Brahmi Sha

The Brahmi letter , Sha, is probably derived from the Aramaic Shin , and is thus related to the modern Latin S and Greek Sigma.^[2] Several identifiable styles of writing the Brahmi Sha 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 Sha historic forms

Ashoka (3rd-1st c. BCE)	Girnar (~150 BCE)	Kushana (~150-250 CE)	Gujarat (~250 CE)	Gupta (~350 CE)
	No sample

Tocharian Sha

The Tocharian letter is derived from the Brahmi , and has an alternate Fremdzeichen form used in conjuncts and as an alternate representation of Shä.

Tocharian Sha with vowel marks

Sha	Shā	Shi	Shī	Shu	Shū	Shr	Shr̄	She	Shai	Sho	Shau	Shä	Fremdzeichen

Kharoṣṭhī Sha

The Kharoṣṭhī letter is generally accepted as being derived from the Aramaic Shin , and is thus related to S and Sigma, in addition to the Brahmi Sha.^[2]

Devanagari-using Languages

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

Devanagari Sha

Different presentations of Devanagari letter श.

Conjuncts with श

Half form of Śa.

Half form of Ribbon Śa.

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. Śa is unique in having an alternate form found only in conjuncts, sometimes called "Ribbon Śa", that appears as both a half form in horizontal conjuncts and as an element in vertical conjuncts. 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]

শ in Bengali-using languages

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

Conjuncts with শ

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

Gujarati-using Languages

The Gujarati script is used to write the Gujarati and Kutchi languages. In both languages, શ is pronounced as [ʃə] or [ʃ] when appropriate. Like all Indic scripts, Gujarati uses vowel marks attached to the base consonant to override the inherent /ə/ vowel:

Śa	Śā	Śi	Śī	Śu	Śū	Śr	Śl	Śr̄	Śl̄	Śĕ	Śe	Śai	Śŏ	Śo	Śau	Ś
Gujarati Śa syllables, with vowel marks in red.

Conjuncts with શ

Half form of Śa.

Gujarati શ exhibits conjunct ligatures, much like its parent Devanagari Script. Most Gujarati conjuncts can only be 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". A few conjunct clusters can be represented by a true ligature, instead of a shape that can be broken into constituent independent letters, and vertically stacked conjuncts can also be found in Gujarati, although much less commonly than in Devanagari. True ligatures are quite rare in Indic scripts. The most common ligated conjuncts in Gujarati 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.

• ર્ (r) + શ (ʃa) gives the ligature RŚa:

• શ્ (ʃ) + ર (ra) gives the ligature ŚRa:

• શ્ (ʃ) + ચ (ca) gives the ligature ŚCa:

• શ્ (ʃ) + ન (na) gives the ligature ŚNa:

• શ્ (ʃ) + લ (la) gives the ligature ŚLa:

• શ્ (ʃ) + વ (va) gives the ligature ŚVa:

Conjuncts of ശ

As is common in Indic scripts, Malayalam joins letters together to form conjunct consonant clusters. There are several ways in which conjuncts are formed in Malayalam texts: using a post-base form of a trailing consonant placed under the initial consonant of a conjunct, a combined ligature of two or more consonants joined together, a conjoining form that appears as a combining mark on the rest of the conjunct, the use of an explicit candrakkala mark to suppress the inherent "a" vowel, or a special consonant form called a "chillu" letter, representing a bare consonant without the inherent "a" vowel. Texts written with the modern reformed Malayalam orthography, put̪iya lipi, may favor more regular conjunct forms than older texts in paḻaya lipi, due to changes undertaken in the 1970s by the Government of Kerala.

• ശ് (ʃ) + ന (na) gives the ligature ʃna:

• ശ് (ʃ) + മ (ma) gives the ligature ʃma:

• ശ് (ʃ) + ശ (ʃa) gives the ligature ʃʃa:

Conjuncts of 𑂬

As is common in Indic scripts, Kaithi joins letters together to form conjunct consonant clusters. The most common conjunct formation is achieved by using a half form of preceding consonants, although several consonants use an explicit virama. Most half forms are derived from the full form by removing the vertical stem. As is common in most Indic scripts, conjucts of ra are indicated with a repha or rakar mark attached to the rest of the consonant cluster. In addition, there are a few vertical conjuncts that can be found in Kaithi writing, but true ligatures are not used in the modern Kaithi script.

• 𑂩୍ (r) + 𑂬 (ʃa) gives the ligature rʃa: