Indian Writing Systems (Simplified)
The Indus Valley Script
The earliest form of writing in India comes from the Indus Valley Civilization, dating back to the 3rd
millennium BC. It’s an undeciphered script found in over 2,000 seals and tablets. The script includes
6 to 26 symbols but has not yet been fully understood. Scholars struggle to decode it because the
civilization was multilingual and multi-racial, adding to the difficulty.
Example:
a.The Harappan Seal with symbols that have not been decoded yet.
b.One common symbol looks like a bull, and it is believed to be some kind of symbol for that animal.
But because we can't understand the meaning yet, we are unsure if it's a word or a symbol for
something else
The Brāhmī Script
The Brāhmī script is one of the oldest and most influential writing systems in India, with some
suggesting it originated around the 8th century BC. It is believed that Brāhmī may have evolved from
the Indus script, although there is no clear explanation for the gap between the fall of the Indus
Civilization and the emergence of Brāhmī around the 5th century BC.
It is an abugida, meaning each character has a consonant and a default vowel "a."
The character ka (क) includes a consonant "k" and the vowel "a."
The character ma (म) includes "m" and the vowel "a."
It is believed that the southern variant of the Brāhmī alphabet is the source of the scripts used in
Dravidian languages, i.e., Tamil, Telugu, Kannad, Malayalam etc.
The Ashokan inscriptions, dating to around 250 BCE, are some of the earliest known examples of
Brāhmī. These inscriptions were written to spread messages about Buddhism and moral teachings.
With the spread of Buddhism, the Brāhmī script has also spread all over India.
The Brāhmī script was used to create many regional scripts, like Tamil, Telugu, and Kannada. So, if
you look at these scripts, they all have a common origin in Brāhmī.
Example: The Ashokan Edicts, which are inscribed in Brāhmī and found in many parts of India, like
Lumbini and Delhi.
Devanagari or Nagari Script
Devanagari or Nagari script is a left-to-right abugida wich has evolved from the ancient Brāhmī
script, used in the Indian subcontinent.
It was developed in ancient India from the 1st to the 4th century CE, and was in regular use by the
7th century CE.
The Devanagari script, composed of 47 primary characters including 14 vowels and 33 consonants, is
one of the most adopted writing systems in the world, being used for over 120 languages.
The ancient Nagari script for Sanskrit had two additional consonantal characters. Among the
languages using it – as either their only script or one of their scripts – are Hindi, Sanskrit, Pali,
Awadhi, Bhojpuri, Braj Bhasha, Chhattisgarhi, Haryanvi, Magahi, Nagpuri, Rajasthani, Bhili, Dogri,
Marathi, Nepali, Maithili, Kashmiri, Konkani, Sindhi, Bodo, Nepalbhasa, Mundari and Santali.
In a cursory look, the Devanagari script appears different from other Indic scripts such as Bengali,
Odia, or Gurmukhi, but a closer examination reveals they are very similar except for angles and
structural emphasis.
The Devanagari script is closely related to the Nandinagari script commonly found in numerous
ancient manuscripts of South India, and it is distantly related to a number of southeast Asian scripts.
The Kharosthī Script
The Kharosthi Script was almost contemporarily with the Brāhmī, and it appeared by 3rd BC in
northern Pakistan and east Afghanistan.
Some examples of Kharosthi are also found in India.
Kharosthi was used primarily for the Prakrit dialect of Gandhari.
In structure & sequence, Kharosthi and Brāhmī are similar, except that Brāhmī had different signs for
different initial vowels,
but it used the same marks that change vowels in Consonant-Vowel combination,
and while Brāhmī had long and short vowel signs, Kharosthi had only one. Kharosthi Script fell out of
use by the 3rd or 4th century A.D.
Example:
Bengali uses a script similar to Devanagari but with a different style: বাংলা (Bangla).
Modern-day Writing Systems
Modern-Day Writing Systems in India (Simplified)
India has a rich diversity of writing systems, with 25+ different scripts used across the country. These
scripts are not only used for local languages but also influenced writing systems in other parts of
Asia.
Major Writing Systems in India
Out of all the scripts, 14 are major, and 12 of these originated from the Brāhmī script, which is one
of the oldest writing systems in India. For example:
Devanagari is used for languages like Hindi, Marathi, and Sanskrit.
Bengali script is used for Bengali and Assamese.
Tamil and Telugu scripts are used for their respective Dravidian languages.
Each of these scripts has its own unique style but shares a common origin in Brāhmī.
Language Languages Scripts Example Sentence
Family
Indo-Aryan Hindi, Bengali, Marathi, Devanagari, Bengali, Hindi: भारत मेरा देश
Punjabi Gurmukhi, Odia, etc. है।
Dravidian Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Tamil: இந்தியா என்
Malayalam Malayalam நாடு.
Austroasiatic Santali, Mundari, Khasi Ol Chiki, Roman Santali: ᱵᱟᱨᱛ ᱫᱟᱹ
ᱡᱟᱱᱛ.
Sino-Tibetan Manipuri, Bodo, Tibetan, Meitei Mayek, Devanagari, Manipuri: ꯑꯄꯥ ꯑꯅꯤꯗꯤꯌ
Naga langs. Tibetan, Roman ꯇꯩꯂꯩꯆꯣꯜ.
