Arabic Letter Beheh Initial Form

It represents Sindhi bhe, a voiced “bh” sound with a breathy release. Sindhi adapted Arabic-derived letter shapes by adding dots for sounds that Arabic writing did not distinguish. Bhe has four dots below its bāʾ-like body. Its initial, medial, final, and isolated shapes mark where it joins, not different sounds.

The letter belongs to a longer Sindhi writing tradition. Seven Sindhi verses are recorded in a 17th-century Persian manuscript attributed to Qazi Qadan. The expanded Arabic-derived Sindhi standard was codified in 1853; that date marks standardization, not the invention of the letter.

When should I use this form?

Use the base Sindhi letter for ordinary text. “Initial” means the letter joins to the character after it. This pre-shaped compatibility form corresponds to the base letter with an initial-position tag; Arabic-script text normally leaves the font and shaping system to choose the shape.

That distinction matters when searching, exchanging, or normalizing text: strings can look alike while containing different characters. Fonts may also lack or draw this form differently, causing a box or an unjoined shape.

Why can Sindhi use different scripts?

Sindhi can be written in more than one script. Standard Sindhi writing in Pakistan uses an expanded Perso-Arabic alphabet; Devanagari is also used for Sindhi in India, and Khudawadi was historically used for merchant and everyday records. The Devanagari equivalent of bhe is भ.

In India, script choice has also been tied to cultural identity. This form points to the Arabic-derived Sindhi writing tradition; it is not a general-purpose Arabic letter.