Chakma Letter Caa

It starts like the “ch” in English “chair.”

Chakma spelling notes describe an affricate: a t-like stop released straight into “sh.” Some Chakma orthography accounts also give the letter an s-like reading.

The consonant carries a long “aa,” like holding the “a” in “father.” A vowel sign changes that built-in vowel; 𑄴 suppresses it, often at a syllable end.

Where did Chakma writing come from?

It descends through the Mon-Burmese writing tradition.

Its lineage runs from the ancient South Asian Brahmi family through Pallava into Mon-Burmese writing. It also resembles Khmer and Lanna scripts, but resemblance alone cannot show that 𑄌 was borrowed from either.

The script is also called Ojhapath. A script-history database lists 1903 as its earliest recorded date; that is a date in the record, not the script’s origin. The Chakma Autonomous District Council says village healers, called boidyos, preserved it to record medicinal plants, herbs, and roots. As of 2026, Chakma is written in both Chakma and Bengali scripts, and Chakma-script teaching is reported in Bangladesh and Mizoram. A 2025 report from Rangamati describes a class helping children reconnect with the language and cultural texts.