Malayalam Digit Four

It marks four in Malayalam numbers. Malayalam writing has roots in Vatteluttu, an older rounded script used in Kerala and nearby Tamil-speaking areas, and Grantha, used for Sanskrit. Vatteluttu inscriptions date to the fourth century; this does not date ൪. Arthur Coke Burnell's 1878 survey of South Indian writing called the numerals' history uncertain, with few examples before the mid-18th century.

A Chera inscription from southwest India, dated 466 CE, has a different sign for ten in a territorial name. Burnell read it as “ten-thousand district,” perhaps referring to tribute. Older Malayalam notation paired unit digits with separate signs for ten, hundred, and thousand.