U+0D3C "഼" Malayalam Sign Circular Virama Unicode Character

U+0D3C "഼" Malayalam Sign Circular Virama is a combining mark used in the Malayalam script to indicate the suppression of the inherent vowel of a consonant, functioning as a virama. Unlike the standard virama used in other Brahmic scripts, this character is historically applied to a preceding consonant to create a distinct ligature or half-form, often appearing as a small circle above or to the side of the character. It is primarily encountered in older or traditional Malayalam orthography and in the representation of certain Sanskrit-derived conjuncts, where it helps denote a consonant without a following vowel in a manner specific to the script's typographic conventions.