Indic Siyaq Number Five

It means five in the Arabic-script number system used right to left.

South Asian Siyaq was also called raqm or rakam, Arabic for “account.”

For 15, prefixed five 𞲧 comes before ten 𞱺; 𞱵 stands alone.

What was Siyaq used for?

For financial and state accounts.

Unlike older abjad, which gave letters number values, Siyaq handled larger totals. Its oldest surviving accounts are Baghdad revenue registers for Abbasid ruler al-Moqtader, dating to the early 10th century.

The wider notation served state accounts in the Ottoman, Safavid, and Mughal empires. In South Asia it was common under Mughal rule by the 17th century and remained in use into the middle of the 20th. Its coded marks made totals hard for outsiders to read.