Nepalese scripts
The expression Nepalese Scripts refers to alphabetic writing systems employed in Nepala Mandala by the indigenous Newars for writing Nepalbhasa and for transcribing Sanskrit. There are some claims they have been used to write the Parbatiya language but all Pahari languages were traditionally written with the Takri alphabet and now Devanagari; the older alphabets, known as Nepal Lipi or Nepal script, were in widespread use from the 10th to the early 20th-century A. C. E, but have since been supplanted by the modern script known as Devanagari. Of the older scripts, about 50,000 manuscripts written in Nepal Lipi have been archived. Outside of Nepal, Brahmi scripts have been used to write Sanskrit, Maithili and Braj Bhasha languages, they have been used to inscribe mantras on funerary markers as distant as Japan as well. Nepal or Nepalese script appeared in the 10th century; the earliest instance is a manuscript entitled Lankavatara Sutra dated Nepal Era 28. Another early specimen is a palm-leaf manuscript of a Buddhist text the Prajnaparamita, dated Nepal Era 40.
One of the oldest manuscript of Ramayana, preserved till date, was written in Nepal Script in 1041. The script has been used on stone and copper plate inscriptions, palm-leaf documents and Hindu and Buddhist manuscripts. Among the different scripts based on Nepal script, Ranjana and Prachalit are the most common. Ranjana is the most ornate among the scripts, it is most used to write Buddhist texts and inscribe mantras on prayer wheels, shrines and monasteries. The popular Buddhist mantra Om mani padme hum (meaning is written in Ranjana. Besides the Kathmandu Valley and the Himalayan region in Nepal, the Ranjana script is used for sacred purposes in Tibet, Japan, Mongolia, Bhutan and Ladakh; the Jokhang Temple in Lhasa, Tibet is ornamented with mantras embossed in Ranjana script, the panels under the eaves are numbered using Nepal Lipi. Among the famed historical texts written in Nepal Lipi are Gopalarajavamsavali, a history of Nepal, which appeared in 1389 AD, the Nepal-Tibet treaty of Nepal Era 895 and a letter dated Nepal Era 535 sent by Chinese Emperor Tai Ming to Shakti-simha-rama, a feudatory of Banepa.
The different scripts derived from Nepal script are as follows: Ranjana script Nepal script Bhujimol typeface Litumol typeface Kunmol script Kwenmol script Golmol script Pachumol script Hinmol script Prachalit Nepal script Nepalese scripts saw a widespread use for a thousand years in Nepal. In 1906, the Rana regime banned Nepal Bhasa, Nepal Era and Nepal Lipi from official use as part of its policy to subdue them, the script fell into decline. Authors were encouraged to switch to Devanagari to write Nepal Bhasa because of the availability of moveable type for printing, Nepal Lipi was pushed further into the background. However, the script continued to be used for ceremonial purposes till the 1950s. After the Rana dynasty was overthrown and democracy established in 1951, restrictions on Nepal Bhasa were lifted. Attempts were made to study and revive the old scripts, alphabet books were published. Hemraj Shakyavamsha published an alphabet book of 15 types of Nepalese alphabets including Ranjana and Pachumol.
In 1952, a pressman Pushpa Ratna Sagar of Kathmandu had moveable type of Nepal script made in India. The metal type was used to print the titles of the articles in Thaunkanhe monthly. In 1989, the first book to be printed using a computer typeface of Nepal script, Prasiddha Bajracharyapinigu Sanchhipta Bibaran by Badri Ratna Bajracharya, was published. Today, Nepal Lipi has gone out of general usage, but it is sometimes used in signage and greeting cards, book and CD covers, product labels and the mastheads of newspapers. A number of private organizations are engaged in its promotion. Nepal Lipi was approved for inclusion in Unicode 9.0.] Nepal Bhasa literature Nepal Bhasa renaissance
Dhives Akuru
Divehi Akuru or Dhives Akuru, is a script used to write the Maldivian language. This script was called "Dives Akuru" by H. C. P. Bell who studied Maldive epigraphy when he retired from the British government service in Colombo and wrote an extensive monography on the archaeology and epigraphy of the Maldive islands; the Divehi Akuru developed from the Grantha script. The early form of this script was Dīvī Grantha, named Evēla Akuru by H. C. P. Bell in order to distinguish it from the more recent variants of the same script; the ancient form can be seen in the loamaafaanu of the 12th and 13th centuries and in inscriptions on coral stone dating back from the Maldive Buddhist period. Like Sinhala script and most of the native scripts of India, Dhives akuru descended from the Brahmi script and thus was written from left to right. Divehi Akuru was still used in some atolls in the South Maldives as the main script around 70 years ago. Since the use is purely scholarly, or it's used by hobbyists, it can still be found on gravestones, some monuments, including the stone base of the pillars supporting the main structure of the ancient Friday mosque in Malé.
H. C. P. Bell obtained an astrology book written in Divehi Akuru in Addu Atoll, in the south of Maldives, during one of his trips; this book is now kept in the National Archives of Sri Lanka in Colombo. Bodufenvalhuge Sidi, an eminent Maldivian scholar, wrote a book called "Divehi Akuru" in 1959 prompted by Prime Minister Ibrahim Nasir, in order to clarify H. C. P. Bell's errors. However, Maldivian cultural associations have not paid much attention to Bodufenvalhuge Sidi's work and keep perpetuating those errors. A proposal to encode Dhives Akuru in Unicode has been submitted. Bell, H. C. P. Excerpta Maldiviana. Reprint 1922-1935 edn. New Delhi 1998. Bell, H. C. P; the Maldive islands. Monograph on the History and Epigraphy. Reprint 1940 edn. Male' 1986. Bodufenvahuge Sidi. Divehi Akuru. Male' 1958. Divehi Bahuge Qawaaaid. Vols 1 to 5. Ministry of Education. Male' 1978. Divehīnge Tarika. Divehīnge Bas. Divehibahāi Tārikhah Khidumaykurā Qaumī Majlis. Male’ 2000. Geiger, Wilhelm. Maldivian Linguistic Studies. Reprint 1919 edn.
Novelty Press. Male’ 1986. Gunasena, Bandusekara; the Evolution of the Sinhalese Script. Godage Poth Mendura. Colombo 1999. Romero-Frias, Xavier; the Maldive Islanders, A Study of the Popular Culture of an Ancient Ocean Kingdom. Barcelona 1999. Sivaramamurti, C. Indian Epigraphy and South Indian Scripts. Bulletin of the Madras Government Museum. Chennai 1999. السّيّد ބޮޑު ފެންވަޅުގޭ ސީދީ. "ދިވެހި އަކުރު -- އެއްވަނަ ބައި.". Primary title Maldivian language Sinhala script Thaana script History of the Maldives
Tamil inscriptions of Bangalore
There are thousands of inscriptions in Tamil in the Southern Karnataka districts of Bangalore, Mysore and Mandya in India. Nearly one third of these inscriptions are found in the Kolar District. Only about 25% of the total Tamil inscriptions found in the Kolar District have been recorded in the Epigraphia Carnatica Volume X; the Tamil inscriptions start to appear around 1000 AD, after the conquest of the region by the great Chola dynasty king Rajaraja Cholan. After the Cholas left, the Hoysala and the Vijaynagar kingdoms continued to use Tamil in the inscriptions. Tamil inscriptions are found south of the Pennar-Ponnaiyar divide, running south west from Bangalore to Mysore. Several Tamil inscriptions are found in the Honnu-Hole basin. Numerous Tamil inscriptions can be found in the Bangalore Rural district in the Nelamangala and Hoskote taluks; the Mukti Natheshwara temple at Nelmangala have Tamil inscriptions of Kulothunga Chola I, dating back to the 11 Century. At Kadugodi, there are inscriptions of Rajendra Chola, describing the funds for developing the Pattandur lake.
The list of ancient Tamil inscriptions in Bangalore was compiled by Benjamin Lewis Rice and appear in the Epigraphia Carnatica: Volume IX: Inscriptions in the Bangalore District The Chokkanathaswamy Temple is a 10th-century Chola temple, located in Domlur. There are a number of Tamil inscriptions in the temple. Domlur is called as Desimanikkapattanam in these inscriptions. Chakravarthi Posalaviraramanatha Deva has left inscriptions with directions to temple authorities of his kingdom. Further some inscriptions record the tributes and tolls made to the temple by Devaraya II of Vijayanagar Empire, which state the houses, land around Tombalur were offered to the deity Sokkapperumal. Another Tamil inscription dated 1270 talks about 2 door posts being donated by Alagiyar, yet another inscription in Tamil details Talaikkattu and his wife donating lands from Jalapalli village and Vinnamangalam tank to the deity. A 1290AD inscription talks about donation of ten pens from the revenue of Tommalur by Poysala vira Ramananda.
The Someshware temple at Madivala is one of Bangalore's oldest, dating back to the Chola period. There are a number of Tamil Grantha inscriptions on the outer walls of the temple; the oldest of these inscriptions dates to 1247 AD talks about a land grants "below the big tank of Vengalur" by a Veppur resident. Other inscriptions talk about other land grants including those done during the reigns of Ballala III and Rajendra Chola. Another instrciption dated 1365 talks about land grand at Tamaraikkirai, according to HS Gopala Rao, Secretary of the Karnataka Itihasa Academy refers to the present day Tavarekere suburb. Vijayanagar period copper plates in possession of the temple priest written in Grantha script: The Bhoga Nandeeshwara Temple, on Nandi Hills, 50 km from Bangalore has Chola period Tamil inscriptions on the walls The Kolaramma Temple, at Kolar, 60 km from Bangalore, was built by Rajendra Chola I and has his statute and Tamil inscriptions on the walls of the temple. Numerous other Tamil inscriptions are found around Kolar and Bowringpet The Mukthi Natheshwara Temple, at Binnamangala, Nelamangala Taluk, 60 km from Bangalore was built by period of Kulothunga Chola - 1.
The inscriptions in Tamil talk about the endowments of surrounding villages to the deity Muththeeswarem Udaiya Mahathevar, referring to the place as "Vinmamangalam of Kukkanur Nadu of Viikkiramachola Mandalam" The Someshwara Temple, at Ulsoor was built by the Cholas, renovated during the Vijaynagar Period. An ancient Tamil inscription, most to be from the Chola period was found under a sewage canal connecting to Kalkere Lake in East Bangalore. A similar stone has been installed in a temple; the inscription hasn't been deciphered as yet. A Tamil inscription from dating 1043AD exists in Kadugodi, from the period of Rajendra Chola I, which describes the construction of the Pattanduru Lake, Ganesh and Kshetrapaala temples by Chola chieftain Raja Raja Velan son of Permadi Gavunda; the Chola period Tamil inscription of Rajendra Chola is located at a graveyard at Kadugodi, East Bangalore. The inscription records the construction of the Pattandur Lake with three sluice gates, with the land grants given by Rajendra Chola.
Further, the inscription talks about installation of the deities of Shiva and Ganapathi. There is some words to protect the inscription, cursing anyone who damages with inheriting the sins of all those who died between The Ganges and the Cape Comorin. Doddanekkundi village, located North of Marathahalli, much older than Marathahalli, has two ancient inscriptions in Tamil; the first inscription dated 1304, mentions the village name as Nerkundi and talks about the existence of a fort around the village constructed in 1304. The second inscription talks about the Hoysala king Ballala III granting the entire revenue of the Doddanekkundi village to the Shivagange Temple. There is a Telugu inscription in Marathahalli. According to scholars, this shows the use of Tamil and Telugu in Bangalore, much before the reign of Krishnadevaraya of the Vijaynagar Kingdom. In 2017, Tamil inscriptions of the Hoysala period were discovered around Bangalore. Two inscriptions of Ballala II were found in KR Puram; the inscription was found at Sadaramangala describes land grants made to Brahmins who had migrated from the present Andhra Pradesh region.
Another inscription dated 1343 was found an abandoned site in Kattigenahalli near Yelahanka. This inscription has 16 lines and dates to the y
Mongolian writing systems
Many alphabets have been devised for the Mongolian language over the centuries, from a variety of scripts. The oldest, called the Mongolian script, has been the predominant script during most of Mongolian history, is still in active use today in the Inner Mongolia region of China and de facto use in Mongolia, it has spawned several alphabets, either as attempts to fix its perceived shortcomings, or to allow the notation of other languages, such as Sanskrit and Tibetan. In the 20th century, Mongolia first switched to the Latin script, almost replaced it with the Cyrillic script for compatibility with the Soviet Union, its political ally of the time. Mongol Chinese in Inner Mongolia and other parts of China, on the other hand, continue to use alphabets based on the traditional Mongolian script; the Xianbei spoke a proto-Mongolic language and wrote down several pieces of literature in their language. They are believed to have used Chinese characters to phonetically represent Xianbei like the Japanese system of Man'yōgana but all works written in Xianbei are now lost.
The Khitan spoke a Proto-Mongolic language called Khitan language and had developed two scripts for writing their language: Khitan large script, a logographic script derived from Chinese characters, Khitan small script, derived from Uyghur. At the beginning of the Mongol Empire, around 1204, Genghis Khan defeated the Naimans and captured a Uyghur scribe called Tata-tonga, who adapted the Uyghur alphabet—a descendant of the Syriac alphabet, via Sogdian—to write Mongol. With only minor modifications, it is used in Inner Mongolia to this day, its most salient feature is its vertical direction. This is because the Uyghurs rotated their script 90 degrees anticlockwise to emulate the Chinese writing system; as a variant of the traditional script there exists a vertical square script called folded script, used e.g. on the Mongolian banknotes. In 1587, the translator and scholar Ayuush Güüsh created the Galik alphabet, inspired by Sonam Gyatso, the third Dalai Lama, it added extra letters to transcribe Tibetan and Sanskrit terms in religious texts, also from Chinese and Russian.
Some of these letters merged to traditional alphabet as group named "Galig usug" to transcribe foreign word in today's use. In 1648, the Oirat Buddhist monk Zaya Pandita created this variation with the goal of bringing the written language closer to the actual Oirat pronunciation, to make it easier to transcribe Tibetan and Sanskrit; the script was used by Kalmyks of Russia until 1924. In Xinjiang, the Oirats still use it; the traditional Mongolian alphabet is not a perfect fit for the Mongolian language, it would be impractical to extend it to a language with a different phonology like Chinese. Therefore, during the Yuan Dynasty, Kublai Khan asked a Tibetan monk, Drogön Chögyal Phagpa, to design a new script for use by the whole empire. Phagpa extended his native Tibetan script to encompass Chinese; the script did not receive wide acceptance and fell into disuse with the collapse of the Yuan dynasty in 1368. After this it was used as a phonetic gloss for Mongols learning Chinese characters. However, scholars such as Gari Ledyard believe that in the meantime it was the source of some of the basic letters of the Korean hangul alphabet.
The Soyombo script is an abugida created by the Mongolian monk and scholar Bogdo Zanabazar in the late 17th century, that can be used to write Tibetan and Sanskrit. A special glyph in the script, the Soyombo, became a national symbol of Mongolia, has appeared on the national flag since 1921, on the national coat of arms since 1992, as well as money, etc. Zanabazar had created it for the translation of Buddhist texts from Sanskrit or Tibetan, both he and his students used it extensively for that purpose. Aside from historical texts, it can be found in temple inscriptions, it has some relevance to linguistic research, because it reflects certain developments in the Mongolian language, such as that of long vowels. At around the same time, Zanabazar developed the horizontal square script, only rediscovered in 1801; the script's applications during the period of its use are not known. It was largely based on the Tibetan alphabet, read left to right, employed vowel diacritics above and below the consonant letters.
Additionally, a dot was used below consonants to show. Horizontal square script is included in the Unicode Standard under the name "Zanabazar Square"; the Zanabazar Square block, comprising 72 characters, was added as part of Unicode version 10.0 in June 2017. Before the 13th century, foreign scripts had to be used to write the Mongolian language, and during the reign of the Mongol Empire, people in the conquered areas wrote it in their local systems. Most it was transcribed phonetically using Chinese characters, as is the case with the only surviving copies of The Secret History of the Mongols. Subjects from the Middle East hired into administrative functions would often use Perso-Arabic script to write their Mongolian language documents. On 1 February 1930, Mongolia adopted a Latin alphabet. On 25 March 1941, the decision was reversed. According to official claims the alphabet had turned out to have not been thought out well, it was said not to distinguish all the sounds of the Mongolian language, to be difficul
Laṇḍā scripts
The Laṇḍā scripts, meaning "without a tail", is a Punjabi word used to refer to writing systems used in Punjab and nearby parts of North India. It is distinct from the Lahnda language. There are at least ten ancient scripts, they were used as the mercantile scripts of the Punjab region. Laṇḍā is a script, it was used in the northern and north-western part of India in the area comprising Punjab, Sindh and some parts of Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. It was used to write Punjabi, Sindhi, Balochi, Kashmiri and various Punjabi dialects like Pahari-Pothwari. In centuries, Gurmukhī evolved from Laṇḍā. Khojkī, an ecclesiastical script of the Isma'ili Khoja community, is within the Sindhi branch of the Landa family of scripts. Mahajani, a script used for the Punjabi and Mārwāṛī, is related to Laṇḍā; the Khudabadi used for Sindhi, is a Laṇḍā-based script
Ranjana script
The Rañjanā script is an abugida writing system which developed in the 11th century in Nepal. It is used till this day. Nowadays it is used in Buddhist monasteries in India, China in the Tibetan Buddhist areas within the Tibet Autonomous Region, Yunnan and Gansu, Japan, it is written from left to right but the Kutakshar form is written from top to bottom. It is considered to be the standard Nepali calligraphic script. Rañjanā is a Brahmi script and shows small similarities to the Devanagari script of the Indian subcontinent, notably in Nepal and North India; the script is used in most of the Mahayana and Vajrayana monasteries. Along with the Prachalit Nepal alphabet, it is considered as one of the scripts of Nepal, it is the formal script of Nepal duly registered in the United Nation while applying for the free Nation. Therefore, it is a vital script to all Nepalese as well; the Aṣṭasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra lettered in gold ink by Bhiksu Ananda of Kapitanagar and dating back to the Nepal Sambat year 345 is an early example of the script.
These are the rules for vowel diacritics in Ranjana script. There are altogether three rules where the vowel diacritics of ग and ब are given. ख, ञ,ठ,ण,थ,ध,श uses the rule of ग घ,ङ,च,छ,झ,ट,ड,ढ,त,द,न,न्ह,प,फ,ब,भ,म,य,र,ह्र,ल,ल्ह,व,व्ह,ष,स,ह,त्रuses the rule of ब ज,म्ह,ह्य,क्ष, ज्ञuses the rule of क The Rañjanā script is used and to write Newari, though sometimes it is used to write Sanskrit. In Mahayana and Vajrayana Buddhist traditions, it is famously used to write various mantras including the "Om mani padme hum" mantra of Avalokiteśvara, the mantra of Tara: "Om tare tuttare ture svaha", the mantra of Manjusri: "Om ara pa cana dhi." The script is used in Hindu scriptures. In Chinese Buddhism and other East Asian Buddhism, the standard Sanskrit script for mantras and dhāraṇīs was not the Rañjanā script, but rather the earlier Siddhaṃ script, propagated in China during the Tang dynasty. However, in late Imperial China, the influence of Tibetan Buddhism popularized the Rañjanā script as well, so this script is found throughout East Asia, but is not as common as Siddhaṃ.
When Rañjanā was introduced to Tibet, it was referred to as Lanydza, which derives from the Sanskrit word Rañja. This script varies from the standard Rañjanā. In Tibet, the Lanydza variant is used to write original texts of Sanskrit. Examples of such texts include the Mañjuśrīnāmasamgīti, the Diamond Sutra and the Aṣṭasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra; the Lanydza script is found in manuscripts and printed editions of some Sanskrit-Tibetan lexicons like the Mahāvyutpatti. However, the most frequent use for this script today is on the title pages of Tibetan texts, where the Sanskrit title is written in Lanydza, followed by a transliteration and translation in the Tibetan script; the script is used decoratively on temple walls, on the outside of prayer wheels, in the drawing of mandalas. Numerous alternative spellings of the term Lanydza exist, including the following: Lanja Landzha Lantsa Lantsha Lentsa Lendza Kutākshar is a monogram of the Ranjana script, it is only one of the Nepalese scripts. After falling into disuse in the mid-20th century, the script has seen increased use.
It is used by many local governments such as those of Kathmandu Metropolitan City, Lalitpur Sub-Metropolitan City, Bhaktapur Municipality, Thimi Municipality, Kirtipur Municipality, Banepa Municipality, in signboards, letter pads, such. Regular programs are held in the Kathmandu Valley to promote the script and training classes are held to preserve the language; the script is being endorsed by the Nepal Bhasa movement and is used for headings in newspapers and websites. A Nepalese-German project is trying to conserve the manuscripts of Rañjanā script. A Unicode block for the script has been proposed by Evertype. Everson, Michael. 2009. Preliminary proposal for encoding the Rañjana script in the SMP of the UCS Everson, Michael. 2009. Roadmapping the scripts of Nepal Roadmapping the scripts of Nepal Fynn, Christopher John. Ranjana script Pandey, Anshuman. 2016. Towards an encoding for the Ranjana and Lantsa scripts Ranjana script on Omniglot Ranjana script Download Ranjana Newari Regular Font
⟨ya⟩ when final in a cluster, and 
⟨ra⟩ when non-initial become 
and 
respectively. These are often called "ya-phalaa" and "ra-vattu" in other Indic scripts.
(called Reph as in other Indic scripts) and is shifted to the end of the cluster but placed before any "ya-phalaa".
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