Khudawadi Digit Zero

It writes the value zero in Khudawadi numbers.

It has the same numeric value as 0 in Latin numerals. Khudawadi, also called Khudabadi, is a historical script used to write Sindhi in India and Pakistan.

Khudawadi is Landa-based, from a family of regional merchant scripts, and related to Sharada, another historical South Asian script. A 2022 interview says the earliest likely mention of the name “Khuda Wadi” appears in a book from 1843; that dates the name in a record, not this digit’s shape.

How did a merchant script become a standard?

The Khudawadi merchant script served Sindhi communities around Hyderabad, Sindh, for notes, accounts, and business correspondence.

In the 1860s, officials chose it as a written standard for education and administration. The Khudawadi standard was published by the Government of Bombay in 1868, drawing some characters from another developed Sindhi script used in Shikarpur.

Khudawadi appeared in schools, court records, and print. Early books were lithographed; metal-type editions followed in the 1870s, and the Sindhi literary journal Sukhiri used it in 1899. It also appeared in Bible translations and inscriptions. Khojki and Multani are other scripts in the Landa family. In the late 19th century, an Arabic-based script became official for Sindhi, and Khudawadi’s public role declined.