Grantha
Convert a name or text into Grantha, learn the letters step by step, and download a free Grantha font for Mac, Windows and the web.
1 · Your text
2 · Grantha
Tamil has no letters for ga, gha, ba and similar sounds, so Tamil text loses those differences. For exact Sanskrit spelling, type Hindi (Devanagari) or another Indic script.
Six short lessons
1 · What Grantha is
Grantha grew from the older Brahmi and Pallava scripts and was used in South India, mainly Tamil Nadu, to write Sanskrit and to write Sanskrit words inside Tamil books. Tamil has fewer letters than Sanskrit, so Grantha gave Tamil writers the missing sounds. The Tamil letters ஜ ஷ ஸ ஹ க்ஷ come from this practice. Modern Malayalam letters also descend from Grantha and Vatteluttu.
2 · Vowels
Grantha has 12 independent vowels in Unicode: 𑌅 𑌆 𑌇 𑌈 𑌉 𑌊 𑌋 𑌌 𑌏 𑌐 𑌓 𑌔. It has no short e and short o. It writes only the long ē and ō, and a Tamil short எ or ஒ is written with ē or ō.
3 · Consonants
There are 33 consonants in five groups of five (throat, palate, roof of mouth, teeth, lips) plus the eight others ya ra la ḷa va śa ṣa sa ha. Each consonant already contains the sound a: 𑌕 is ka. See the full chart below and click any letter to copy it.
4 · Vowel signs
To change the vowel, add a sign to the consonant: 𑌕 + 𑌾 = 𑌕𑌾 (kā). Signs go above, below, or beside the letter. The signs ē, ai, ō and au have a part written before the consonant, even though you type them after it, just as in Tamil (கெ, கை, கொ, கௌ).
5 · Killing the vowel: virama
To write a consonant with no vowel, add the virama sign 𑍍 after it: 𑌕𑍍 = k. In old manuscripts two consonants in a row are usually joined into one shape called a conjunct. Our font shows the virama form, and real conjunct shapes are planned for a later version.
6 · Practise
Write your name in the Lab above. Then try this quiz: pick the right sound for each letter.
Grantha letter chart
Vowels
Consonants with every vowel sign
Click a cell to copy. The top row shows each consonant alone.
Other signs
Semmozhi Grantha font
A free Unicode font for the whole Grantha block: 86 characters plus every consonant-and-vowel-sign syllable, drawn as one joined shape. Use it in Word, Pages, Google Docs, websites and design apps.
⬇ Download all (.zip)
TTF + WOFF + WOFF2 + licence + README. Recommended.
⬇ TrueType (.ttf)
For Mac, Windows, Linux and design apps.
⬇ Web font (.woff2)
For websites.
Mac
Double-click the .ttf, then Install Font.
Windows
Right-click the .ttf, then Install.
@font-face {
font-family: "Semmozhi Grantha";
src: url("SemmozhiGrantha-Regular.woff2") format("woff2"),
url("SemmozhiGrantha-Regular.woff") format("woff"),
url("SemmozhiGrantha-Regular.ttf") format("truetype");
font-display: swap;
}Licence
Released under the SIL Open Font License 1.1: free for personal and commercial use, you can share and change it, you cannot sell the font by itself. Copyright 2026 The Semmozhi Project Authors. Letter structures derived in part from Noto Sans Grantha, Copyright 2022 The Noto Project Authors, also under the SIL OFL 1.1.
Verification status: an automatic check compares the centre-line of each letter with the reference letters. Average agreement is 99.97%, and 492 of 494 letters and syllables agree 99% or more, and the weakest agrees 92.8%. This checks our letters against the reference font, not against inscriptions or manuscripts, and no expert has reviewed it yet. All four Semmozhi fonts share one pen style: same stroke weight, smooth curves and tapered ends. Conjunct (joined consonant) shapes are not built yet, so a virama is shown instead.