Va or Wa is a consonant of Indic abugidas. In modern Indic scripts, Va is derived from the early "Ashoka" Brahmi letter after having gone through the Gupta letter . It is generally romanized as "Va" in scripts for Indic languages, but as "Wa" in many scripts for other language families.
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 व are:[1]
There are three different general early historic scripts - Brahmi and its variants, Kharoṣṭhī, and Tocharian, the so-called slanting Brahmi. Va as found in standard Brahmi, was a simple geometric shape, with variations toward more flowing forms by the Gupta . The Tocharian Va had an alternate Fremdzeichen form, . The third form of va, in Kharoshthi () was probably derived from Aramaic separately from the Brahmi letter.
Brahmi Va
The Brahmi letter , Va, is probably derived from the Aramaic Waw, and is thus related to the modern Latin F, V, U, W, Y, and Greek Upsilon.[2] There are numerous distinguishable Brahmi Va writing styles, most of which are connected to a collection of inscriptions from an artifact or a variety of documents from a historical era.[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.
The Tocharian letter is derived from the Brahmi , and has an alternate Fremdzeichen form used in conjuncts and as an alternate representation of Vä.
Tocharian Va with vowel marks
Va
Vā
Vi
Vī
Vu
Vū
Vr
Vr̄
Ve
Vai
Vo
Vau
Vä
Fremdzeichen
Kharoṣṭhī Va
The Kharoṣṭhī letter is generally accepted as being derived from the Aramaic Waw, and is thus related to F, V, U, W, Y, and Upsilon, in addition to the Brahmi Va.[2]
Va (व) is a consonant of the Devanagariabugida. It ultimately arose from the Brahmi letter , after having gone through the Gupta letter . Letters that derive from it are the Gujarati letter વ, and the Modi letter 𑘪.
Devanagari-using Languages
In all languages, व is pronounced as [və] or [v] when appropriate. Like all Indic scripts, Devanagari uses vowel marks attached to the base consonant to override the inherent /ə/ vowel:
Devanagari व with vowel marks
Va
Vā
Vi
Vī
Vu
Vū
Vr
Vr̄
Vl
Vl̄
Ve
Vai
Vo
Vau
V
व
वा
वि
वी
वु
वू
वृ
वॄ
वॢ
वॣ
वे
वै
वो
वौ
व्
Conjuncts with व
Half form of Va.
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 व
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) + व (va) gives the ligature rva: note
Eyelash र্ (r) + व (va) gives the ligature rva:
व্ (v) + न (na) gives the ligature vna:
व্ (v) + rakar र (ra) gives the ligature vra:
द্ (d) + ध্ (dʱ) + व (va) gives the ligature ddʱva:
द্ (d) + व (va) gives the ligature dva:
द্ (d) + व্ (v) + य (ya) gives the ligature dvya:
Repha र্ (r) + द্ (d) + व (va) gives the ligature rdva:
Stacked conjuncts of व
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) + व (va) gives the ligature bva:
छ্ (cʰ) + व (va) gives the ligature cʰva:
च্ (c) + व (va) gives the ligature cva:
ढ্ (ḍʱ) + व (va) gives the ligature ḍʱva:
ड্ (ḍ) + व (va) gives the ligature ḍva:
ह্ (h) + व (va) gives the ligature hva:
झ্ (jʰ) + व (va) gives the ligature jʰva:
ज্ (j) + ज্ (j) + व (va) gives the ligature jjva:
ख্ (kʰ) + व (va) gives the ligature kʰva:
क্ (k) + त্ (t) + व (va) gives the ligature ktva:
क্ (k) + व (va) gives the ligature kva:
ळ্ (ḷ) + व (va) gives the ligature ḷva:
ल্ (l) + व (va) gives the ligature lva:
ङ্ (ŋ) + व (va) gives the ligature ŋva:
ञ্ (ñ) + व (va) gives the ligature ñva:
फ্ (pʰ) + व (va) gives the ligature pʰva:
Repha र্ (r) + स্ (s) + व (va) gives the ligature rsva:
श্ (ʃ) + व (va) gives the ligature ʃva:
ष্ (ṣ) + ट্ (ṭ) + व (va) gives the ligature ṣṭva:
स্ (s) + व (va) gives the ligature sva:
ठ্ (ṭʰ) + व (va) gives the ligature ṭʰva:
ट্ (ṭ) + व (va) gives the ligature ṭva:
त্ (t) + त্ (t) + व (va) gives the ligature ttva:
त্ (t) + व (va) gives the ligature tva:
व্ (v) + ब (ba) gives the ligature vba:
व্ (v) + च (ca) gives the ligature vca:
व্ (v) + छ (cʰa) gives the ligature vcʰa:
व্ (v) + ड (ḍa) gives the ligature vḍa:
व্ (v) + ग (ga) gives the ligature vga:
व্ (v) + ज (ja) gives the ligature vja:
व্ (v) + ज্ (j) + ञ (ña) gives the ligature vjña:
व্ (v) + क (ka) gives the ligature vka:
व্ (v) + ल (la) gives the ligature vla:
व্ (v) + ङ (ŋa) gives the ligature vŋa:
व্ (v) + ञ (ña) gives the ligature vña:
व্ (v) + व (va) gives the ligature vva:
Bengali Va
The Bengali script ব is derived from the Siddhaṃ, and is marked by a similar horizontal head line, but less geometric shape, than its Devanagari counterpart, व. Unlike many of its cognates in other Indic scripts, ব is primarily identified as the /b/ consonant, especially as an independent consonant. It tends to have no inherent pronunciation itself when in a non-head position of a conjuct conjunct, often serving as an indication of gemination (doubling) of the preceding consonant sound, although there are a few words where it retains its /b/ pronunciation.
Like all Indic consonants, ব can be modified by marks to indicate another (or no) vowel than its inherent "a".
Bengali ব with vowel marks
ba
bā
bi
bī
bu
bū
br
br̄
be
bai
bo
bau
b
ব
বা
বি
বী
বু
বূ
বৃ
বৄ
বে
বৈ
বো
বৌ
ব্
ব in Bengali-using languages
ব is used as a basic consonant character in all of the major Bengali script orthographies, including Bengali and Assamese.
Conjuncts with non-head ব
Bengali ব exhibits conjunct ligatures, as is common in Indic scripts, with a tendency towards stacked ligatures. When used as the head (first) consonant in a conjunct, ব is normally pronounced as /b/.[5]
Like Ra and Ya, the Bengali Va is almost always realized in a reduced form called "Va phala" (vo pholo) when found as the final consonant of a conjunct. This reduced form is appended at the bottom of a vertical stem, or otherwise attached at the bottom of a preceding consonant or conjunct.
র্ (r) + দ্ (d) + ব (va) gives the ligature rdva, with repha in addition to va phala:
র্ (r) + শ্ (ʃ) + ব (va) gives the ligature rʃva, with repha in addition to va phala:
শ্ (ʃ) + ব (va) gives the ligature ʃva:
ষ্ (ṣ) + ব (va) gives the ligature ṣva:
স্ (s) + ত্ (t) + ব (va) gives the ligature stva:
স্ (s) + ব (va) gives the ligature sva:
থ্ (tʰ) + ব (va) gives the ligature tʰva:
ট্ (ṭ) + ব (va) gives the ligature ṭva:
ত্ (t) + ত্ (t) + ব (va) gives the ligature ttva:
ত্ (t) + ব (va) gives the ligature tva:
Other ব conjuncts
A few letters conjoin with ব by keeping it in its full form instead of the reduced Va-phala.
ধ্ (dʱ) + ব (va) gives the ligature dʱva with full-form va:
র্ (r) + ধ্ (dʱ) + ব (va) gives the ligature rdʱva, with repha:
ম্ (m) + ব্ (v) + র (ra) gives the ligature mvra, with the ra phala suffix. Note that this is a different base conjunct than mva, above:
Gujarati Va
Gujarati Va.
Va (વ) is the twenty-ninth consonant of the Gujaratiabugida. It is derived from the Devanagari Va 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, વ is pronounced as [və] or [v] when appropriate. Like all Indic scripts, Gujarati uses vowel marks attached to the base consonant to override the inherent /ə/ vowel:
Va
Vā
Vi
Vī
Vu
Vū
Vr
Vl
Vr̄
Vl̄
Vĕ
Ve
Vai
Vŏ
Vo
Vau
V
Gujarati Va syllables, with vowel marks in red.
Conjuncts with વ
Half form of Va.
Gujarati વ 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) + વ (va) gives the ligature RVa:
વ્ (v) + ર (ra) gives the ligature VRa:
ટ્ (ʈ) + વ (va) gives the ligature ṬVa:
ડ્ (ɖ) + વ (va) gives the ligature ḌVa:
દ્ (d) + વ (va) gives the ligature DVa:
વ્ (v) + ન (na) gives the ligature VNa:
શ્ (ʃ) + વ (va) gives the ligature ŚVa:
હ્ (h) + વ (va) gives the ligature HVa:
Telugu Va
Telugu independent and subjoined Va.
Va (వ) is a consonant of the Teluguabugida. It ultimately arose from the Brahmi letter . It is closely related to the Kannada letter ವ. 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 Va
Malayalam letter Va
Va (വ) is a consonant of the Malayalamabugida. It ultimately arose from the Brahmi letter , via the Grantha letter Va. 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 Va matras: Va, Vā, Vi, Vī, Vu, Vū, Vr̥, Vr̥̄, Vl̥, Vl̥̄, Ve, Vē, Vai, Vo, Vō, Vau, and V.
Conjuncts of വ
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, 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.
വ് (v) + വ (va) gives the ligature vva:
Odia Wa
Odia independent and subjoined letter Wa.
Wa (ୱ) is a consonant of the Odiaabugida. It ultimately arose from the Brahmi letter , via the Siddhaṃ letter Va.[citation needed] 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 Wa with vowel matras
Wa
Wā
Wi
Wī
Wu
Wū
Wr̥
Wr̥̄
Wl̥
Wl̥̄
We
Wai
Wo
Wau
W
ୱ
ୱା
ୱି
ୱୀ
ୱୁ
ୱୂ
ୱୃ
ୱୄ
ୱୢ
ୱୣ
ୱେ
ୱୈ
ୱୋ
ୱୌ
ୱ୍
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. Wa shares its subjoined form with Ba, called "Ba Phala" or "Wa Phala" depending on its pronunciation in context. Ba is the character normally used for the /w/ and /v/ sounds of the letter Wa. ୱ generates conjuncts only by subjoining and does not form ligatures.
Kaithi Va
Kaithi consonant and half-form Va.
Va (𑂫) is a consonant of the Kaithiabugida. It ultimately arose from the Brahmi letter , via the Siddhaṃ letter Va. Like in other Indic scripts, Kaithi 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.
Kaithi Va with vowel matras
Va
Vā
Vi
Vī
Vu
Vū
Ve
Vai
Vo
Vau
V
𑂫
𑂫𑂰
𑂫𑂱
𑂫𑂲
𑂫𑂳
𑂫𑂴
𑂫𑂵
𑂫𑂶
𑂫𑂷
𑂫𑂸
𑂫𑂹
Conjuncts of 𑂫
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.
𑂫୍ (v) + 𑂩 (ra) gives the ligature vra:
Khmer Vo
វ
្វ
ួ
Independent
Subscript
ua
Khmer independent and subjoined letter Vo.
Vo (វ) is a consonant of the Khmerabugida. It ultimately arose from the Brahmi letter , via the Pallava letter Va. Like in other Indic scripts, Khmer consonants have the inherent vowel "a", and take one of several modifying vowel signs to represent syllables with another vowel. Actually, the sounds of the vowels are modified by the consonant; see the article on the Khmer writing system for details.
Khmer Vo with vowel matras
Va
Vā
Vi
Vī
Vu
Vū
Vr̥
Vr̥̄
Vl̥
Vl̥̄
Ve
Vai
Vo
Vau
Vẏ
Vȳ
Vua
Voe
Vẏa
Via
Vae
Và
វ
វា
វិ
វី
វុ
វូ
វ្ឫ
វ្ឬ
វ្ឭ
វ្ឮ
វេ
វៃ
វោ
វៅ
វឹ
វឺ
វួ
វើ
វឿ
វៀ
វែ
វៈ
Note: The vowels (other than vocalic liquids) are shown using the ALA-LC scheme.[6]
Pali and Sanskrit are written as abugidas with the lack of a vowel between consonants notated as consonants indicated by vertically stacking the consonants without their touching. For phonetically final consonants, the lack of a vowel is marked by virama.
The Khmer language works the same, except that a different method is used for the last consonant of a word. The final consonant in a consonant stack is indicated as having no implicit vowel by applying tôndôkhéad to it. By default, a consonant surmounted by robat is silent and lacks an inherent vowel. The yŭkôlpĭntŭ positively indicates the presence of a final implicit vowel, plus its automatic glottal stop. Otherwise, there is no final vowel, unless the word is of Pali or Sanskrit origin, in which case the spelling is ambiguous. Up until the start of the 20th century, the lack of a final vowel could be indicating by subscripting the consonant, as then done in Lao and in other non-Indic languages using the Tai Tham script.
As in the Thai, Lao and Tai Tham scripts, Va served as a mater lectionis representing the sound /ua/. In this rôle, it was subscripted. In Cambodian usage, a new form of subscript was developed for consonantal usage, and the two are now used contrastively.
Tai Tham Wa
Tai Tham independent, subjoined and superscript letter Wa.
Wa (ᩅ) is a consonant of the Tai Thamabugida. It ultimately arose from the Brahmi letter , via the Pallava letter Va. Like in other Indic scripts, Tai Tham consonants have the inherent vowel "a", and take one of several modifying vowel signs to represent syllables with another vowel.
Tai Tham Wa with vowel matras
Syllable type
Va
Vā
Vi
Vī
Vư
Vư̄
Vu
Vū
Vē
Vǣ
Vō
Closed or open
ᩅ
ᩅᩤ
ᩅᩥ
ᩅᩦ
ᩅᩧ
ᩅᩨ
ᩅᩩ
ᩅᩪ
ᩅᩮ
ᩅᩯ
ᩅᩮᩤ
Vai
Vaư
Vau
Vō̹i
Open
ᩅᩱ
ᩅᩲ
ᩅᩮᩢᩤ
ᩅᩮᩫᩢᩤ
ᩅᩮᩫᩤ
ᩅᩳ
ᩅᩭ
Vo
Va
Vō
Vœ̄
Vō̹
Vo̹
Open
ᩅᩰᩡ
ᩅᩡ
ᩅᩰ
ᩅᩮᩬᩥ
ᩅᩮᩦ
ᩅᩬᩴ
ᩅᩴ
ᩅᩬᩳ
ᩅᩳ
ᩅᩰᩬᩡ
ᩅᩰᩬ
Closed
ᩅᩫ
ᩅᩢ
ᩅᩰᩫ
ᩅᩮᩥ
ᩅᩮᩦ
ᩅᩬ
ᩅᩬᩢ
Vūa
Vīa
Vư̄a
Open
ᩅ᩠ᩅᩫ
ᩅ᩠ᨿᩮ
ᩅᩮᩢ᩠ᨿ
ᩅᩮᩬᩥᩋ
ᩅᩮᩬᩨᩋ
ᩅᩮᩬᩨ
Closed
ᩅ᩠ᩅ
ᩅ᩠ᨿ
ᩅᩮᩬᩥ
ᩅᩮᩬᩨ
Notes:
The transliteration scheme is an amalgamation of the ALA-LC schemes of Khmer[6], Pali[7] and Lao[8].
Many of the matras include subscript wa (), subscript ya (), subscript a () or even the letter a () itself. Anusvara () and visarga () are also used.
In the relevant Tai languages, a short vowel in an open syllable includes an underlyinɡ ɡlottal stop.
Additional short vowels not shown above may be synthesised from the corresponding long vowel by appending visarga for open syllables (as shown for Vo) or applying mai sat () for closed syllables (as shown for Vo̹). Unlike the other languages, Lao instead replaces an ī or ư̄ glyph by the corresponding short vowel.
The lack of a vowel between consonants notated as consonants is indicated by vertically stacking the consonants, generally without their touching. The Brahmi style of writing final consonants small and low developed, as vestigially seen in Khmer and Lao, into using subscripting to indicate that a consonant had no vowel of its own. In theory this leaves it ambiguous as to whether a consonant precedes or follows the vowel, but ambiguous cases are rare. Finally, if there is no room for the consonant below, it may be left as an 'independent' consonant or. in some cases, written superscript. Occasionally the visible virama (ra haam) is used, but this may signify that the consonant so marked is silent. The vowel /a/ will be made explicit if the final consonant is notated by a letter and is included in the same stack as the initial consonant or is written in a stack just consisting of that consonant.
Thus Wa may appear as the 'base' consonant with almost any other consonant. Northern Thai traditionally allows it to form an initial consonant cluster with almost any other consonant sound, it can act as a mater lectionis (as shown in the list of matras above for Vūa), and it can be a final consonant, as in the fairly common rime -iv, e.g. 'to be hungry'. To accommodate a lack of space below the base consonants, there are several strategies:
Subscript Wa can be written significantly smaller than usual, typically at the size of anusvara. Certain other consonants also exhibit vertically compressed subscript forms, most notably La and Nga.
Subscript Wa can be nested within subscript Ma and Na, e.g. Northern Thai <hmūaḍ> /muːat/ 'to twist'.
A sequence of subscript items can be written horizontally, rather than vertically. This sequence can continue beneath another base consonant. It can sometime be hard to see that the second subscript belongs with the first consonant rather than the second.
For several letters, including Wa, if the space below the base letter is occupied, a final consonant can be written above instead. The result for Wa is frequently indistinguishable from anusvara, and is currently encoded the same, namely as TAI THAM SIGN MAI KANG. It occurs in the sequence <Ya, Wa>, as in the Tai Lue word ᨯ᩠ᨿᩴ '(just) one', where the subscripted letter Ya is used as a mater lectionis. This practice is extremely rare for Wa in Northern Thai.
For example, Northern Thai <hlūaṅ> 'big' can be written as:
- two stacks of (1) ha, la, wa all stacked vertically and (2) ṅa;
- two stacks: (1) a bent stack of ha, la below ha, wa to the right of la and (2) the single character ṅa. Visually, this is only subtly different from the meaningless two stacks of (1) ha, la and (2) ṅa, wa - ;
- two stacks of (1) ha, la and (2) wa, ṅa;
The first two alternatives have the same encoding in Unicode; the font and its configuration determine the rendering.
Comparison of Va
The various Indic scripts are generally related to each other through adaptation and borrowing, and as such the glyphs for cognate letters, including Va, are related as well.
^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.
^Masaram Gondi acts as an Indic abugida, but its letterforms were not derived from any single precursor script.
Character encodings of Va
Most Indic scripts are encoded in the Unicode Standard, and as such the letter Va in those scripts can be represented in plain text with unique codepoint. Va from several modern-use scripts can also be found in legacy encodings, such as ISCII.
^Ifrah, Georges (2000). The Universal History of Numbers. From Prehistory to the Invention of the Computer. New York: John Wiley & Sons. pp. 447–450. ISBN0-471-39340-1.
^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".
. It is generally romanized as "Va" in scripts for Indic languages, but as "Wa" in many scripts for other language families.
._%D0%9F%D0%B8%D1%81%D1%8C%D0%BC%D0%BE_%D0%BA%D1%85%D0%B0%D1%80%D0%BE%D1%88%D1%82%D1%85%D1%96._Kharoshthi_letter_VA.svg){kind=small}
