Kawi Punctuation Spiral

It frames an opening, a major break, or a formal boundary. Kawi punctuation works by position and sequence: 𑽎 beside other marks organizes inscriptions and manuscripts.

The 2020 Kawi encoding proposal labels the Jurungan inscription dated 876 CE as early Kawi and shows 𑽎 at both ends of the Pohsarang inscription dated 1012 CE. These examples show the mark in use, but do not establish when it first appeared.

Is 𑽎 a siddham sign?

Comparable in function, but not securely traced to a specific siddham sign. The 2021 review of Kawi punctuation said several signs may carry a siddham legacy, while some may instead come from decorative double danda. The exact ancestry of 𑽎 remains unresolved.

A 2020 museum account describes Kawi as a predecessor of Javanese script; Unicode also connects it with Balinese writing traditions. These are script-history connections, not evidence that the spiral is interchangeable punctuation in Javanese or Balinese.

What changes between Kawi typefaces?

Kawi styles changed, and fonts choose among them. Kawi glyphs vary by period, place, and scribal style. Unicode Standard 17.0 describes its reference typeface as combining early and later forms; a font may also use a newly designed Kawi style. The outline can change while the encoded character stays 𑽎.

A 2022 Unicode implementation note reported no standard Kawi keyboard layout, so input depends on the selected keyboard.