Na is a consonant of Indic abugidas. In modern Indic scripts, Na is derived from the early "Ashoka" Brahmi 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 न are:
न = 20
नि = 2,000
नु = 200,000
नृ = 20,000,000
नॢ = 2
ने = 2
नै = 2
नो = 2
नौ = 2
Historic Na
There are three different general early historic scripts - Brahmi and its variants, Kharoṣṭhī, and Tocharian, the so-calledslanting Brahmi. Na as found in standard Brahmi, was a simple geometric shape, with variations toward more flowing forms by the Gupta. The Tocharian Na had an alterante Fremdzeichen form,. The third form of na, in Kharoshthi was probably derived from Aramaic separately from the Brahmi letter.
Brahmi Na
The Brahmi letter, Na, is probably derived from the Aramaic Nun, and is thus related to the modern LatinN and Greek Nu. Several identifiable styles of writing the Brahmi Na 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.
The Tocharian letter is derived from the Brahmi, and has an alternate Fremdzeichen form used in conjuncts and as an alternate representation of Nä.
Na
Nā
Ni
Nī
Nu
Nū
Nr
Nr̄
Ne
Nai
No
Nau
Nä
Fremdzeichen
Kharoṣṭhī Na
The Kharoṣṭhī letter is generally accepted as being derived from the Aramaic Nun, and is thus related to N and Nu, in addition to the Brahmi Na.
Devanagari Na
Na 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 ન, and the Modi letter ?.
Devanagari-using Languages
In all languages, न 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:
Na
Nā
Ni
Nī
Nu
Nū
Nr
Nr̄
Nl
Nl̄
Ne
Nai
No
Nau
N
न
ना
नि
नी
नु
नू
नृ
नॄ
नॢ
नॣ
ने
नै
नो
नौ
न्
Conjuncts with न
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 न
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 the Repha and Rakar forms of Ra. Nepali and Marathi texts use the "eyelash" Ra half form for an initial "R" instead of repha.
न্ + न gives us the ligature nna:
र্ + न gives us the ligature rna:
न্ + र gives us the ligature nra:
Stacked conjuncts of न
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. As the trailing letter in many conjuncts, Na will show a reduced form, angling down and to the right in order to stack under the preceding consonant.
The Bengali script ন is derived from the Siddhaṃ, and is marked by a similar horizontal head line, but less geometric shape, than its Devanagari counterpart, न. The inherent vowel of Bengali consonant letters is /ɔ/, so the bare letter ন will sometimes be transliterated as "no" instead of "na". Adding okar, the "o" vowel mark, gives a reading of /n̪o/. Like all Indic consonants, ন can be modified by marks to indicate another vowel than its inherent "a".
na
nā
ni
nī
nu
nū
nr
nr̄
ne
nai
no
nau
n
ন
না
নি
নী
নু
নূ
নৃ
নৄ
নে
নৈ
নো
নৌ
ন্
ন in Bengali-using languages
ন is used as a basic consonant character in all of the major Bengali script orthographies, including Bengali and Assamese.
Conjuncts with ন
Bengali ন exhibits conjunct ligatures, as is common in Indic scripts, with a tendency towards a trailing ন realized as a reduced form in stacked ligatures, similar to Va-phala, and initial ন appending a reduced form onto the vertical stemline of the following consonant, or as a fully stacked ligature.
ধ্ + ন gives us the ligature dʱna:
ঘ্ + ন gives us the ligature ɡʱna:
গ্ + ন gives us the ligature gna:
গ্ + ন্ + য gives us the ligature gnya, with the ya phala suffix:
ক্ + শ্ + ন gives us the ligature kʃna:
ম্ + ন gives us the ligature mna:
ন্ + দ gives us the ligature nda:
ন্ + ড gives us the ligature nḍa:
ন্ + ড্ + র gives us the ligature nḍra, with the ra phala suffix:
ন্ + ধ gives us the ligature ndʱa:
ন্ + ধ্ + র gives us the ligature ndʱra, with the ra phala suffix:
ন্ + ধ্ + য gives us the ligature ndʱya, with the ya phala suffix:
ন্ + দ্ + র gives us the ligature ndra, with the ra phala suffix:
ন্ + দ্ + ব gives us the ligature ndva, with the va phala suffix:
ন্ + দ্ + য gives us the ligature ndya, with the ya phala suffix:
ন্ + ম gives us the ligature nma:
ন্ + ন gives us the ligature nna:
ন্ + ত gives us the ligature nta:
ন্ + থ gives us the ligature ntʰa:
ন্ + থ্ + র gives us the ligature ntʰra, with the ra phala suffix:
ন্ + ত্ + র gives us the ligature ntra, with the ra phala suffix:
ন্ + ত্ + র্ + য gives us the ligature ntrya, with the ra phala and ya phala suffixes
ন্ + ট gives us the ligature nṭa:
ন্ + ঠ gives us the ligature nṭʰa:
ন্ + ট্ + র gives us the ligature nṭra, with the ra phala suffix:
ন্ + ত্ + ব gives us the ligature ntva, with the va phala suffix:
ন্ + ত্ + য gives us the ligature ntya, with the ya phala suffix:
ন্ + ব gives us the ligature nva, with the va phala suffix:
ন্ + য gives us the ligature nya, with the ya phala suffix:
প্ + ন gives us the ligature pna:
র্ + ন gives us the ligature rna, with the repha prefix:
