Kaithi

Kaithī
Kayathi, Kayasthi
Kaithī; Kayathi, Kayasthi
Script type	Abugida
Time period	c. 16th–mid 20th century
Direction	Left-to-right
Languages	Angika, Awadhi, Bhojpuri, Braj Bhasha, Caribbean Hindustani, Fiji Hindi, Magahi, Maithili, Hindi, Urdu
Related scripts
Parent systems	Brahmi Gupta Nāgarī Kaithī; ; ;
Sister systems	Devanagari, Nandinagari
ISO 15924
ISO 15924	Kthi (317), Kaithi
Unicode
Unicode alias	Kaithi
Unicode range	U+11080–U+110CF
	This article contains phonetic transcriptions in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA. For the distinction between [ ], / / and ⟨ ⟩, see IPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters.

Kaithi, also called "Kayathi" or "Kayasthi", is a historical script used widely in parts of North India, primarily in the former North-Western Provinces, Awadh and Bhojpur, and Madhesh in Nepal. It was used for writing legal, administrative, and private records.^[1]

Etymology

Kaithi script derives its name from the word Kayastha, a social group of India that traditionally consists of administrators and accountants.^[2] The Kayastha community was closely associated with the princely courts and colonial governments of North India, and were employed by them to write and maintain records of revenue transactions, legal documents, and title deeds; general correspondence; and proceedings of the royal courts and related bodies.^[3] The script used by them acquired the name Kaithi.^{[citation needed]}

History

Documents in Kaithi are traceable to at least the 16th century. The script was widely used during the Mughal period. In the 1880s, during the British Raj, the script was recognized as the official script of the law courts of Bihar. Although in general, Kaithi was much more widely used than Devanagari in some areas, it later on lost its popularity to the other officially-recognized scripts.

Unicode

Kaithi script was added to the Unicode Standard in October, 2009 with the release of version 5.2.

The Unicode block for Kaithi is U+11080–U+110CF:

Kaithi^[1]^[2] Official Unicode Consortium code chart (PDF)
	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	A	B	C	D	E	F
U+1108x	𑂀	𑂁	𑂂	𑂃	𑂄	𑂅	𑂆	𑂇	𑂈	𑂉	𑂊	𑂋	𑂌	𑂍	𑂎	𑂏
U+1109x	𑂐	𑂑	𑂒	𑂓	𑂔	𑂕	𑂖	𑂗	𑂘	𑂙	𑂚	𑂛	𑂜	𑂝	𑂞	𑂟
U+110Ax	𑂠	𑂡	𑂢	𑂣	𑂤	𑂥	𑂦	𑂧	𑂨	𑂩	𑂪	𑂫	𑂬	𑂭	𑂮	𑂯
U+110Bx	𑂰	𑂱	𑂲	𑂳	𑂴	𑂵	𑂶	𑂷	𑂸	𑂹	𑂺	𑂻	𑂼	𑂽	𑂾	𑂿
U+110Cx	𑃀	𑃁	𑃂											𑃍
Notes 1.^ As of Unicode version 16.0 2.^ Grey areas indicate non-assigned code points

References

^ King, Christopher R. 1995. One Language, Two Scripts: The Hindi Movement in Nineteenth Century North India. New York: Oxford University Press.
^ Grierson, George A. 1899. A Handbook to the Kaithi Character. Calcutta: Thacker, Spink & Co.
^ Pandey, Anshuman. 2008. "Proposal to Encode the Kaithi Script in ISO/IEC 10646" [1]

[1] King, Christopher R. 1995. One Language, Two Scripts: The Hindi Movement in Nineteenth Century North India. New York: Oxford University Press.

[2] Grierson, George A. 1899. A Handbook to the Kaithi Character. Calcutta: Thacker, Spink & Co.

[3] Pandey, Anshuman. 2008. "Proposal to Encode the Kaithi Script in ISO/IEC 10646" [1]

[1]

[2]

[3]