Bha (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:	/bʰ/
IAST transliteration:	bh Bh
ISCII code point:	CB (203)

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

भ [bʰə] = 24 (२४)
भि [bʰɪ] = 2,400 (२ ४००)
भु [bʰʊ] = 240,000 (२ ४० ०००)
भृ [bʰri] = 24,000,000 (२ ४० ०० ०००)
भॢ [bʰlə] = 24×10⁸ (२४×१०^८)
भे [bʰe] = 24×10¹⁰ (२४×१०^१०)
भै [bʰɛː] = 24×10¹² (२४×१०^१२)
भो [bʰoː] = 24×10¹⁴ (२४×१०^१४)
भौ [bʰɔː] = 24×10¹⁶ (२४×१०^१६)

Historic Bha

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

Brahmi Bha

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

Tocharian Bha

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

Tocharian Bha with vowel marks
Bha	Bhā	Bhi	Bhī	Bhu	Bhū	Bhr	Bhr̄	Bhe	Bhai	Bho	Bhau	Bhä

Kharoṣṭhī Bha

The Kharoṣṭhī letter is generally accepted as being derived from the altered Aramaic Bet , and is thus related to B and Beta, in addition to the Brahmi Bha.[2]

Devanagari Bha

Bha (भ) 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 ભ, and the Modi letter 𑘥.

Devanagari-using Languages

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

Devanagari भ with vowel marks
Bha	Bhā	Bhi	Bhī	Bhu	Bhū	Bhr	Bhr̄	Bhl	Bhl̄	Bhe	Bhai	Bho	Bhau	Bh
भ	भा	भि	भी	भु	भू	भृ	भॄ	भॢ	भॣ	भे	भै	भो	भौ	भ्

Conjuncts with भ

Half form of Bha.

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 भ

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) + भ (bʰa) gives us the ligature rbʰa:

भ্ (bʰ) + न (na) gives us the ligature bʰna:

भ্ (bʰ) + र (ra) gives us the ligature bʰra:

द্ (d) + भ (bʰa) gives us the ligature dbʰa:

Stacked conjuncts of भ

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.

भ্ (bʰ) + च (ca) gives us the ligature bʰca:

भ্ (bʰ) + ड (ḍa) gives us the ligature bʰḍa:

भ্ (bʰ) + ज (ja) gives us the ligature bʰja:

भ্ (bʰ) + ज্ (j) + ञ (ña) gives us the ligature bʰjña:

भ্ (bʰ) + ल (la) gives us the ligature bʰla:

भ্ (bʰ) + ङ (ŋa) gives us the ligature bʰŋa:

भ্ (bʰ) + ञ (ña) gives us the ligature bʰña:

छ্ (cʰ) + भ (bʰa) gives us the ligature cʰbʰa:

ड্ (ḍ) + भ (bʰa) gives us the ligature ḍbʰa:

ढ্ (ḍʱ) + भ (bʰa) gives us the ligature ḍʱbʰa:

ङ্ (ŋ) + भ (bʰa) gives us the ligature ŋbʰa:

ट্ (ṭ) + भ (bʰa) gives us the ligature ṭbʰa:

ठ্ (ṭʰ) + भ (bʰa) gives us the ligature ṭʰbʰa:

Bengali Bha

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

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

Bengali ভ with vowel marks
bha	bhā	bhi	bhī	bhu	bhū	bhr	bhr̄	bhe	bhai	bho	bhau	bh
ভ	ভা	ভি	ভী	ভু	ভূ	ভৃ	ভৄ	ভে	ভৈ	ভো	ভৌ	ভ্

ভ in Bengali-using languages

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

Conjuncts with ভ

Bengali ভ exhibits conjunct ligatures, as is common in Indic scripts, with a tendency towards stacked ligatures.[5]

ভ্ (bʰ) + র (ra) gives us the ligature bʰra, with the ra phala suffix:

ভ্ (bʰ) + ব (va) gives us the ligature bʰva, with the va phala suffix:

ভ্ (bʰ) + য (ya) gives us the ligature bʰya, with the ya phala suffix:

দ্ (d) + ভ (bʰa) gives us the ligature dbʰa:

দ্ (d) + ভ্ (bʰ) + র (ra) gives us the ligature dbʰra, with the ra phala suffix:

ল্ (l) + ভ (bʰa) gives us the ligature lbʰa:

ম্ (m) + ভ (bʰa) gives us the ligature mbʰa:

ম্ (m) + ভ্ (bʰ) + র (ra) gives us the ligature mbʰra, with the ra phala suffix:

র্ (r) + ভ (bʰa) gives us the ligature rbʰa, with the repha prefix:

Javanese Bha

gollark: This is quite hard, "stealing code from OpusOS" time!

gollark: No.

gollark: I *really* ought to overhaul the sandboxing code for potatoos™ already.

gollark: I suppose it's plausible that these are mostly written by people who don't know how loops work.

gollark: It's weird how so many of these bad password programs just reboot and shutdown whenever you do it wrong.

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.