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Sylheti Nagri or Sylheti Nagari ( syl, ,
ISO ISO is the most common abbreviation for the International Organization for Standardization. ISO or Iso may also refer to: Business and finance * Iso (supermarket), a chain of Danish supermarkets incorporated into the SuperBest chain in 2007 * Iso ...
: , ), known in classical manuscripts as Sylhet Nagri (, ''Sileṭ Nagri'') amongst many other names (see below), was an
Indic script The Brahmic scripts, also known as Indic scripts, are a family of abugida writing systems. They are used throughout the Indian subcontinent, Southeast Asia and parts of East Asia. They are descended from the Brahmi script of ancient India ...
used to write the
Sylheti language Sylheti ( Sylheti Nāgarī: ; bn, সিলেটি ) is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by an estimated 11 million people, primarily in the Sylhet Division of Bangladesh and in parts of Northeast India."Sylheti is an Indo-Aryan language spok ...
and
Eastern Bengali Eastern Bengali or Vaṅga ( bn, বঙ্গ, bôṅgô)is a Nonstandard dialect, nonstandard dialect cluster of Bengali language, Bengali spoken in most of Bangladesh and Tripura, thus covering majority of the land of Bengal and surrounding are ...
languages. The script was historically used by Muslims from
Bihar Province Bihar Province was a province of British India, created in 1936 by the partition of the Bihar and Orissa Province. History In 1756, Bihar was part of Bengal. On 14 October 1803, Orissa was occupied by the British Raj. On 22 March 1912, both Biha ...
of
British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...
in areas of
Bengal Bengal ( ; bn, বাংলা/বঙ্গ, translit=Bānglā/Bôngô, ) is a geopolitical, cultural and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal, predom ...
and
Assam Province Assam Province was a province of British India, created in 1912 by the partition of the Eastern Bengal and Assam Province. Its capital was in Shillong. The Assam territory was first separated from Bengal in 1874 as the 'North-East Frontier' n ...
that were east of the
Padma The Padma ( bn, পদ্মা ''Pôdma'') is a major river in Bangladesh. It is the main distributary of the Ganges, flowing generally southeast for to its confluence with the Meghna River near the Bay of Bengal. The city of Rajshahi is sit ...
, primarily in the eastern part of the
Sylhet region The 1947 Sylhet referendum was held in the Sylhet District of the Assam Province of British India to decide whether the district would remain in Undivided Assam and therefore within the post-independence Dominion of India, or leave Assam for E ...
, to document Muslim religious poetry known as ''
puthi A Puthi ( bn, পুঁথি, Nagari: , Perso-Arab: پوتھی), is a book or writing of poetic fairy tales and religious stories of Bengal and present-day East India, which were read by a senior "educated" person while others would listen. This ...
s''; having no presence in formal documentations. In the course of the 20th century, it has lost much ground to the standardized
Eastern Nagari script Eastern may refer to: Transportation *China Eastern Airlines, a current Chinese airline based in Shanghai * Eastern Air, former name of Zambia Skyways * Eastern Air Lines, a defunct American airline that operated from 1926 to 1991 *Eastern Air ...
. Printing presses for Sylheti Nagri existed as late as into the 1970s, and in the 2000s, a
Unicode Unicode, formally The Unicode Standard,The formal version reference is is an information technology Technical standard, standard for the consistent character encoding, encoding, representation, and handling of Character (computing), text expre ...
font was created for the script.


Etymology and names

''Sylhet Nagri'' is a compound of "
Sylhet Sylhet ( bn, সিলেট) is a metropolitan city in northeastern Bangladesh. It is the administrative seat of the Sylhet Division. Located on the north bank of the Surma River at the eastern tip of Bengal, Sylhet has a subtropical climate an ...
" () and "''nāgrī''" (). ''Sylhet'' is the name of the region in which the script was primarily used and originated from. ''Nagri'' means "of or pertaining to an abode (nagar)". Hence, ''Sylhet Nagri'' denotes ''from the abode or city of Sylhet''. In recent times, it has come to be known as Sylhet''i'' Nagri although this name was not used in the classical manuscripts such as ''Pohela Kitab'' by Muhammad Abdul Latif.
Nagendranath Basu Nagendranath Basu ( bn, নগেন্দ্রনাথ বসু; 6 July 1866 – 11 October 1938) was an archaeologist, encyclopaedist and a nationalist social historian of Bengal. Early life Nagendranath was born in the village of Mahesh ...
asserts that ''Nagri'' is named after the
Nagar Brahmin The Nagar Brahmin is a Hindu Brahmin subcaste mainly from the Indian state of Gujarat. Author T. Sasaki says, Among Brahmins in Gujarat Nagar Brahmins were most prominent subdivision in the political, economic and social activities of this ...
s who were known for retaining their Nagri scripts whilst adopting the local language of places which they migrated to. The script has been known by other names such as ''Jalalabadi Nagri'' () after the name of Jalalabad (
Sylhet Sylhet ( bn, সিলেট) is a metropolitan city in northeastern Bangladesh. It is the administrative seat of the Sylhet Division. Located on the north bank of the Surma River at the eastern tip of Bengal, Sylhet has a subtropical climate an ...
), ''Phul Nagri'' (), ''Jangli Nagri'' and ''Kat Nagri'', amongst others. Another popular term is ''Musalmani Nagri'' () due to its prevalence amongst Muslims of eastern Bengal.


History


Origins

According to Qadir (1999) and Professor Clifford Wright, the script descends from
Kaithi script Kaithi (), also called Kayathi () or Kayasthi (), is a historical Brahmic script that was used widely in parts of Northern and Eastern India, primarily in the present-day states of Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and Bihar. In particular, it was u ...
, a script predominantly used in
Bihar Bihar (; ) is a state in eastern India. It is the 2nd largest state by population in 2019, 12th largest by area of , and 14th largest by GDP in 2021. Bihar borders Uttar Pradesh to its west, Nepal to the north, the northern part of West Be ...
. The specific origin of the script is debated. Though most popular in Sylhet, the script was historically also used in
Greater Mymensingh Mymensingh Division ( bn, ময়মনসিংহ বিভাগ) is one of the eight administrative divisions of Bangladesh. It has an area of and a population of 11,370,000 as of the 2011 census. It was created in 2015 from districts prev ...
,
Northeast India , native_name_lang = mni , settlement_type = , image_skyline = , image_alt = , image_caption = , motto = , image_map = Northeast india.png , ...
One hypothesis is that the Muslims of Sylhet(from Bihar)were the ones to invent it for the purpose of mass Islamic education, which is thought to have taken place during the 15th-century, when
Bengali Hindu Bengali Hindus ( bn, বাঙ্গালী হিন্দু/বাঙালি হিন্দু, translit=Bāṅgālī Hindu/Bāṅāli Hindu) are an ethnoreligious population who make up the majority in the Indian states of West Benga ...
s led by
Krishna Chaitanya Chaitanya Mahaprabhu (; born Vishvambhar Mishra) was a 15th-century Indian saint who is considered to be the combined avatar of Radha and Krishna by his disciples and various scriptures. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's mode of worshipping Krishna ...
, started a
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 ...
and Vaishnavist reawakening movement. On the other hand,
Ahmad Hasan Dani Ahmad Hassan Dani (Urdu: احمد حسن دانی) FRAS, SI, HI (20 June 1920 – 26 January 2009) was a Pakistani archaeologist, historian, and linguist. He was among the foremost authorities on Central Asian and South Asian archaeology ...
believes that it was invented by the Afghans during their rule of Bengal, since Nagri letters resemble Afghan coin symbols and the large number of Afghan inhabitants in Sylhet at the time. Another theory dates the script's origin as late as the seventeenth—eighteenth century; claiming that it was invented to facilitate the Muslim
sepoy ''Sepoy'' () was the Persian-derived designation originally given to a professional Indian infantryman, traditionally armed with a musket, in the armies of the Mughal Empire. In the 18th century, the French East India Company and its oth ...
s coming from the joint state of
Bihar Bihar (; ) is a state in eastern India. It is the 2nd largest state by population in 2019, 12th largest by area of , and 14th largest by GDP in 2021. Bihar borders Uttar Pradesh to its west, Nepal to the north, the northern part of West Be ...
and other immigrant Muslims. Though almost solely used by
Muslims Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abraha ...
, there are other theories which point the script's origins to Buddhists and Hindus who later converted to
Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...
. A popular theory is that it was brought to the region via
Nagar Brahmin The Nagar Brahmin is a Hindu Brahmin subcaste mainly from the Indian state of Gujarat. Author T. Sasaki says, Among Brahmins in Gujarat Nagar Brahmins were most prominent subdivision in the political, economic and social activities of this ...
s. This is a
Hindu caste The caste system in India is the paradigmatic ethnographic example of classification of castes. It has its origins in Outline of ancient India, ancient India, and was transformed by various ruling elites in medieval, early-modern, and modern ...
known for travelling and settling across
the subcontinent The Indian subcontinent is a physiographical region in Southern Asia. It is situated on the Indian Plate, projecting southwards into the Indian Ocean from the Himalayas. Geopolitically, it includes the countries of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India ...
, adopting the local language but writing in their own Nagari-variant of Kaithi instead. The Brahmins converted to
Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...
though retained the practice of the Nagri script for poetry. This is also the case in other parts of
South Asia South Asia is the southern subregion of Asia, which is defined in both geographical and ethno-cultural terms. The region consists of the countries of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.;;;;;;;; ...
such as
Sindh Sindh (; ; ur, , ; historically romanized as Sind) is one of the four provinces of Pakistan. Located in the southeastern region of the country, Sindh is the third-largest province of Pakistan by land area and the second-largest province ...
,
Multan Multan (; ) is a city in Punjab, Pakistan, on the bank of the Chenab River. Multan is Pakistan's seventh largest city as per the 2017 census, and the major cultural, religious and economic centre of southern Punjab. Multan is one of the List ...
and
Varanasi Varanasi (; ; also Banaras or Benares (; ), and Kashi.) is a city on the Ganges river in northern India that has a central place in the traditions of pilgrimage, death, and mourning in the Hindu world. * * * * The city has a syncretic t ...
. Baitali Kaithi was a former script used to write Hindustani at a similar time, and it was identical to Sylhet Nagri with the exception that the latter had a ''matra'' (upper horizontal line used in
Brahmic scripts The Brahmic scripts, also known as Indic scripts, are a family of abugida writing systems. They are used throughout the Indian subcontinent, Southeast Asia and parts of East Asia. They are descended from the Brahmi script of ancient India ...
). Others say that the script was invented by immigrant
Bhikkhu A ''bhikkhu'' (Pali: भिक्खु, Sanskrit: भिक्षु, ''bhikṣu'') is an ordained male in Buddhist monasticism. Male and female monastics ("nun", ''bhikkhunī'', Sanskrit ''bhikṣuṇī'') are members of the Sangha (Buddhist ...
s (originally Buddhist in faith) from neighbouring countries such as
Nepal Nepal (; ne, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne, सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mai ...
. Manuscripts have been found of works such as ''Rag Namah'' by Fazil Nasim Muhammad, ''Shonabhaner Puthi'' by Abdul Karim and the earliest known work ''Talib Husan'' (1549) by Ghulam Husan.


Transcription

Bengali Muslim Bengali Muslims ( bn, বাঙালি মুসলমান; ) are adherents of Islam who ethnically, linguistically and genealogically identify as Bengalis. Comprising about two-thirds of the global Bengali population, they are the sec ...
poetry was written in a colloquial dialect of Middle Bengali known as ''
Dobhashi Dobhashi ( bn, দোভাষী, Dobhāṣī, bilingual) is a neologism used to refer to a historical Register (sociolinguistics), register of the Bengali language which borrowed extensively, in all aspects, from Arabic and Persian. It became ...
'', which had a highly
Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...
and Hindustani lexicon. The literature of Sylheti Nagri was written in a similar style, however is distinguished with its phonology and some vocabulary being strongly influenced by
Sylheti Sylheti may refer to: * Sylhetis, an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group in the Sylhet division and South Assam * Sylheti language, a language of the Sylheti region * Sylheti Nagri Sylheti Nagri or Sylheti Nagari ( syl, , ISO: , ), known in cla ...
.Thibaut d'Hubert, Alexandre Papas (2018). ''Jāmī in Regional Contexts: The Reception of ʿAbd al-Raḥmān Jāmī’s Works in the Islamicate World, ca. 9th/15th-14th/20th Century''. pp.678. BRILL. Retrieved on 9 September 2020.


Usage

The simplistic nature of the script inspired a lot of poets, though the bulk of Sylheti Nagri literature was born in the late 19th century. Abdul Karim, a
munshi Munshi is a Persian word, originally used for a contractor, writer, or secretary, and later used in the Mughal Empire and India for native language teachers, teachers of various subjects, especially administrative principles, religious texts, ...
who was studying and completing his education in
London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
, spent several years in the English capital to learn the printing trade. After returning home in circa 1869, he designed a woodblock type for the script and founded the Islamia Printing Press in Bandar Bazar,
Sylhet Sylhet ( bn, সিলেট) is a metropolitan city in northeastern Bangladesh. It is the administrative seat of the Sylhet Division. Located on the north bank of the Surma River at the eastern tip of Bengal, Sylhet has a subtropical climate an ...
. Padmanath Bhattacharjee Vidyabinod, who wrote the first scholarly article on the script, is of the opinion that Abdul Karim's standardisation marks the start of the script's ''reawakening'' (nobojonmo) period. Prior to Abdul Karim's intervention, not much is known about the popularity and usage of the script. The manuscripts were of prosaic quality, but poetry was also abundant. Other Sylheti Nagri presses were established in Sylhet,
Sunamganj Sunamganj ( bn, সুনামগঞ্জ) is a town in the Sylhet Division of northeastern Bangladesh. It is the administrative headquarters and largest town of Sunamganj District. It is located on the banks of the Surma River, approximately ...
,
Shillong Shillong () is a hill station and the capital of Meghalaya, a Indian state, state in northeastern India, which means "The Abode of Clouds". It is the headquarters of the East Khasi Hills district. Shillong is the list of most populous cities in ...
and
Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...
. Some include the Sarada Printing and Publishing in Naiyorpul, Sylhet; and Calcutta's General Printing Works in 16 Gardner Lane,
Taltala Taltala (also spelt Taltola, archaic spelling Taltollah) is a neighbourhood in Central Kolkata, in Kolkata district in the Indian state of West Bengal. One of the oldest neighbourhoods of the metropolis, it has a police station on its own name. ...
as well as the Hamidi Press in
Sealdah Sealdah is a neighbourhood of Central Kolkata in Kolkata district in the Indian state of West Bengal. Etymology Jackals (''sheal'' in Bengali) howled around Sealdah. Antiquarians identify it as Shrigaldwipa (Jackal Island). Nearby Beliaghata wa ...
. It has been asserted from scholarly writings that the script was used as far as
Bankura Bankura () is a city and a municipality in the state of West Bengal, India. It is the headquarters of the Bankura district. Etymology In the Mahabharata, Bankura was described as Suhmobhumi. The word or (in Nagari: rāḍh) was introduced af ...
,
Barisal Barisal ( or ; bn, বরিশাল, ), officially known as Barishal, is a major city that lies on the banks of the Kirtankhola river in south-central Bangladesh. It is the largest city and the administrative headquarter of both Barisal Dist ...
,
Chittagong Chittagong ( /ˈtʃɪt əˌɡɒŋ/ ''chit-uh-gong''; ctg, চিটাং; bn, চিটাগং), officially Chattogram ( bn, চট্টগ্রাম), is the second-largest city in Bangladesh after Dhaka and third largest city in B ...
and
Noakhali Noakhali ( bn, নোয়াখালী, , New canal), historically known as Bhulua ( bn, ভুলুয়া), is a district in southeastern Bangladesh, located in the Chittagong Division. It was established as district in 1821, and officia ...
. From the description of Shreepadmanath Debsharma: The script is thought to have spread to Chittagong and Barisal via river. Although the script vastly extended across Bengal, its use "was restricted to a certain class of Muslims", in particular the Muslim women. The Munshi
Sadeq Ali Munshi Muhammad Sadeq Ali ( bn, মোহাম্মদ সাদেক আলী, Sylheti Nagri, Nagri: ), born as Sri Gaur Kishore Sen ( bn, শ্রী গৌর কিশোর সেন), was a prominent Dobhashi writer, poet and district ...
is considered to have been the greatest and most popular writer of the script. The script has also been used in the daily lives of the inhabitants of Sylhet apart from using in religious literature. Letters, receipts, and even official records has been written using this script. Apart from renowned literary works such as ''Halat-un-Nabi'', ''Jongonama'', ''Mahabbatnama'' or ''Noor Noshihot'', it has been used to write medicine and magical manuscripts, as well as ''Poems of the Second World War''. As late as the 1930s,
Nagendranath Basu Nagendranath Basu ( bn, নগেন্দ্রনাথ বসু; 6 July 1866 – 11 October 1938) was an archaeologist, encyclopaedist and a nationalist social historian of Bengal. Early life Nagendranath was born in the village of Mahesh ...
noticed that the
Bengali Muslims Bengali Muslims ( bn, বাঙালি মুসলমান; ) are adherents of Islam who ethnically, linguistically and genealogically identify as Bengalis. Comprising about two-thirds of the global Bengali population, they are the sec ...
of
Bishnupur, Bankura Bishnupur is a city and a municipality of Bisnupur district in the state of West Bengal, India. It is the headquarters of the Bishnupur District. It is famous for its terracotta temples built by the Malla rulers, historic Radha Krishna temple ...
were using the Bengali alphabet for all purposes, but the Nagri script for
puthi A Puthi ( bn, পুঁথি, Nagari: , Perso-Arab: پوتھی), is a book or writing of poetic fairy tales and religious stories of Bengal and present-day East India, which were read by a senior "educated" person while others would listen. This ...
s. The script, never having been a part of any formal education, reached the common people with seeming ease. Although it was hardly used in comparison to the Bengali script, it was common for lower-class Muslims in eastern Sylhet to sign their names in this script. Many Sylheti Nagri presses fell out of use during the
Bangladeshi Liberation War The Bangladesh Liberation War ( bn, মুক্তিযুদ্ধ, , also known as the Bangladesh War of Independence, or simply the Liberation War in Bangladesh) was a revolution and War, armed conflict sparked by the rise of the Benga ...
and
Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 The Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 was a military confrontation between India and Pakistan that occurred during the Bangladesh Liberation War in East Pakistan from 3 December 1971 until the Pakistani capitulation in Dhaka on 16 Decem ...
, including Islamia Press in Sylhet town which was destroyed by a fire.


Modern history

Many Sylheti Nagri presses fell out of use during the
Bangladeshi Liberation War The Bangladesh Liberation War ( bn, মুক্তিযুদ্ধ, , also known as the Bangladesh War of Independence, or simply the Liberation War in Bangladesh) was a revolution and War, armed conflict sparked by the rise of the Benga ...
and
Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 The Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 was a military confrontation between India and Pakistan that occurred during the Bangladesh Liberation War in East Pakistan from 3 December 1971 until the Pakistani capitulation in Dhaka on 16 Decem ...
, including Islamia Press in Sylhet town which was destroyed by a fire. It gradually became very unpopular the script is used mainly by linguists and academics. Research on the script multiplied to its greatest extent in post-colonial
Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...
and independent
Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...
. In the late 20th century, Munshi
Ashraf Hussain Munshi Muhammad Ashraf Hussain ( bn, মোহাম্মদ আশরাফ হোসেন; 1892-1965), was a Bengali poet, researcher and a collector of puthis and folk literature. He was also known for his contribution in the study of the Sy ...
, a researcher of Bengali folk literature, contributed immensely to Sylheti Nagri research. In 2009, the publication of literature in the Nagri script recommenced in Bangladesh through the efforts of Mostafa Selim, who founded a publishing company called Utsho Prokashon based in
Dhaka Dhaka ( or ; bn, ঢাকা, Ḍhākā, ), formerly known as Dacca, is the capital and largest city of Bangladesh, as well as the world's largest Bengali-speaking city. It is the eighth largest and sixth most densely populated city ...
, and Anwar Rashid's New Nation Library in Puran Lane, Sylhet. By 2014, a collection of 25 manuscripts, known as ''Nagri Grantha Sambhar'', was published by Utsho Prokashon's Muhammad Abdul Mannan and Selim. The recent revivals sparked a great interest in the country, and achieved significant coverage in national newspapers, TV and radio channels across Bangladesh. The government enabled free circulation of books about Nagri to be distributed to schools and colleges in Sylhet. A documentary directed by Sarwar Tamizuddin, titled ''Nagri Lipir Nabajatra'', was aired across the country. The
Bangla Academy The Bangla Academy ( bn, বাংলা একাডেমি, ) is an autonomous institution funded by the Bangladesh government to foster the Bengali language, literature and culture, to develop and implement national language policy and to d ...
, an institution funded by the
Government of Bangladesh The Government of the People's Republic of Bangladesh ( bn, গণপ্রজাতন্ত্রী বাংলাদেশ সরকার — ) is the central executive government of Bangladesh. The government was constituted by the Con ...
to serve as the official body regarding the Bengali language, has begun hosting Nagri bookstalls at the
Ekushey Book Fair The Ekushey Book Fair ( bn, একুশে বই মেলা, Ekuśe Bôi Mela), officially called Amar Ekushey Grantha Mela ( bn, অমর একুশে গ্রন্থ মেলা, lit='Immortal Book Fair of the Twenty-first f February ...
. In 2014, a Nagri press conference was held at the Pathak Shamabesh Center in
Shahbag Shahbag or Shahbagh (also Shahbaugh, bn, শাহবাগ, Shāhbāg, ) is a major neighbourhood and a police precinct or ''thana'' in Dhaka, the capital and largest city of Bangladesh. It is also a major public transport hub. It is a juncti ...
, a major neighbourhood located in Bangladesh's capital,
Dhaka Dhaka ( or ; bn, ঢাকা, Ḍhākā, ), formerly known as Dacca, is the capital and largest city of Bangladesh, as well as the world's largest Bengali-speaking city. It is the eighth largest and sixth most densely populated city ...
. The
Sylhet City Corporation Sylhet City Corporation (SCC) is a self-governing organisation which governs the municipal areas of Sylhet. This civic body of Sylhet Sylhet ( bn, সিলেট) is a metropolitan city in northeastern Bangladesh. It is the administrative se ...
and Sylhet District Council funded the establishment of a £20,000 circular mural at Surma Point known as the Nagri Chattar in 2018, which was designed by Shubhajit Chowdhury. The official building of Sylhet District's Deputy Commissioner has also installed Nagri signboards. In the
United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
, the
New Testament The New Testament grc, Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη, transl. ; la, Novum Testamentum. (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Christ ...
was successfully transcribed into Sylheti Nagri by James Lloyd Williams and others on 2014
Christmas Day Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world. A feast central to the Christian liturgical year, ...
and titled ''Pobitro Injil Shorif''.


Letters

The Sylheti Nagri script can be divided into vowels and vowel diacritics/marks, consonants and consonant conjuncts, diacritical and punctuation marks. Vowels & consonants are used as alphabet and also as diacritical marks. The script is characterised by its simplistic glyph, with fewer letters than Bengali. The total number of letters is 32; there are 5 vowels and 28 consonants.


Vowels

The widely accepted number of vowels is 5, although some texts show additional vowels. For example, the diphthong ôi has sometimes been regarded as an additional vowel. The vowels don't follow the sequence of Bengali alphabet. The vowels also have their own respective diacritics known as "horkot". * "" sounds as the default
inherent vowel An inherent vowel is part of an abugida (or alphasyllabary) script. It is a vowel sound which is used with each unmarked or basic consonant symbol. For example, if the Latin alphabet used 'i' as an inherent vowel, "Wikipedia" could be rendered as "W ...
for the entire script. * When a vowel sound occurs syllable-initially or when it follows another vowel, it is written using a distinct letter. When a vowel sound follows a consonant (or a consonant cluster), it is written with a diacritic which, depending on the vowel, can appear above, below, before or after the consonant. These vowel marks cannot appear without a consonant and are called ''horkot''. * An exception to the above system is the vowel , which has no vowel mark but is considered inherent in every consonant letter. To denote the absence of the inherent vowel following a consonant, a diacritic called the ''oshonto'' () may be written underneath the consonant. * Although there is only one diphthong in the inventory of the script: "" ''oi'' , its phonetic system has, in fact, many diphthongs. Most diphthongs are represented by juxtaposing the graphemes of their forming vowels, as in .


Vowel diacritics


Consonants

There are 27 consonants. The names of the letters are typically just the consonant sound with the inherent vowel . Since the inherent vowel is assumed and not written, most letters' names look identical to the letter itself, i.e. the name of the letter is ''ghô''. There is a difference between the pronunciation of ''rô'' and ''ṛo''. Although in ordinary speech these are pronounced the same as .


Symbols


Sample texts

The following is a sample text in Sylheti of Article 1 of the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) is an international document adopted by the United Nations General Assembly that enshrines the Human rights, rights and freedoms of all human beings. Drafted by a UN Drafting of the Universal De ...
by the
United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...
:
Sylheti Sylheti may refer to: * Sylhetis, an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group in the Sylhet division and South Assam * Sylheti language, a language of the Sylheti region * Sylheti Nagri Sylheti Nagri or Sylheti Nagari ( syl, , ISO: , ), known in cla ...
in Sylheti Nagari script
:ꠗꠣꠞꠣ ১: ꠢꠇꠟ ꠝꠣꠘꠥꠡ ꠡꠣꠗꠤꠘꠜꠣꠛꠦ ꠢꠝꠣꠘ ꠁꠎ꠆ꠎꠔ ꠀꠞ ꠢꠇ ꠟꠁꠀ ꠙꠄꠖꠣ ‘ꠅꠄ। ꠔꠣꠁꠘꠔꠣꠁꠘꠞ ꠛꠤꠛꠦꠇ ꠀꠞ ꠀꠇꠟ ꠀꠍꠦ। ꠅꠔꠣꠞ ꠟꠣꠉꠤ ꠢꠇꠟꠞ ꠄꠇꠎꠘꠦ ꠀꠞꠇꠎꠘꠞ ꠟꠉꠦ ꠛꠤꠞꠣꠖꠞꠤꠞ ꠝꠘ ꠟꠁꠀ ꠀꠌꠞꠘ ꠇꠞꠣ ꠃꠌꠤꠔ। Sylheti in phonetic
Romanization Romanization or romanisation, in linguistics, is the conversion of text from a different writing system to the Roman (Latin) script, or a system for doing so. Methods of romanization include transliteration, for representing written text, and ...

:Dara ex: Hoxol manuṣ ṣadínbábe homan ijjot ar hox loia foeda óe. Taintainor bibex ar axol asé. Otar lagi hoxlor exzone aroxzonor loge biradorir mon loia asoron xora usit. Sylheti in
IPA IPA commonly refers to: * India pale ale, a style of beer * International Phonetic Alphabet, a system of phonetic notation * Isopropyl alcohol, a chemical compound IPA may also refer to: Organizations International * Insolvency Practitioners ...

: Gloss
:Clause 1: All human free-manner-in equal dignity and right taken birth-take do. Their reason and intelligence exist; therefore everyone-indeed one another's towards biradri attitude taken conduct do should. Translation
:Article 1: All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience. Therefore, they should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.


Fonts and keyboards

In 1997, Sue Lloyd-Williams of ''STAR'' produced the first computer font for script. The ''New Surma'' is a proprietary font.
Noto fonts Noto is a font family comprising over 100 individual fonts, which are together designed to cover all the scripts encoded in the Unicode standard. , Noto fonts cover all 93 scripts defined in Unicode version 6.1 (April 2012), although fewer than 3 ...
provides an open source font for the script. ''Syloti Nagri'' was added to the
Unicode Standard 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, whic ...
in March 2005 with the release of version 4.1, and is available on Apple devices. Other fonts include Mukter Ahmed's Fonty 18.ttf, developed from manuscripts to include traditional Sylheti numbers. As a ''routine project'' of the
Metropolitan University, Sylhet Metropolitan University ( bn, মেট্রোপলিটন ইউনিভার্সিটি) or MU is a private university in Sylhet and was established in 2003 by a social worker, Toufique Rahman Chowdhury, with the approval of the ...
, Sabbir Ahmed Shawon and Muhammad Nurul Islam (under the name CapsuleStudio) developed and launched the ''Syloti Nagri Keyboard'', also for
Google Play Google Play, also known as the Google Play Store and formerly the Android Market, is a digital distribution service operated and developed by Google. It serves as the official app store for certified devices running on the Android (operating sys ...
, on 9 December 2017. Different keyboards and fonts are available now: * ''Syloti Nagri Notes,'' by the UK-based Sureware Ltd on Google Play. * ''Multiling O Keyboard'', with additional app ''Sylheti Keyboard plugin'' by Honso, on Google Play. *
Google Google LLC () is an American multinational technology company focusing on search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, artificial intelligence, and consumer electronics. ...
's
GBoard Gboard is a virtual keyboard app developed by Google for Android and iOS devices. It was first released on iOS in May 2016, followed by a release on Android in December 2016, debuting as a major update to the already-established Google Keyboard ...
has also made ''Sylheti (Syloti Nagri)'' available as an input from April 2019.


Unicode

''Syloti Nagri'' was added to the
Unicode Unicode, formally The Unicode Standard,The formal version reference is is an information technology Technical standard, standard for the consistent character encoding, encoding, representation, and handling of Character (computing), text expre ...
Standard in March 2005 with the release of version 4.1. The Unicode block for Syloti Nagri, is U+A800–U+A82F:


See also

* List of works written in Sylheti Nagri *
Ashraf Hussain Munshi Muhammad Ashraf Hussain ( bn, মোহাম্মদ আশরাফ হোসেন; 1892-1965), was a Bengali poet, researcher and a collector of puthis and folk literature. He was also known for his contribution in the study of the Sy ...
, researcher of the script *
Sadeq Ali Munshi Muhammad Sadeq Ali ( bn, মোহাম্মদ সাদেক আলী, Sylheti Nagri, Nagri: ), born as Sri Gaur Kishore Sen ( bn, শ্রী গৌর কিশোর সেন), was a prominent Dobhashi writer, poet and district ...
, popular writer of the script *
History of Sylhet The Greater Sylhet region predominantly includes the Sylhet Division in Bangladesh, and Karimganj district in Assam, India. The history of the Sylhet region begins with the existence of expanded commercial centres in the area that is now Sylhe ...
*
Sylhet region The 1947 Sylhet referendum was held in the Sylhet District of the Assam Province of British India to decide whether the district would remain in Undivided Assam and therefore within the post-independence Dominion of India, or leave Assam for E ...
*
Puthi A Puthi ( bn, পুঁথি, Nagari: , Perso-Arab: پوتھی), is a book or writing of poetic fairy tales and religious stories of Bengal and present-day East India, which were read by a senior "educated" person while others would listen. This ...


Gallery

File:Nagri sample.jpg, Book/Literature: A page from Shoddad-or Boyan (in Sylheti Nagri script) by Pir Azmot Ali File:Siloti lekha.jpg, Exhibition: Samples of Sylheti Nagri writing at a London exhibition File:Syloti Nagri Calligraphy (1) by Ridwan Ridoy.jpg, Calligraphy: Sylheti Nagri Calligraphy by Ridwan Ridoy File:Syloti Nagri Calligraphy (2) by Ridwan Ridoy.jpg, Calligraphy: Sylheti Nagri Calligraphy by Ridwan Ridoy File:"Mother tongue" in Syloti Language.jpg, Woodcraft: "Mother tongue" in Sylheti Nagri by Tim Brooks


References


External links


Omniglot

Sylheti Translation and Research

British Library archive



Proposal to Encode Syloti Nagri Numerals
{{Sylhet topics Brahmic scripts Writing systems of Asia Sylheti language