Brahmic scripts


The Brahmic scripts, also known as Indic scripts, are a family of abugida writing systems. They are descended from the Brahmi script of ancient India and are used by various languages in several language families in South, East and Southeast Asia: Indo-Aryan, 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 BCE during the reign of Ashoka, who used the script for imperial edicts. 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 tabular presentation 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 the Kadamba, Pallava and Vatteluttu scripts, which in turn diversified into other scripts of South India and Southeast Asia. Brahmic scripts spread in a peaceful manner, Indianization, or the spread of Indian learning. The scripts spread naturally to Southeast Asia, at ports on trading routes. At these trading posts, ancient inscriptions have been found in Sanskrit, using scripts that originated in India. At first, inscriptions were made in Indian languages, but later the scripts were used to write the local Southeast Asian languages. Hereafter, local varieties of the scripts were developed. By the 8th century, the scripts had diverged and separated into regional scripts.

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 charts are not comprehensive. Glyphs may be unrepresented if they are later inventions not derived from any Brahmi character.
  • The pronunciations of glyphs in the same column may not be identical. The pronunciation row is only representative; the International Phonetic Alphabet pronunciation is given for Sanskrit where possible, or another language if necessary.
The transliteration is indicated in ISO 15919.

Consonants

ISOkakhagaghaṅacachajajhañaṭaṭhaḍaḍhaṇatathadadhanaṉapapha/fababhamayaẏaraṟalaḷaḻavaśaṣasahakṣaṯa
Ashoka Brahmi??????????????????????????????????
Devanagariकखगघङचछजझञटठडढणतथदधनऩपफबभमयय़रऱलळऴवशषसहक्ष
Bengali-
Assamese		কখগঘঙচছজঝঞটঠডঢণতথদধনপফবভমযয়র,ৰলৱশষসহক্ষ
Sharada?????????????????????????????????????????????
Gurmukhiਕਖਗਘਙਚਛਜਝਞਟਠਡਢਣਤਥਦਧਨਪਫਬਭਮਯਰਲਲ਼ਵਸ਼ਸਹ
Gujaratiકખગઘઙચછજઝઞટઠડઢણતથદધનપફબભમયરલળવશષસહક્ષ
Odiaକଖଗଘଙଚଛଜଝଞଟଠଡଢଣତଥଦଧନପଫବଭମଯୟରଲଳୱଶଷସହକ୍ଷ
Grantha
Tamilகஙசஜஞடணதநனபமயரறலளழவஶஷஸஹக்ஷ
Teluguకఖగఘఙచఛజఝఞటఠడఢణతథదధనన఼పఫబభమయయ఼రఱలళఴవశషసహక్ష
Kannadaಕಖಗಘಙಚಛಜಝಞಟಠಡಢಣತಥದಧನನ಼ಪಫಬಭಮಯಯ಼ರಱಲಳೞವಶಷಸಹಕ್ಷ
Malayalamകഖഗഘങചഛജഝഞടഠഡഢണതഥദധനഩപഫബഭമയരറലളഴവശഷസഹക്ഷഺ
Sinhalaකඛගඝඞචඡජඣඤටඨඩඪණතථදධනපඵබභමයරලළවශෂසහක්‍ෂ
Tibetanཀཁགགྷངཅཆཇཛྷཉཊཋཌཌྷཎཏཐདདྷནཔཕབབྷམཡརཬལཝཤཥསཧ
ʼPhags-pa
Meitei Mayekꯔꯂ
Lepchaᰀᰂᰃᰅᰆᰇᰈᰉᱍᱎᱏᰊᰋᰌᰍᰎᰐᰓᰕᰚᰛᰜᰟᰡᰡ᰷ᰠᰝ
Limbuᤁᤂᤃᤄᤅᤆᤇᤈᤉᤊᤋᤌᤍᤎᤏᤐᤑᤒᤓᤔᤕᤖᤗᤘᤙᤚᤛᤜ
Tirhuta????????????????????????????????
Kaithi?????????????????????????????????
Newa Prachalit??????????????????????????????????????????????
Sylheti Nagari
Chakma?????????????????????????????????
Burmeseကခဂဃငစဆဇဈဉ / ညဋဌဍဎဏတထဒဓနပဖဗဘမယရလဠဝၐၑသဟ
Tai Thamᨠᨡ,ᨢᨣ,ᨤᨥᨦᨧᨨᨩ,ᨪᨫᨬᨭᨮᨯᨰᨱᨲᨳᨴᨵᨶᨷ,ᨸᨹ,ᨺᨻ,ᨼᨽᨾᨿ,ᩀᩁᩃᩊᩅᩆᩇᩈᩉ,ᩌ
New Tai Lueᦂᦃᦅ,ᦆᦇᦈᦋ,ᦌᦡ,ᦤᦎᦏᦑᦒᦓᦢ,ᦥ,ᦔᦕ,ᦚᦗ,ᦝᦘᦙᦍ,ᦊᦣᦟᦞᦉᦠ
Khmer
Thaiกข,ค,ฆงจฉช,ฌญฎ,ฐฑฒณด,ถทธนป,ผ,พ,ภมยรลฬวศษสห,ฮ
Laoກຂຄຆງຈຉຊຌຎຏຐຑຒຓດ,ຕຖທຘນບ,ປຜ,ຝພ,ຟຠມຍຣລຬວຨຩສຫ
Chamꨆꨇꨈꨉꨋꨌꨍꨎꨏꨑꨓꨔꨕꨖꨘꨚꨜꨝꨞꨠꨢꨣꨤꨥꨦꨧꨨ
Kawi
Balinese
Javanese
Sundanese
Lontara
Makasar
Rejang
Batak /
Baybayin /
Buhidᝃ ᝄ ᝅ ᝆ ᝇ ᝈ ᝉ ᝊ ᝋᝌᝍ ᝎ ᝏ ᝐᝑ
Hanunuoᜣ ᜤ ᜥ ᜦ ᜧ ᜨ ᜩ ᜪ ᜫᜬᜭ ᜮ ᜯ ᜰᜱ
Tagbanwa
ISOkakhagaghaṅacachajajhañaṭaṭhaḍaḍhaṇatathadadhanaṉapaphababhamayaẏaraṟalaḷaḻavaśaṣasahakṣaṯa

;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

'''Notes'''

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 Kadamba/Pallava scripts with the spread of Buddhism sent Brahmic scripts throughout Southeast Asia.

Northern Brahmic

Southern Brahmic

Unicode of Brahmic scripts

As of Unicode version, the following Brahmic scripts have been encoded:
scriptderivationPeriod of derivationusage notesISO 15924Unicode rangesample
AhomBurmese13th centuryExtinct Ahom languageAhomU+11700–U+1174F
BalineseKawi11th centuryBalinese languageBaliU+1B00–U+1B7Fᬅᬓ᭄ᬲᬭᬩᬮᬶ
BatakPallava14th centuryBatak languagesBatkU+1BC0–U+1BFF
BaybayinKawi14th centuryTagalog, other Philippine languagesTglgU+1700–U+171F
Bengali-Assamese Siddhaṃ11th centuryAssamese language, Bengali language, Bishnupriya, Maithili, Meitei language BengU+0980–U+09FF
BhaiksukiGupta11th centuryWas used around the turn of the first millennium for writing SanskritBhksU+11C00–U+11C6F
BuhidKawi14th centuryBuhid languageBuhdU+1740–U+175F
Mon-BurmesePallava11th centuryBurmese language, Mon language, numerous modifications for other languages including Chakma, Eastern and Western Pwo Karen, Geba Karen, Kayah, Rumai Palaung, S'gaw Karen, ShanMymrU+1000–U+109F, U+A9E0–U+A9FF, U+AA60–U+AA7F, U+116D0–U116FF
ChakmaBurmese8th centuryChakma languageCakmU+11100–U+1114F
ChamPallava8th centuryCham languageChamU+AA00–U+AA5F
DevanagariNagari13th centurySeveral Indo-Aryan languages, Sino-Tibetan languages, Mundari and others.DevaU+0900–U+097F, U+A8E0–U+A8FF, U+11B00–U+11B5F
Dhives AkuruGuptaBefore 6th-8th centuryWas used to write the Maldivian language up until the 20th century.DiakU+11900–U+1195F
DograTakriWas used to write Dogri. Dogra script is closely related to Takri.DogrU+11800–U+1184F
GranthaPallava6th 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 Gondiuncertain16th centuryUsed for writing the Adilabad dialect of the Gondi language.GongU+11D60–U+11DAF
GurmukhiSharada16th centuryPunjabi languageGuruU+0A00–U+0A7F
Hanunó'oKawi14th centuryHanuno'o languageHanoU+1720–U+173F
JavaneseKawi16th centuryJavanese language, Sundanese language, Madurese languageJavaU+A980–U+A9DF
KaithiNagari16th centuryHistorically used for writing legal, administrative, and private records.KthiU+11080–U+110CF
KannadaTelugu-KannadaAround 4th-6th centurySanskrit, Kannada, Konkani, Tulu, Badaga, Kodava, Beary, othersKndaU+0C80–U+0CFF
KawiPallava8th centuryKawi was found primarily in Java and used across much of Maritime Southeast Asia between the 8th century and the 16th century.KawiU+11F00–U+11F5F
KhmerPallava11th 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
KhudawadiLanda16th centuryWas 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
LontaraKawi17th centuryBuginese language, othersBugiU+1A00–U+1A1F
MahajaniLanda16th centuryHistorically used in northern India for writing accounts and financial records.MahjU+11150–U+1117F
MakasarKawi17th centuryWas 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 centuryMalayalamMlymU+0D00–U+0D7F
MarchenTibetan7th centuryWas used in the Tibetan Bön tradition to write the extinct Zhang-Zhung languageMarcU+11C70–U+11CBF
Meetei MayekTibetan6th centuryofficially used for Meitei language in accordance to "The Manipur Official Language Act, 2021"MteiU+AAE0–U+AAFF, U+ABC0–U+ABFF
ModiNāgarī17th centuryWas used to write the Marathi languageModiU+11600–U+1165F
MultaniLandaWas used to write the Multani languageMultU+11280–U+112AF
NandinagariNāgarī7th centuryHistorically used to write Sanskrit in southern IndiaNandU+119A0–U+119FF
New Tai LueTai Tham1950sTai Lü languageTaluU+1980–U+19DF
OdiaSiddhaṃ13th centuryOdia languageOryaU+0B00–U+0B7F
ʼPhags-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
RejangKawi18th centuryRejang language, mostly obsoleteRjngU+A930–U+A95F
SaurashtraGrantha20th centurySaurashtra language, mostly obsoleteSaurU+A880–U+A8DF
SharadaGupta8th centuryWas used for writing Sanskrit and KashmiriShrdU+11180–U111DF, U+11B60–U11B7F
SiddhamGupta7th centuryWas used for writing SanskritSiddU+11580–U+115FF
SinhalaBrahmi4th centurySinhala languageSinhU+0D80–U+0DFF, U+111E0–U+111FF
SundaneseKawi14th centurySundanese languageSundU+1B80–U+1BBF, U+1CC0–U+1CCF
Sylheti NagariNagari16th centuryHistorically used for writing the Sylheti languageSyloU+A800–U+A82F
TagbanwaKawi14th centuryVarious languages of Palawan, nearly extinctTagbU+1760–U+177F
Tai LeMon13th centuryTai Nüa languageTaleU+1950–U+197F
Tai ThamMon13th centuryNorthern Thai language, Tai Lü language, Khün languageLanaU+1A20–U+1AAF
Tai VietThai16th centuryTai Dam languageTavtU+AA80–U+AADF
Tai Yo/Lai TayKhmer16th centuryTai Yo languageTayoU+1E6C0–U1E6FF
TakriSharada16th centuryWas used for writing Chambeali, and other languagesTakrU+11680–U+116CF
TamilPallava2nd centuryTamil languageTamlU+0B80–U+0BFF, U+11FC0–U+11FFF
TeluguTelugu-Kannada5th centuryTelugu languageTeluU+0C00–U+0C7F
ThaiOld Khmer13th centuryThai languageThaiU+0E00–U+0E7F
TibetanGupta8th centuryClassical Tibetan, Dzongkha, Ladakhi languageTibtU+0F00–U+0FFF
Tigalari/TuluGrantha9th centuryTulu, Kannada, and SanskritTutgU+11380–U113FF
TirhutaSiddham13th centuryHistorically used for the Maithili languageTirhU+11480–U+114DF