Ahom Letter Dha

It marks the consonant called dha in Ahom’s Latin-letter spelling.

Ahom is an abugida, a writing system where consonant letters include an inherent “a.” Separate vowel signs can change that vowel, and the visible killer cancels it; medial consonant signs can follow the first consonant. So 𑜔 contributes to a written syllable rather than naming a word on its own.

The script was used to write Tai Ahom for the Ahom kingdom and appears in stone inscriptions, coins, brass plates, and bark manuscripts. The oldest surviving Ahom text is the Snake Pillar inscription, from King Siuw Hum Miung’s reign (1497–1539).

Why do Ahom spellings and displays vary?

Manuscript history and screen rendering can both affect what you see.

Ahom’s recorded history runs through Mon-Burmese writing traditions and the regional family of Tai writing called Lik-Tai. Tai Le and Khamti are related scripts in that wider family, but their letters are not interchangeable with Ahom. A possible connection with Mau Long has been suggested from similar inscriptions in Yunnan; resemblance alone does not establish the script’s origin.

Tai Ahom declined as a mother tongue from the late 17th century, while traditional priests continued using the language and script in religious practice through the 19th century. Modern print revival began with a 1920 Ahom-Assamese-English dictionary. Older manuscripts and modern teaching forms can differ in spelling or reading.