Dives Akuru Virama

It joins Dives Akuru consonants into a conjunct. Place 𑤾 between consonants to request their joined written form. It can also link a consonant with its built-in vowel removed to a separate vowel letter. The distinct Dives Akuru sign halanta, 𑤽, suppresses a consonant's built-in vowel and serves other functions, so the two marks are not interchangeable.

The history of Dives Akuru is visible in a layered record. The earliest Maldivian inscription described is a Grantha text on a coral block (6th–8th centuries); distinctive Dives Akuru appears on Buddhist statues in Māle (9th–10th centuries). A consistent written record begins with 12th-century copperplate grants for building and maintaining mosques.

After the 14th century, scholars distinguish later Dives Akuru from its earlier style, evēla akuru. In the 16th century, Dhivehi writing used it alongside Arabic, while broad-nib writing shaped its letterforms. Thaana appeared alongside it in the 18th century and had replaced it as the regular script for Dhivehi by the turn of the 19th century. Its lineage runs through Brahmi and Grantha; its closest comparison is medieval Sinhala, with traits also found in Tigalari.