Multani Letter Pha

𑊜 represents Pha, a consonant in the Multani script.

Multani was used around Multan and northern Sindh and belongs to the Landa family of regional scripts. Khudawadi, Khojki, and Gurmukhi are related traditions, but each has its own Pha letter; they are not alternate forms of 𑊜.

Multani writing uses separate letters in consonant clusters rather than joined forms, and it marks vowels sparsely. The vowel heard with a consonant can depend on context, so read 𑊜 as part of a spelling, not as a complete word.

When does Multani appear in print?

Printed examples are documented by 1819.

An 1819 New Testament is the earliest dated printed example discussed in the encoding proposal. The Baptist missionary press had made metal type for Christian literature. The proposal also covers printed and handwritten Multani specimens from 1819–1916; these dates mark documented examples, not the beginning of the script.

Multani served routine and commercial writing before appearing in literary print. It later became a historical script as Seraiki writing shifted to an Arabic-derived orthography; as of 2026, contemporary Seraiki writing is described as Arabic-derived. By the first quarter of the 20th century, specimens showed spelling changes, including letters used for more than one sound.