Dha (Indic)

Ancient scripts
Bangla and Tibetan scripts
	Note: Korean Hangul is an alphabet, not an Indic abugida, but; appears to ultimately have some derivation from 'Phags-pa.
Sharada-based scripts
Nagaris and other Gupta-based scripts
Kawi scripts
Tai and Khmer scripts
Other Grantha-based scripts
Other Brahmic scripts
Phonemic representation:	/dʰ/
IAST transliteration:	dh Dh
ISCII code point:	C5 (197)

Dha is a consonant of Indic abugidas. In modern Indic scripts, Dha 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 ध are:[1]

ध [dʰə] = 19 (१९)
धि [dʰɪ] = 1,900 (१ ९००)
धु [dʰʊ] = 190,000 (१ ९० ०००)
धृ [dʰri] = 19,000,000 (१ ९० ०० ०००)
धॢ [dʰlə] = 19×10⁸ (१९×१०^८)
धे [dʰe] = 19×10¹⁰ (१९×१०^१०)
धै [dʰɛː] = 19×10¹² (१९×१०^१२)
धो [dʰoː] = 19×10¹⁴ (१९×१०^१४)
धौ [dʰɔː] = 19×10¹⁶ (१९×१०^१६)

Historic Dha

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

Brahmi Dha

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

Tocharian Dha

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

Tocharian Dha with vowel marks
Dha	Dhā	Dhi	Dhī	Dhu	Dhū	Dhr	Dhr̄	Dhe	Dhai	Dho	Dhau	Dhä

Kharoṣṭhī Dha

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

Devanagari Dha

Dha (ध) 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 ધ, and the Modi letter 𑘠.

Devanagari-using Languages

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

Devanagari ध with vowel marks
Dha	Dhā	Dhi	Dhī	Dhu	Dhū	Dhr	Dhr̄	Dhl	Dhl̄	Dhe	Dhai	Dho	Dhau	Dh
ध	धा	धि	धी	धु	धू	धृ	धॄ	धॢ	धॣ	धे	धै	धो	धौ	ध्

Conjuncts with ध

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. Dha however, does not have a vertical stem to drop for making a half form, and 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 preferring the use of half forms where texts in other languages would show ligatures and vertical stacks.[4]

Ligature conjuncts of ध

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.

र্ (r) + ध (dʱa) gives us the ligature rdʱa:

ध্ (dʱ) + र (ra) gives us the ligature dʱra:

र্ (r) + ध্ (dʱ) + र (ra) gives us the ligature rdʱra:

छ্ (cʰ) + ध (dʱa) gives us the ligature cʰdʱa:

ध্ (dʱ) + न (na) gives us the ligature dʱna:

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

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

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

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

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

Stacked conjuncts of ध

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.

ड্ (ḍ) + ध (dʱa) gives us the ligature ḍdʱa:

ढ্ (ḍʱ) + ध (dʱa) gives us the ligature ḍʱdʱa:

ध্ (dʱ) + च (ca) gives us the ligature dʱca:

ध্ (dʱ) + ड (ḍa) gives us the ligature dʱḍa:

ध্ (dʱ) + ज (ja) gives us the ligature dʱja:

ध্ (dʱ) + ज্ (j) + ञ (ña) gives us the ligature dʱjña:

ध্ (dʱ) + ल (la) gives us the ligature dʱla:

ध্ (dʱ) + ङ (ŋa) gives us the ligature dʱŋa:

ध্ (dʱ) + ञ (ña) gives us the ligature dʱña:

ङ্ (ŋ) + ध (dʱa) gives us the ligature ŋdʱa:

ट্ (ṭ) + ध (dʱa) gives us the ligature ṭdʱa:

ठ্ (ṭʰ) + ध (dʱa) gives us the ligature ṭʰdʱa:

Bengali Dha

The Bengali script ধ is derived from the Siddhaṃ , and is marked by the same lack of a horizontal head line, but less geometric shape, than its Devanagari counterpart, ध. The inherent vowel of Bengali consonant letters is /ɔ/, so the bare letter ধ will sometimes be transliterated as "dho" instead of "dha". Adding okar, the "o" vowel mark, gives a reading of /d̪ʱo/.

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

Bengali ধ with vowel marks
dha	dhā	dhi	dhī	dhu	dhū	dhr	dhr̄	dhe	dhai	dho	dhau	dh
ধ	ধা	ধি	ধী	ধু	ধূ	ধৃ	ধৄ	ধে	ধৈ	ধো	ধৌ	ধ্

ধ in Bengali-using languages

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

Conjuncts with ধ

Bengali ধ exhibits conjunct ligatures, as is common in Indic scripts, with a tendency towards linear (horizontal) ligatures, and few stacked ligatures.[5]

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

ধ্ (dʱ) + ম (ma) gives us the ligature dʱma:

ধ্ (dʱ) + ন (na) gives us the ligature dʱna:

ধ্ (dʱ) + র (ra) gives us the ligature dʱra, with the ra phala suffix:

ধ্ (dʱ) + ব (va) gives us the ligature dʱva, with the va phala suffix:

ধ্ (dʱ) + য (ya) gives us the ligature dʱya, with the ya phala suffix:

গ্ (g) + ধ (dʱa) gives us the ligature gdʱa:

গ্ (g) + ধ্ (dʱ) + র (ra) gives us the ligature gdʱra, with the ra phala suffix:

গ্ (g) + ধ্ (dʱ) + য (ya) gives us the ligature gdʱya, with the ya phala suffix:

ন্ (n) + ধ (dʱa) gives us the ligature ndʱa:

ন্ (n) + ধ্ (dʱ) + র (ra) gives us the ligature ndʱra, with the ra phala suffix:

ন্ (n) + ধ্ (dʱ) + য (ya) gives us the ligature ndʱya, with the ya phala suffix:

র্ (r) + ধ (dʱa) gives us the ligature rdʱa, with the repha prefix:

র্ (r) + ধ্ (dʱ) + ব (va) gives us the ligature rdʱva, with the repha prefix and va phala suffix:

Javanese Dha

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.
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
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.

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[Ifrah-1] 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-2] Bühler, Georg. "On the Origin of the Indian Brahmi Alphabet". archive.org. Karl J. Trübner. Retrieved 10 June 2020.

[3] Evolutionary chart, Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal Vol 7, 1838

[KNAB-4] Pall, Peeter. "Microsoft Word - kblhi2" (PDF). Eesti Keele Instituudi kohanimeandmed. Eesti Keele Instituudi kohanimeandmed. Retrieved 19 June 2020.

[5] "The Bengali Alphabet" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-09-28.