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 Maithili () is an Indo-Aryan language spoken in parts of Languages of India, India and Languages of Nepal, Nepal. It is native to the Mithila region, which encompasses parts of the Indian states of Bihar and Jharkhand as well as Nepal's easte ...

, 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 speakers ...

, 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 system), based on the a ...

, 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 de ...

and Nepali, and the number of people with a working knowledge of Tirhuta has dropped considerably in recent years. 12th century Stone Inscription from Simroungarh in Tirhuta script

12th century Stone Inscription from Simroungarh in Tirhuta script

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

pundit A pundit is a person who offers mass media opinion or commentary on a particular subject area (most typically politics, the social sciences, technology or sport). Origins The term originates from the Sanskrit term ('' '' ), meaning "knowledg ...

s 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 r ...

, 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 Positional notation (or place-value notation, or positional numeral system) usually denotes the extension to any base of the Hindu–Arabic numeral system (or decimal system). More generally, a positional system is a numeral system in which the ...

decimal numeral system The decimal numeral system (also called the base-ten positional numeral system and denary or decanary) is the standard system for denoting integer and non-integer numbers. It is the extension to non-integer numbers of the Hindu–Arabic numeral ...

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 deities in the Hindu pantheon and is the Supreme God in Ganapatya sect. His image is found throughout India. Hindu d ...

, 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 Technical standard, standard for the consistent character encoding, encoding, representation, and handling of Character (computing), text expre ...

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