Dhives Akuru

Dhives akuru
𑤞𑤱𑤩𑤵𑤭𑤱 𑤀𑤌𑤳𑤧𑤳
Dhives akuru; 𑤞𑤱𑤩𑤵𑤭𑤱 𑤀𑤌𑤳𑤧𑤳
	Dives Akkuru Chart of the calligraphic form used in the 16th - 18th c.e.
Script type	Abugida
Period	9th-10th centuries CE (earliest attestation) to 1927
Direction	Left-to-right
Languages	Maldivian
Related scripts
Parent systems	Egyptian Proto-Sinaitic Phoenician Aramaic Brahmi Tamil Brahmi Dhives akuru; ; ; ; ; ;
Sister systems	Grantha; Pallava; Vatteluttu;
ISO 15924
ISO 15924	Diak (342), Dives Akuru
Unicode
Unicode alias	Dives Akuru
Unicode range	U+11900–U+1195F Dives Akuru;
	This article contains phonetic transcriptions in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA. For the distinction between [ ], / / and ⟨ ⟩, see IPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters.

This article contains Indic text. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks or boxes, misplaced vowels or missing conjuncts instead of Indic text.

Dhives Akuru, later called Dhivehi Akuru (meaning Maldivian letters) is a script formerly used for the Maldivian language. The name can be alternatively spelled Dives Akuru or Divehi Akuru using the ISO 15919 Romanization scheme, as the "d" is unaspirated.

History

Dhives Akuru developed from Brahmi. The oldest attested inscription bears a clear resemblance to South Indian epigraphical records of the sixth-eighth centuries, written in local subtypes of the Brahmi script.^[4] The letters on later inscriptions are clearly of the cursive type, strongly reminding of the medieval scripts used in Sri Lanka and South India such as Sinhala, Grantha and Vatteluttu. There are also some elements from the Kannada-Telugu scripts visible.^[5]^[4] The form of this script attested in loamaafaanu (copper plates) of the 12th and 13th centuries and in inscriptions on coral stone dating back to the Buddhist period (~200 BC to 12th century AD) was called by H.C.P Bell Evēla Akuru (meaning "script of yore")^[4]^{:82-83; footnote 5} to distinguish it from the more recent form of the same script. The most recent form (starting from around the 14th century) was more calligraphic and the letter forms changed a little. Like other Brahmic scripts, Dhives Akuru descended ultimately from the Brahmi script and thus was written from left to right.

Dhives Akuru was still used in some southern atolls along with Thaana until the end of the 19th century. The last known official document from the southern atolls (in Dhives Akuru and Thaana) was written by Haajee Muhammad Kaleygefaanu in 1927.^[6] Since then its use has been limited to scholars and hobbyists. It can still be found on gravestones and some monuments, including the stone base of the pillars supporting the main structure of the ancient Friday mosque in Malé. Bell obtained an astrology book written in Dhives Akuru in Addu Atoll, in the south of the Maldives, during one of his trips. This book is now kept in the National Archives of Sri Lanka in Colombo.

Bodufenvalhuge Sidi, an eminent Maldivian scholar, wrote a book called Divehi Akuru in 1959, prompted by then Prime Minister Ibrahim Nasir.^[7]

Letters

The script name in modern typeface

Consonants

	Inaspirate	Aspirate	Inaspirate	Aspirate	Nasal	Approximant	Sibilant	Fricative	Other
	Unvoiced		Voiced		Nasal	Approximant	Sibilant	Fricative	Other
velar	𑤌 ka	𑤍 kha ^{[note 1]}	𑤎 ga	𑤏 gha ^{[note 1]}	𑤐 ṅa			𑤭 ha
palatal	𑤑 ca	𑤒 cha ^{[note 1]}	𑤓 ja		𑤕 ña	𑤥 ya	𑤪 śa		𑤦 yya
retroflex	𑤖 ṭa	𑤘 ḍa	𑤙 ḍha ^{[note 1]}	𑤚 ṇa	𑤧 ra	𑤫 ṣa		𑤮 ḷa
dental	𑤛 ta	𑤜 tha ^{[note 1]}	𑤝 da	𑤞 dha ^{[note 1]}	𑤟 na	𑤨 la	𑤬 sa
labial	𑤠 pa	𑤡 pha ^{[note 1]}	𑤢 ba	𑤣 bha ^{[note 1]}	𑤤 ma	𑤩 va
other							𑤯 za

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Letters representing aspirated sounds, mainly used in Sanskrit transcription

A few consonants can be marked as nasalised by prefixing the diacritic ⟨𑤿⟩.

Nasalised consonants

𑤿𑤎 n̆ga	𑤿𑤘 n̆ḍa	𑤿𑤝 n̆da	𑤿𑤢 m̆ba

Additional consonants

Some additional consonants are transcribed by adding a nuqta ⟨𑥃⟩ to certain letters.


𑤠𑥃𑥃 fa

Vowels

Vowels and part-vowels, their diacritics and examples with ⟨𑤌⟩, ka.
𑤀 a	𑤁 ā	𑤂 i	𑤃 ī	𑤄 u	𑤅 ū	𑤆 e	◌ ai	𑤉 o	◌ ^{[note 1]}	◌ ^{[note 2]}	◌ ^{[note 2]}
◌ ^{[note 3]}	◌𑤰	◌𑤱	◌𑤲	◌𑤳	◌𑤴	◌𑤵	◌𑤷	◌𑤸	◌𑤽	◌𑤻	◌𑤼
𑤌 ka	𑤌𑤰 kā	𑤌𑤱 ki	𑤌𑤲 kī	𑤌𑤳 ku	𑤌𑤴 kū	𑤌𑤵 ke	𑤌𑤷 kai	𑤌𑤸 ko	𑤌𑤽 k	𑤌𑤻	𑤌𑤼

↑ The halanta (sukūn) is a diacritic that suppresses a letter's inherent vowel, leaving an isolated consonant. It can also be used for the diacritic u^[8].
1 2 The anusvara and candrabindu (used in Evēla Akuru^[9]) have no independent forms. They indicate that a vowel is nasalised.
↑ The vowel a has no corresponding diacritic since every consonant carries an inherent a.

Numerals

Numerals
𑥐 0	𑥑 1	𑥒 2	𑥓 3	𑥔 4	𑥕 5	𑥖 6	𑥗 7	𑥘 8	𑥙 9

The numeral signs in Dhives Akuru are the basis of nine of the letters used in Thaana, the modern Maldivian alphabet.

Unicode

The Dhives Akuru script was added to Unicode version 13.0 in March 2020, with 72 characters located in the Dives Akuru block (U+11900–U+1195F):^[10]

Dives Akuru^[1]^[2] Official Unicode Consortium code chart (PDF)
	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	A	B	C	D	E	F
U+1190x	𑤀	𑤁	𑤂	𑤃	𑤄	𑤅	𑤆			𑤉			𑤌	𑤍	𑤎	𑤏
U+1191x	𑤐	𑤑	𑤒	𑤓		𑤕	𑤖		𑤘	𑤙	𑤚	𑤛	𑤜	𑤝	𑤞	𑤟
U+1192x	𑤠	𑤡	𑤢	𑤣	𑤤	𑤥	𑤦	𑤧	𑤨	𑤩	𑤪	𑤫	𑤬	𑤭	𑤮	𑤯
U+1193x	𑤰	𑤱	𑤲	𑤳	𑤴	𑤵		𑤷	𑤸			𑤻	𑤼	𑤽	𑤾	𑤿
U+1194x	𑥀	𑥁	𑥂	𑥃	𑥄	𑥅	𑥆
U+1195x	𑥐	𑥑	𑥒	𑥓	𑥔	𑥕	𑥖	𑥗	𑥘	𑥙
Notes 1.^As of Unicode version 17.0 2.^Grey areas indicate non-assigned code points

References

Bell, H.C.P. Excerpta Maldiviana. Reprint 1922-1935 edn. New Delhi 1998.
Bell, H.C.P. The Maldive islands. Monograph on the History, Archaeology and Epigraphy. Reprint 1940 edn. Male' 1986.
Divehi Bahuge Qawaaaid. Vols 1 to 5. Ministry of Education. Male' 1978.
Divehīnge Tarika. Divehīnge Bas. Divehibahāi Tārikhah Khidumaiykurā Qaumī Majlis. Male' 2000.
Geiger, Wilhelm. Maldivian Linguistic Studies. Reprint 1919 edn. Novelty Press. Male' 1986.
Gunasena, Bandusekara. The Evolution of the Sinhalese Script. Godage Poth Mendura. Colombo 1999.
Romero-Frias, Xavier. The Maldive Islanders, A Study of the Popular Culture of an Ancient Ocean Kingdom. Barcelona 1999.
Sivaramamurti, C. Indian Epigraphy and South Indian Scripts. Bulletin of the Madras Government Museum. Chennai 1999.
Naajih, Mohamed (15 July 2023). Dhives Akuru [font guide]. Easa Online Poetry, 2023.

Citations

↑ Caro, Fernando (2023-09-28). "Typography as a way of preserving an ancient writing system: A new digital font for Maldivian Dhives Akuru script by Fernando Caro". Maritime Asia Heritage Survey. Retrieved 2026-07-20.
↑ Caro, Fernando (2021). "The Missing Scripts 2021: Dives Akuru". Atelier National de Recherche Typographique (ANRT). Retrieved 2026-07-20.
↑ Pandey, Anshuman (2018-01-23). Proposal to encode Dives Akuru in Unicode (PDF). Unicode. pp. 2, 4.
1 2 3 Gippert, Jost (2005). "A Glimpse into the Buddhist Past of the Maldives: I. An Early Prakrit Inscription" (PDF). Wiener Zeitschrift für die Kunde Südasiens. 1 (18): 82–83. doi:10.1553/wzksxlviiis81. ISSN 0084-0084.
↑ Mohamed, Naseema (2005). "Note on the Early History of the Maldives". Archipel. 70 (1): 7–14. doi:10.3406/arch.2005.3970. ISSN 0044-8613.
↑ Pandey, Anshuman (2018-01-23). Proposal to encode Dives Akuru in Unicode (PDF). Unicode. pp. 4, 70.
↑ Sidi, Bodufenvalhuge (1959). "Divehi Akuru". Academia (in Divehi and English).
↑ Pandey, Anshuman (2018-01-23). Proposal to encode Dives Akuru in Unicode (PDF). Unicode. p. 16.
↑ Pandey, Anshuman (2018-01-23). Proposal to encode Dives Akuru in Unicode (PDF). Unicode. p. 50.
↑ "Unicode 13.0.0". unicode.org. Retrieved 2020-02-06.

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