Eastern Nagari script

Eastern Nagari
Reads Purbi Nagôri Lipi in Assamese (top) and Bengali (bottom).
Type	Abugida
Languages	Assamese, Bengali, Bishnupriya Manipuri, Meitei, Sylheti, Santali, Kokborok, Garo, Hajong, Chakma, Rohingya, and others.
Time period	c. 1100–present
Parent systems	Proto-Sinaitic alphabet [a] Phoenician alphabet [a] Aramaic alphabet [a] Brāhmī Gupta Siddham Eastern Nagari
Direction	Left-to-right
ISO 15924	Beng, 325
Unicode alias	Bengali
Unicode range	U+0980–U+09FF
[a] The Semitic origin of Brahmic scripts is not universally agreed upon.

Eastern Nagari script, Bengali script, Assamese script, Bengali-Assamese script or Purbi script is the basis of the Bengali alphabet and the Assamese alphabet. Its usage is associated with the two main languages: Bengali and Assamese. Beside these two, the script has throughout history been used as writing system of other languages such as Bishnupriya Manipuri, Meitei Manipuri and Kokborok. Many other languages like Bodo, Karbi, Mising, Maithili, Angika etc. were also written in this script in the past.^[1] Modern Sylheti is often written using this script as well. Hence, this script is the 5th most widely used writing system in the world.

Description

Silver coin with proto-Eastern Nagari script, Harikela Kingdom in Modern day Southern Bengal, circa 9th-13th century

Eastern Nagari script was written on 3rd temple of Beguniya, Barakar, 1546 AD

Silver coin issued during the reign of Rudra Simha with Eastern Nagari inscriptions. The text in the left says, in IAST: "Śrī-Śrī-mat-Svargadeva-Rūdra-Siṁhasya-śāke-1622", in modern Assamese alphabet and romanisation: "শ্ৰীশ্ৰীমত্স্বৰ্গদেৱৰূদ্ৰসিংহস্যশাকে১৬২২" Sri-Sri-mot-Sorgodew-Rudro-Xiṅhoisso-xake-1622

The text says: "শ্রীশ্রীমত্‌শিৱসিংহমহাৰাজা" "Sri Sri Mot Xiwo Xiṅho Moharaza" (in Assamese) (see also Siva Singha). Here a dotted "র" (wo/vo) is used instead of the modern "ৱ" ("wo" in Assamese during Ahom rules) in this 18th-century manuscript, with the same phonetic value.

Silver tanka of Danujamarddana issued at Chatigram (Chittagong) in the year Saka 1339 (= 1417 CE). Legends are in letters of medieval Eastern Nagari;
obverse: shri shri dônujomôrddôno debo,
reverse: shri chandi chôrôno pôrajôno.

Kanai-boroxiboa rock inscription, 1207 CE, from near Guwahati, Assam shows Kamarupi script which is considered as an ancestor of Eastern Nagari script. The text says,
In IAST: śāka 1127
śāke turaɡa yuɡmeṣe madhumāsa troyodaśe
kāmarūpā samāɡatyā turaska kṣayamāyayu
In Eastern Nagari (Assamese version): শাক ১১২৭
শাকে তুৰগ যুগ্মেষে মধুমাস ত্ৰোযোদশে
কামৰূপা সমাগত্যা তুৰস্ক ক্ষযমাযযু

Eastern Nagari is less blocky and present a more sinuous shaping. Eastern Nagari is derived from the precursor script Siddham. The modern Eastern Nagari script was formalized in 1778 when it was first typeset by Charles Wilkins. In addition to differences in how the letters are pronounced in the different languages, there are some minor typographical differences between the version of the script used for Assamese and Bengali languages.

The Eastern Nagari script was originally not associated with any particular regional language, but was prevalent as the main script in the eastern regions of Medieval India. The script was also used to write Sanskrit. Epics of Hindu scripture, including the Mahabharata or Ramayana, were written in older versions of the Eastern Nagari script in this region. After the medieval period, the use of Sanskrit as the sole written language gave way to Pali, and the vernacular dialects of Pali eventually evolved into Bengali, Assamese and other related languages. Sankardev used the script in the 15th and 16th centuries to compose his oeuvre in Assamese and Brajavali the language of the Bhakti poets; and before him, Madhava Kandali used it to write the Assamese Ramayana in the 14th century. It was also used by the later Ahom kings to write the Buranjis, the Ahom chronicles, in the Assamese language. There is a rich legacy of East sub-continental literature written in this script, which is still occasionally used to write Sanskrit today.

Clusters of consonants are represented by different and sometimes quite irregular characters; thus, learning to read the script is complicated by the sheer size of the full set of characters and character combinations, numbering about 500. While efforts at standardizing the script for the Bengali language continue in such notable centers as the Bangla Academy at Dhaka (Bangladesh) and Paschimbanga Bangla Akademi at Kolkata (West Bengal, India). It is still not quite uniform as yet, as many people continue to use various archaic forms of letters, resulting in concurrent forms for the same sounds. Among the various regional variations within this script, only the Bengali and Assamese variations exist today in the formalized system.

It seems likely that the standardization of the script will be greatly influenced by the need to typeset it on computers. Work has been underway since around 2001 to develop Unicode fonts, and it seems likely that it will split into two variants, traditional and modern.

Script

In this and other articles on Wikipedia dealing with the Assamese and Bengali languages, a Romanization scheme used by linguists specializing in Assamese and Bengali phonology is included along with IPA transcription.

Eastern Nagari in Unicode

The Unicode block for Eastern Nagari script, called Bengali, is U+0980–U+09FF:

External links

• Omniglot – Assamese Alphabet
• Omniglot – Bengali Alphabet

Notes

References