Ahom Letter Jha

It writes the consonant jha inside an Ahom syllable. On its own, 𑜙 is a letter, not a word or a reaction. Ahom consonants carry a default vowel; a vowel sign can change it, and a visible final mark can cancel it.

Ahom writing served the Tai Ahom language and community in Assam, in northeastern India. The oldest surviving Ahom text is the Snake Pillar inscription, associated with King Siuw Hum Miung and dated 1497–1539. Ahom manuscripts carried royal chronicles, ritual texts, and other community knowledge.

Why does 𑜙 look different in older manuscripts?

The older manuscript shape is a variant of the same letter. The form used for modern printing follows the main shape adopted during the revival in the 1920s.

Ahom writing receded as Assamese language and script increasingly took over court and public writing from the late 17th century; priests kept parts of the tradition into the 19th century. Revival publishing began with an Ahom–Assamese–English dictionary in 1920, and a computer font sped up publication of Ahom texts in 1997.

The Ahom kingdom was established in the early 13th century. Accounts trace its founders’ migration to Mau Long in Yunnan, southwest China, and suggest they may have brought the script. Other proposals connect Ahom writing with older Mon or Pyu scripts from mainland Southeast Asia. These are competing accounts of the script’s history, not proof that this letter descends directly from any one tradition.

How do I type 𑜙?

Use an Ahom keyboard or a Unicode input method. The Latin transliteration “jh” names the letter’s romanized form; it is not the encoded Ahom character.