Indic Matra Category - Bottom

Bottom is a classification for certain vowel signs in Indic scripts, specifically those that are placed beneath the consonant base, such as the dependent vowel marks for short “u” or long “ū”. This positioning contrasts with matras that appear above, to the right, or to the left, and it affects shaping and reordering during text rendering. In practice, a Bottom matra usually follows the consonant in logical order but is displayed below it, and its presence can influence how stacked consonant clusters or vowel length are encoded. The value helps distinguish visual placement from character order, ensuring correct glyph selection for fonts and shaping engines.