Tirhuta script
| Tirhuta Mithilakshar
๐๐ฑ๐ฉ๐ฏ๐ณ๐๐ฐโโ | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Script type | |
Time period |
c. 13th centuryโpresent day |
| Direction | left-to-right 
|
| Languages | Maithili, Sanskrit |
| Related scripts | |
Parent systems |
|
Sister systems |
BengaliโAssamese, Odia |
| ISO 15924 | |
| ISO 15924 | Tirh (326), โTirhuta |
| Unicode | |
Unicode alias |
Tirhuta |
|
U+11480โU+114DF Final Accepted Script Proposal |
|
The Tirhuta or Maithili script was the primary historical script for the Maithili language, as well as one of the historical scripts for Sanskrit. It is believed to have originated in the 10th century CE. It is very similar to BengaliโAssamese script, with most consonants being effectively identical in appearance. For the most part, writing in Maithili has switched to the Devanagari script, which is used to write neighbouring Central Indic languages to the west and north such as Hindi 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 (pฤtฤ) 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, 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 BengaliโAssamese. The Unicode submission, for example, only bothered to create new graphic designs for 7 of the 33 letters: โจjh, แนญ, แธh, แน, l, ล, hโฉ.
| Sign | Transcription | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Image | Text | IAST | IPA | |
|
๐โ | เฆ | ka | /kษ/ |
|
๐โ | เฆ | kha | /kสฐษ/ |
|
๐โ | เฆ | ga | /gษ/ |
|
๐โ | เฆ | gha | /gสฑษ/ |
|
๐โ | เฆ | แน a | /ลษ/ |
|
๐โ | เฆ | ca | /tอกสษ/ |
|
๐โ | เฆ | cha | /tอกสสฐษ/ |
|
๐โ | เฆ | ja | /dอกสษ/ |
|
๐โ | เฆ | jha | /dอกสสฑษ/ |
|
๐โ | เฆ | รฑa | /ษฒษ/ |
|
๐โ | เฆ | แนญa | /สษ/ |
|
๐โ | เฆ | แนญha | /สสฐษ/ |
|
๐โ | เฆก | แธa | /ษษ/ |
|
๐โ | เฆข | แธha | /ษสฑษ/ |
|
๐โ | เฆฃ | แนa | /ษณษ/ |
|
๐โ | เฆค | ta | /tฬชษ/ |
|
๐โ | เฆฅ | tha | /tฬชสฐษ/ |
|
๐ โ | เฆฆ | da | /dฬชษ/ |
|
๐กโ | เฆง | dha | /dฬชสฑษ/ |
|
๐ขโ | เฆจ | na | /nษ/ |
|
๐ฃโ | เฆช | pa | /pษ/ |
|
๐คโ | เฆซ | pha | /pสฐษ/ |
|
๐ฅโ | เฆฌ | ba | /bษ/ |
|
๐ฆโ | เฆญ | bha | /bสฑษ/ |
|
๐งโ | เฆฎ | ma | /mษ/ |
|
๐จโ | เฆฏ | ya | /jษ/ |
|
๐ฉโ | เฆฐ | ra | /rษ/ |
|
๐ชโ | เฆฒ | la | /lษ/ |
|
๐ซโ | - | va | /สษ/ |
|
๐ฌโ | เฆถ | ลa | /สษ/ |
|
๐ญโ | เฆท | แนฃa | /สษ/ |
|
๐ฎโ | เฆธ | sa | /sษ/ |
|
๐ฏโ | เฆน | ha | /ษฆษ/ |
Vowels
| Independent | Dependent | Transcription | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Image | Text | Image | Text | IAST | IPA |
|
๐โ | a | /ะฐ/ | ||
|
๐โ |
|
๐ฐโ | ฤ | /ะฐห/ |
|
๐โ |
|
๐ฑโ | ั | /ั/ |
|
๐โ |
|
๐ฒโ | ฤซ | /ัห/ |
|
๐ โ |
|
๐ณโ | u | /u/ |
|
๐โ |
|
๐ดโ | ลซ | /uห/ |
|
๐โ |
|
๐ตโ | แน | /rฬฉ/ |
|
๐โ |
|
๐ถโ | แน | /rฬฉห/ |
|
๐โ |
|
๐ทโ | แธท | /lฬฉ/ |
|
๐โ |
|
๐ธโ | แธน | /lฬฉห/ |
|
๐โ |
|
๐นโ | ฤ | /ะตห/ |
|
๐บโ | e | /ะต/ | ||
|
๐โ |
|
๐ปโ | ะฐั | /ะฐั/ |
|
๐โ |
|
๐ผโ | ล | /ะพห/ |
|
๐ฝโ | ะพ | /ะพ/ | ||
|
๐โ |
|
๐พโ | ะฐu | /ะฐu/ |
Other signs
| Image | Text | Name | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
|
๐ฟโ | chandrabindu | marks the nasalization of a vowel |
|
๐โ | anusvara | marks nasalization |
|
๐โ | visarga | marks the sound [h], which is an allophone of [r] and [s] in pausa (at the end of an utterance) |
|
๐โ | virama | used to suppress the inherent vowel |
|
๐โ | nukta | used to create new consonant signs |
|
๐โ | avagraha | used to indicate prodelision of an [a] |
|
๐ โ | gvang | used to mark nasalization |
|
๐โ | Om | Om sign |
Numerals
Tirhuta script uses its own signs for the positional decimal numeral system.
| Image |
|
|
|
|
|
|
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|
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Text | ๐โ | ๐โ | ๐โ | ๐โ | ๐โ | ๐โ | ๐โ | ๐โ | ๐โ | ๐โ |
| Digit | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 |
Image gallery
The first two images shown below are samples illustrating the history of Tirhuta. The first is the sacred sign of Ganesha, called ฤรฑjฤซ, used for millennia by students before beginning Tirhuta studies. Displayed further below are images of tables comparing the Tirhuta and Devanagari scripts.
Unicode
Tirhuta script was added to the Unicode Standard in June 2014 with the release of version 7.0.
The Unicode block for Tirhuta is U+11480โU+114DF:
|
Tirhuta Official Unicode Consortium code chart (PDF) |
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| 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | A | B | C | D | E | F | |
| U+1148x | ๐โ | ๐โ | ๐โ | ๐โ | ๐โ | ๐ โ | ๐โ | ๐โ | ๐โ | ๐โ | ๐โ | ๐โ | ๐โ | ๐โ | ๐โ | ๐โ |
| U+1149x | ๐โ | ๐โ | ๐โ | ๐โ | ๐โ | ๐โ | ๐โ | ๐โ | ๐โ | ๐โ | ๐โ | ๐โ | ๐โ | ๐โ | ๐โ | ๐โ |
| U+114Ax | ๐ โ | ๐กโ | ๐ขโ | ๐ฃโ | ๐คโ | ๐ฅโ | ๐ฆโ | ๐งโ | ๐จโ | ๐ฉโ | ๐ชโ | ๐ซโ | ๐ฌโ | ๐ญโ | ๐ฎโ | ๐ฏโ |
| U+114Bx | ๐ฐโ | ๐ฑโ | ๐ฒโ | ๐ณโ | ๐ดโ | ๐ตโ | ๐ถโ | ๐ทโ | ๐ธโ | ๐นโ | ๐บโ | ๐ปโ | ๐ผโ | ๐ฝโ | ๐พโ | ๐ฟโ |
| U+114Cx | ๐โ | ๐โ | ๐โ | ๐โ | ๐โ | ๐ โ | ๐โ | ๐โ | ||||||||
| U+114Dx | ๐โ | ๐โ | ๐โ | ๐โ | ๐โ | ๐โ | ๐โ | ๐โ | ๐โ | ๐โ | ||||||
| Notes | ||||||||||||||||