Modi Letter Lla

It writes the Marathi consonant pronounced with the tongue tip curled back. This is a retroflex lateral: air passes along the sides of the tongue. The letter has no word meaning on its own.

Modi developed from the Nagari writing tradition, a script family that also includes Devanagari. Traditions credit its creation to Hemadri, a minister in the Yadava court, or Balaji Avaji, a minister under Shivaji, but the evidence for either story is uncertain. Historical accounts describe Modi in use by the fifteenth century; its emergence is placed in the sixteenth century, and its oldest surviving document dates to the early seventeenth century.

Connected forms made Modi quicker for clerks writing court orders, letters, and revenue records. The script also carried education, journalism, and everyday paperwork. In the nineteenth century, print increasingly favored Balbodh Devanagari, the standard Devanagari form used for Marathi. As of 2026, documented revival work includes searching archives and digitizing Modi material; the script also holds symbolic value in Maratha history.