Kaithi

Kaithī کیتھی ਕੈਥੀ
Type Abugida
Languages Angika, Awadhi, Bhojpuri, Magahi, Maithili, Urdu
Time period c. 16th–mid 20th century
ISO 15924 Kthi, 317
Direction Left-to-right
Unicode alias Kaithi
Unicode range U+11080–U+110CF
Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols.

Kaithi (कैथी), also called "Kayathi" or "Kayasthi", is the name of a historical script used widely in parts of North India, primarily in the former North-Western Provinces, Oudh (present-day Uttar Pradesh) and Bihar. It was used for writing legal, administrative, and private records.[1]

Contents

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Etymology

Kaithi script derives its name from the word Kayastha, a social group of North India that traditionally consists of scribes and clerks.[2] The Kayastha community was closely associated with the princely courts and colonial governments of North India, and were employed by them to write and maintain records of revenue transactions, legal documents, and title deeds; general correspondence; and proceedings of the royal courts and related bodies. The script used by them acquired the name Kaithi.

History

Documents in Kaithi are traceable to at least the 16th century. The script was widely used during the Mughal period. In the 1880s, during the British Raj, the script was recognized as the official script of the law courts of Bihar. Although in general, Kaithi was much more widely used than Nagari in some areas, it lost to the latter in the power struggle over officially-recognized scripts.

Unicode

Kaithi script was added to the Unicode Standard in October, 2009 with the release of version 5.2.

The Unicode block for Kaithi is U+11080–U+110CF. Grey areas indicate non-assigned code points:

Kaithi[1]
Unicode.org chart (PDF)
  0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A B C D E F
U+1108x 𑂀 𑂁 𑂂 𑂃 𑂄 𑂅 𑂆 𑂇 𑂈 𑂉 𑂊 𑂋 𑂌 𑂍 𑂎 𑂏
U+1109x 𑂐 𑂑 𑂒 𑂓 𑂔 𑂕 𑂖 𑂗 𑂘 𑂙 𑂚 𑂛 𑂜 𑂝 𑂞 𑂟
U+110Ax 𑂠 𑂡 𑂢 𑂣 𑂤 𑂥 𑂦 𑂧 𑂨 𑂩 𑂪 𑂫 𑂬 𑂭 𑂮 𑂯
U+110Bx 𑂰 𑂱 𑂲 𑂳 𑂴 𑂵 𑂶 𑂷 𑂸 𑂹 𑂺 𑂻 𑂼 𑂽 𑂾 𑂿
U+110Cx 𑃀 𑃁
Notes
1.^ As of Unicode version 6.0

References

  1. ^ King, Christopher R. 1995. One Language, Two Scripts: The Hindi Movement in Nineteenth Century North India. New York: Oxford University Press.
  2. ^ Grierson, George A. 1899. A Handbook to the Kaithi Character. Calcutta: Thacker, Spink & Co.