Cha (Indic)


Cha is the seventh consonant of Indic abugidas. In modern Indic scripts, cha is derived from the early "Ashoka" Brahmi letter, which is probably derived from the Aramaic letter after having gone through the Gupta letter.

Āryabhaṭa numeration

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

Brahmi Cha

The Brahmi letter, Cha, is probably derived from the altered Aramaic Tsade, and is thus related to the Greek San. Several identifiable styles of writing the Brahmi Cha 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.
Ashoka
Girnar
Kushana
Gujarat
Gupta

Tocharian Cha

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

Kharoṣṭhī Cha

The Kharoṣṭhī letter is generally accepted as being derived from the altered Aramaic Tsade, and is thus related to the Greek San, in addition to the Brahmi Cha.

Devanagari script

Cha is the seventh 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 છ and the Modi letter ?.

Devanagari-using Languages

In all languages, छ 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:
ChaChāChiChīChuChūChrChr̄ChlChl̄CheChaiChoChauCh
छछाछिछीछुछूछृछॄछॢछॣछेछैछोछौछ्

Conjuncts with छ

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 छ

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.

Stacked conjuncts of छ

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.

Bengali script

The Bengali script ছ is derived from the Siddhaṃ, and is marked by a similar horizontal head line, but less geometric shape, than its Devanagari counterpart, छ. The inherent vowel of Bengali consonant letters is /ɔ/, so the bare letter ছ will sometimes be transliterated as "cho" instead of "cha". Adding okar, the "o" vowel mark, gives a reading of /cʰo/.
Like all Indic consonants, ছ can be modified by marks to indicate another vowel than its inherent "a".
chachāchichīchuchūchrchr̄chechaichochauch
ছছাছিছীছুছূছৃছৄছেছৈছোছৌছ্

ছ in Bengali-using languages

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

Conjuncts with ছ

Bengali ছ exhibits conjunct ligatures, as is common in Indic scripts. Unlike most Bengali letters, conjuncts with ছ do not tend towards stacked ligatures.

Gujarati script

Cha is the seventh consonant of the Gujarati script. It is derived from 16th century Devanagari letter cha with the top bar removed.

Gurmukhi script

Chhachhaa is the twelfth letter of the Gurmukhi alphabet. Its name is and is pronounced as /t͡ʃʰ/ when used in words. It is derived from the Laṇḍā letter cha, and ultimately from the Brahmi cha. Gurmukhi chachaa does not have a special pairin or addha form for making conjuncts, and in modern Punjabi texts do not take a half form or halant to indicate the bare consonant /t͡ʃʰ/, although Gurmukhi Sanskrit texts may use an explicit halant.

Thai script

Cho ching is the ninth letter of the Thai script. It falls under the middle class of Thai consonants. In IPA, cho ching is pronounced as at the beginning of a syllable and may not be used to close a syllable. The eighth letter of the alphabet, cho chan, is also named cho and falls under the middle class of Thai consonants. The tenth and twelfth letters of the alphabet, cho chang and cho choe, are also named cho, however, they all fall under the low class of Thai consonants. Unlike many Indic scripts, Thai consonants do not form conjunct ligatures, and use the pinthu—an explicit virama with a dot shape—to indicate bare consonants. In the acrophony of the Thai script, ching means ‘cymbals ’. Cho ching corresponds to the Sanskrit character ‘छ’.