Multani Letter Dha

It grew from Landa, a family of writing systems used for trade. Multani took shape in the Multan region and northern Sindh during the 18th century. Merchants used it for records and other routine writing.

The script moved from records into books: the Baptist Mission Press published the first Multani book, a New Testament, in 1819. Under British administration, Arabic script became the standard for Sindh’s languages in the late 19th century; Multani remained in use into the 20th century. As of 2026, Seraiki is written in Arabic script.

Why does this letter look different?

Multani has no single standard form across print and handwriting. Its reference shapes draw on historical printed and handwritten specimens, so different fonts can give the same letter noticeably different outlines. An unfamiliar outline alone does not make it a different character.