The Tirhuta or Maithili
script
Script may refer to:
Writing systems
* Script, a distinctive writing system, based on a repertoire of specific elements or symbols, or that repertoire
* Script (styles of handwriting)
** Script typeface, a typeface with characteristics of handw ...
is the primary historical script for the
Maithili language, as well as one of the historical scripts for
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...
. It is believed to have originated in the 10th century CE. It is very similar to
Bengali–Assamese script
The Bengali–Assamese script (or Eastern Nagari script) is a modern eastern Indic script that emerged from the Brahmi script. Gaudi script is considered the ancestor of the script. It is known as ''Bengali script'' among Bengali speaker ...
, with most consonants being effectively identical in appearance. For the most part, writing in Maithili has switched to the
Devanagari script
Devanagari ( ; , , Sanskrit pronunciation: ), also called Nagari (),Kathleen Kuiper (2010), The Culture of India, New York: The Rosen Publishing Group, , page 83 is a left-to-right abugida (a type of segmental Writing systems#Segmental syste ...
, which is used to write neighboring Central Indic languages to the west and north such as
Hindi
Hindi ( Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been ...
and
Nepali, and the number of people with a working knowledge of Tirhuta has dropped considerably in recent years.
History and current status
Before 14th CE, Tirhuta was exclusively used to write Sanskrit, later Maithili was written in this script. Despite the near universal switch from Tirhuta to the Devanagari script for writing Maithili, some traditional
pundits still use the script for sending one another ceremonial letters (''pātā'') related to some important function such as marriage. Metal type for this script was first produced in the 1920s, and digital fonts in the 1990s.
The 2003 inclusion of Maithili in the VIIIth Schedule of the
Indian Constitution
The Constitution of India (IAST: ) is the supreme law of India. The document lays down the framework that demarcates fundamental political code, structure, procedures, powers, and duties of government institutions and sets out fundamental ri ...
, having accorded official recognition to it as a language independent of Hindi, there is a possibility that this might lead to efforts to re-implement Tirhuta on a wider basis, in accord with similar trends in India reinforcing separate identities. However, currently, only Maithili in the Devanagari script is officially recognized.
Characters
Consonant letters
Most of the consonant letters are effectively identical to Bengali–Assamese. The Unicode submission, for example, only bothered to create new graphic designs for 7 of the 33 letters: .
Vowels
Other signs
Numerals
Tirhuta script uses its own signs for the
positional decimal numeral system.
Image gallery
The first two images shown below are samples illustrating the history of Tirhuta. The first is the sacred sign of
Ganesha
Ganesha ( sa, गणेश, ), also known as Ganapati, Vinayaka, and Pillaiyar, is one of the best-known and most worshipped Deva_(Hinduism), deities in the Hindu deities, Hindu pantheon and is the Supreme God in Ganapatya sect. His image is ...
, called ''āñjī'', used for millennia by students before beginning Tirhuta studies. Displayed further below are images of tables comparing the Tirhuta and Devanagari scripts.
Image:The consonants of the Mithilakshar script and the corresponding Devnagari.jpg
Image:matra1.jpg
Image:matra2and3.jpg
Image:matra4.jpg
Image:matra5.jpg
Image:matra6.jpg
Image:matra7.jpg
Image:matra8.jpg
Image:lastmatras.jpg
Image:comboletters1.jpg
Image:comboletters2.jpg
Image:comboletters3.jpg
Unicode
Tirhuta script was added to the
Unicode
Unicode, formally The Unicode Standard,The formal version reference is is an information technology standard for the consistent encoding, representation, and handling of text expressed in most of the world's writing systems. The standard, wh ...
Standard in June 2014 with the release of version 7.0.
The Unicode block for Tirhuta is U+11480–U+114DF:
References
External links
Tirhuta at Omniglot
{{Tirhut Division topics
Brahmic scripts
Culture of Mithila
Maithili language
Writing systems of Nepal