Brahmic scripts

Not to be confused with the Brahmi script.

The Brahmic scripts are a family of abugida writing systems. They are used throughout South Asia, Southeast Asia and parts East Asia, and are descended from the Brāhmī script of ancient India. They are used by languages of several language families: Indo-European, Dravidian, Tibeto-Burman, Mongolic, Austroasiatic, Austronesian, Turkic, Tai. They were also the source of the dictionary order of Japanese kana.[1]

History

Spread of Brahmic family of scripts from India.

Brahmic scripts are descended from the Brahmi script. Brahmi is clearly attested from the 3rd century BC during the reign of Ashoka, who used the script for imperial edicts, but there are some claims of earlier epigraphy found on pottery in South India and Sri Lanka. The most reliable of these were short Brahmi inscriptions dated to the 4th century BC and published by Coningham et al.,[2] but scattered press reports have claimed both dates as early as the 6th century BC and that the characters are identifiably Tamil Brahmi, though these latter claims do not appear to have been published academically. Northern Brahmi gave rise to the Gupta script during the Gupta period, which in turn diversified into a number of cursives during the Middle Ages, including Siddham, Sharada and Nagari.

The Siddham script was especially important in Buddhism, as many sutras were written in it. The art of Siddham calligraphy survives today in Japan. The syllabic nature and dictionary order of the modern kana system of Japanese writing is believed to be descended from the Indic scripts, most likely through the spread of Buddhism.[3]

Southern Brahmi evolved into Old-Kannada, Pallava and Vatteluttu scripts, which in turn diversified into other scripts of South India and Southeast Asia.

Bhattiprolu was a great centre of Buddhism during 3rd century BCE and from where Buddhism spread to east Asia. The present Telugu script is derived from Bhattiprolu Script or 'Kannada-Telugu script' or Kadamba script, also known as 'old Telugu script', owing to its similarity to the same.[4][5]

Initially, minor changes were made which is now called Tamil Brahmi which has far fewer letters than some of the other Indic scripts as it has no separate aspirated or voiced consonants.

Characteristics

Some characteristics, which are present in most but not all the scripts, are:

Comparison

Below are comparison charts of several of the major Indic scripts, organised on the principle that glyphs in the same column all derive from the same Brahmi glyph. Accordingly:

The transliteration is indicated in ISO 15919.

Consonants

ISO k kh g gh ṅ c ch j jh ñ ṭ ṭh ḍ ḍh ṇ t th d dh n ṉ p ph b bh m y r ṟ l ḷ ḻ v ś ṣ s h
Eastern Nagari ক খ গ ঘ ঙ চ ছ জ ঝ ঞ ট ঠ ড ঢ ণ ত থ দ ধ ন   প ফ ব ভ ম য র/ৰ   ল     ৱ শ ষ স হ
Devanagari क ख ग घ ङ च छ ज झ ञ ट ठ ड ढ ण त थ द ध न ऩ प फ ब भ म य र ऱ ल ळ ऴ व श ष स ह
Gujarati ક ખ ગ ઘ ઙ ચ છ જ ઝ ઞ ટ ઠ ડ ઢ ણ ત થ દ ધ ન   પ ફ બ ભ મ ય ર   લ ળ   વ શ ષ સ હ
Odia କ ଖ ଗ ଘ ଙ ଚ ଛ ଜ ଝ ଞ ଟ ଠ ଡ ଢ ଣ ତ ଥ ଦ ଧ ନ ନ଼ ପ ଫ ବ ଭ ମ ୟ ର ର଼ ଲ ଳ ଳ଼ ୱ ଶ ଷ ସ ହ
Gurmukhi ਕ ਖ ਗ ਘ ਙ ਚ ਛ ਜ ਝ ਞ ਟ ਠ ਡ ਢ ਣ ਤ ਥ ਦ ਧ ਨ   ਪ ਫ ਬ ਭ ਮ ਯ ਰ   ਲ ਲ਼   ਵ ਸ਼   ਸ ਹ
Tibetan ཀ ཁ ག   ང ཅ ཆ ཇ   ཉ ཊ ཋ ཌ   ཎ ཏ ཐ ད   ན   པ ཕ བ   མ ཡ ར   ལ     ཝ ཤ ཥ ས ཧ
Brahmi      
Telugu క ఖ గ ఘ ఙ చ ఛ జ ఝ ఞ ట ఠ డ ఢ ణ త థ ద ధ న   ప ఫ బ భ మ య ర ఱ ల ళ   వ శ ష స హ
Kannada ಕ ಖ ಗ ಘ ಙ ಚ ಛ ಜ ಝ ಞ ಟ ಠ ಡ ಢ ಣ ತ ಥ ದ ಧ ನ   ಪ ಫ ಬ ಭ ಮ ಯ ರ ಱ ಲ ಳ ೞ ವ ಶ ಷ ಸ ಹ
Sinhala ක ඛ ග ඝ ඞ ච ඡ ජ ඣ ඤ ට ඨ ඩ ඪ ණ ත ථ ද ධ න   ප ඵ බ භ ම ය ර   ල ළ   ව ශ ෂ ස හ
Malayalam ക ഖ ഗ ഘ ങ ച ഛ ജ ഝ ഞ ട ഠ ഡ ഢ ണ ത ഥ ദ ധ ന ഩ* പ ഫ ബ ഭ മ യ ര റ ല ള ഴ വ ശ ഷ സ ഹ
Tamil க       ங ச   ஜ   ஞ ட       ண த       ந ன ப       ம ய ர ற ல ள ழ வ ஶ ஷ ஸ ஹ
Burmese က ခ ဂ ဃ င စ ဆ ဇ ဈ ဉ/ည ဋ ဌ ဍ ဎ ဏ တ ထ ဒ ဓ န   ပ ဖ ဗ ဘ မ ယ ရ   လ ဠ ၔ ဝ ၐ ၑ သ ဟ
Khmer ក ខ គ ឃ ង ច ឆ ជ ឈ ញ ដ ឋ ឌ ឍ ណ ត ថ ទ ធ ន   ប ផ ព ភ ម យ រ   ល ឡ   វ ឝ ឞ ស ហ
Thai ก ข ค ฆ ง จ ฉ ช ฌ ญ ฎ* ฐ ฑ ฒ ณ ด* ถ ท ธ น   บ* ผ พ ภ ม ย ร   ล ฬ   ว ศ ษ ส ห
Lao ກ ຂ ຄ   ງ ຈ   ຊ               ດ ຖ ທ   ນ   ບ ຜ ຟ ພ ມ ຍ ຣ   ລ     ວ     ສ ຫ
Balinese ᬓ ᬔ ᬕ ᬖ ᬗ ᬘ ᬙ ᬚ ᬛ ᬜ ᬝ ᬞ ᬟ ᬠ ᬡ ᬢ ᬣ ᬤ ᬥ ᬦ   ᬧ ᬨ ᬩ ᬪ ᬫ ᬬ ᬭ   ᬮ     ᬯ ᬰ ᬱ ᬲ ᬳ
Javanese ꦏ ꦑ* ꦒ ꦓ* ꦔ ꦕ ꦖ* ꦗ ꦙ* ꦚ ꦛ ꦜ* ꦝ ꦞ* ꦟ* ꦠ ꦡ* ꦢ ꦣ* ꦤ ꦘ ꦥ ꦦ* ꦧ ꦨ* ꦩ ꦪ ꦫ   ꦭ    ꦮ ꦯ* ꦰ* ꦱ ꦲ
Sundanese ᮊ   ᮌ   ᮍ ᮎ   ᮏ   ᮑ           ᮒ   ᮓ   ᮔ   ᮕ   ᮘ   ᮙ ᮚ ᮛ   ᮜ     ᮝ     ᮞ ᮠ
Lontara ᨀ   ᨁ   ᨂ ᨌ   ᨍ   ᨎ           ᨈ   ᨉ   ᨊ   ᨄ   ᨅ   ᨆ ᨐ ᨑ   ᨒ     ᨓ     ᨔ ᨕ
Batak (Toba) ᯂ   ᯎ   ᯝ     ᯐ   ᯠ/ᯛ           ᯖ   ᯑ   ᯉ   ᯇ   ᯅ   ᯔ   ᯒ   ᯞ     ᯞ     ᯘ ᯂ

List of Brahmic scripts

Scripts derived from Brahmi.

Historical

A fragment of Ashoka's 6th pillar edict.
Indo-Aryan languages (incl Dogri) using their respective Brahmic family scripts (except dark blue colored- Sindhi, Lahnda, Western Panjabi, Shina, Kashmiri, Urdu- not marked here, which use Arabic derived scripts).
Dravidian languages using their respective Brahmic family scripts (except Brahui which uses Arabic derived script).

The Brahmi script was already divided into regional variants at the time of the earliest surviving epigraphy around the 3rd century BC. Cursives of the Brahmi script began to diversify further from around the 5th century AD and continued to give rise to new scripts throughout the Middle Ages. The main division in antiquity was between northern and southern Brahmi. In the northern group, the Gupta script was very influential, and in the southern group the Vatteluttu and Old-Kannada/Pallava scripts with the spread of Buddhism sent Brahmic scripts throughout Southeast Asia.

Contemporary

script derivation period of derivation usage notes ISO 15924 Unicode range sample
Balinese Old Kawi 11th century Balinese language Bali U+1B00–U+1B7F ᬅᬓ᭄ᬲᬭᬩᬮᬶ
Baybayin Old Kawi 14th century Tagalog, other Philippine languages Tglg U+1700–U+171F ᜊᜌ᜔ᜊᜌᜒᜈ᜔
Buhid Old Kawi 14th century Buhid language Buhd U+1740–U+175F ᝊᝓᝑᝒᝇ
Burmese Pallava grantha 11th century Burmese language, numerous modifications for other languages including Chakma, Eastern and Western Pwo Karen, Geba Karen, Kayah, Mon, Rumai Palaung, S'gaw Karen, Shan Mymr U+1000–U+109F မြန်မာအက္ခရာ
Cham Pallava grantha 8th century Cham language Cham U+AA00–U+AA5F ꨌꨠ
Devanagari Nagari 13th century Numerous Indo-Aryan languages, including Sanskrit, Hindi, Marathi, Nepali, Bhili, Konkani, Bhojpuri, Nepal Bhasa and sometimes Sindhi and Kashmiri. Formerly used to write Gujarati. Sometimes used to write or transliterate Sherpa Deva U+0900–U+097F देवनागरी
Eastern Nagari script Siddham 11th century Assamese language (Assamese script variant), Bengali language (Bengali script variant), Bishnupriya Manipuri, Maithili, Angika Beng U+0980–U+09FF
  • অসমীয়া লিপি
  • বাংলা লিপি
Gujarati Nagari 17th century Gujarati language, Kutchi language Gujr U+0A80–U+0AFF ગુજરાતી લિપિ
Gurmukhi Sharada 16th century Punjabi language Guru U+0A00–U+0A7F ਗੁਰਮੁਖੀ
Hanunó'o Old Kawi 14th century Hanuno'o language Hano U+1720–U+173F ᜱᜨᜳᜨᜳᜢ
Javanese Old Kawi 16th century Javanese language, Sundanese language, Madurese language Java U+A980–U+A9DF ꦄꦏ꧀ꦱꦫꦗꦮ
Kannada Kadamba/Old Kannada 9th century Kannada language, Konkani language Tulu, Badaga, Kodava, Beary others Knda U+0C80–U+0CFF ಕನ್ನಡ ಅಕ್ಷರಮಾಲೆ
Khmer Pallava grantha 11th century Khmer language Khmr U+1780–U+17FF, U+19E0–U+19FF អក្សរខ្មែរ
Lao Khmer 14th century Lao language, others LaooU+0E80–U+0EFF ອັກສອນລາວ
Lepcha Tibetan 18th century Lepcha language Lepc U+1C00–U+1C4F
Limbu Lepcha 18th century Limbu language LimbU+1900–U+194F ᤛᤡᤖᤡᤈᤨᤅ
Lontara Old Kawi 17th century Buginese language, others Bugi U+1A00–U+1A1F ᨒᨚᨈᨑ
Malayalam Grantha 12th century Malayalam language Mlym U+0D00–U+0D7F മലയാളലിപി
Odia Kalinga 10th century Odia language Orya U+0B00–U+0B7F ଉତ୍କଳାକ୍ଷର
Rejang script Old Kawi 18th century Rejang language, mostly obsolete Rjng U+A930–U+A95F ꥆꤰ꥓ꤼꤽ ꤽꥍꤺꥏ
Saurashtra Grantha 20th century Saurashtra language, mostly obsolete Saur U+A880–U+A8DF ꢱꣃꢬꢵꢰ꣄ꢜ꣄ꢬꢵ
Sinhala Grantha 12th century Sinhala language Sinh U+0D80–U+0DFF ශුද්ධ සිංහල
Sundanese script Old Kawi 14th century Sundanese language Sund U+1B80–U+1BBF ᮃᮊ᮪ᮞᮛ ᮞᮥᮔ᮪ᮓ
Tai Le Pallava grantha? Tai Nüa language Tale U+1950–U+197F ᥖᥭᥰᥖᥬᥳᥑᥨᥒᥰ
New Tai Lue Tai Tham 1950s Tai Lü language Talu U+1980-U+19DF ᦟᦲᧅᦎᦷᦑᦺ
Tai Tham Mon Script 13th Century Northern Thai language, Tai Lü language, Khün language Lana U+1A20–U+1AAF ᨲᩫ᩠ᩅᨾᩮᩬᩥᨦ
Tagbanwa Old Kawi 14th century various languages of Palawan, nearly extinct Tagb U+1760–U+177F ᝦᝪᝨᝯ
Tamil Chola-Pallava alphabet 8th century Tamil language Taml U+0B80–U+0BFF தமிழ் அரிச்சுவடி
Telugu Bhattiprolu script/Old Kannada 11th Century Nannayya Telugu language Telu U+0C01–U+0C6F తెలుగు లిపి
Thai Khmer 13th century Thai language Thai U+0E00–U+0E7F อักษรไทย
Tibetan Siddham 8th century Tibetan language, Dzongkha language, Ladakhi language Tibt U+0F00–U+0FFF དབུ་ཅན་
Tai Viet Thai? Tai Dam language Tavt U+AA80–U+AADF ꪼꪕꪒꪾ

See also

References

  1. ↑ Trautmann, Thomas R. (2006). Languages and Nations: The Dravidian Proof in Colonial Madras. University of California Press. pp. 65–66.
  2. ↑ Coningham, R.A.E.; Allchin, F.R.; Batt, C.M.; Lucy, D. (1996), "Passage to India? Anuradhapura and the Early Use of the Brahmi Script", Cambridge Archaeological Journal 6 (1): 73–97, doi:10.1017/S0959774300001608
  3. ↑ "Font: Japanese". Monotype Corporation. Archived from the original on 2007-03-24. Retrieved 2010-02-09.
  4. ↑ "Telugu is 2,400 years old, says ASI". The Hindu. 2007-12-20.
  5. ↑ "Evolution of Telugu Character Graphs". Engr.mun.ca. Retrieved 2012-06-22.

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