Dhivehi Writing Systems - The Modern Script

The Modern Script

Thaana is the first Dhivehi script written from right to left. It was inspired on numbers. It uses numerals as consonants and adds the diacritical (vowel) marks of the Arabic language.

The first Thaana manuscripts are written in a crude early version of this script called Gabulhi Thaana (incipient Thaana), where the Arabic numerals have not yet been slanted 45 degrees and still look like numbers. Since no ancient writings in Thaana written before the 18th century have been found, it is doubtful that this script could be much older.

The main reason why the Divehi Akuru were abandoned in favour of the Thaana script was owing to the need the learned Maldivians had to include words and sentences in Arabic while writing in the Dhivehi language.

The most intriguing fact about the Thaana alphabet is its order (hā, shaviyani, nūnu, rā, bā, etc.). Its sequence doesn’t follow the ancient order of the other Indic scripts (like Sinhala or Tamil) or the order of the Arabic alphabet. In fact the order of the Thaana alphabet doesn’t follow any logic at all. This fact points to a likely esoteric origin of Thaana, namely to a script that was scrambled on purpose in order to keep it secret from average islanders. At their origin the Thaana characters, which are based on Arabic numerals and other symbols, were used in fandita (local magic or sorcery) to write magical spells. Many of these arcane incantations included Arabic quotations, which were written from right to left. Maldivian learned men, who were all well versed in sorcery, eventually saw the advantages of writing in this simplified hidden script. Hence, with the passing of time, Thaana came out of the shadows and was gradually adopted for everyday use.

This script is currently in use as the sole Dhivehi writing system. While at their origin documents written in Thaana were full of Arabic words and quotations, the tendency is now to include as little Arabic script as possible, especially since special Thaana letters with dots were introduced to replace Arabic letters. The Thaana script is widely used nowadays by Maldivians both in official and unofficial documents, for the literacy rate of the Maldive society is very high by South Asian standards.