| Tirhuta Mithilakshar 𑒞𑒱𑒩𑒯𑒳𑒞𑒰 | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Script type | |
Period | c. 7th century–present day[1] |
| Direction | Left-to-right  |
| Languages | Maithili,Sanskrit |
| Related scripts | |
Parent systems | |
Sister systems | Bengali–Assamese,Odia |
| ISO 15924 | |
| ISO 15924 | Tirh(326), Tirhuta |
| Unicode | |
Unicode alias | Tirhuta |
| U+11480–U+114DF Final Accepted Script Proposal | |
TheTirhuta script, also known asMithilakshar orMaithili script, has historically been used for writing theMaithili, anIndo-Aryan language spoken by almost 35 million people ofMithila region.[4] The scripts ofMaithili andBengali are very much similar.Maithili,Bengali,Assamese,Newari,Odia andTibetan are a part of the same family of scripts.[5][6]
TheLalitavistara, an ancientBuddhist text, mentions theVaidehi script. A significant transformation occurred in the northeastern alphabet in the latter half of the 7th century AD. This evolution is first evident in the inscriptions ofAdityasena. The eastern variant of this transformed script subsequently developed into the Maithili script, which gained prominence in regions likeAssam,Bengal, andNepal.[1]
The earliest recordedepigraphic evidence of the Maithili script dates back to the 7th century AD. It is found in the inscriptions ofAdityasena on theMandar Hill Stone, located in Bounsi,Banka district,Bihar. Theseinscriptions, now preserved in theBaidyanath Temple ofDeoghar, provide a crucial glimpse into the early development of this script.[1]
It is one of the scripts of the broaderEastern South Asia. It had come to its current shape by the 10th century AD. The oldest form of Mithilakshar is also found in the Sahodara stone inscriptions of 950 AD. The script has been used throughoutMithila fromChamparan toDeoghar.[7]
A fragmentary inscription found inSimraungadh, the medieval capital of theKarnats of Mithila which dates back to the 12th century in Tirhuta script is also one of the oldest evidence of this script.[8]
The use of this script has been declining in the last 100 years, which is the primary reason for theMithila culture's decline. Despite itsconstitutional status, the development of theMaithili language is hindered by the lack of a widely used script.[7]
Nowadays, the Maithili language is written almost exclusively in theDevanagari script, although Tirhuta is still sometimes used by religiousPundits and some culture – conscious families for writing ceremonial letters (pātā), documents & cultural affair, and efforts are underway to broaden the scope of its usage.[4][9]
In the early 20th century someSanskrit works were printed in this script throughlithographic process. Later onPusk Bhandar,Laheriasarai managed to forge a set of types and published a few works in Tirhuta, but could not go ahead. In the middle of the last century,All India Maithili Conference came with a new set of types and used it in the prestigious publication of Brihat Maithili Shabdakosha.[10]
The official recognition of Maithili as one of the 14 provincial officiallanguages of Nepal[11] and its inclusion in theEighth Schedule to the Constitution of India in 2003 have established it as a language with an independent identity.[12] However, currentlyMaithili in theDevanagari script is officially recognised.[9]
In June 2014, the Tirhuta script was added to the Unicode Standard from version 7.0. Although there is limited electronic font support, digitalisation efforts have started.[13]
| Brahmic scripts |
|---|
| TheBrahmi script and its descendants |
Most of the consonant letters are effectively identical to Bengali–Assamese, with the exception of 7 of the 33 letters:⟨jh, ṭ, ḍh, ṇ, l, ś, h⟩, marked in pink. The consonants, along with theirIAST andIPA transcriptions, are provided below.
𑒏  ka IPA:/kə/ | 𑒐  kha IPA:/kʰə/ | 𑒑  ga IPA:/gə/ | 𑒒  gha IPA:/gʱə/ | 𑒓  ṅa IPA:/ŋə/ |
𑒔  ca IPA:/t͡ʃə/ | 𑒕  cha IPA:/t͡ʃʰə/ | 𑒖  ja IPA:/d͡ʒə/ | 𑒗  jha IPA:/d͡ʒʱə/ | 𑒘  ña IPA:/ɲə/ |
𑒙  ṭa IPA:/ʈə/ | 𑒚  ṭha IPA:/ʈʰə/ | 𑒛  ḍa IPA:/ɖə/ | 𑒜  ḍha IPA:/ɖʱə/ | 𑒝  ṇa IPA:/ɳə/ |
𑒞  ta IPA:/t̪ə/ | 𑒟  tha IPA:/t̪ʰə/ | 𑒠  da IPA:/d̪ə/ | 𑒡  dha IPA:/d̪ʱə/ | 𑒢  na IPA:/nə/ |
𑒣  pa IPA:/pə/ | 𑒤  pha IPA:/pʰə/ | 𑒥  ba IPA:/bə/ | 𑒦  bha IPA:/bʱə/ | 𑒧  ma IPA:/mə/ |
𑒨  ya IPA:/jə/ | 𑒩  ra IPA:/rə/ | 𑒪  la IPA:/lə/ | 𑒫  va IPA:/ʋə/ | 𑒬  śa IPA:/ʃə/ |
𑒭  ṣa IPA:/ʂə/ | 𑒮  sa IPA:/sə/ | 𑒯  ha IPA:/ɦə/ |
𑒁— a IPA:/а/ | 𑒂𑒰 ā IPA:/аː/ | 𑒃𑒱 i IPA:/і/ | 𑒄𑒲 ī IPA:/іː/ |
𑒅𑒳 u IPA:/u/ | 𑒆𑒴 ū IPA:/uː/ | 𑒇𑒵 ṛ IPA:/r̩/ | 𑒈𑒶 ṝ IPA:/r̩ː/ |
𑒉𑒷 ḷ IPA:/l̩/ | 𑒊𑒸 ḹ IPA:/l̩ː/ | 𑒋𑒹 ē IPA:/еː/ | —𑒺 e IPA:/е/ |
𑒌𑒻 ai IPA:/аі/ | 𑒍𑒼 ō IPA:/оː/ | —𑒽 o IPA:/о/ | 𑒎𑒾 au IPA:/аu/ |
| Symbol | Name | Notes |
|---|---|---|
𑒿  | chandrabindu | marks thenasalisation of a vowel |
𑓀  | anusvara | marksnasalisation |
𑓁  | visarga | marks the sound [h], which is anallophone of [r] and [s] in pausa (at the end of anutterance) |
𑓂  | virama | used to suppress theinherent vowel |
𑓃  | nukta | used to create new consonant signs |
𑓄  | avagraha | used to indicateprodelision of an [a] |
𑓅  | gvang | used to mark nasalisation |
𑓇  | Om | Om sign |
Tirhuta script uses its own signs for thepositionaldecimal numeral system.
0 𑓐  | 1 𑓑  | 2 𑓒  | 3 𑓓  | 4 𑓔  | 5 𑓕  | 6 𑓖  | 7 𑓗  | 8 𑓘  | 9 𑓙  |
Visual representation of theMaithili script, from its earlyinscriptions to contemporaryhandwriting.
Tirhuta script was added to theUnicode 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 | ||||||||||||||||
Proto-Bengali gave birth to the Maithili, Modern Bengali (settled in the seventeenth century: Assamese is a nineteenth-century variant), and Oriya scripts, as well as the Manipuri and Newari scripts for two Tibeto Burman languages.