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This article contains Indic text. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks or boxes, misplaced vowels or missing conjuncts instead of Indic text.

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 Siddha?. They have 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 (goj?on) of Japanese kana.^[1]

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. (1996).^[2] 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 Siddha? 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 the Old Kannada, Pallava and Vatteluttu scripts, which in turn diversified into other scripts of South India and Southeast Asia.

The present Telugu script is derived from the Kannada-Telugu script, also known as "Old Kannada script", owing to its similarity to the same.^[4]

• 

  A fragment of Ashoka's 6th pillar edict, in Brahmi, the ancestor of all Brahmic scripts

• 

  Spread of Brahmic family of scripts from India

Characteristics

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

• Each consonant has an inherent vowel which is usually a short 'a' (in Bengali, Assamese and Odia it is a short 'ô' due to sound shifts). Other vowels are written by adding to the character. A mark, known in Sanskrit as a virama/halant, can be used to indicate the absence of an inherent vowel.
• Each vowel has two forms, an independent form when not attached to a consonant, and a dependent form, when attached to a consonant. Depending on the script, the dependent forms can be either placed to the left of, to the right of, above, below, or on both the left and the right sides of the base consonant.
• Consonants (up to 4 in Devanagari) can be combined in ligatures. Special marks are added to denote the combination of 'r' with another consonant.
• Nasalization and aspiration of a consonant's dependent vowel is also noted by separate signs.
• The alphabetical order is: vowels, velar consonants, palatal consonants, retroflex consonants, dental consonants, bilabial consonants, approximants, sibilants, and other consonants. Each consonant grouping had four stops (with all four possible values of voicing and aspiration), and a nasal consonant.

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 don't derive from any Brahmi character, but are later inventions.
• The pronunciations of glyphs in the same column may not be identical. The pronunciation row is only representative; the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) pronunciation is given for Sanskrit where possible, or another language if necessary.

The transliteration is indicated in ISO 15919.

Consonants

ISO[a]	ka	kha	ga	gha	?a	ca	cha	ja	jha	ña	?a	?ha	?a	?ha	?a	ta	tha	da	dha	na	?a	pa	pha	ba	bha	ma	ya	?a	ra	?a	la	?a	?a	va	?a	?a	sa	ha
Assamese	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?		?	?	?	?	?		?	?		?			?	?	?	?	?
Bengali	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?		?	?	?	?	?		?	?		?				?	?	?	?
Sylheti Nagari	?	?	?	?		?	?	?	?		?	?	?	?		?	?	?	?	?		?	?	?	?	?			?		?						?	?
Devanagari	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?		?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?
Gujarati	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?		?	?	?	?	?	?		?		?	?		?	?	?	?	?
Odia	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?		?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?		?	?		?	?	?	?	?
Gurmukhi	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?		?	?	?	?	?	?		?		?			?			?	?
Meitei Mayek[b]	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?		?	?	?	?	?	?		?		?			?	?	?	?	?
Tibetan	?	?	?		?	?	?	?		?	?	?	?		?	?	?	?		?		?	?	?		?	?		?		?			?	?	?	?	?
Lepcha	?	?	?		?	?	?	?		?	?	?	?			?	?	?		?		?	?	?		?	?		?		?			?	?		?	?
Limbu	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?						?	?	?	?	?		?	?	?	?	?	?		?		?			?	?	?	?	?
Tirhuta	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?		?	?	?	?	?	?		?		?				?	?	?	?
Kaithi	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?		?	?	?	?	?	?		?		?			?	?	?	?	?
Early Brahmi	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?		?	?	?	?	?	?		?		?	?		?	?	?	?	?
Middle Brahmi																																?
Late Brahmi																																?
Tocharian
Telugu	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?		?	?	?	?	?	?		?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?
Kannada	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?		?	?	?	?	?	?		?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?
Sinhala	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?		?	?	?	?	?	?		?		?	?		?	?	?	?	?
Malayalam	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?		?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?
Grantham	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?		?	?	?	?	?	?		?		?	?		?	?	?	?	?
Tamil	?				?	?		?		?	?				?	?				?	?	?				?	?		?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?
Chakma[c]	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?		?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?		?	?		?			?	?
Burmese	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	? / ?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?		?	?	?	?	?	?		?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?
Khmer	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?		?	?	?	?	?	?		?		?	?		?	?	?	?	?
Thai	?	?,?[d]	?,?[d]	?	?	?	?	?,?[d]	?	?	?,[d]?	?	?	?	?	?,[d]?	?	?	?	?		?,[d]?	?,?[d]	?,?[d]	?	?	?		?		?	?		?	?	?	?	?,?[d]
Lao	?	?	?		?	?		?								?	?	?		?		?	?	?		?	?		?		?			?			?	?
Cham	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?						?	?	?	?	?		?	?	?	?	?	?		?		?			?		?	?	?
Balinese	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?		?	?	?	?	?	?		?		?			?	?	?	?	?
Javanese[e]	?	?[e]	?	?[e]	?	?	?[e]	?	?[e]	?	?	?[e]	?	?[e]	?[e]	?	?[e]	?	?[e]	?	?	?	?[e]	?	?[e]	?	?		?		?			?	?[e]	?[e]	?	?
Sundanese	?	?	?		?	?		?		?						?		?		?		?		?	?	?	?		?		?			?	?		?	?
Lontara	?		?		?	?		?		?						?		?		?		?		?		?	?		?		?			?			?	?
Rejang	?		?		?	?		?		?						?		?		?		?		?		?	?		?		?			?			?	?
Batak (Toba)	?		?		?			?		?/?						?		?		?		?		?		?			?		?			?			?	?
Baybayin	?		?		?											?		?		?		?		?		?	?		?		?			?			?	?
Buhid	?		?		?											?		?		?		?		?		?	?		?		?			?			?	?
Hanunuo	?		?		?											?		?		?		?		?		?	?		?		?			?			?	?
Tagbanwa	?		?		?											?		?		?		?		?		?	?				?			?			?
ISO	ka	kha	ga	gha	?a	ca	cha	ja	jha	ña	?a	?ha	?a	?ha	?a	ta	tha	da	dha	na	?a	pa	pha	ba	bha	ma	ya	?a	ra	?a	la	?a	?a	va	?a	?a	sa	ha

Notes

Vowels

Vowels are presented in their independent form on the left of each column, and in their corresponding dependent form (vowel sign) 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

Early Brahmic scripts
IAST	Ashoka	Girnar	Chandra -gupta	Gujarat	Allahabad	Narbada	Kistna
a
?
i
?
u
?
?
e
ai
o
au
k
kh
g
gh
?
c
ch
j
jh
ñ
?
?h
?
?h
?
t
th
d
dh
n
p
ph
b
bh
m
y
r
l
v
?
?
s
h

Indo-Aryan languages using their respective Brahmic family scripts (except dark blue- colored Khowar, Pashai, Kohistani, and 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.

Northern Brahmic

• Gupta, 4th century
  • Sharada
    • Landa
      • Gurmukhi
      • Khojki
      • Khudabadi
      • Mahajani
      • Multani
    • Takri
      • Dogri
  • Siddha?
    • Nagari
      • Devanagari
      • Modi
      • Gujarati
      • Nandinagari
      • Kaithi
        • Sylheti Nagari
    • Gaudi
      • Bengali-Assamese (Eastern Nagari)
        • Assamese
        • Bengali
      • Tirhuta (Mithilakshar)
      • Odia
    • Meetei Mayek
    • Nepalese
      • Bhujimol
      • Ranjana
        • Soyombo
      • Pracalit
  • Tibetan
    • Lepcha
      • Limbu
    • 'Phags-pa
      • Zanabazar square
    • Marchen
      • Marchung
      • Pungs-chen
      • Pungs-chung
      • Drusha
  • Bhaiksuki
• Kalinga
• Tocharian (Slanting Brahmi)

Southern Brahmic

• Tamil-Brahmi, 2nd century BC
  • Pallava
    • Tamil
    • Grantha
      • Malayalam
      • Tigalari
      • Dhives Akuru
      • Saurashtra
    • Khmer
      • Lao
      • Thai
        • Tai Viet
    • Cham
    • Kawi
      • Balinese
      • Batak
      • Javanese
      • Sundanese
      • Lontara
      • Makasar
      • Lampung
      • Rencong
      • Rejang
      • Baybayin
        • Buhid
        • Hanunó'o
        • Tagbanwa
        • Kulitan
    • Old Mon
  • Vatteluttu
    • Kolezhuthu
    • Malayanma
• Sinhala
• Bhattiprolu
  • Kadamba
    • Telugu-Kannada
      • Kannada
        • Goykanadi
      • Telugu
    • Pyu
      • Burmese
        • Ahom
        • Chakma
        • S'gaw Karen
        • Shan
          • Lik-Tai
        • Mon
          • Tai Le
          • Tai Tham
            • New Tai Lue

Unicode

As of Unicode version 13.0, the following Brahmic scripts have been encoded:

See also

• Devanagari transliteration
  • International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration
  • National Library at Kolkata romanization
• Bharati Braille, the unified braille assignments of Indian languages
• Indus script - the earliest writing system on the Indian subcontinent
• ISCII - the coding scheme specifically designed to represent Indic scripts

References