Tirhuta letter au

It is Tirhuta’s independent letter for the vowel transliterated as au.

As an independent vowel in Tirhuta, it starts a syllable without an opening consonant. If a syllable starts with a consonant, the same vowel uses a dependent sign attached to that consonant instead.

Alone, 𑒎 can serve as a Tirhuta letter sample; in a word, it marks a vowel-initial syllable.

How did the Tirhuta script develop?

It grew from older Brahmi-derived writing into a distinct script.

The eastern Gauḍī branch, also called Proto-Bengali, developed from Kutila, a branch of Brahmi, by the 10th century. Tirhuta, Bengali, Newari, and Odia developed as distinct scripts in this family by the 14th century. The earliest surviving Tirhuta records are temple inscriptions in Bihar and Nepal from the 13th century; that dates the script, not this exact letter.

From at least the 14th century, scribes used Tirhuta for scholarly and literary works in Maithili and Sanskrit; Maithili Brahmin communities also kept pañjī, genealogical registers, in it. Tirhuta remained the dominant script for Maithili until the 20th century. Metal-type printing in Maithili began in the 1920s; Devanagari formally replaced Tirhuta for Maithili in the 1950s. Around 2011, Tirhuta was still used for genealogical records, religious manuscripts, letters, books, and some signs in northern Bihar.

Tirhuta au vs Bengali au: which belongs here?

Use the Tirhuta letter with Tirhuta text.

Bengali ঔ is the independent vowel letter used in Bengali. Tirhuta and Bengali descend from the same eastern Gauḍī branch, but their characters and shaping rules are script-specific; similar forms can behave differently in combinations. Choose the glyph that matches the surrounding script.