<div dir="ltr">As per my own records and the recommendations I had proposed for Indic rendering fixes, the issue of samvruthokaram had more to do with the rendering engine than the font itself. The recommendations can be found here:<div>
<a href="http://rbhalera.fedorapeople.org/Documents/RenderingRecommendations-up.html#3. Malayalam|region">http://rbhalera.fedorapeople.org/Documents/RenderingRecommendations-up.html#3. Malayalam|region</a><br></div><div><br>
</div><div>The original issue was as follows:<div> - The 'samvruthokaram' syllable in malayalam is actually a half vowel which is formed by vowel 'U' (Unicode 0D41) followed by the halanth character in malayalam. </div>
<div> - Since halanth is by default allowed only after a consonant, the sequence for samvruthokaram was yielding a dotted circle in between</div><div> - Hence it was necessary to amend the rendering engine to allow this sequence</div>
<div><br></div><div>There is a long discussion on this and few other issues on the old bug at:</div><div><a href="https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=242016">https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=242016</a><br>
</div><div><br></div><div>Regarding the shape of the syllable, there seem to be practices, one of which includes using chillu character shape.</div><div>"<span style="font-size:13px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19.1875px">transliterated as </span><b style="font-size:13px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19.1875px">ŭ</b><span style="font-size:13px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19.1875px"> (for example, </span><span lang="ml" style="font-size:13px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19.1875px">ന</span><span style="font-size:13px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19.1875px"> </span><i style="font-size:13px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19.1875px">na</i><span style="font-size:13px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19.1875px"> → </span><span lang="ml" style="font-size:13px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19.1875px">ന്</span><span style="font-size:13px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19.1875px"> </span><i style="font-size:13px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19.1875px">nŭ</i><span style="font-size:13px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19.1875px">). Optionally, a vowel sign </span><i style="font-size:13px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19.1875px">u</i><span style="font-size:13px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19.1875px"> is inserted, as in </span><span lang="ml" style="font-size:13px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19.1875px">നു്</span><span style="font-size:13px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19.1875px"> (= </span><span lang="ml" style="font-size:13px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19.1875px">ന</span><span style="font-size:13px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19.1875px"> + </span><span lang="ml" style="font-size:13px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19.1875px"> ു</span><span style="font-size:13px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19.1875px"> + </span><span lang="ml" style="font-size:13px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19.1875px"> ്</span><span style="font-size:13px;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:sans-serif;line-height:19.1875px">). </span>"</div>
<div>- wikipedia, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malayalam_alphabet">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malayalam_alphabet</a></div><div><br></div><div>You may find more details in:</div><div><a href="http://varamozhi.blogspot.in/2005_06_01_archive.html">http://varamozhi.blogspot.in/2005_06_01_archive.html</a><br>
</div><div><a href="http://www.unicode.org/L2/L2005/05210-malayalam.pdf">http://www.unicode.org/L2/L2005/05210-malayalam.pdf</a><br></div><div><br></div><div>As far the shape of the glyph in Lohit font is concerned, once the rendering engine issue of dotted circle was resolved, the shape of the ligature for samvruthokaram was changed on the request of Ani Peter. I am not able to find the old bug in bugzilla but remember that the particular ligature was added on request from Ani. May be Ani can give some linguistic justification for the particular shape which I am not aware of.</div>
</div><div><br></div><div>Regards,</div><div>Rahul.</div></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Sat, Sep 28, 2013 at 9:21 PM, <a href="mailto:pravin.d.s@gmail.com">pravin.d.s@gmail.com</a> <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:pravin.d.s@gmail.com" target="_blank">pravin.d.s@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr"><div><div><div>Hi All,<br><br></div> During discussing on query from Shriramana (in cc), we found that existing ligature of Samvruthokaram (പാലു) is bit different from accepted.<br>
<br></div> It was committed by Rahul Bhalerao (in cc) long time back, but unfortunately there is no reference for this change in commit log. [1]<br>
<br></div> So before reverting this change, i would like to know if there is any reference or attestation available for same.<br><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><br></div>
<div>
Attached Image: Top image showing existing rendering for പാലു and bottom image shows expected rendering of Samvruthokaram.<br><br></div><div>Best Regards,<br>Pravin Satpute<br></div><div><br><br>1. <a href="https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1013183#c1" target="_blank">https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1013183#c1</a><br>
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</blockquote></div><br></div>