Siddham Letter La

It is the Siddham consonant read “la” by default. In Siddham script, a consonant carries a short “a” unless a vowel sign changes it or a virama cancels it. A lone 𑖩 gives the syllable la, but not enough context to identify a word or a specific mantra.

What does it mean when someone sends 𑖩?

Alone, it is a letter sound, not a complete chat message. If someone sends 𑖩 by itself, read it as the Siddham syllable la; don't infer a specific Buddhist meaning without the surrounding text or practice.

Siddham belongs to a family of South Asian scripts based on Brahmi, an ancient writing system. Its forms developed around the 5th century; a Bodhgaya inscription dated c. 588–589 is an early witness to Siddhamātṛkā. It was used to write Sanskrit, including Buddhist manuscripts.

Buddhist Sanskrit texts carried it across Central and East Asia; it was used in China, Korea, and Japan. Chinese and Japanese monks also studied Sanskrit sounds through Siddham and arranged consonant clusters into reference tables. As of 2026, the Japanese Shingon and Tendai Buddhist schools use Siddham, called bonji, in ritual writing such as sutras, mantras, and seed syllables, as well as calligraphy.

How do I type 𑖩?

Use a Siddham-aware input or transliteration tool. For longer Sanskrit text, such a tool can convert typed transliteration into Siddham; check the result with a Siddham-capable font.

A vowel sign changes the built-in short “a”; a virama removes it. The virama also joins consonants into clusters, which fonts may show horizontally, vertically, or as ligatures. Without the needed shaping support, the letters can remain separate with the virama visible.

A box or hexadecimal placeholder means the app or font cannot render Siddham; the character's identity and reading are unchanged. Regional letterforms also differ: Korean Siddham forms may look unlike the Chinese and Japanese ones. Unicode's reference glyphs use Japanese forms.