reprints of traditional old books like the . It is also used by people of Addu and Fuvahmulah when writing songs or poetry in their language variants. The letter Shaviyani The letter Shaviyani () is the second letter of the Thaana alphabet. It represents the voiceless retroflex fricative , and is never used at the beginning of words except in the name of the letter itself () The Dhivehi 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 forgotten by Maldivians. Thus, he contacted As-Sayyid Bodufenvalhuge Sidi (1888–1970), an eminent Maldivian scholar, who swiftly obliged. Hence is perhaps the only book ever written in Thaana that opens from the left side. Romanisation of Maldivian Towards the mid-1970s, during President Ibrahim Nasir's tenure, telex machines were introduced by the Maldivian Government in the local administration. The new telex equipment was viewed as a great progress, however the local Thaana script was deemed to be an obstacle because messages on the telex machines could only be written in the Latin script. Following this, , an official Latin alphabet, was approved by the Maldivian government in 1976 and implemented by the administration. Booklets were printed and dispatched to all atoll and island offices, as well as schools and merchant liners. The Thaana script was reinstated by President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom shortly after he took power in 1978. It continued to be used as the primary romanisation system of the Maldivian Language. Devanagari script for Mahl Although the Mahl dialect of the Dhivehi language spoken in the island of Minicoy in Union territory of Lakshadweep, India is also written mainly using the Thaana alphabet, in the 1950s a Devanagari script was modified to write the Maldivian dialect. References Bell, H. C. P. Excerpta Maldiviana. Reprint 1922–1935 edn. New Delhi 1998. Bell, H. C. P. The Maldive islands. Monograph on the History, Archaeology and Epigraphy. Reprint 1940 edn. Malé 1986. Bodufenvalhuge Sidi. Divehi Akuru; Evvana Bai. Malé 1958. Divehi Bahuge Qawaaaid. Vols 1 to 5. Ministry of Education. Malé 1978. Divehīnge Tarika. Divehīnge Bas. Divehibahāi Tārikhah Khidumaykurā Qaumī Majlis. Male’ 2000. Geiger, Wilhelm. Dhivehi Linguistic Studies. Reprint 1919 edn. Novelty Press. Malé 1986. Gunasena, Bandusekara. The Evolution of the Sinhalese Script. Godage Poth Mendura. Colombo 1999. Romero-Frias, Xavier.