| Gaudi script | |
|---|---|
| Script type | |
Period | c. 900-1300 CE[1] |
| Direction | Left-to-right  |
| Related scripts | |
Parent systems | |
Child systems | Bengali-Assamese script,Tirhuta,Odia script |
Sister systems | Kamarupi script,Nagari |
[a] The Semitic origin of the Brahmic scripts is not universally agreed upon. | |
| 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 |
TheGaudi script (Gāuṛi lipi), also known as theProto-BAM script,Proto-BAMO script,Proto-Assamese script,Proto-Bengali script,Proto-Oriya script andProto-Maithili script is anabugida in theBrahmic family of scripts.[2][1][3][4] By the fourteenth century, Gaudi script had begun to differentiate and gradually developed into theBengali-Assamese (Eastern Nagari),Odia,[a] andMaithili script.[1][5]
The Gaudi script is named after theGauda Kingdom (Gāuṛ Rājya) ofGauḍa (region) in ancientBengal by the German scholarGeorg Bühler.[6] MedievalGauḍa (region) is currently known asBengal (region). Despite this name, the script was also used inAssam,Bihar,Odisha,Jharkhand, neighbouring parts ofNepal andRakhine inMyanmar. The script is called by different names in different regions such as Proto-Assamese, Proto-Bengali, Proto-Maithili, Proto-Oriya. Which is why Sureshchandra Bhattacharyya suggests neutral names such as the abbreviated Proto-BAM, Proto-BAMO.[7]
The Gaudi script appeared inancient Eastern India as a northeastern derivative of theSiddham,[1] derived fromGupta. According to the scholar Bühler, the Gaudi (orProto-Bengali) script is characterized by its cursive letters and hooks or hollow triangles at the top of the verticals.[8] In the 11th century, famousPersian scholarAl-Biruni wrote about the script. He mentioned amongst Indian alphabets, Gaudi is used in thepurva desa (Eastern County).[6]
The modern eastern scripts (Bengali-Assamese, Odia, and Maithili) became clearly differentiated around the 14th and 15th centuries from Gaudi.[1] While the scripts in Bengal, Assam andMithila remained similar to each other, the Odia script developed a curved top in the 13th-14th century and became increasingly different.[9]
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.
Proto-Oriya (The Proto-Bengali script script of Bühler)
In the northeast, meanwhile separately evolved into a form referred to as 'proto-Bengali' or Gaudī, which prevailed until the fourteenth century, by which time it had begun to be differentiated into the modern eastern scripts, Bangla-Asamiya, Maithilī and Oriya.