Visarga
In Sanskrit phonology, visarga is the name of the voiceless glottal fricative, written in Devanagari as . It was also called, equivalently, by earlier grammarians. The word visarga literally means "sending forth, discharge". In Bengali script, visarga is written as ঃ and is called bisarga. It generally represents a post-vocalic voiceless glottal fricative-like release, though in modern Bengali it is mostly realized as a slight aspiration after the vowel. Bengali visarga can also occur medially, as in দুঃখ, দুঃস্বপ্ন, and often corresponds etymologically to Sanskrit visarga.
Visarga is an allophone of and in pausa. Since is a common inflectional suffix, visarga appears frequently in Sanskrit texts. In the traditional order of Sanskrit sounds, visarga and anusvāra appear between vowels and stop consonants.
The precise pronunciation of visarga in Vedic texts may vary between Śākhās. Some pronounce a slight echo of the preceding vowel after the aspiration: will be pronounced, and will be pronounced. Visarga is not to be confused with colon.
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Types
The visarga is commonly found in writing, resembling the punctuation mark of colon or as two tiny circles one above the other. This form is retained by most Indic scripts.According to Sanskrit phonologists, the visarga has two optional allophones, namely जिह्वामूलीय and उपध्मानीय. The former may be pronounced before,, and the latter before, and, as in तव पितामहः कः, पक्षिणः खे उड्डयन्ते, भोः पाहि, and तपःफलम्. They were written with various symbols, e.g. X-like symbol vs sideways 3-like symbol above flipped sideways one, or both as two crescent-shaped semi-circles one above the other, facing the top and bottom respectively. Distinct signs for jihavamulīya and upadhmanīya exists in Kannada, Tibetan, Sharada,
Brahmi and Lantsa scripts.
Other Brahmic scripts
Bengali
In the Bengali script, the visarga is written as ঃ and is known as bisarga. In Bengali it represents a weak post-vocalic release rather than a clearly articulated /h/ sound. Although it originates from Sanskrit final r- and s-sounds, modern Bengali preserves it primarily as an orthographic element, with its phonetic value varying according to position and environment.Phonetic behaviour
When occurring medially within a word, the bisarga no longer produces a distinct aspiration; instead it tends to reinforce or lengthen the following consonant. Examples include দুঃস্বপ্ন or নিঃশ্বাস, where the bisarga historically reflects Sanskrit ः, but in Bengali the release is replaced by consonant strengthening or an increased sibilant effect.When occurring finally at the end of a word, the bisarga marks an etymological aspiration inherited from Sanskrit, but in contemporary Bengali it is realised only as a very faint breath or is silent. Forms such as তঃ or যঃ illustrate this weakened contrast. Overall, Bengali pronunciation treats the visarga not as an independent consonant but as a modifier whose audible effect ranges from minimal to null.
Visarga Sandhi
In sandhi environments, the bisarga undergoes several regular transformations that depend on the nature of the following sound. These changes reflect its Sanskritic origins and are largely systematic in Bengali spelling, even when their phonetic effect is weak.Before vowels, the bisarga commonly yields র or produces an ও-glide, preserving the historical continuity of r-final forms. Before sibilants and coronal or palatal stops, it assimilates to the following consonant as the appropriate sibilant—শ, ষ, or স—a process that accounts for forms such as নিঃচয় → নিশ্চয়.
When followed by voiced consonants or semivowels, r-jāt bisarga typically appears as র, while s-jāt bisarga may produce an ও-transition; thus অন্তঃগত surfaces as অন্তর্গত. If the following consonant is র, the bisarga disappears entirely and the preceding vowel lengthens, as seen in নীরস. After the vowels ই or উ and before velar or labial stops, the bisarga may appear as ষ, producing forms such as নিষ্কাম.
Some compounds retain the written bisarga without any phonological modification, as in মনঃক্ষুণ্ণ. In other cases, the bisarga may be lost without affecting adjacent sounds, as in অতএব from অতঃ + এব. As a whole, visarga sandhi in Bengali reflects historical Sanskritic patterns that are preserved orthographically even though their phonetic realisation is limited in modern speech.
Burmese
In the Burmese script, the visarga, when joined to a letter, creates the high tone.Japanese
Motoori Norinaga invented a mark for visarga which he used in a book about Indian orthography.Javanese
In the Javanese script, the visarga, known as the wignyan, is represented by two curls to the right of a syllable as : the first curl is short and circular, and the second curl is long. It adds a /-h/ after a vowel.Kannada
In the Kannada script, the visarga is represented with two small circles to the right of a letter ಃ. It adds an aḥ sound to the end of the letter.This script also has separate symbols for ardhavisarga absent in most other scripts, jihvamuliya, ೱ, and upadhmaniya, ೲ.