U+1158D "𑖍" Siddham Letter Au Unicode Character

U+1158D "𑖍" Siddham Letter Au is a character used in the Siddham script, an historical abugida primarily employed for writing Sanskrit and for sacred Buddhist texts in East Asia, particularly in Japan where it remains in liturgical use. This specific letter represents the independent vowel sound "au," equivalent to the Devanagari vowel sign औ, and it is distinct from the conjunct vowel form created by attaching the vowel mark for 'au' to a consonant. The glyph is typically composed of a horizontal line at the top with a curved stroke extending downward and to the left, often with a small hook or tail, reflecting the aesthetic style of Siddham calligraphy. Its inclusion in Unicode facilitates the digital preservation and scholarly study of this ancient script in modern computing environments.