Kawi script

Old Javanese scriptThe Kawi script or the Old Javanese script is a historic Brahmic script used across Maritime Southeast Asia between the 8th century and the 16th century. The Kawi corpus is especially abundant in Java, but materials in Kawi have also been found in Sumatra, the Malay Peninsula, Bali, Thailand, and the Philippines. The script is frequently used to write the Old Javanese language, but whole texts (or parts thereof) in Sanskrit, Old Malay, Old Balinese, Old Sundanese, and Old Khmer have also been found written in the Kawi script. HistoryThe Kawi script gradually evolved from the 'Pallava' script (or 'Late Southern Brāhmī') which were dispersed to maritime Southeast Asia in multiple waves from southern India since around the 4th century CE. The Kawi script tend to be more cursive than the lithic 'Pallava' script and shows more pronounced features of palm leaf writing techniques. From the mid-8th century, plain but functional Kawi was widely used for chancery documents such as land grants and royal edicts. Towards the end of the first millennium, more calligraphic Kawi variations emerged in conjunction with the development of Old Javanese literary tradition, especial