A curious script from Baltistan

In the Linguistic Survey of India (vol. III, pt. I), George A. Grierson makes brief mention of a script used for writing Balti, a Tibeto-Burman language spoken in northern Pakistan. Grierson writes that the script was devised around the year 1400, at the time when Islam arrived in Baltistan. Reported, historical books were written in this script, which were in the possession of royal families. The Linguistic Survey contains a small specimen of Balti text written in the script with interlinear Arabic transliteration, an excerpt of which is given below:

The following is the English translation and Roman transliteration:

Short of planning a trip to northern Pakistan, I thought I'd ask if anyone has more information on this script. If so, please do contact me.

The Jain OM

I recently submitted a proposal to encode the Jain OM in the Devanagari Extended block of Unicode.

The DEVANAGARI JAIN OM is used in Jain texts written in Devanagari. It occurs in both the 'Jain Nagari' style and in modern Devanagari. It is used in manuscripts and printed materials, as shown below:

It is used in text and in display environments, such as emblems, paintings, and other ornamental media, and on websites (such as that of the Federation of Jain Associations in North America.

As with other characters that represent oṃ in other scripts, the DEVANAGARI JAIN OM also represents the concept and sound of the syllable. However, the graphic structure of the sign has a particular interpretation in Jain iconology as representing the pañca-parameṣṭhi ``five great entities'', as shown in the figure below:

The DEVANAGARI JAIN OM is graphically and semantically distinct from the ॐ U+0950 DEVANAGARI OM and is not a glyphic variant of the latter. Similar to DEVANAGARI OM and related characters in other scripts, there is a requirement for representing DEVANAGARI JAIN OM in plain text. Therefore, it must be encoded separately.

Preliminary proposal for Nandinagari

I recently completed and submitted a proposal to encode the Nandinagari script in Unicode. Nandinagari is a Brahmi-based script that was used in southern India between the 8th and 19th centuries CE for producing manuscripts and inscriptions in Sanskrit in south Maharashtra, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. It derives from the central group of Nagari scripts and is related to Devanagari. However, as shown by Saraju Rath and other scholars, Nandinagari is an independent script and cannot be considered a stylistic variant of Devanagari.

Therefore, there is a requirement for encoding Nandinagari in Unicode in order to support usage of the script. A community of scholars are working with Nandinagari, primarily in the preservation of manuscripts. The Sri Vadiraja Research Foundation, sponsored jointly by the National Mission for Manuscripts of the Government of India and the Puttige Math in Udupi, Karnataka has been working to preserve palm leaf manuscripts in Nandinagari from 2007 to the present. An encoding for Nandinagari in the UCS is essential for specialists and preservation projects.

An Article in the Hindustan Times

The Hindustan Times (December 1, 2012, Patna edition) published a small article about my work on the preservation of Tirhuta, the traditional script for Maithili, and my efforts in development a Unicode standard for it. I was invited to attend a program in Darbhanga on November 28, 2012 held to commemorate the birth anniversary of the Maharaja of Darbhanga, Kameshwar Singh. Half way through the program, the convener calling me onto the dais to give a small talk about my work. It was an honor to speak to the gathering.

The major glitch in the article is that the photo caption gives my wrong last name! In any case, it's nice to see that there some interest in my work.

Darbhanga, November 2012

I was invited to a program in Darbhanga, Bihar that was held on November 28, 2012 to commemorate the birth anniversary of Maharajadhiraja Kameshwar Singh (1907-1962). Below is a photo of the Maharaja from 1927:

Here I am placing a garland on a portrait of the Maharaja:

Back to Basham: Shillong 2012

I had the wonderful opportunity to visit the grave of A. L. Basham while I was in Shillong in November. Basham's book The Wonder That Was India is the first book that I read on the history of India. Equally important is that Basham was the adviser of my adviser, Thomas Trautmann. A great lineage. I hope I can uphold it.

Update on the Gondi Script

In 2010, I authored a preliminary proposal for encoding the Gondi script in Unicode. The script was devised in the 1920s by Mangalasinha Masaram for writing Gondi, a Dravidian language spoken primarily in Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra. For the past two years I was unable to find any evidence to suggest that the script was actually used. It seemed like Masaram's script was yet another such endeavor that succumbed to the practical hurdles of propagating newly invented writing systems.

Three weeks ago, I heard from Dr. Mukund Gokhale, a linguist who works with the Gonds and is active in promoting the writing system, and Raymond Doctor. It is exciting to know that the script is being used, especially in publishing. Also of interest are the innovations that have been introduced to Masaram's original script, which provide insight into users' ideas about the form and function of the script.

Based upon these developments, I have revised the proposal. I welcome feedback from users of the script.