Arabi Malayalam script (

Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of 22 scheduled languages of India. Malayalam was des ...

: അറബി-മലയാളം, Arabi Malayalam: عَرَبِ مَلَیَاۻَمٛ), also known as Ponnani script, is a writing system — a variant form of the

Arabic script The Arabic script is the writing system used for Arabic and several other languages of Asia and Africa. It is the second-most widely used writing system in the world by number of countries using it or a script directly derived from it, and the ...

with special orthographic features — for writing

Arabi Malayalam Arabi Malayalam (also called Mappila Malayalam and Moplah Malayalam) is the traditional Dravidian language of the Mappila Muslim community. It is spoken by several thousand people, predominantly in the Malabar Coast of Kerala state, southe ...

, a

Dravidian language The Dravidian languages (or sometimes Dravidic) are a family of languages spoken by 250 million people, mainly in southern India, north-east Sri Lanka, and south-west Pakistan. Since the colonial era, there have been small but significant i ...

in southern India. Though the script originated and developed in

Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...

, today it is predominantly used in

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

and

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

by the migrant Muslim community. Until the 20th century, the script was widely taught to all Muslims, including young women, in the primary education madrasahs of Kerala.Menon. T. Madhava. "A Handbook of Kerala, Volume 2", International School of Dravidian Linguistics, 2002. pp. 491-493.National Virtual Translation Center - Arabic script for malayala

/ref> Arabi-Malayalam is currently used in some of the primary education

madrasahs Madrasa (, also , ; Arabic: مدرسة , Plural, pl. , ) is the Arabs, Arabic word for any Educational institution, type of educational institution, secular or religious (of any religion), whether for elementary instruction or higher learning. T ...

and

Lakshadweep Lakshadweep (), also known as Laccadives (), is a union territory of India. It is an archipelago of 36 islands in the Arabian sea, located off the Malabar Coast. The name ''Lakshadweep'' means "one lakh islands" in Sanskrit, though the Lac ...

.Samastha (Official Website

Letters

There were many complications to write Malayalam, a Dravidian language, using letters covering Arabic, a Semitic language. Only 28 letters were available from Arabic orthography to render over 53 phonemes of Malayalam. It was overcome by following the pattern of creating additional letters established for Persian. The letters such as , , , , , , , were not available in the Arabic alphabets. The characters which stand for , , , () are respectively in Arabi Malayalam. ArabiMalayalam_alphabet

Vowels

അ = اَ ആ = آ ഇ = اِ ഈ = اِي ഉ = اُ ഊ = اُو ഋ = رْ എ = ا٘ ഏ = ا٘ي ഐ = اَيْ ഒ = اٗ ഓ = اٗو ഔ = اَوْ അം = اَمْ

Consonants

ക = ك/ک ഖ = كھ ഗ = گ ഘ = گھ ങ = ۼ ച = چ ഛ = چھ ജ = ج ഝ = جھ ഞ = ڿ ട = ڊ ഠ = ڊھ ഡ = ڗ ഢ = ڗھ ണ = ڹ ത = ت ഥ = تھ ദ = د ധ = دھ ന = ن പ = پ ഫ = پھ/ف ബ = ب ഭ = بھ മ = م യ = ي ര = ڔ ല = ل വ = و ശ = ش ഷ = ۺ സ = س ഹ = ھ/ﮭ ള = ۻ ഴ = ژ റ = ر റ്റ = ڔّ

Usage

Most of the

Mappila Songs Mappila songs (or ''Mappila Paattu'') are a folklore Muslim song genre rendered to lyrics, within a melodic framework ( Ishal), in Arabi Malayalam by the Mappilas of the Malabar region in Kerala, India. Mappila songs have a distinct cultural ...

were written, for the first time, in Arabi-Malayalam script. The earliest known such work is the ''Muhyidheen Mala'', written in 1607. Muhyadheen mala

Many literary works written in Arabi Malayalam still have not been transliterated to the Malayalam script, and some estimates put the number at almost 90 percent. These works, romantic ballads, folk tales and battle songs, contain some of the impressive literary achievements by

Mappila Mappila Muslim, often shortened to Mappila, formerly anglicized as Moplah/Mopla and historically known as Jonaka/Chonaka Mappila or Moors Mopulars/Mouros da Terra and Mouros Malabares, in general, is a member of the Muslim community of same n ...

s over the centuries.Miller, Roland. E., "Mappila" in "The Encyclopedia of Islam". Volume VI. E. J. Brill, Leiden. 1987. pp. 458-56. The first Arabi Malayalam scripted novel, ''Chahar Dervesh'', Malaylam translation of a Persian work, was published in 1883. Intellectuals such as

Moyinkutty Vaidyar Moyinkutty Vaidyar (1852–1892), often referred to as ''Mahakavi'' (great poet), is historically considered one of the most renowned poets of the Mappila pattu genre of Malayalam language. Personal life Moyinkutty was born to Unni Mammad ...

translated, and then transliterated significant number of works in Sanskrit - such as '' Ashtanga Hridaya, Amarakosa,

Pancatantra The ''Panchatantra'' ( IAST: Pañcatantra, ISO: Pañcatantra, sa, पञ्चतन्त्र, "Five Treatises") is an ancient Indian collection of interrelated animal fables in Sanskrit verse and prose, arranged within a frame story. ...

'' and even the legends about the Hindu king

Vikramaditya Vikramaditya (IAST: ') was a legendary king who has been featured in hundreds of traditional stories including those in ''Baital Pachisi'' and '' Singhasan Battisi''. Many describe him as ruler with his capital at Ujjain (Pataliputra or Prati ...

- into Arabi Malayalam."Malayalam Literary Survey", Volume 16 (1) -17 (4), Kēraḷa Sāhitya Akkādami, 1994. pp. 88 Sanskrit medical texts - such as ''Upakarasara'', ''Yogarambha'' and ''Mahasara'' - were also translated, and then transliterated into Arabi-Malayalam by scholars like Abdurahiman Musaliar of

Ponnani Ponnani () is a municipality in Ponnani Taluk, Malappuram District, in the state of Kerala, India. It serves as the administrative center of the Taluk and Block Panchayat of the same name. It is situated at the estuary of Bharatappuzha (Riv ...

Putiyakattu. Arabi Malayalam script periodicals made remarkable contributions to the reform movement amongst the Mappilas in the early 20th century. ''Al-Irshad'', published in 1923 by the ''Muslim Aikya Sangham'' played an important role in explaining the doctrines of Islam to the common Mappila and distinguishing between what the reformers called religious practices and "superstitions"."Journal of Kerala Studies", Volume 17, University of Kerala, 1990. pp. 134

References

External links