Ha: The Ranjana Letter

Ha is the thirty third and last consonant of the Ranjana varnamala, a voiced sound made at the glottis, and it stands alone at the end of the chart because it belongs to none of the groups before it. It is not a stop, so it cannot enter the grid; it is not a semivowel, since it involves no narrowing in the mouth itself; and it is not a sibilant, since the friction is made at the vocal folds rather than at a point in the mouth. The tradition therefore lists it last, as a class of one, and the recitation of the order ends on it.

In Ranjana it is written as any consonant, carrying the inherent short a and hanging from the head stroke, and it takes vowel marks and enters joined forms like the rest. Its position at the close of the order gives it a particular place in the teaching of the script, since a learner who reaches it has completed the varnamala, and a recitation that reaches it has finished. Its place at the end also gives it a role in the writing the script is best known for. Ha is the final letter of the syllable that closes the six syllable mantra written in Ranjana on prayer wheels and carved stones, and it is the base of several of the seed syllables that Tibetan traditions write in this script under the name Lantsa. What is public there is the writing; the contemplative use of those syllables is transmitted under initiation within living traditions and is not described here.