Multani Letter Ya

It writes the consonant at the start of English “yes.”

Inside a Multani word, 𑊡 marks that sound; it does not carry a separate word or message by itself.

How did Multani writing change?

Multani follows the Landa model, a South Asian writing tradition tied to commercial writing, and was used to write Saraiki, a language of Punjab and northern Sindh in present-day Pakistan.

The Baptist Missionary Press later made metal type for literary and Christian printing. The first book printed in Multani was a New Testament (1819).

As of 2026, Saraiki is written in an Arabic-derived script, while Unicode describes Multani as historical and no longer in use.

Why does 𑊡 look different or disappear?

The letter has one encoded identity but no single standard outline.

Historical printed and handwritten examples use different shapes. The Multani repertoire brings these attested forms together, while fonts handle glyph variants.

If a box or replacement mark appears, the text may still contain 𑊡; the active font may lack it. Choose a font with Multani coverage instead of substituting a letter from another script.