Kaithi Letter Au

𑂌 is the Kaithi independent vowel letter for au. Use it when au begins a word or syllable.

After a consonant, Kaithi writes that vowel with an attached sign instead. The Kaithi vowel sign AU is 𑂸; it joins the consonant, while 𑂌 stands alone.

Where did people use Kaithi?

Kaithi is documented in administrative use by at least the 16th century. A reported copper plate carries a Sanskrit land grant attributed to Baj Bahadur Chandradeva, who ruled around 1090; if its script is truly Kaithi, it would be the earliest attested example.

Kaithi was used for accounts, correspondence, private records, trade, and religious and literary manuscripts. British authorities standardized written Kaithi for formal education in 1875; Bihar made it official for courts and administration in 1880, replacing Persian in its court records.

Languages written in Kaithi included Bhojpuri, Magahi, Awadhi, Maithili, Urdu, and related languages. Kaithi is related to Devanagari and Gujarati; Kaithi and Devanagari developed in parallel from an older source. The script is also described as a source for Mahajani and Syloti Nagri. By the early 20th century, Devanagari had eclipsed it.

Why do Kaithi letter forms vary?

Regional styles and fonts give Kaithi different drawings. Unicode 17 describes Bhojpuri, Magahi, and Maithili presentation styles; the representative glyphs in its code charts follow Magahi style.