the ligature ṇya, with the ya phala suffix:

• র্ (r) + ণ (ṇa) gives the ligature rṇa, with the repha prefix:

• র্ (r) + ণ্ (ṇ) + য (ya) gives the ligature rṇya, with the repha prefix and ya phala suffix:

Gujarati-using Languages

The Gujarati script is used to write the Gujarati and Kutchi languages. In both languages, ણ is pronounced as [ɳə] or [ɳ] when appropriate. Like all Indic scripts, Gujarati uses vowel marks attached to the base consonant to override the inherent /ə/ vowel:

Ṇa	Ṇā	Ṇi	Ṇī	Ṇu	Ṇū	Ṇr	Ṇl	Ṇr̄	Ṇl̄	Ṇĕ	Ṇe	Ṇai	Ṇŏ	Ṇo	Ṇau	Ṇ
Gujarati Ṇa syllables, with vowel marks in red.

Conjuncts with ણ

Half form of Ṇa.

Gujarati ણ 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) + ણ (ɳa) gives the ligature RṆa:

• ણ્ (ɳ) + ર (ra) gives the ligature ṆRa:

• હ્ (h) + ણ (ɳa) gives the ligature HṆa:

*Note that the ligature for Gujarati HṆa contains the half form of Devanagari Ṇa instead of a form of Gujarati Ṇa.

Conjuncts of ണ

Malayalam letter Chillu Ṇ

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.

• ണ് (ṇ) + ട (ṭa) gives the ligature ṇṭa:

• ണ് (ṇ) + ഠ (ṭʰa) gives the ligature ṇṭʰa:

• ണ് (ṇ) + ഡ (ḍa) gives the ligature ṇḍa:

• ണ് (ṇ) + ഢ (ḍʱa) gives the ligature ṇḍʱa:

• ക് (k) + ണ (ṇa) gives the ligature kṇa:

• ണ് (ṇ) + ണ (ṇa) gives the ligature ṇṇa:

• ഷ് (ṣ) + ണ (ṇa) gives the ligature ṣṇa:

• ണ് (ṇ) + മ (ma) gives the ligature ṇma:

• ക് (k) + ഷ് (ṣ) + ണ (ṇa) gives the ligature kṣṇa:

Conjuncts of ଣ

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.

• ଣ୍ (ṇ) + ଡ (ḍa) gives the ligature ṇḍa:

• ଣ୍ (ṇ) + ଣ (ṇa) gives the ligature ṇṇa:

Conjuncts of 𑂝

As is common in Indic scripts, Kaithi joins letters together to form conjunct consonant clusters. The most common conjunct formation is achieved by using a half form of preceding consonants, although several consonants use an explicit virama. Most half forms are derived from the full form by removing the vertical stem. As is common in most Indic scripts, conjucts of ra are indicated with a repha or rakar mark attached to the rest of the consonant cluster. In addition, there are a few vertical conjuncts that can be found in Kaithi writing, but true ligatures are not used in the modern Kaithi script.

• 𑂩୍ (r) + 𑂝 (ṇa) gives the ligature rṇa: