| Gupta script (Late Brahmi script) | |
|---|---|
 TheGopika Cave Inscription of Anantavarman, in theSanskrit language and using the Gupta script.Barabar Caves inJehanabad Bihar, 5th or 6th century CE. | |
| Script type | |
Period | c. 4th–6th century CE[1] |
| Direction | Left-to-right  |
| Languages | Sanskrit |
| Related scripts | |
Parent systems | |
Child systems | |
Sister systems | Pallava script,Kadamba script,Sinhala,Tocharian |
| This article containsphonetic transcriptions in theInternational Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, seeHelp:IPA. For the distinction between[ ],/ / and ⟨ ⟩, seeIPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters. | |
| Brahmic scripts |
|---|
| TheBrahmi script and its descendants |
TheGupta script (sometimes referred to asGupta Brahmi script orLate Brahmi script)[6] was used for writingSanskrit and is associated with theGupta Empire of theIndian subcontinent, which was a period of material prosperity and greatreligious andscientific developments. The Gupta script was descended fromBrāhmī and gave rise to theŚāradā andSiddhaṃ scripts. These scripts in turn gave rise to many of the most important Indic scripts, includingDevanāgarī (the most common script used for writingSanskrit since the 19th century), theGurmukhī script forPunjabi, theOdia script, theBengali-Assamese script and theTibetan script.
The Gupta script was descended from the AshokanBrāhmī script, and is a crucial link between Brahmi and most otherBrahmic scripts, a family of alphasyllabaries orabugidas. This means that while only consonantal phonemes have distinct symbols, vowels are marked by diacritics, with/a/ being the implied pronunciation when the diacritic is not present. In fact, the Gupta script works in exactly the same manner as its predecessor and successors, and only the shapes and forms of the graphemes and diacritics are different.
Through the 4th century, letters began to take more cursive and symmetric forms, as a result of the desire to write more quickly and aesthetically. This also meant that the script became more differentiated throughout the Empire, with regional variations which have been broadly classified into three, four or five categories;[7][8] however, a definitive classification is lacking, because even in a single inscription, there may be variation in how a particular symbol is written. In this sense, the term Gupta script should be taken to mean any form of writing derived from the Gupta period, even though there may be a lack of uniformity in the scripts.
| k- | kh- | g- | gh- | ṅ- | c- | ch- | j- | jh- | ñ- | ṭ- | ṭh- | ḍ- | ḍh- | ṇ- | t- | th- | d- | dh- | n- | p- | ph- | b- | bh- | m- | y- | r- | l- | v- | ś- | ṣ- | s- | h- | |
| Brahmi | 𑀓 | 𑀔 | 𑀕 | 𑀖 | 𑀗 | 𑀘 | 𑀙 | 𑀚 | 𑀛 | 𑀜 | 𑀝 | 𑀞 | 𑀟 | 𑀠 | 𑀡 | 𑀢 | 𑀣 | 𑀤 | 𑀥 | 𑀦 | 𑀧 | 𑀨 | 𑀩 | 𑀪 | 𑀫 | 𑀬 | 𑀭 | 𑀮 | 𑀯 | 𑀰 | 𑀱 | 𑀲 | 𑀳 |
| Gupta |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| Devanagari | क | ख | ग | घ | ङ | च | छ | ज | झ | ञ | ट | ठ | ड | ढ | ण | त | थ | द | ध | न | प | फ | ब | भ | म | य | र | ल | व | श | ष | स | ह |
The surviving inscriptions of the Gupta script are mostly found on iron or stone pillars, and on gold coins from the Gupta Dynasty. One of the most important was thePrayagraj (Allahabad)Prasasti. Composed byHarisena, the court poet and minister ofSamudragupta, it describes Samudragupta's reign, beginning from his accession to the throne as the second king of the Gupta Dynasty and including his conquest of other kings. It is inscribed on theAllahabad pillar ofAshoka.
The Gupta alphabet is composed of 37 letters: 32 consonants with the inherent ending "a" and 5 independent vowels. In addition diacritics are attached to the consonants in order to change the sound of the final vowel (from the inherent "a" to other sounds such as i, u, e, o, au ...). Consonants can also be combined into compounds, also calledconjunct consonants (for example sa+ya are combined vertically to give "sya").[10][11][12]
| Letter | IAST and Sanskrit IPA | Letter | IAST and Sanskrit IPA |
|---|---|---|---|
 | a /ə/ |  | ā /aː/ |
 | i /i/ | ī /iː/ | |
 | u /u/ | ū /uː/ | |
 | e /eː/ |  | o /oː/ |
| ai /əi/ |  | au /əu/ | |
| 𑀋 | ṛ /r̩/ | 𑀌 | ṝ /r̩ː/ |
| 𑀍 | l̩ /l̩/ | 𑀎 | ḹ /l̩ː/ |
| Stop | Nasal | Approximant | Fricative | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Voicing → | Voiceless | Voiced | Voiceless | Voiced | ||||||||||||
| Aspiration → | No | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes | ||||||||||
| Velar | | ka /k/ | | kha /kʰ/ | | ga /g/ | | gha /ɡʱ/ | | ṅa /ŋ/ | | ha /ɦ/ | ||||
| Palatal | | ca /c/ | | cha /cʰ/ | | ja /ɟ/ | | jha /ɟʱ/ | | ña /ɲ/ | | ya /j/ | | śa /ɕ/ | ||
| Retroflex | | ṭa /ʈ/ | | ṭha /ʈʰ/ | | ḍa /ɖ/ | | ḍha /ɖʱ/ | | ṇa /ɳ/ | | ra /r/ | | ṣa /ʂ/ | ||
| Dental | | ta /t̪/ | | tha /t̪ʰ/ | | da /d̪/ | | dha /d̪ʱ/ | | na /n/ | | la /l/ | | sa /s/ | ||
| Labial | | pa /p/ | | pha /pʰ/ | | ba /b/ | | bha /bʱ/ | | ma /m/ | | va /w,ʋ/ | ||||
The Unicode Standard does not explicitly state that the Gupta script is considered a stylistic variation of Brahmi,[14] though use of the Brahmi encoding is one approach.
| Brahmi[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+1100x | 𑀀 | 𑀁 | 𑀂 | 𑀃 | 𑀄 | 𑀅 | 𑀆 | 𑀇 | 𑀈 | 𑀉 | 𑀊 | 𑀋 | 𑀌 | 𑀍 | 𑀎 | 𑀏 |
| U+1101x | 𑀐 | 𑀑 | 𑀒 | 𑀓 | 𑀔 | 𑀕 | 𑀖 | 𑀗 | 𑀘 | 𑀙 | 𑀚 | 𑀛 | 𑀜 | 𑀝 | 𑀞 | 𑀟 |
| U+1102x | 𑀠 | 𑀡 | 𑀢 | 𑀣 | 𑀤 | 𑀥 | 𑀦 | 𑀧 | 𑀨 | 𑀩 | 𑀪 | 𑀫 | 𑀬 | 𑀭 | 𑀮 | 𑀯 |
| U+1103x | 𑀰 | 𑀱 | 𑀲 | 𑀳 | 𑀴 | 𑀵 | 𑀶 | 𑀷 | 𑀸 | 𑀹 | 𑀺 | 𑀻 | 𑀼 | 𑀽 | 𑀾 | 𑀿 |
| U+1104x | 𑁀 | 𑁁 | 𑁂 | 𑁃 | 𑁄 | 𑁅 | 𑁆 | 𑁇 | 𑁈 | 𑁉 | 𑁊 | 𑁋 | 𑁌 | 𑁍 | ||
| U+1105x | 𑁒 | 𑁓 | 𑁔 | 𑁕 | 𑁖 | 𑁗 | 𑁘 | 𑁙 | 𑁚 | 𑁛 | 𑁜 | 𑁝 | 𑁞 | 𑁟 | ||
| U+1106x | 𑁠 | 𑁡 | 𑁢 | 𑁣 | 𑁤 | 𑁥 | 𑁦 | 𑁧 | 𑁨 | 𑁩 | 𑁪 | 𑁫 | 𑁬 | 𑁭 | 𑁮 | 𑁯 |
| U+1107x | 𑁰 | 𑁱 | 𑁲 | 𑁳 | 𑁴 | 𑁵 | BNJ | |||||||||
| Notes | ||||||||||||||||
)
[15](Ja)yatu Mihirakula ("Let there be victory to Mihirakula"). Rev: Dotted border around Fire altar flanked by attendants.[16][17][18]The study of Gupta coins began with the discovery of a hoard ofgold coins in 1783. Many other such hoards have since been discovered, the most important being theBayana (situated inBharatpur district ofRajasthan) hoard, discovered in 1946, which contained more than 2000 gold coins issued by the Gupta Kings.[19] Many of the Gupta Empire's coins bear inscriptions of legends or mark historic events. In fact, it was one of the first Indian Empires to do so, probably as a result of its unprecedented prosperity.[7] Almost every Gupta king issued coins, beginning with its first king,Chandragupta I.
The scripts on the coin are also of a different nature compared to scripts on pillars, due to conservatism regarding the coins that were to be accepted as currency, which would have prevented regional variations in the script from manifesting on the coinage.[7] Moreover, space was more limited especially on their silver coins, and thus many of the symbols are truncated or stunted. An example is the symbol for /ta/ and /na/, which were often simplified to vertical strokes.
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![A palm leaf Sanskrit manuscript in early Gupta Brahmi script, discovered in Miran, northwest China.[20]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=http%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aA_palm_leaf_Sanskrit_manuscript_in_Brahmi_script_from_Miran_China.jpg)
![The name Śrī Yaśodharmma ("Lord Yashodharman") in Gupta script in Line 4 of the Mandsaur stone inscription of Yashodharman-Vishnuvardhana.[21]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=http%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aSri_Yashodharman.jpg)
Śrī Yaśodharmma ("LordYashodharman") in Gupta script in Line 4 of theMandsaur stone inscription of Yashodharman-Vishnuvardhana.[21]
) is an early variant of the Gupta script.
