Sharada headstroke

It marks a word that continues across an imperfect spot.

Sharada descended from Gupta Brahmi, an older Indian script, through the intermediate Kutila script and became distinct in the 8th century. Related South Asian writing systems include Devanagari, Takri, Landa, and Gurmukhi. The earliest record is disputed: one scholar dates the Hund inscription to 774–775 CE; another dates its forms to the 10th or 11th century and points to 9th-century coins.

Sharada appears in inscriptions and manuscripts; as of 2008, its use was described as limited, mainly for Kashmiri Pandit rituals such as horoscopes. Sharada letters have no fixed rule for joining headstrokes, so fonts may leave them apart.