What ꣽ means
It is Jain Om, a five-part salutation compressed into one sign. Jain tradition reads its strokes as the pañca-parameṣṭhi, the five revered groups named in the Namokar prayer: enlightened beings, liberated souls, religious leaders, teachers, and monks.
Jain Aum serves both as a devotional sign and a mnemonic for those five groups. Jain use includes manuscripts, yantras (ritual diagrams), temple art, emblems, print, and community websites. Across Nagari writing, Om forms developed through several shapes, including left-turning and right-turning spirals, before the familiar modern form. Jain-Nagari and modern-Devanagari manuscripts show this Jain sign; a Jaipur painting from about 1840 is a dated example.
Is ꣽ the same as ॐ?
No. It is a distinct Jain Devanagari character. It refers to the same broad Om sound and idea as ॐ, but it is not a font variant of that sign; ꣽ's five-part shape carries the Jain reading.
One Jain emblem used outside India combines this sign with a universe outline and three-jewel symbolism. In that emblem ꣽ replaces the svastika; those added meanings belong to the whole emblem, not to ꣽ alone.
Why does ꣽ look different in some fonts?
Fonts change its drawn shape, not its identity.
As of 2026, Annapurna SIL documents a JainOm alternate with an extended top stroke. In connected Devanagari text, that stroke can extend rightward and join a following letter, making ꣽ look different from its standalone form.
Sacred and tradition-specific: it signals Jain religious context.
Using it as generic spiritual decoration can erase the Jain context.
What it means when someone sends it to you
2 readingsDon't confuse it with
1Questions people ask
1Why does ꣽ show as a box?
The selected font may not contain ꣽ. As of 2026, a missing glyph can appear as a box; choose a font that supports Devanagari Extended.
How to type ꣽ
ꣽ\A8FDCodes and encoding1 code points
A visible symbol can contain several code points. JS .length counts UTF-16 units; UTF-8 counts bytes.