When the national hero Muhammad Thakurufaanu Al-Azam defeated the Portuguese, he standardized Thaana script. Thaana was easier to write with a reed pen on palm leaves, it allowed for precise transcription of Arabic (vital for Islam), and it broke from the Buddhist past.
Banduvah Akuru is not a script in the linguistic sense – it has no phonemes or syntax. It is a , a visual magic that treats written symbols as autonomous beings with will and power. As modernization erases traditional healing and sorcery, Banduvah Akuru faces total extinction. However, a few dedicated folklorists and occult researchers in Sri Lanka are now attempting to record and preserve this remarkable heritage before the last kattadiya passes away. banduvah akuru