Dives Akuru Initial Ra

It comes first in text order but sits above the cluster. This repha form marks ra at the start of a consonant cluster—two or more consonants with no vowel between them. It is encoded before the next consonant without a virama, the Dives Akuru sign used to form many other conjuncts.

Dives Akuru grew from the old South Asian Brahmi writing tradition through the Grantha script. It is most closely related to medieval Sinhala script and shares features with Tigalari, a script associated with Tulu. The older style, evēla akuru (“script of that time” in Dhivehi), and the later Dives Akuru are phases of the same script. The earliest Maldivian inscription, a coral-stone record dated to the 6th–8th centuries, is in Grantha. Distinctive Dives Akuru appears on Buddhist statues dated to the 9th–10th centuries.

A consistent written record begins in the 12th century with lōmāfānu, copper-plate grants used for official orders such as mosque construction and maintenance. From the 16th century, paper decrees called fatkoḷu replaced the plates; some records include Arabic text. Thaana later became Dhivehi’s regular script. Dives Akuru remained in use on some southern islands into the early 20th century.