Virama ( ्) is a generic term for the
diacritic in many
Brahmic scripts, including
Devanagari and
Eastern Nagari script, used to suppress the
inherent vowel that otherwise occurs with every consonant letter. The name is
Sanskrit for "cessation, termination, end". As a
Sanskrit word, it is used in place of several language-specific terms, such as
halant ( ्),
halant ( ्)
hoshonto ( ্),
halantu ( ్),
pulli ( ்),
chandrakkala ( ്),
halanta ( ್),
halanta ( ୍),
halant ( ୍),
a that (,
a.sat , lit.
"nonexistence" ်), and
karan ( ) or
thanthakhat ( ).