The Divehi Akuru Book
In 1959, during Sultan Mohammed Farid’s reign, former Prime Minister (and later President) Ibrahim Nasir expressed a wish to have a book written about the former Dhivehi script which by that time was largely ignored by Maldivians. Thus, he contacted As-Sayyid Bodufenvalhuge Sidi, an eminent Maldivian scholar, who swiftly obliged.
By means of this small book Bodufenvalhuge Sidi (1888–1970) wanted to clearly show the fact that in ancient times Maldivians were writing from left to right in their own script. Hence Divehi Akuru is perhaps the only book ever written in Thaana that opens from the left side.
As-Sayyid Bodufenvalhuge Sidi was one of the very few Maldivian people of modern times who understood the now-forgotten ancient Dhivehi letters in which parts of royal grants, warrants and deeds were written. He learnt this ancient script in Addu Atoll. Until early in the twentieth century, all government correspondence to and from Addu Atoll was written using these ancient Dhivehi letters.
The last chapter of this book shows a text where the Divehi Akuru are coming along with Arabic script. As the reader acquainted with Dhivehi writing can see, this book is Volume 1 (evvana bai). Perhaps Bodufenvalhuge Sidi had the intention of publishing a second, or perhaps even a third volume on the subject. But unfortunately this important Dhivehi learned man died before being able to do so.
Even though H.C.P. Bell did a very careful and thorough research on the Dhivehi documents, Prime Minister Ibrahim Nasir’s intention was to have a book on the ancient script of the Maldives written by a Maldivian. Prime Minister Nasir's request to Bodufenvalhuge Sidi was done in order to clarify H.C.P. Bell’s misinterpretations, no matter how few. A staunch Maldivian nationalist, Nasir took this issue as a matter of national pride.
Present day members of Maldivian cultural institutions are aware of the lacunae in Bell's research and of Bodufenvalhuge Sidi's valuable contribution to mend matters, but little has been done to correct those inaccuracies. Still, H.C.P. Bell’s broad and valuable contributions to the study of the Dhivehi language and scripts should not be underestimated.
Read more about this topic: Dhivehi Writing Systems
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