Brahmic scripts


The Brahmic scripts are a family of abugida writing systems. They are used throughout the Indian subcontinent, Southeast Asia and parts of East Asia, including Japan in the form of Siddhaṃ. They are descended from the Brahmi script of ancient India and are used by languages of several language families: Indo-European, Dravidian, Tibeto-Burman, Mongolic, Austroasiatic, Austronesian and Tai. They were also the source of the dictionary order of Japanese kana.

History

Brahmic scripts 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..
Northern Brahmi gave rise to the Gupta script during the Gupta period, which in turn diversified into a number of cursives during the medieval period. Notable examples of such medieval scripts, developed by the 7th or 8th century, include Nagari, Siddham and Sharada.
The Siddhaṃ 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.
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.
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:
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



;Notes

Vowels

Vowels are presented in their independent form on the left of each column, and in their corresponding dependent form combined with the consonant k on the right. A glyph for ka is an independent consonant letter itself without any vowel sign, where the vowel a is inherent.


;Notes

Numerals

List of Brahmic scripts

Historical

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.

Northern Brahmic

As of Unicode version 13.0, the following Brahmic scripts have been encoded:
scriptderivationperiod of derivationusage notesISO 15924Unicode rangesample
AhomOld Burmese script13th centuryExtinct Ahom languageAhomU+11700–U+1173F
BalineseOld Kawi11th centuryBalinese languageBaliU+1B00–U+1B7F
BatakPallava grantha14th centuryBatak languagesBatkU+1BC0–U+1BFF
BaybayinOld Kawi14th centuryTagalog, other Philippine languagesTglgU+1700–U+171F
Bengali-AssameseSiddham11th centuryAssamese language, Bengali language, Bishnupriya Manipuri, Maithili, AngikaBengU+0980–U+09FF
BhaiksukiGuptaWas used around the turn of the first millennium for writing SanskritBhksU+11C00–U+11C6F
BuhidOld Kawi14th centuryBuhid languageBuhdU+1740–U+175F
BurmesePallava grantha11th centuryBurmese language, numerous modifications for other languages including Chakma, Eastern and Western Pwo Karen, Geba Karen, Kayah, Mon, Rumai Palaung, S’gaw Karen, ShanMymrU+1000–U+109F, U+A9E0–U+A9FF, U+AA60–U+AA7F
ChakmaPallava grantha8th centuryChakma languageCakmU+11100–U+1114F
ChamPallava grantha8th centuryCham languageChamU+AA00–U+AA5F
DevanagariNagari13th centuryNumerous 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 SherpaDevaU+0900–U+097F, U+A8E0–U+A8FF
Dhives AkuruGranthaWas used to write the Maldivian language up until the 20th century.DiakU+11900–U+1195F-
DograWas used to write Dogri. Dogra script is closely related to Takri.DogrU+11800–U+1184F
GranthaBrahmi6th centuryRestricted use in traditional Vedic schools to write Sanskrit. Was widely used by Tamil speakers for Sanskrit and the classical language Manipravalam.GranU+11300–U+1137F
GujaratiNagari17th centuryGujarati language, Kutchi languageGujrU+0A80–U+0AFF
Gunjala GondiUsed for writing the Adilabad dialect of the Gondi language.GongU+11D60–U+11DAF
GurmukhiSharada16th centuryPunjabi languageGuruU+0A00–U+0A7F
Hanunó'oOld Kawi14th centuryHanuno'o languageHanoU+1720–U+173F
JavaneseOld Kawi16th centuryJavanese language, Sundanese language, Madurese languageJavaU+A980–U+A9DF
KaithiNagari16th centuryHistorically used for writing legal, administrative, and private records.KthiU+11080–U+110CF????
KannadaKadamba/Old Kannada9th centuryKannada language, Konkani language Tulu, Badaga, Kodava, Beary othersKndaU+0C80–U+0CFF
KhmerPallava grantha11th centuryKhmer languageKhmrU+1780–U+17FF, U+19E0–U+19FF
KhojkiLanda16th centurySome use by Ismaili communities. Was used by the Khoja community for Muslim religious literature.KhojU+11200–U+1124F
KhudawadiLanda1550sWas used by Sindhi communities for correspondence and business records.SindU+112B0–U+112FF
LaoKhmer14th centuryLao language, othersLaooU+0E80–U+0EFF
LepchaTibetan8th centuryLepcha languageLepcU+1C00–U+1C4F
LimbuLepcha9th centuryLimbu languageLimbU+1900–U+194F
LontaraOld Kawi17th centuryBuginese language, othersBugiU+1A00–U+1A1F
MahajaniLandaHistorically used in northern India for writing accounts and financial records.MahjU+11150–U+1117F
MakasarWas used in South Sulawesi, Indonesia for writing the Makassarese language. Makasar script is also known as "Old Makassarese" or "Makassarese bird script" in English-language scholarly works.MakaU+11EE0–U+11EFF
MalayalamGrantha12th centuryMalayalam languageMlymU+0D00–U+0D7F
MarchenWas used in the Tibetan Bön tradition to write the extinct Zhang-Zhung languageMarcU+11C70–U+11CBF??????????????
Meetei MayekHistorically used for the Meitei language. Some modern usage.MteiU+AAE0–U+AAFF, U+ABC0–U+ABFF
ModiDevanagari17th centuryWas used to write the Marathi languageModiU+11600–U+1165F
MultaniLandaWas used to write the Multani languageMultU+11280–U+112AF
NandinagariNagari7th centuryHistorically used to write Sanskrit in southern IndiaNandU+119A0–U+119FF
New Tai LueTai Tham1950sTai Lü languageTaluU+1980–U+19DF
OdiaKalinga10th centuryOdia languageOryaU+0B00–U+0B7F
'Phags-PaTibetan13th centuryHistorically used during the Mongol Yuan dynasty.PhagU+A840–U+A87F
Prachalit NepalHas been used for writing the Sanskrit, Nepali, Hindi, Bengali, and Maithili languagesNewaU+11400–U+1147F
RejangOld Kawi18th centuryRejang language, mostly obsoleteRjngU+A930–U+A95F
SaurashtraGrantha20th centurySaurashtra language, mostly obsoleteSaurU+A880–U+A8DF
SharadaGupta8th centuryWas used for writing Sanskrit and KashmiriShrdU+11180–U+111DF
SiddhamGupta7th centuryWas used for writing SanskritSiddU+11580–U+115FF
SinhalaGrantha12th centurySinhala languageSinhU+0D80–U+0DFF, U+111E0–U+111FF
SundaneseOld Kawi14th centurySundanese languageSundU+1B80–U+1BBF, U+1CC0–U+1CCF
Sylheti NagariNagari16th centuryHistorically used for writing the Sylheti languageSyloU+A800–U+A82F
TagbanwaOld Kawi14th centuryvarious languages of Palawan, nearly extinctTagbU+1760–U+177F
Tai LePallava grantha?Tai Nüa languageTaleU+1950–U+197F
Tai ThamMon Script13th CenturyNorthern Thai language, Tai Lü language, Khün languageLanaU+1A20–U+1AAF
Tai VietThai?16th centuryTai Dam languageTavtU+AA80–U+AADF
TakriSharadaWas used for writing Chambeali, and other languagesTakrU+11680–U+116CF
TamilChola-Pallava alphabet5th Century CETamil languageTamlU+0B80–U+0BFF, U+11FC0–U+11FFF
TeluguBhattiprolu script/Old Kannada5th centuryTelugu languageTeluU+0C00–U+0C7F
ThaiKhmer13th centuryThai languageThaiU+0E00–U+0E7F
TibetanSiddham8th centuryTibetan language, Dzongkha language, Ladakhi languageTibtU+0F00–U+0FFF
TirhutaGuptaHistorically used for the Maithili languageTirhU+11480–U+114DF