Malayalam alphabet

See also Wikipedia.

Unicode tabel

The characters may be denoted by Unicode symbols in the range 0D00-0D7F. Below a table, that will show them if your browser supports UTF-8 and you have a Malayalam font installed.

		0D0	0D1	0D2	0D3	0D4	0D5	0D6	0D7
0		ഀ	ഐ	ഠ	ര	ീ	൐	ൠ	൰
1		ഁ	഑	ഡ	റ	ു	൑	ൡ	൱
2		ം	ഒ	ഢ	ല	ൂ	൒	ൢ	൲
3		ഃ	ഓ	ണ	ള	ൃ	൓	ൣ	൳
4		ഄ	ഔ	ത	ഴ	ൄ	ൔ	൤	൴
5		അ	ക	ഥ	വ	൅	ൕ	൥	൵
6		ആ	ഖ	ദ	ശ	െ	ൖ	൦	൶
7		ഇ	ഗ	ധ	ഷ	േ	ൗ	൧	൷
8		ഈ	ഘ	ന	സ	ൈ	൘	൨	൸
9		ഉ	ങ	ഩ	ഹ	൉	൙	൩	൹
A		ഊ	ച	പ	ഺ	ൊ	൚	൪	ൺ
B		ഋ	ഛ	ഫ	഻	ോ	൛	൫	ൻ
C		ഌ	ജ	ബ	഼	ൌ	൜	൬	ർ
D		഍	ഝ	ഭ	ഽ	്	൝	൭	ൽ
E		എ	ഞ	മ	ാ	ൎ	൞	൮	ൾ
F		ഏ	ട	യ	ി	൏	ൟ	൯	ൿ

This table is indexed by hexadecimal code. Instead of using UTF-8 one can also code the symbols using &#xxxx; (with xxxx in decimal instead of hexadecimal). For example, hex 0D10 is decimal 3344, and ഐ yields ഐ. Many of the above code positions are unassigned. So, it is not necessarily wrong if your browser shows an empty square or something similar in may places. But if there are only empty squares, probably you don't have a Malayalam font installed.

Consonants

0D15	0D16	0D17	0D18	0D19	0D1A	0D1B	0D1C	0D1D
ക	ഖ	ഗ	ഘ	ങ	ച	ഛ	ജ	ഝ
ka	kha	ga	gha	nga	ca	cha	ja	jha
0D1E	0D1F	0D20	0D21	0D22	0D23	0D24	0D25	0D26
ഞ	ട	ഠ	ഡ	ഢ	ണ	ത	ഥ	ദ
nya	tta	ttha	dda	ddha	nna	ta	tha	da
0D27	0D28	0D2A	0D2B	0D2C	0D2D	0D2E	0D2F	0D30
ധ	ന	പ	ഫ	ബ	ഭ	മ	യ	ര
dha	na	pa	pha	ba	bha	ma	ya	ra
0D31	0D32	0D33	0D34	0D35	0D36	0D37	0D38	0D39
റ	ല	ള	ഴ	വ	ശ	ഷ	സ	ഹ
rra	la	lla	llla	va	sha	ssa	sa	ha

Various ligatures have their own symbol. An image from omniglot:

Ligatures available with TeX:

Vowels that modify consonant symbols

	0D3E	0D3F	0D40	0D41	0D42	0D43
ക	കാ	കി	കീ	കു	കൂ	കൃ
ka	kaa	ki	kii	ku	kuu	kr
0D46	0D47	0D48	0D4A	0D4B	0D4C	0D4D	0D02	0D03
കെ	കേ	കൈ	കൊ	കോ	കൌ	ക്	കം	കഃ
ke	kee	kai	ko	koo	kau	k	kam	kah

The first six vowel symbols are written in "natural" order, to the right of the corresponding consonant symbol. The next three vowel symbols are written to the left, the next three on both sides, and the final three to the right again. (My browser doesn't know that yet, and shows them all to the right of the consonant.) Again an image from omniglot:

In the older spelling the symbols for u and uu were not written to the right of the corresponding consonants (as here on the picture in blue), but gave an additional curl (like here in black). The shape of the curl depended on the consonant.

The independent vowels

0D05	0D06	0D07	0D08	0D09	0D0A	0D0B	0D0C
അ	ആ	ഇ	ഈ	ഉ	ഊ	ഋ	ഌ
a	aa	i	ii	u	uu	r	l
0D0E	0D0F	0D10	0D12	0D13	0D14	0D60	0D61
എ	ഏ	ഐ	ഒ	ഓ	ഔ	ൠ	ൡ
e	ee	ai	o	oo	au	rr	ll

Alphabetic order

അ ആ ഇ ഈ ഉ ഊ ഋ ൠ ഌ ൡ എ ഏ ഐ ഒ ഓ ഔ

Also the ordering of the 36 consonant symbols resembles Unicode ordering, but is not identical:

ക ഖ ഗ ഘ ങ ച ഛ ജ ഝ ഞ ട ഠ ഡ ഢ ണ ത ഥ ദ ധ ന പ ഫ ബ ഭ മ യ ര ല വ ശ ഷ സ ഹ ള ഴ റ

For fixed first letter, words are sorted according to the next vowel (with symbol sometimes to the right, sometimes to the left, and sometimes partly to the left and partly to the right). The sequence of dependent vowels is as above: (-, a, aa, i, ii, u, uu, r, e, ee, ai, o, oo, au). After this series of combinations consonant+vowel, there may be further series, such as (consonant+y)+vowel, (consonant+r)+vowel, (consonant+l)+vowel, (consonant+v)+vowel, where the parenthesized combination is treated as a unit (and the vowel is written to the right or to the left or partly to the left and partly to the right of this unit).

Examples

Malayalam

Kochurajakumaran

That is, in small antvaan d saante-ksyuupeeri and larger underneath: ente koccuraajakumaaran.

Note the shape of the final n (na with virama). And that of the combination virama-ya. And the combination cc.

(Virama is the symbol ് denoting "no vowel".)

Oz Nagarathile Atbhuta Mânthrikan

That is, in small el. phraank boom and larger underneath: oos nagarattile atbhuta maantrikan.

Note the shape of the vowel r to the left of the corresponding consonant. And that of la with virama.

Monotype glyph repertoire