Tirhuta script
| Tirhuta, Mithilakshar | |
|---|---|
| Script type | |
Time period | c. 15th–mid 20th century |
| Direction | Left-to-right  |
| Languages | Maithili, Sanskrit |
| ISO 15924 | |
| ISO 15924 | Tirh (326), Tirhuta |
| Unicode | |
Unicode alias | Tirhuta |
| U+11480–U+114DF Final Accepted Script Proposal | |
Tirhuta (तिरहुता / 𑒞𑒱𑒩𑒯𑒳𑒞𑒰) or Mithilakshar (मिथिलाक्षर / 𑒧𑒱𑒟𑒱𑒪𑒰𑒏𑓂𑒭𑒩) is the script used for the Maithili language originated in Mithila region of Bihar and Nepal and the oldest reference to Tirhuta script is in Janaki Mandir of Janakpur where Rama and Sita wed.[1] The script has a rich history spanning a thousand years, but years of neglect by Nepal and the Bihar government have taken their toll on the use of Tirhuta. Most speakers of Maithili have switched to using the Devanagari script, which is also used to write neighboring Central Indic languages such as Nepali and Hindi. As a result, the number of people with a working knowledge of Tirhuta has dropped considerably in recent years.
History and current status
The oldest specimen of Tirhuta is at Janaki Mandir. It is one of the place that had a major role in the development of the Sanskrit language. 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 (pātā) related to some important function such as marriage. Fonts for this script were developed in 2003.[1]
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 reimplement Tirhuta on a wider basis, in accord with similar trends in India reinforcing separate identities.
Signs of the script
Consonant signs
| Sign | Transcription | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Image | Text | IAST | IPA |
|
𑒏 | ka | /kа/ |
|
𑒐 | kha | /kʰа/ |
|
𑒑 | ga | /gа/ |
|
𑒒 | gha | /gʱа/ |
|
𑒓 | ṅa | /ŋа/ |
|
𑒔 | ca | /t͡ʃa/ |
|
𑒕 | cha | /t͡ʃʰa/ |
|
𑒖 | ja | /d͡ʒa/ |
|
𑒗 | jha | /d͡ʒʱa/ |
|
𑒘 | ña | /ɲa/ |
|
𑒙 | ṭa | /ʈa/ |
|
𑒚 | ṭha | /ʈʰa/ |
|
𑒛 | ḍa | /ɖa/ |
|
𑒜 | ḍha | /ɖʱa/ |
|
𑒝 | ṇa | /ɳa/ |
|
𑒞 | ta | /t̪a/ |
|
𑒟 | tha | /t̪ʰa/ |
|
𑒠 | da | /d̪a/ |
|
𑒡 | dha | /d̪ʱa/ |
|
𑒢 | na | /na/ |
|
𑒣 | pa | /pa/ |
|
𑒤 | pha | /pʰa/ |
|
𑒥 | ba | /ba/ |
|
𑒦 | bha | /bʱa/ |
|
𑒧 | ma | /ma/ |
|
𑒨 | ya | /ja/ |
|
𑒩 | ra | /ra/ |
|
𑒪 | la | /la/ |
|
𑒫 | va | /ʋa/ |
|
𑒬 | śa | /ʃa/ |
|
𑒭 | ṣa | /ʂa/ |
|
𑒮 | sa | /sa/ |
|
𑒯 | ha | /ɦa/ |
Vowels
| Independent | Dependent | Transcription | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Image | Text | Image | Text | IAST | IPA |
|
𑒁 | a | /а/ | ||
|
𑒂 | 
|
𑒰 | ā | /а:/ |
|
𑒃 | 
|
𑒱 | і | /і/ |
|
𑒄 | 
|
𑒲 | ī | /і:/ |
|
𑒅 | 
|
𑒳 | u | /u/ |
|
𑒆 | 
|
𑒴 | ū | /u:/ |
|
𑒇 | 
|
𑒵 | ṛ | /r̩/ |
|
𑒈 | 
|
𑒶 | ṝ | /r̩ː/ |
|
𑒉 | 
|
𑒷 | ḷ | /l̩/ |
|
𑒊 | 
|
𑒸 | ḹ | /l̩ː/ |
|
𑒋 | 
|
𑒹 | ē | /е:/ |
|
𑒺 | e | /е/ | ||
|
𑒌 | 
|
𑒻 | аі | /аі/ |
|
𑒍 | 
|
𑒼 | ō | /о:/ |
|
𑒽 | о | /о/ | ||
|
𑒎 | 
|
𑒾 | аu | /аu/ |
Other signs
| Image | Text | Name | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
|
𑒿 | candrabindu | marks the nasalization of a vowel |
|
𑓀 | anusvara | marks nasalization |
|
𑓁 | visarga | marks the sound [h], which is an allophone of [r] and [s] in pausa (at the end of an utterance) |
|
𑓂 | virama | used to suppress the inherent vowel |
|
𑓃 | nukta | used to create new consonant signs |
|
𑓄 | avagraha | used to indicate prodelision of an [a] |
|
𑓅 | gvang | used to mark nasalization |
Numerals
Tirhuta script uses its own signs for the positional decimal numeral system.
| Image | 
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Text | 𑓐 | 𑓑 | 𑓒 | 𑓓 | 𑓔 | 𑓕 | 𑓖 | 𑓗 | 𑓘 | 𑓙 |
| 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 āñjī, 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+11480–U+114DF:
| Tirhuta[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+1148x | 𑒀 | 𑒁 | 𑒂 | 𑒃 | 𑒄 | 𑒅 | 𑒆 | 𑒇 | 𑒈 | 𑒉 | 𑒊 | 𑒋 | 𑒌 | 𑒍 | 𑒎 | 𑒏 |
| U+1149x | 𑒐 | 𑒑 | 𑒒 | 𑒓 | 𑒔 | 𑒕 | 𑒖 | 𑒗 | 𑒘 | 𑒙 | 𑒚 | 𑒛 | 𑒜 | 𑒝 | 𑒞 | 𑒟 |
| U+114Ax | 𑒠 | 𑒡 | 𑒢 | 𑒣 | 𑒤 | 𑒥 | 𑒦 | 𑒧 | 𑒨 | 𑒩 | 𑒪 | 𑒫 | 𑒬 | 𑒭 | 𑒮 | 𑒯 |
| U+114Bx | 𑒰 | 𑒱 | 𑒲 | 𑒳 | 𑒴 | 𑒵 | 𑒶 | 𑒷 | 𑒸 | 𑒹 | 𑒺 | 𑒻 | 𑒼 | 𑒽 | 𑒾 | 𑒿 |
| U+114Cx | 𑓀 | 𑓁 | 𑓂 | 𑓃 | 𑓄 | 𑓅 | 𑓆 | 𑓇 | ||||||||
| U+114Dx | 𑓐 | 𑓑 | 𑓒 | 𑓓 | 𑓔 | 𑓕 | 𑓖 | 𑓗 | 𑓘 | 𑓙 | ||||||
| Notes | ||||||||||||||||
References
- ^ a b Pandey, Anshuman (2011-05-05). "N4035: Proposal to Encode the Tirhuta Script in ISO/IEC 10646" (PDF). Working Group Document, ISO/IEC JTC1/SC2/WG2.